Daisy Dukes Southern Saloon

Daisy Dukes Saloon
2479 W. International Speedway Blvd.
Daytona Beach, FL
(386)257-0920

I have to be real careful here with this review. My guess is that there are a lot of Daisy Dukes locations across the nation. What I don't know is whether or not the one here in Daytona Beach is a chain or not. My guess is that it cannot be as there is no way a chain can run as dysfunctionally as this location was running tonight.

I was turned onto this restaurant by my friend Kelly who told me that it seemed to be a great sports bar with multiple televisions. I'll agree that there are tons of televisions in this place and they are all of the flat screen, high definition quality, but this place should not be called a restaurant if you ask me. Maybe the stars aligned and it was just bad news for me on this visit and a second visit is in order to really determine what they are like. Its just hard to believe I would even consider going back again.

This adventure started with me sitting at home watching SportsCenter and finding out about the deaths of Harry Kalas at age 73, the longtime Philadelphia Phillies announcer and Mark Fidrych at age 54, the great Detroit Tigers hurler. To add to my misery, I also found out that porn legend Marilyn Chambers died at age 56. The news was almost too much for me to bear. My wife calls me and asks me to meet her, my mother-in-law and daughter at Daisy Dukes for dinner. I try to bow out, but mourning the loss of a porn star doesn't usually go over well with the wife.

As I arrive, I notice the name of the restaurant and am immediately taken by the use of the word, "Southern" in their name. I think I have spoken on this blog before about restaurantuers that throw around adjectives to describe their location. Using the word "Southern" sets a level of expectation to diners that can be tough to meet. There wasn't anything about my meal tonight that represented anything about what makes the South great.

As I am led into the restaurant to be seated, I notice that the Orlando Magic game is only on a couple of screens and ask the young lady to let me sit at a booth near these screens. It is obvious that she gets jammed-up by my request. She was taking me to another section of the restaurant, but does in fact seat me where I wish to be seated. Our waitress shows up in a timely manner wearing the namesake Daisy Duke shorts to take my drink order. I order a Budweiser as I wait for the rest of the group to show-up. The get there within about five minutes and it is on.

My daughter, who is seven, is hungry and states she wants an appetizer and a salad. She wants the chicken fingers. My wife and her mother both order what is called the Kitchen Sink salad and I order the fried catfish sandwich with macaroni and cheese instead of fries. Afterall, we are in a southern style restaurant. The mac and cheese has to be good, right?

The chicken fingers show-up in a timely manner and we have to ask for some plates from the young lady that delivers our food. She is not our waitress. She leaves and comes back with three plates. Now if you have been paying attention, you know that there were four of us at the table. Strike One! I get up and get my own plate from the booth in front of us. We get the chicken fingers with ranch dressing and honey mustard. Both have a good taste and go well with the chicken. My daughter complains that the breading is too hard and hurts her teeth. She is at that age where she is dropping teeth about one a month right now. I find the chicken crispy, hot and tasty.

Our entrees show-up next and immediately I notice my fish burnt on the outside. The breading is completely black, but the fish inside is nice and flaky and moist. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to determine that either a) the oil is too hot or b) the oil is old. I take a couple of bites and try to ride out the storm, but to no avail. I cannot eat this sandwich. The waitress comes back to see how our entrees are and my wife and mother-in-law ask, "Shouldn't there be chicken on this salad?" The waitress realizes that the salads are wrong and promplty takes them away. Strike Two!

When she returns with the salads, she asks me about my sandwich and I tell her I cannot eat it. The following is the conversation between the two of us.

Waitress: Would you like me to have them cook another piece of fish for you?

Me: I don't know. Is this how the fish usually looks?

Waitress: I'm not sure. I am new here, but I can have them cook you another one.

Me: Okay.

Tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tock.

Waitress: I checked and the cook tells me that he can cook another piece of fish, but it will still come out that dark as it has to cook that long to insure that the fish inside is done. Strike Three!

I have her take my plate and order another beer. I am done with this place. As my wife and mother-in-law continue with their salads, they realize the salads are missing other ingredients that were listed on the menu. Evidently, they did not get the Kitchen Sink salad as ordered.

This visit was really a disappointment as it is always nice to have a new restaurant open in the area. However, it is clear these guys will not be around long. The waitress asks me if I want to have the manager come by, but she tells me that she had him come to another table a couple of days ago and he didn't do anything for her table. I tell her to forget it. When we get the bill, I notice they did not charge me for the fish, but the manager never came to the table to offer his apologies. However, he did sit back-to-back with me in the booth behind us to talk to a table of hotties that were behind us.

I figure this place will try to hold on and make it to the July race at the Daytona International Speedway and then die a slow death in the fall when area restaurants have to rely on the local crowd. I was planning on telling my boys we should go here to watch the NFL draft instead of the Oyster Pub this year, but I do not believe I can to that at this point. As a matter of fact, if anybody reading this visits Daytona Beach, I would strongly suggest that you not stop at this location.

For my visit tonght I have to give Daisy Dukes zero Stiffy's.

Eat, drink and be merry!

Harry