It’s not every day you can send the grandparents pictures of your children at a saloon. Sure enough, we took them to Rattlesnake Saloon in northwest Alabama, about 20 minutes from Tuscumbia, a place that despite its name, is purely family at least in the daytime. As expected, it was a unique experience, mostly because a.) we had to ride in the back of their truck to get to it (you can’t drive there yourself) and b.) the restaurant is situated under a giant rock overhang (like a large cave entrance). Only after five do they serve beer.
I don’t know what a saloon atmosphere is, but on a random Saturday afternoon, this was just a cafe with outdoor seating. There were several other families in attendance.
The dining area of the cave is wired for electric lights and ceiling fans, and there’s a band stage for nighttime performances. From the menu, there’s a lot there that’s fried. I got the fried mushrooms and just peeled the fried coating off each piece. Meh, not great. Not that I really expected them to be.
I had a daydream/fantasy while looking over the menu, wondering if they were on one of those restaurant reality shows where some celebrity chef swoops in, would they expose an overstuffed freezer with bag after bag of fried, frozen Sysco. Not sure. I like fried food, but just wasn’t in the mood and for whatever reason there was not much un-fried that appealed. Here’s an overused, nothing phrase that sums it up perfectly though: it is what it is. Nobody’s aspiring for Michelin stars here, but nobody’s expecting them to. It’s just a good place to relax under a giant rock.
Still, these two little boys found it to be very enjoyable and were pretty sure they were the only ones at their schools who had eaten at a place like this over the weekend. Probably!
On the way back to our car, we passed a gentleman who offered the boys a ride on his horse (there are thousands of acres to ride on there around the restaurant), and Shugie loved it!
