David Beard’s Catfish Village

Quick and easy lunch in town. Very casual as you come in and help yourself to the buffet.
We came at an odd time for lunch and the food was a little lack luster but I imagine it’s better closer to noon and dinner time.
The server was very sweet but a bit off her game.
Nothing too bad, nothing too good. Just what you’d imagine from a buffet.

Used to be good, would go there couple times a month, but last few times got food to go through the drive thru and, well, the quality of the food has gone to the dogs. Kinda expensive and then the hush puppies, man, they did away with the good ones and get everyday generic ones. Staff is not polite nor are the drive thru people. If I get hungry for fish now, I go th Johnny Ozarks in Kilgore… large meaty tastey fillets of fish. very good

Some changes were made since my last visit two years ago. I don’t want to say that the quality went down a notch, but something was different in the feel of the place? Overall the food was very flavorful, filling, and plenty available! Ribs were on point, Catfish was off the hook, Greens were screamin’ and the blueberry cobbler was a knockout! The service was great… all of the young ladies that were working on this particular day were all very nice, and attentive. I have seen many recent reviews on the Catfish Village, some positive some not so positive? I guess it all comes down to the individual who’s patronizing this restaurant at the time? I was completely satisfied with the quality of food, the service and hospitality. If ever in Longview, Texas and you like to enjoy a good buffet, then I strongly recommend you visit David Beard’s Catfish Village!

This place has really gone down hill over the past few months. I am not sure if there has been a change in ownership or management but one way or the other, they need to make some changes.
At one time, Catfish Village (this location) had some of the best battered onion rings I had ever had. They are now breaded in corn meal (same as the fish I suspect.) The past couple of times I have been there, they have been greasy, over-​cooked and just nasty.
The catfish has also suffered during whatever transition that has occurred. They used to have decent sized filets. Just a few months ago, I would have said (and did say) that Catfish Village had the best fish in town (particularly their «spicy»). Now that has been replaced with very small filets which, by the time they are cooked, are little more than corn meal on a crunchy center. Today, both the spicy and the regular filets were salty but at least the regular was edible. The spicy, on the other hand, was too salty to eat (and I LIKE salt)
While I am at it, I might as well note that they no longer have their signature hushpuppies (the 3 inch long cornbread sticks) and now only have the generic round hushpuppies that you can buy frozen in any grocery store.
All in all, this place has really gone to crap!

I can not believe what they’ve done,
As far as atmosphere goes, this place was always kind of dumpy. Very dark and dirty… and the help isn’t exactly world-​class.
With one very notable exception, the food has always been garden-​variety buffet stuff. That ONE exception, though, made it worth the occasional visit: whole fried catfish, tail and all. It was unique, pretty well prepared and tasty
THEY’VE GOTTEN RID OF IT!
So now what you have is a dark, dirty, depressing version of Ryan’s…but much more expensive AND with a way smaller variety — about ¼th of what you get at Ryan’s.and the quality is basically the same.
If they were trying to go out of business, they just found the way to do it.

This place used to be so good! They used to have a full parking lot. I was surprised to see an almost empty parking lot on a Friday evening at 7:30pm!
The ribs were stale and smothered in bbq sauce. Yes, they have ribs. And they are terrible!
The salad bar consists of lettuce, imitation bacon bits, salad dressing and croutons. Complete trash!
The fried chicken was good! And so were the rolls.
The catfish was a HUGE HUGE HUGE disappointment!!!
To top it off. TWELVE DOLLARS PER PERSON!
I will never come back to this dive — ever! And the five people with me said the same thing.

Good atmosphere, a lot of room, and a decent fish buffet. Everytime I have been there service has been great.

Good simple food, and good simple service. We’ve been coming here for years and not much has changed which is a good thing in this case. We always get our eat on here when we come home to visit.