Izzy and Eddy’s

Since the Christopher’s Restaurant closed, my husband and I have been scrambling to find somewhere to eat dinner in Tipton, IN, instead of fast food locales and Jim Dandy. We have both owned restaurants, for 25 years, so we both appreciate and can be disappointed with our area eateries. In the case of Izzy and Eggy’s, we were experienced both.
Our hostess could care less, was frowning.
The waitress was a darling. Perfect. When I found one of my pieces of stainless was still dirty (although it had been wrapped in a napkin with the other stainless pieces) she handled it professionally and with many apologies.
All staff were busy doing something. It was a Saturday night & while the restaurant was not full, they were all actually finding work to do. I admire this staff!
The booth and table were clean. Most restaurants wash the tops of the tables, but leave the walls around the tables, seats and table edges dirty. Perhaps this restaurant is too new to have grime in these places. I will be back to see.
The dinner menu was not impressive. Both of us noticed if we didn’t want a sandwich, but wanted a meal, our options were fried, fried and yes, fried. The side options were not all fried dishes, thankfully. The proteins were mostly fried. The salad bar option didn’t assist and cover that fact.
I ordered tea, iced tea. I am a Southerner so I know iced tea. My tea arrived with a milky brown color. Proper iced tea has a clear, brandy color to it. I suspect it was boiled-​a tea no-​no. I don’t know if it was the brand of tea used or the water, but it tasted odd. It was not old or soured. It was just not palatable. I only drank ½ of a 10oz glass. We stopped at Subway on the way home and I got myself a large tea there.
The cole slaw was a real winner. It came prior to our meals. The cabbage had marinated long enough it had absorbed the moisture of the other ingredients. It was perfect. Temperature was perfect, too. Softened cabbage without acidity… nice!
Our orders arrived quickly! Our server was quick to bring them to our table. My husband actually blistered his mouth trying to get a first nibble!
I ordered the shrimp basket, under $ 10 and my husband ordered the catfish fillet plate, around $ 10. (I am sorry my prices are not more exact.)
My order included fried shrimp, French fries (my choice) and onion rings. I was curious to see how much of this order was going to be frozen.
My husband ordered breaded fried catfish fillets, onion rings and cole slaw.
My shrimp was frozen. The batter had them in clumps and that is how they were cooked. I received 2 clumps of 3 shrimps and 1 wad of 2 shrimps. They were bland and had no seasoning. The shrimp inside was so-​so quality, meaning there was an average amt of protein for the amt of tasteless batter on them. They left a nice sized grease puddle in the basket. Too much grease. As I write, the talk of grease is making me even sicker!
My fries had their skins and were peppered. Peppered? I don’t pepper my fries, only salt them. They looked as if the pepper was on them prior to being cooked. Frozen fries not fresh, I am seeing a trend. No…
Finally, the onion rings. We found gold! These were fresh made! The batter was a nice crunchy slightly salty slightly sweet and not thick. The onions were cooked perfectly. They were easy to bite and were nice and sweet. Too bad they were extremely greasy. So greasy, all the batter fell off in the basket. We needed to cut up a ring, with forks, then apply some of the batter from the bottom of the basket (the pieces not soaking up grease from the puddle) to eat them.
Izzy and Eddy’s-you have a winner in those onion rings if you just figure out how to keep the batter on them and avoid their greasiness!
The catfish was beautiful. Huge pieces of fillet. The kind a Southern knows well! The flour and egg batter looked fresh, we are debating on whether or not the catfish was frozen. We are leaning more toward frozen because frozen proteins can’t keep flavor in their breading. The breading on these fish was bland again. And again, the grease puddle in the bottom of the plate. My husband had trouble eating it, but enjoying any catfish he finished it. Later, he was sick.
.
Your frying! With so many menu items frying, do you have a separate fryer for the chicken, the shrimp, the fish, the fries, etc. We swore we could taste chicken in the catfish. I tasted fish in my shrimp. Take some fried options off the menu or add some (like that Smothered Chicken) not fried. Most of all, change out the grease BEFORE a customer complains. The fryer for the catfish & shrimp needed to be changed with new grease. The color of the fried batter gave that away.
We want you to succeed! Bring back the spaghetti! The Parm Chicken! Add a stir fry dish! Stop with all the batter-​n-​fry dinner dishes! And frying hand battered proteins is not expensive, and they taste lovely.

This new restaurant in Tipton opened 2 days ago, and we ate there for lunch the first 2 days. As with all new restaurant openings in Tipton, the place was completely packed with customers. Thankfully, there were plenty of waitstaff to keep up. The kitchen was a little slow, but it is a large place with everyone arriving at once, so that is to be expected. Service was friendly and professional. I recognized most of the waitstaff as having experience working at other restaurants.
The first day I ordered the smothered chicken, which comes with grilled onions, mushrooms, Swiss and cheddar. When it arrived at the table, I noticed right away that there was no cheddar, just Swiss. I cut into the chicken to find it pink and raw in the middle. I notified the server, and it was immediately returned. They handled this situation with professionalism, apologizing and asking if I wanted something different that would be faster to cook (since I was on my lunch break from work), or if I wanted the same item. I opted for the shrimp basket, since I knew it would be quicker. The shrimp basket appeared very quickly, and was cooked perfectly. My meal came with 2 side items, and I selected the French fries and onion rings. The onion rings arrived in a giant basket! They were large, hot, and delicious. I will order them again, and next time I will ask for a side of ranch dressing or something else for dipping. My husband had cottage cheese, which was retrieved from the mini-​buffet, and waffle fries. We both thought the waffle fries were better than the regular French fries. They were crispy on the outside but soft on the inside. He also ate the shrimp basket, which consists of butterflied breaded shrimp. The shrimp are fairly small, but the portion was huge. Despite the smothered chicken being dangerously undercooked, I would not hesitate to order it again, because this kitchen gives the impression they will learn from mistakes. (We sat in view of the kitchen, and I was impressed to see and hear the kitchen manager working the window, managing the tickets, answering menu questions from the servers, and keeping things running smoothly.)
Customers must pay at a register instead of paying the server, so we had to wait in a giant line to pay. This was the slowest part of the entire visit. I truly believe we stood in this line for over 10 minutes. Again though, everyone had arrived and was leaving at the same time while on lunch breaks from work, and every table had been full. Once the newness wears off, I don’t anticipate this being a problem.
The following day we returned for lunch, and my husband opted for the mini-​buffet/​salad bar. The salad bar has a good amount of fresh looking choices. The hot buffet had chicken and noodles, fried shrimp, I believe some green beans from a can, and a couple other things. The chicken and noodles were good. The shrimp had a funny dark breading color, but tasted fine. It was not the same shrimp that had been in the shrimp basket the day before. I ordered the single cheeseburger which was good. My side of waffle fries were not like they had been the day before. They were hard as rocks and were basically kettle chips. I think they probably make a large batch and let them sit under a warmer for a while, instead of dropping them in the fryer when ordered. I should have ordered the onion rings again! Once again we had terrific service. We did not have an issue with checking out at the register this time, so apparently that kink had been resolved.
I haven’t tried breakfast, but I notice there are no hash browns on the menu, but instead home fries. This is a deal breaker for me, so I will continue to go elsewhere for breakfast. I am a hash brown junkie.
I am giving this place 4 stars, which might seem high, but believe it or not this opening went smoother than any others I remember in this town. In another city, I probably would have gone with just 3 stars for lack of décor or creativity on the menu. However, judging from how completely packed this restaurant is, it shows how desperate the people of Tipton are for new dining options. I believe this place will be a success, and they will continue to improve as problems come up and they learn from their mistakes. I grabbed a menu to take back to the office, and I am passing it around recommending this as a good dining option in Tipton.