LIFE LIST UPDATE – No. 203: Eat catfish at the Stage Coach Café in Stockton

I scratched another item off my “life list” Friday night when I ate catfish at the Stage Coach Café in Stockton, Ala. This is something I’ve wanted to do ever since the Alabama State Tourism Department named the Stage Coach Café’s catfish to its famous “100 Dishes to Eat in Alabama Before You Die” list several years ago. To say that it was some of the best catfish I’ve ever eaten would be an understatement.

On Friday night, my wife and I, along with our youngest, made the trip to the Stage Coach Cafe, arriving there around 6:30 p.m. My wife claims that we’d eaten dinner there before, several years ago, but as best that I can remember, the only time I’d ever been to the Stage Coach Cafe was for breakfast almost 10 years ago. In any case, I was certain that I’d never eaten catfish there.

For those of you unfamiliar with the Stage Coach Café, it’s located at 52860 State Highway 59 in Stockton, which is an unincorporated community in Baldwin County. Aside from the Stage Coach Café, the community’s other claims to fame are the Bottle Creek Indian Mounds and the fact that one of the old “Friday the 13th” movies was shot in the area. If you’re traveling on Interstate Highway 65, exit the highway at the Stockton Exit and travel west on Highway 59 until you reach the restaurant. You can’t miss it.

The restaurant itself is located in a large, comfortable building that’s tastefully decorated and comes complete with plenty of places to sit. For a Friday night in February, there were a fair number of people inside the restaurant, but the place is large enough that you don’t feel crammed inside. The staff also kept a steady stream of food supplied to the buffet, which offered patrons with a wide variety of selections.

I was there for the catfish, but I also sampled their rice and gumbo, fried shrimp, fried oysters and spicy hushpuppies. My wife sampled the boiled shrimp, but unfortunately neither of use had room for the barbecue ribs that looked deliciously awesome. I also indulged in one of the restaurant’s dessert selections, which included ice cream and three different types of cobbler.

I was also impressed by the restaurant’s waitresses. Not only were they courteous, but they also kept our glasses filled and asked us numerous times if we needed anything. They genuinely seemed to care that we were having a nice meal and didn’t appear to be just going through the motions. Nowadays, this level of service is rare, so I give them an A+ in this area.

We definitely plan to return to Stockton’s Stage Coach Café, and next time I fully intend to leave room for the barbecue ribs that I didn’t get around to on Friday night. In the end, how many of you have ever eaten the catfish at the Stage Coach Café in Stockton? What did you think about it? Where would you rank it among catfish you’ve eaten in other places? Let us know in the comments section below.