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Thursday, October 29, 2026Oct 29

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Dining Review: Ooltewah’s Countryside Cafe serves up Southern specialties

Photo by Anne Braly / The catfish dinner has a choice of one or two fillets, but one was sufficiently large and filling.
Photo by Anne Braly / The catfish dinner has a choice of one or two fillets, but one was sufficiently large and filling. Photo by Anne Braly / The catfish dinner has a choice of one or two fillets, but one was sufficiently large and filling.

It’s easy to see why Countryside Café in Ooltewah has been voted among the “Best of the Best for Country Cooking” by the Chattanooga Times Free Press for the past decade. One look at its menu and it becomes quite evident that you’ll be transported into a different time and place: Grandma’s house for Sunday dinner.

(READ MORE: Countryside Cafe deserves its many accolades)

THE MENU

With home-style dishes such as beans, greens, fried chicken livers, baked ham, meatloaf and chicken tenders, the menu is just what you might be hungry for on a chilly February day — a plate heaped with comfort food. A menu with so much yummy Southern deliciousness is bound to have an overwhelming number of fried dishes, but there’s also a handy guide to vegan, vegetarian and gluten-free vegetables if you’re following a specific diet.

Even for those of us just trying to make healthy decisions, our tastebuds yearn for a return to our roots every now and again. Alrighty then, casting aside my doctor’s warnings, it was time to order: A fried chicken chef salad and, for my husband’s dinner, a fried catfish dinner with mashed potatoes and green beans. And for dessert? Key lime pie and peanut butter pie, both to go.