The Dinner Bell Steak & Fish

I love the daily lunch specials! Best salad bar in town :)

So, I am out in Corinth, MS now. Yours truly, the Unilocal Goddess of the mystical traveling ways, is becoming one with «The Sticks» of MS and is in search of a tasty Southern meal. The Dinner Bell is hailed as a local favourite for this task. I took the challenge. Prepare to receive judgment!
Now, before you ask, yes, I do know good Southern food. On the list of my credentials for sampling of Southern cuisine is places like Poogan’s Porch and the Glass Onion in Charleston, SC. So I know what to expect! Plus, my Dad was a Florida cracker and educated my tastebuds.
The restaurant has simple décor, wooden tables, aluminum panel ceiling, and a nice size dining area. Table was a little sticky, but I don’t think it is from not cleaning as much as OVER cleaning with harsh chemicals and ruining the wood. Menu is simple with a fair number of typical Southern choices. This is NOT a vegan’s delight nor a heart-​healthy place. Buyer beware!
After glancing over the menu, I made my selections. The chili and cornbread came first. The chili was dark — this is, as any good cook knows, a sign that the chili was darn near scorched. They caught it just before, obviously. While the overdone taste was ever so slightly there, it was a good solid chili with mild heat. Very meaty with tomatoes and beans in good proportion, I would have liked it even more if not overdone. In contrast, the cornbread was just too dry! It isn’t sweet cornbread and could have been better by anyone’s standard.
So instead, I got a side of hush puppies added on. Now, we hit the mark here. Little bite sized munchkins of hush puppies perfectly deep fried, they were the gems of my meal! Skip the cornbread altogether and get the puppies, you will be happier!
I got the 10 oz ribeye with baked potato and Texas-​style toast next. The steak was a generous portion and perfectly cooked! No steak sauce needed!!! The baked potato was also a generous size and came with real butter and sour cream. No complaints there. I was not impressed with the Texas-​style toast. It was toasted correctly. They overdid it on the butter, though. You could skip this and not miss a thing.
So, I was gonna call it quits there. However, my very pleasant waitress said they had chocolate cobbler. I thought why not? While is it a generous small portion for only $ 1.50, it was nothing short of a disappointment for me. It was basically Duncan Hines-​like cake mix with canned chocolate syrup on top. Not my idea of homemade as it was billed. Better idea to skip dessert entirely, walk a mile, then go for ice cream later.
So the verdict? No, this isn’t real down home Southern cooking, but I would say it could be termed trucker-​style Southern food. Big portions, cheap pricing, but far from being the true real deal. I think if Unilocal would let half stars, it is more a 2 ½ star place, but the folks are nice and it isn’t a terrible place to dine. Just not as stellar as some would have you think. Unilocal Goddess has left the building! Thank you. Thank you very much!