Aunt Effie's is in Ringgold. Click to enlarge.
photo by Janet Wilson
We went to Aunt Effies at the suggestion of visitors to Chattanooga Dine Out. Aunt Effies is located at 5287 Alabama Highway in Ringgold. It’s just a short drive from Chattanooga, but you have to decide for yourself if it’s worth it.
We are always looking for good home cooking restaurants and sometimes we find a winner and sometimes we don’t.
Aunt Effies has a good menu, with quite a selection to choose from. We decided to start off our meal with a bowl of Chili (oops, they don’t have that any more, it’s just “on the menu”). Hmmm.
There are numerous sandwiches, including Grilled Cheese, Country Fried Chicken Filet and Philly Steak and Cheese with prices ranging from $1.65 to $4.65. If you want cheese it will cost you $.35 extra. The Burgers are made with Ground Chuck with a large being priced at $3.25 and the small is $2.25 (cheese $.35 extra). Any topping other than lettuce, tomato, onion, mayonnaise and mustard is also extra with chili being the most expensive at $1.50. The chili is a chili sauce, not your regular chili – but I can’t imagine a small amount of chili being $1.50. A sandwich can only handle so much.
Aunt Effies offers several salads ranging in price from $2.25 (Tossed) to $6.35 (Cold Plate with Chicken and Tuna Salad). There should be something for most everyone at Aunt Effies including “Down Home Dinners” such as Fried Chicken Fingers ($6.95) and a 12-ounce Hamburger Steak ($7.50). If you want cheese with any of these dinners, we’re up to $.60 extra. Each dinner comes with two vegetables and either rolls or cornbread.
Of course, what most people seem to go for are Effie’s Country Dinners, which is your choice of one meat and two ($5.50) or three ($6.25) vegetables. The menu has a list of ten meats and sixteen vegetables to choose from plus a few meat and veggie specials. We both decide on the Salisbury Steak special – and both were disappointed. It was like one of those little frozen chuck steak patties with the brown instant gravy poured over it. We ruined the mashed potatoes because we ordered them with gravy – not realized it would be the instant variety.
I ordered the Fried Green Tomatoes, which were pretty good, along with the Fried Corn, which was very good. Wayne also ordered the same veggies I did except for the Fried Green Tomatoes – he had Deviled Eggs instead. I didn’t go for those because I was told they were made with Sweet Pickle Relish – ick!
They do offer homemade desserts. I opted for the Peach Cobbler since our server said the Banana Pudding was straight from the fridge – can’t handle it cold. Wayne liked the Banana Pudding, while I thought the Peach Cobbler was some of the best I have ever eaten. It was not too sweet and had a crispy crust. The only problem with this was they didn’t give me enough!
So – you have to make your own decision about Aunt Effie’s. If I lived in Ringgold I might go there to eat occasionally, but living in Chattanooga, it’s not good enough to draw me down there.
Aunt Effies is open Monday through Friday from 11:00 AM until 8:00 PM. They are closed on Saturday and Sunday.
Start getting your orders together – the new Adventures Coupon Books will be in before the end of the month. Do your Christmas shopping early.
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