Categories: Food & Wine

Restaurant Review: Kelly’s Country Cooking

We pulled into the parking lot of a small diner and parked in front of the main entrance door. It was late, so we weren’t certain they were still serving. My friend went in first to ask if they were still open, and she was greeted with a friendly, “Come on in,” even though it was less than 1/2 an hour before closing time.

So come on in we did. My friend lives in the suburb areas of Houston, near Galveston area, and Kelly’s Country Cooking diner is one of her favorite places to eat. For me, never having been to this area before, my friend has been treating me to all her favorite places, and after eating at Kelly’s Country Cooking, I can tell why this was one of her favorites.

Kelly’s Country Cooking Parking and Interior

There is ample parking for cars, trucks and even RV and big truck parking in the rear.

When we entered, the first thing I noticed was that Kelly’s was decorated in tan and Kelly Green! Very appropriate. The interior was decorated neatly with plenty of old fashioned diner artifacts to look at along the walls and the shelf at the top of the walls. There were old hand blenders, ancient flour hand sifters, and cute country kitchen type decorations.

The curtains on the window were a checkered green with yellow sunflowers and to block the sun and wrap up the green design there were green blinds on the windows. Old diner signs and cute slogans and sayings adorned the walls, making it a fun place to sit and read all the signage.

Clean and neat tables and booths were available for seating, and the chairs and booths were the same Kelly Green as the rest of the décor.

Kelly’s Country Cooking Wait Staff

We were seated by a nice older woman who took our drink order and chatted amicably with us for a moment. Then, a younger waitress came back and brought our drinks and took our food order. She was pleasant and courteous and very personable.

All in all, our service was exceptional, even though we were the last group to leave the restaurant and they were waiting on us to go home!

Kelly’s Country Cooking Food

The menu has plenty of diner-type dishes, including all the homemade, old-fashioned type dishes like meatloaf, real mashed potatoes, corn on the cob, and pot roast. I’ve never been one to turn down a good chicken fried steak, so that’s what I ordered. When the waitress asked if I wanted the dinner size of the Texas size chicken fried steak, I shrugged and looked at my friend who smiled and said, “Texas size, please.

First, we were brought two decent-sized dinner salads. Nothing fancy, just some lettuce, purple onion and tomato with a good ranch dressing.

That’s when the meal came out. My friend was handed her chicken fried steak and I said, “Wow, that’s huge!

The waitress and my friend said, “That’s the small one.”

Wha–? Yeah, the chicken fried steak that was mine, the Texas sized one, came on a small platter, not a dinner plate, but a platter, and the steak was so big it hanged off the sides of the plate! It was fantastic, but I only could manage eating about 1/3 of it!

We had leftover chicken fried steak for three days after that meal! A platter sized chicken fried steak, dinner salad, Texas toast, three scoops of real mashed potatoes and dripping in gravy all for only $9.99.

And for an appetizer? Gigantic sized onion rings!

Kelly’s Country Cooking Summary

If home style diner food is what you’re looking for or if you’re looking for homemade styled comfort foods, Kelly’s is a great place to find what you’re looking for. With the comfortable and clean dining area along with the good service and exception food and dinner values, there’s bound to be something for everyone – especially since breakfast is served any time of day!

For more information about Kelly’s and one of their six (6) locations in the Houston/Galveston area, you can visit their website here. Be sure to check out the story behind Kelly’s when you visit too, and learn how the retired police officer turned his retirement into a dream! You can find the story on your menu!