Cody’s – Tallahassee

I have heard so much about Cody’s Roadhouses my friends have been too but this location did not meet expectations. The services was not good, our waitress seemed clueless. The food was mediocre, I could have bought it in a frozen food section and heated it up myself.

With a lot of radio buzz about the changes at Cody’s and the menu updates, we decided to drop in for lunch.
When you pull into a parking lot and see men in tool belts and service trucks, the prudent thing would be to try again another day. But when you’re hungry… well, logic takes a holiday. In we went.
After being quickly seated, we waited for our server. And waited. And waited. He arrived and to his credit he was friendly. Gave him our drink order — two unsweetened iced teas — and waited. And waited. Eventually our drinks arrived, and we placed our orders. Buffalo chicken sandwich for me, no bun, and fries. Salad and off menu special soup Prime Rib and vegetables in a beefy broth.
I should mention at this point that the restaurant is undergoing some kind of renovation, and the sound of impact drivers provided interesting background music for our meal.
One of my peeves is the timing of food. In our case, the salad came out after a substantial wait. Then the soup, and then I waited for my sandwich. And waited. Our waiter said it was just about done and it would be out in three minutes. Nope, didn’t happen.
The food — salad, blah mostly iceberg lettuce with a hint of Romaine. Then the soup. I think the «prime rib» was trimmings from what didn’t sell yesterday. The veggies turned out to be a few slices of carrot, and the broth was thin a watery. IN fact, my partner said itt tasted just like water. No salt, no seasoning, and tough, gristly meat.
That leaves the long awaited Buffalo chicken breast with Road Fries. By now my partner has nearly finished her food, and she’s eats s l o w l y. The «Buffalo» in the chicken was not evident. Wat I received was a grilled chicken breast, room temp, and limp fries, also room temp.
Would we return? Not likely. And that’s unfortunate since the restaurant has much potential.

Haven’t been here in a good while and they are in the midst of a renovation. Wife ordered the fried chicken, which is a half chicken so planned to share. Thought I might need a little more so I ordered the chili. It was so good! Our excellent waitress said they don’t have it on the menu all the time, but for this chili they need to send out an alert when they are making it. It is that good. May be the best chili I have ever had in a restaurant.
P. S. No sooner do I rave about the chili than I find out the renovation is to make it a seafood restaurant. Hope they still make the chili sometimes. I’m going back after our meeting and getting a couple of bowls for takeout to freeze for Super Bowl Sunday. Yum!

thus always a good place with pretty good customer service. tonight, they came up with new shorter menu which made more sense than the book of choices they had before. unfortunately, service was very slow and had a kids meal that came after ours had arrived. they stated they were waiting on the fries but grilled cheese did not have melted cheese so we know that they threw one down as soon as they could. hopefully next time will be better.

Fun, kitschy-​themed décor. Great food and big portions for the price. We had the bacon BBQ burger and the chicken fajitas on our first visit — Yum!

Disguisting. Prime rib that tasted like chef boyardee. Ranch that was claimed to be homemade was disguisting. The back skin or silver skin on the ribs were uneatable. Fries werent done. Just disguisting. Bathrooms were filthy and need a thouragh cleaning…
Wont go back. As my husband said, «only good thing was the cold drinks»

We’re in Tallahassee on business and visited Cody’s 3x and each time the service (Chris 2x & Michelle) was excellent. I had the 12oz prime rib tonight (med rare) and it was delicious. Thanks guys for the great hospitality, drinks, and food.

I am a fan of Cody’s.
West Tampa, Palm Harbor, and Wesley Chapel, never a bad meal or experience.
This location not so good.
It took the waiter 7 minutes to help me.
Not too bad I guess .
He then serves me draft beer in a warm glass, yuck.
Food was good, not great.

I’ll kick this one off with an important Caveat to the ensuing story: The server was VERY nice, attentive and accommodating. I didn’t bother including photos for this one — I think you’ll get the picture without them.
Over two years ago, we made a solemn pact to not return. For me, the issue at hand was an atrociously over-​salted «French Onion Soup». Back then, I had even given three chances — believing I might have been the one with over-​sensitivity issues OR perhaps that a wrong batch (or two) had made it through the surely-​rigorous Culinary QC process Cody’s would have. It wasn’t just the soup, mind you. It was a general malaise that seemed to exist on each of the adult plates. It was as though the specialties were the line-​up on the kiddie menu and the non-​kiddie items were an exploratory effort at a potential future menu. (I know this all sounds mean-​spirited. I’m only the messenger here of an existing truth that needs telling).
So… THIS time around, I knew to steer clear of the French Onion Soup. We ordered (party of six) and waited, and waited, and waited. (It was a Sunday afternoon and there were hardly any other diners in the place).
We waited so long that, after an undetermined period of time, I started my timer — and it got up to 22 minutes (I estimate 15 minutes prior to me timing it).
Interestingly, the manager came a few minutes before the food came, and asked us how everything was so far. Fascinating. («everything» was two unsweet teas, one Arnold Palmer, and three ice waters…).
The meal finally came — a three-​combo fajitas meal, a Cody’s Roadhouse Salad, a veggie-​burger (I think), steak-​on-​a-​stick, mac n’ cheese, and a corn dog.
Nothing stood out. it appeared as though the cause of the delay was a re-​do on two of the dishes (three-​combo fajitas AND the roadhouse salad) because they appeared to have been under hot lamps for a good long time (that would make sense, if they needed to redo something). The fajita meats were arranged over exceptionally limp and drowning-​in-​grease peppers, onions, etc… the roadhouse salad was characterized as «without flavor» and if I’m right about the veggie burger, then I know it was chalked up as quite salty!
I’m simply not a fan of Cody’s — although, to reiterate, our server was great!

Great food, great service, VERY dog friendly on the patio outside. Just what the Dr ordered when in town for the dog show. If we lived in Tallahassee, this would be a regular spot for us. Not sure what happened for those who posted negative reviews, but after our visit last night and tonight, we will be back any time we find ourselves in Tallahassee.

Very pleased with the food and service! Loved the buffalo shrimp starter! The yeast rolls are to die for! Thrilled that they not only allow pets on patio but love them and everyone has welcomed them and came out and told us their dog stories. We wish this place was in Mobile where we live so we could enjoy often. The only reason for a 4 star is that it would be so nice if they had the standing portable heaters on the patio. Then it would be 5 star all the way!

I consider myself a connoisseur of good meat. My father raised livestock and we butchered our own. We were privy to some of the best cuts of grass fed beef year round. While I have to admit, the steak wasn’t the best nor close to perfect, it was pretty good and cooked to my liking. however, two things on the menu make the trip to this place more than worth while: The Shrimp and the KEY LIME PIE. The latter is probably the best I have ever tasted.
This pie brought back (surprisingly) memories of the Old Lazarus Department Store cheesecake, which is arguably the best ever. Then, there is the smooth, refreshing overtones of citrus. It could have used a small drop of whipped cream, it was perfect naked and I cannot wait until I have the opportunity to eat it again. It’s a culinary dream come true.
If you’re in the mood for the best dessert, this is a great option for your taste buds. The meal will satisfy, but the Key Lime Pie will place you directly in heaven.

I wasn’t impressed. We try the onion rings everywhere we go and these did not rank in our top 10 that is for sure. Way too big and too much breading. One is PLENTY for an appetizer. The food was not terrible, but it wasn’t great. Seasoning seemed a little bland. It did take a while for service but I was in good company so that didn’t bother me a whole lot. We both agreed we would probably not choose Cody’s for a future trip.

Very good service and you get a lot of food.
Love that the salad comes in a big bowl and is bottomless.
Awesome yeast rolls with cinnamon butter that they’ll replinish as much as you’d like.
I had the fried catfish which had a different batter than I’m used to but it was a very nice change. Great hush puppies.
Tonight was kids eat free which was a great deal. The kids meals come with a very large salad.
Oh yeah, all you can eat peanuts as well.
Very similar to Texas Roadhouse. I’m not sure which one I like better. The salad is certainly a big plus here.
The only thing I didn’t like was there was no music playing and you could hear a strange loud sound that sounded like someone speaking over a loud speaker. It went on and on and on and none of us could figure it out until my daughter came back from the bathroom and said there was some guy being filmed and this loud talking was coming from there. It sounded like a guy doing maybe a live call in TV show? Not crazy about being subjected to that and missing out on the music. I guess it wasn’t too bad though. It wouldn’t keep me from going back.

This is one of our favorite places! We came here shortly after moving here last year and now feel like part of the family whether stopping by for lunch or dinner. I had the best steak ever just last week! The staff and management are all friendly and professional, making sure we have a great experience. So many people only post their «problems», I’ve never had ONE! Cody’s will continue to be our «go to» place!

Servers are always friendly and the food is good. I recommend the sirloin. It’s very similar to a Logan’s or Texas Roadhouse but is a good local alternative.

Top 5 reasons you should avoid this place:
5. The service for food is slow. It doesn’t matter if you only order a glass of water with no ice. You’re committing at least 40 minutes of your life to this restaurant.
4. They will be out of at least one item on the menu, even when opening for lunch.
3. The price to food ratio doesn’t make sense. Small portions across the board. Keep in mind I’m aware of how Americans are used to large servings, but these are small enough so that even a visiting European might want to grab a snack afterward.
2. Those peanuts. They’re all over the place! Sure, it’s supposed to be like a barn-​like atmosphere where anything goes. All the «cool» steak houses are doing it, right? Throwing peanuts all over the place is like putting out a welcome mat for rodents. I’m not saying I’ve seen one, but if I did see one… I wouldn’t be surprised.
1.No one knows what’s going on. I’m not sure if this is a communication break down or just a lack of training. The problem starts with the hostesses. Will they be at the podium or not? Flip a coin. It continues to the server, who may or may not visit the table more than one. It carries on to the kitchen which has trouble expediting orders. They need to give themselves a service audit.

I come here whenever I am in town! This place has great food, service and atmosphere. Steak is seasoned perfectly and cooked to perfection.

I’ve been to this location several times and each time I wonder why I came back. The past two times service has been slacking. The drinks were wrong but that is just a mistake. We placed our order and waited — and waited. When the salads finally came out the food immediately followed. I mentioned that we just got our salads and the response was «oh I have no control over that!» Timing was off clearly. The waitress had to be hunted down to refill drinks and she never asked if we needed anything.
The fish with the fish and chips was a large piece of white fish was so overdone that I would have been embarrassed to serve it. We sent it back and the manager did bring another right away. I ordered a hamburger and it is a good thing they grilled the bottom of the bun because the top was still frozen! I did not eat the bun but the burger was overcooked but edible.
Pass on the $ 12 steak salad as well. The steak was tough, overdone and nothing special. If you are looking for steaks or a reasonable lunch go down the street to Texas Roadhouse.
I am a good tipper because I know how hard the work can be but today was 10% and that was still too much!

I remember this location being built about a year ago, so my boyfriend and I decided to give it a try today for lunch. It wasn’t very busy around lunch time, but there seemed to be a decent crowd in the bar area so we requested to be seated at one of the booths in there. This was definitely a good choice on our part, because while the bar was very social, the rest of the restaurant was very quiet. The whole interior décor sold us from the start. They have an extensive collection of vintage collectibles that cover the walls from top to bottom. Even the bathrooms were true to theme.
After reading the other reviews for Cody’s I was pleasantly surprised with my experience. With their 2 for 1 drink specials and their lunch deals, it was a great value. I ordered the Half Rack of the Baby Back Ribs, which were very tasty. They weren’t the best ribs i’ve ever had, but I wasn’t disappointed. We also each had their house salad and their sweet bread rolls with our meals. Service wise, our waitress was very helpful and our meal was out in a timely fashion. I’d have to say, I definitely see us returning here in the future.