East Side Review: Firefly Southern Grill

This afternoon I was invited to dine at Firefly Southern Grill with some family members, and I eagerly accepted their invitation since I had been looking forward to trying the new restaurant. It actually is not extremely new to Evansville, it has been open for at least a year. I hadn’t heard much about it, but what I had heard was good.

Although their title is a southern grill, the inside decor of the place makes you feel like you are eating at a small restaurant in Nantucket, or maybe to be more southern, at a restaurant along a beach in a small, southern coastal town in South Carolina or Georgia. You will immediately notice the primary color is white, but tastefully done. The walls are paneled in a way to remind you of a porch of a sea-front home. There are two sections—bar and main dining area—all in one room separated by a divider. Nothing is fancy about this place, yet you feel comfortable and casually upscale at the same time.

After scouring the menu I had no idea what to choose, there was a lot, and it looked great, but being lunch I decided to get just a sandwich. I decided on a catfish sandwich, as family members decided on a cheeseburger, blackened steak salad, and citrus marinated chicken sandwich. While we waited, we were served not just bread, but fresh homemade biscuits and cornbread—different and delicious! I especially liked that, not your everyday bread and butter.

While simple, my catfish sandwich was delicious, and I believe it was on a focaccia bread. I chose fries as my side, but it also came with a delicious cole slaw and their own tartar sauce to spread over it. There was some flavoring about it that I thought just made its simplicity delicious. Everyone enjoyed their food and said it was good. I just have to mention that my aunts blackened steak salad looked gorgeous and delicious—perfectly cooked steak on top of sauteed onions, blue cheese crumbles, tomato, and lettuce greens drizzled in a vinaigrette. She said it was positively wonderful.

We all got pretty casual, lunch-type things, but I would definitely love to go back to dinner to try some of their entrees. First on my list to try is the crawfish etouffee or their pan seared crab cakes. Noticeably, Firefly is different from other restaurants with their different entrees, but their sides range from every day fries to fried green tomatoes, sweet potato casserole, creamy grits, or even hoppin’ johns! Bread-pudding, red velvet cake, or cobbler for dessert? Sundays they offer a brunch, and I believe I saw that Wednesday nights they have live music.

I would say that after having lunch there, it’s a pretty good place with a comfortable atmosphere. I’m definitely going to go back and try some more stuff. However, when I was there at 12:30 for lunch, there weren’t many people there, hopefully there are more in the evening, and hopefully there are more in Evansville who will find out about the place! Why don’t you go try it?

Firefly Southern Grill can be found at 6636 Logan Drive in Evansville. 812-402-2354. Open 11am-10pm Daily, Sunday Brunch 10am-2pm