Forest Restaurant

I cannot say enough about this wonderful place! From the beautiful dining room to the server, the food was exceptional! Just EVERYTHING an out of towner would want to try for the first time for real! The food is fantastic and the environment is so inviting. A must stop if you are in from out of state! Especially if you want a great (not good) bowl of gumbo!

The food was good, nothing spectacular. I had the chicken fried steak special, flavor was good, temperature was cold. Shrimp pasta was wonderful, as were the fried pickles, light and crispy.

I cant believe I spend almost $15.00 and get 12 pieces of fries that's why the forest is falling apart.

Claims creole/Cajun but nothing was even a little spicy. Inside a Best Western and felt that way. I got the shrimp Alfredo which was very good. Another liked their chicken parm. Sauces seemed jarred. But the 2 Cajun meals were not very good. The bouten balls were good.

Shame on you for using import seafood instead of local. Don't give excuse that you use them to keep prices down because comparative offerings are cheaper with local seafood. Having said all that the food taste and presentation was very good.

The Forest in Franklin has such a good breakfast! I absolutely love the cheesy hashbrowns—they’re my favorite part. Everything I’ve tried has been tasty, and the cozy, down-home feel makes it even better. Definitely worth a visit if you’re in the area!

On a whim we decided to ride down to Franklin. Someone suggested The Forest Restaurant for lunch. Did not disappoint!! I we are ever in the area again it will be our go to lunch spot

Right off the bat, to whoever is reading this right now, please, never forget, you are very much loved 😊 On to the review Still on the way home … Technically … Bit we never visited New Orleans so we said, why not, lol … We stopped here 2 years ago and was glad we did No lie man, the food here is absolutely delicious with a capital D … The employees here was super awesome sauce as well … Clean inside and outside … 100 health rating also … The whole atmosphere was really nice Highly recommend

Food was good, very overpriced (at least the crawfish half and half was for what you get). The etoufee over catfish looks like a better deal at 26.95 but was enough for two people. I sampled the seafood gumbo, the crab cakes and the crawfish half and half. Gumbo was 7/10, crab cakes 9/10 and the crawfish half and half (half fried tails and half etoufee) The 24.95 half and half entree comes with no sides such as salad or veggies, etc. there were adequate fried tails, but the etoufee was probably 1/2 cup max over ALOT of rice, but you only get tails and etoufee and a lot of rice with that entree. The gumbo was good, if a little dark for my taste, but good. The crab cake was very good, I personally loved the bit of dill and bay leaves I tasted in it and the horseradish sauce made it even better. Bottom line, this is really the only game in town so they can charge what they want and will stay busy. Would have been awesome to have a lunch menu available. Our waitress was capable but really not much of a ray of sunshine on our travels through Franklin. We would go back in the future.

Great food and service! Wonderful bread on the poboys! Our waitress was very helpful and attentive.

I've been eating here for over 50 years. The foods are basic coastal Cajun, Southern home, w/ a bit of Creole +/or New Orleans Sicilian genres. Try the shrimp gumbo! Lately not open Sundays. Never a bad meal or bad value. Plenty off street parking. Clean restrooms, but take a couple napkins with you. Separate full bar. Well worth the 5" detour, & the drive through Franklin is nice & pretty. Rick

Where do I start. We were in town from California visiting family and we were recommended this spot by a family member! They did not disappoint! We got a little bit of everything on the menu. Our waitress was very friendly and attentive to everything we needed. I had the gumbo a d of boy was it tasty!

Really a good place if in the neighborhood. The seafood platter was well done and more then I could eat. And all came for a good price. Two appetizers and two entrées for less then $80. The service was a very nice lady and kept the table attendant to.

Loved this place . If you are in the area don't miss out on this place . Fantastic food - the best ribs you have ever eaten . They had a lunch buffet which was reasonably priced and abundant with great catfish . The service was great as well . Friendly folks Ava great food with good prices .

So apparently "Fine Dining" is defined by nice tablecloths. The food is good, the service is nice, atmosphere is okay - the only thing resembling "fine dining" is tablecloths (on some tables, not all - ours had a glass top with paper copies of the menu under the glass). But, the food is good - standard South Louisiana seafood. Lots of locals eating here. Fried shrimp, catfish, etoufee, boiled shrimp. The seafood salad (shrimp and crabmeat on a tossed salad) comes with cold boiled or grilled seafood. I went for grilled and it was pretty good. The blue cheese dressing was pretty bland - thick, creamy dressing with no chunks of blue cheese and only a hint of blue cheese flavor. The side order baked potato was good sized and baked well (all the way done). The grilled shrimp dinner with stuffed potato was also good. The potato was nice and cheesy, and the shrimp well seasoned and cooked just right (not rubbery and overdone). Service was friendly and attentive, the place was clean. Overall, a good meal if you are in the area and looking for standard Louisiana seafood offerings.

Employees very friendly. My food came out cold. ( Burger and fries) This restaurant is in Southern Louisiana. The menu had lots of shrimp dishes. I found out the shrimp is imported. Being from South Louisiana myself, I would not return here because of imported seafood.

Came for Valentine's Day! Quiet atmosphere and great food! Very chill place! Management is awesome!! The praline chicken is to die for!!! The cheesy hash browns are pretty awesome too!

Local town restaurant that offers a variety of seafood and non seafood items as well as home style cooked food. They do offer buffet service.

When I go to a place for the first time I will try to separate from the group I am with to ascertain from the front of the house what they like that the restaurant serves. Last night was one of, if not the best experience since we moved to South Louisiana. We had heard mixed things about the Forest so when invited i tried to maintain a good attitude. I came off a little crazy to the staff I am sure but when the food and wine came out and they had fulfilled my every extreme request and my wife allowed me to order for us both (which these days rarely happens) we said to each other on the way home "that was THE best food experience we have had in years." We recommend this beautiful place and hope they never lose the care they took with us.

Great place to stop in this small town. The drinks were great even if a little weak. The corn soup was delicious. Boudin balls seemed homemade and were probably the best part. They came with a honey mustard sauce. The red beans and rice is the cause for the 4 stars. There was a lot of rice and not much red beans. The beans were also not flavored as well as they could have been. The pork chops were thick and juicy and zero complaints on the shrimp. Do recommend.

Stopped in after doing a few things in the area, and I am glad I did. Friendly employees, everything is clean inside. I ordered the crawfish etouffee and it was amazing. The Mississippi Mud Pie was a delight. Everything was so very lovely. The wait staff was very friendly. Plenty of parking.

Great place to eat and wonderful establishment. Very good selection of food and great taste. Service is and always the best in the area. The restaurant is nice and wonderful feel of old school feel great coffee after your meal and services

Nice place. Lots of seafood on the menu. Hamburger was one of the best ever. Fries were tasty but could have been crispier. Side salad was good. Vegetable soup cup was large and tasty. Catherin was pleasant and took good care of us.

Went for lunch. The catfish was amazing! Good sweet tea. Fried mushrooms were great. Waitress was awesome.

My wife and I were passing through Franklin and stopped at the Forest Restaurant for lunch. Big plus is they don't preseason the seafood prior to cooking. Our food was seasoned perfectly to our preference which is often not the case. The catfish and shrimp were local and delicious. We'll be back.

I had the Seafood Stuffed Potato. It was delicious! My husband had the Shrimp Platter and he loved it! The Shrimp Fettuccine Alfredo was so good too! The service was excellent and very fast even during the dinner rush.

If I didn't have to give a star I wouldn't. I would give negative stars if possible! I look forward to seafood Gumbo when I come to Louisana and I haven't had a bad bowl until now. I think this restaurant should take it off there menu so no one has to experience what I did ! I was served a bowl of tomato broth with shrimp that is NOT Gumbo ask anyone ! My husband was served shrimp fettuccine with angel hair pasta noodles? It wasn't noted on the menu that the noodles would be any different than fettuccine noodles! Would have been nice for the heads up because the whole thing was kind of mush. So I would never recommend this restaurant to anyone ever! Thanks for the disappointment

They have amazing steaks and seafood cooked to perfection. Service is spot on. Tee setting is quiet and pleasant.

We bring my in laws there all the time, the food is amazing. And everyone is so nice and very welcoming.

I ate here with my parents for my pre-birthday dinner where I indulged myself with the surf & turf (12 oz steak and crab cake). This is the second time I've had food from the Forrest but my first time dinning in. This review is strictly based on this visit (as the last time I got an order from there to-go and it was really tragic--that was about a year ago) that said-- On this visit, my steak was cooked to a perfect Medium and I have no complaints about my stuffed potato (side dish). I do have a complaint about the "crab-cake" though: If you like a thick, substantial crab-cake made with fresh jumbo-lump crab--DO NOT order this one. Though thickly breaded on the outer It had a creamy consistency inside with what I think was a mayo based shredded crab meat mixture. I didn't care for it at all. We also had a tasty chicken wing appetizer for the table which came with a ranch dressing dip and the complimentary bread basket. My parents both enjoyed their meals--there was an endless catfish deal going on (which my dad ordered) and my mom got one of the seafood platters. For the food and atmosphere I'd just give it 3 stars but I added a forth star because the staff was really friendly and nice. As we were getting ready to leave I was talking to my parents about my birthday and when the waitress overheard that it was my birthday the next day she offered me a free slice of chocolate mud-pie to take home! This is somewhere I'd visit again, though next time wouldn't order the crab-cake!

The food is consistently very good. The staff is always friendly and helpful. A great spot for breakfast, lunch or dinner.

Came for Valentine's Day! Quiet atmosphere and great food! Very chill place! Will be back!

Don't get me wrong, the hospitality was great!! Our server was so busy but stayed on top of her tables, but the food, my god, was terrible. We were a table of 6 and no one left satisfied nor full. Here is a pick of my $20 "Louisiana shrimp boil" plate, it had a dirty after taste all around. I added salt, pepper, butter, even ate the shrimp with bites of the potato and nothing stuck enough for me to be able to get through half the plate.

I am glad I read these reviews. The service and food are great. Had the grilled catfish with crawfish. Can't wait to be back in town to try something different...maybe? Don't take my word for it go try it and find out for yourself.

Food tasted as if it was from a microwave. Most meh food I've ever had. Food was not delivered to the group, but delivered to each person individually over a period of 20 mins. Don't come here with a group of 5 people.

Looking to move to this town and trying out the restaurants. Forrest is awesome. The pork chops, seafood and linguine were to die for! Definitely looking forward to eat more Forrest food!

Food is really good. I've never eaten there only gotten takeout out. I've enjoyed appetizers, entrees, and dessert!

Food is fabulous! Service is Wonderful! Fresh food and hometown Service. Big variety and all delicious! Wonderful people who own it.

Phenomenal Southern Cajun cuisine! Alligator, crawfish, catfish, gumbo, red beans and rice,... just absolutely delicious!

Pretty good food. I got the praline chicken chunks and they were amazing. My boyfriend got the fried shrimp and oysters and he loved it as well. We are staying in the hotel right next to it and have eaten there four times already. We will be back.

Good food, nice people and great service , but very expensive. 14$ for a cheeseburger steak that's insane

If you're hungry and looking for a simple spot with excellent food and service, Forest Restaurant is the spot! Gumbo, Red Beans & Rice, Fried seafood, are all good choices. Great service by kind and courteous staff!

The seafood platter includes a little bit of everything. The gumbo was good, but the shrimps were overcooked in it. Overall, the food was delicious.

Wife and I ate here for lunch. It is a family atmosphere, clean tables, clean atmosphere. The bathrooms are very very nice. Customer service excellent, the food is so good, we would definitely drive back for sure. Will tell all our friends to come here at least once or twice, or all the time, LOL. Nothing negative.

This was quite a surprise in the town of Franklin Louisiana....the food was great!!...I had their seafood platter which had the right amount of food with no leftovers....great stuffed crab (stuffed into a real crab shell)....grilled shrimp Alfredo was a surprise addition and very good....service was very attentive and courteous....prices were good....

Booked the Forest for a lunch for 110 people - the food and service were great - Al took great care of us - thanks so much :)

Had a really good crab cake here! If you go, that's probably the thing to get! Also ordered some red beans, but they tasted just like Blue Runner. This seems like a place where if you get the right thing, it will be excellent. But if you order wrong it will be... okay.

GREAT food, GREAT portions, GREAT prices! I will stop here anytime I'm passing through from now on. Seasoned just how I like it and a great menu with many options. Definitely worth a stop!

Good food!! GR8 carry away! Can't go wrong here! Very nice variety, reasonably priced very generous portions and congenial atmosphere. Mr Kuhlman knows his stuff! Soups are good & the meatloaf is awesome! GR8 staff as well!

Fantastic food! I would suggest the taco salad Also if you are looking for a great side choice. Sweet potato fries!

This is one of my favorite places to go when I want a buffet and it has home-cooked taste. I've never been dissatisfied with service or lack of hot food on buffet.

Love this place. Food is delicious and people are very friendly. Best Food ever! Delicious! Friendly family oriented! Love this place ! Best food.

Good place to eat in small town when you want fresh food, my sandwich excellent looks like this is the place to eat when in town.

Bacon cheeseburger with sweet potato fries. ...how it's done on the run! Great flavor and cooked to perfection. Might be my latest addiction. ..

Yeah no. Don't bother. The dinner's were overpriced and not good. Their house made bloody mary tasted like vinegar and the price on the bill was almost twice as much as that on the menu!!! The crawfish fettuccine was sooo heavy and bad cream, there was no spice or anything. The crawfish etouffee had frozen crawfish! The service was not super friendly and was fairly slow. And for all this we paid almost $60 for 2 people. Bottom line: Don't bother. Order Domino's and spend half as much.

Breakfast was terrible. Eggs were hard not over easy, sausage and Hash browns were cold. Pancakes were doughy. Coffee was bitter. Grits were lumpy. Waitress was great.

I'm not too impressed I was expecting something a little better for the price. Boudin balls are not very good and red beans and rice need more spices.