When I am back in NM, always have to visit my favorite restaurant in Tatum. To have their famous Steak Fingers. YUMMY

Outstanding food! Stop if you ever get the chance. Enjoy food for 2-3 meals. Fresh beets on the salad bar. Steak, steak fingers, other homemade dishes. Delicious! Thank you Jesus, Amen! read more

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We stopped here on our roadtrip to give our 1.5 year old a break from the car. There was no where to change his diaper in the bathroom & we asked the staff if we could use one of their empty booths to lay him down on. They were very rude in their tone & said no because "people are eating". We did not have room in car to change him & it was 36 degrees outside. Do not recommend going here. read more

Watch carefully or you'll miss this homespun gem on the corner of Main in Tatum, NM. Small interior with humble salad bar, no music, and ok service The major draw here is steak fingers. I ordered to-go $17.00!! Asked if I'd like a salad, I said Sure. Comes with the to-go order! Huge helping appeared, and much was consumed while driving toward Roswell. Delicious! Most perfect cream gravy I've ever had! read more

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Driving through town and the gas attendant told us to give this a try for breakfast. Don't let the sign and building cause you to drive by!! We weren't sure it was open but so lucky it was!!!! The crew cooking in the kitchen really made it feel like a home-cooked meal and it was the best breakfast. We had our entire trip! Eggs over medium cooked perfectly with crispy bacon and homemade zucchini bread! My partner said it was the best sausage and cheese omelette he's ever had. Prices were affordable. read more

Try the steak fingers! You will not be disappointed. This is a small town, family owned business. The food is all homemade from scratch. They have very limited staff, but trust me it's worth the stop. read more

Great little locally own place. We love supporting small business. Very friendly people. You need to come hungry because you get a lot of good food. read more

The Steak House Cafe - Steak fingers and fries! - American Near Me - Tatum, New Mexico

We like to stop here on our way to and from Ruidoso. The steak fingers are like your grandma made them. My husband tried to dinner steak which he enjoyed. The hamburgers are good! The old westerns are always on the TV. It's just a good little cafe. The ladies there work hard to take care of everyone. read more

They have the best steak fingers I have ever eaten, which is saying a lot! We always stop and get them to go when passing through Tatum, but are definitely worth making a special trip to just to try them. Honestly, everything I have seen people eating while I am in there looks amazing, but I can't pass up my usual treat....steak fingers! read more

Lunch was good. If you get chicken fingers share it with yourself and two older kids or at least two adults. Trust me. Seriously trust me. Foods very good old west Texas cafe food. If what everyone is saying about the breast feeding mom the this should be addressed by owner. However there was a time a family was trapped by a terrible snow storm and the owners gave the shelter and stellar hospitality. Remember the owner is an elderly woman and the waitress is alone in that place and also elderly. She looks like she must run 5 miles per day. Cut them a tiny bit of slack. I'm a pediatric nurse so I'm an advocate of breastfeeding, but in their era you covered up to feed. Just lien piercings and tattoos, it's a new age for some and this maybe the new normal for you. Service is super slow because of one waitress and a full dining room. Still 4 star because food is great. UPDATE. COVID. masks not being worn by elderly waitress. Not even an attempt which surprises me. Sign on door says must wear masks. Steak fingers were good hit wish we'd ordered chicken. Did share! read more

The Steak House Cafe - Steak fingers full order. Shared - American Near Me - Tatum, New Mexico

Everything is homemade and the chicken fried steak, breakfast or dinner, is worth a detour on your road trip!

The steak fingers were absolutely fantastic! The building looks plain, but it's a hidden gem!

The food was fabulous. I had liver and onions, and my friend had steak. You won't go home hungry for sure! Everything was homemade, too. Don't miss out! read more

Definitely a good place to stop on a road trip, the food was overall very good. The salad bar and the chicken noodle soup are a little boring and bland. The rolls here were the fluffiest I've probably ever had and were incredible. The hamburger steak was amazing although some of the onions on top were obviously undercooked, the mashed potatoes were great as well. I would absolutely stop here again, you also cannot beat the prices. read more

The Steak House Cafe - Chicken noodle soup - American Near Me - Tatum, New Mexico

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Holy Cow!!! It doesn't look like much driving by, but this place is FANTASTIC!!! Their chicken tenders, potato salad, grilled ham & cheese and biscuits & gravy were all other worldly good! The only down side here is that on a busy weekend lunch rush, the place was packed & there was only one waitress (working at warp speed) so lunch took us almost an hour, but absolutely worth it. I have driven by the Steak House Cafe dozens of times never knowing what I was missing. I will not drive by here again without stopping! Down home cooking as savory as you'll find for such reasonable prices. read more

Great little mom and pops place. This little hole in the wall sits in the middle of this blink and you'll miss it town. We had planned on eating somewhere else but that place had closed down and we saw this old building sitting by itself and glad we ate here. Service was nice and the food was good. Biscuits was fluffy and while I had better gravy, the gravy and biscuit was still good. If you get in lost Tatum, stop by this place! read more

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To good I will be there every morning to eat breakfast with my family so if you have any time to go

We decided to eat here after reading the reviews. We were there for lunch.'I had the shrimp dinner and my husband had the ribeye no complaints on any of that.The salad bar was very nice. I don't think my mashed potatoes were real . The buns were so soft and delicious. The pies looked wonderful but we were full so we decided to get a pie to take with for later. Big disappointment the pecan pie was NOT homemade. It tasted good but the crust was thick and not flakey like homemade would be. read more

Drove a ways to get out of Texas and hopefully back to a decent bowl of red chili. This tiny town cafe was superb! Caldo de Reys for Maggie, I had my chili, and a trip to the old school salad bar. Worth the wait, happy full tummy. read more

Ate at this typical small town diner on way from Durango. One amazing server ,excellent efficient service that does BOTH takeout and sit in customers and keeps up with everything. We had the tilapia and beef tips with rice comes with salad,soup peas carrots potatoes and bread Stuffed to the gills after we ate. Seems like a local place A lot of people were doing take out orders. A local said they were well known for the fried beef tips would tey this next time Eat local everytime help support the economy!!! read more

The Steak House Cafe - American Near Me - Tatum, New Mexico

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Sick and tired of steak would never of come if my nephew didn't work here it hurts to just think. About the undercooked beef and chicken

I'm very tempted to purposefully add 2 hours back to work in New Mexico just to detour through here... Yes that good. As previous reviews have said, the place is definitely sketchy looking from the exterior, don't let that fool you. $10-13 an entree seemed fair, but they surpassed all expectations when they offered a fresh salad bar to dive into as well as a cup of well seasoned/flavored soup. My entree then came with not 1, not 2, but 3 sides! Excellent execution on seasonings and homey flavors. If, just if you pass through this tiny town, save an appetite... It's really that good! read more

Wow seven months ago some group came in and that it out and shame this place for having a woman to cover up. I'm surprise because my family's been eating here for over 20 years and I trips on from Dallas to Ruidoso it's always been top notch our families favorite place. Proprietor is a solid person (lady) that remembers our kids growing up. Best steak fingers in Texas and this is New Mexico! Don't miss!! read more

Wonderful place to eat! We were headed to Ruiodoso and decided to stop for lunch. Everything was true homemade food! Chicken fried steak was made out of round steak and delicious. Served with fresh yeast tools! read more

EAT ALL THE PIE. Also, the potato salad on the salad bar was the best I've had outside of my family recipe. Great service, hometown feel, very nice folks. read more

Passing thru Tatum, NM for dinner. Good prices, lots of food and great service. I always stop here for a meal when going thru. read more

The Steak House Cafe - American Near Me - Tatum, New Mexico

We were on our way to Ruidoso and decided to try this cool little place. We started with the bean and cheese nachos. The cheese is nacho cheese sauce, and my wife loved them. The salsa is homemade and great! I had the steak fingers with French fries and the salad bar. The steak fingers are as good as I have ever tasted! Very fresh and very good! French fries are homemade; also incredible!! My wife had a hamburger, and it was "delicious" and fresh as could be! The steak fingers stole the show; I'll be back just for them!!!!! Then I went ahead and ordered a piece of homemade apple pie with ice cream. It was amazing!! This place is so good! I will likely make a special trip to Tatum to have this again!! read more

The Steak House Cafe - Inside looking toward the kitchen - American Near Me - Tatum, New Mexico

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This place didn't even look like it was open, but we stopped and checked. Soooo glad we did! It does not look like much on the outside, but it was very clean, and the woman we met when we opened the door was nice. The service was pretty fast, and the food.... the food was wonderful. We had chicken strips(huge pieces of chicken) and fries(lots), steak fingers (huge portion) and fries(lots), a burger/fries, and chili cheese fries with chili on the side. All the food was hot and came quickly. To our surprise, they even offered a small salad bar. Glad that we got there before the lunch rush, because it got busy quickly. read more

I was headed to roswell for an appointment had already tried Ramirez restaurant it was ok. So today i was so happy i went with this place for a breakfast burrito. This burrito was huge and fresh with lots of flavor. Price was huge to but worth it also it comes with chips and dip for 9.50. I will be back read more

My Dad and I were making our way across the states and hadn't eaten in hours. Starving, I started looking for somewhere to eat out in the middle of nowhere on my iPhone and saw this restaraunt but was skeptical. We rolled through Tatum and things looked grim... nearly every place (2 or 3 max) was either closed or out of business. We stopped at the one intersection in town and spotted The Steak House Cafe. With it's signage off and windowless exterior I wasn't even expecting it to be open but as we passed by we noticed the lights on and patrons inside. So we joined them. What a great place! Homemade favorites covered the menu along with some Mexican fair as well - we could hear the employees speaking Spanish. My dad went for the country fried steak and some homemade fries - he loved it. I opted for their special, the barbacoa burrito and chips + salsa - both delicious! I topped it off with a slice of homemade apple pie and needless to say we left there completely satisfied. Not food related but I'm from Michigan and my Dad's from Massachussets. I mentioned this because the owner started chatting it up with us and it turns out he went to Michigan State for college and his doctorate in Mass. Odd to find someone loosely linked to myself and my Dad out there in New Mexico. DEFINATELY give it a try if you're driving around the NM/TX border. read more

This is the best place I have eaten without a doubt Judy is an angel she gave us shelter when we need it the most! We were traveling from Ski Apache to Dallas when due to weather conditions we crashed, We got dropped off by an officer which reassured this was the best place in town to eat, well let me tell you he wasn't wrong at all but little did I know Judy not only had the best food and service but also the biggest heart! read more

The Steak House Cafe - Judy is an angel. Thank you. - American Near Me - Tatum, New Mexico

Stopped because we were starved and read the great reviews. We love this place, the food was great, but the reason it only gets 4 stars is because of our server. Sadly I believe it is Judy the owner. She was very short with us and we were only one of two tables. We tried several times to chat but she was only friendly to the locals that kept coming in. Not the best customer service. Definitely worth stopping in and we will be back! read more

Home of the great $10 chicken fried steak, homemade mashed potatoes and cream gravy and a decent salad bar!

Stopped in for the 'best steak-fingers anywhere' and I was not disappointed! The cream gravy was excellent, but the french fries were a bit limp. If the fries had been cripier this would be 5 stars. read more

The Steak House Cafe - Worth the stop, awesome steakfingers! - American Near Me - Tatum, New Mexico

Fries were a bit under cooked, but the chicken strips and the chicken fried steak strips were outstanding read more

The Steak House Cafe - Chicken fried steak fingers and fried okra - American Near Me - Tatum, New Mexico

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I have stopped here so many times. Great food! Have even stopped for a cup of coffee and pie. Very friendly. At one point though... I stopped by on my way home after working on a rig. It was spur of the moment but I didn't have my work uniform. Therefore I was left a greasy mess afterwards. I was tired... Hungry and just wanted a burglar and a drink. I stopped at my favorite place! I walked in like I always do heading to clean up in the bathroom. The waitress stepped in front of me... "Are you going to purchase anything?" "I always do, I replied." She cocked her eyebrow and walked off. I'm sure I looked a mess. But... I forgave them on the spot. read more

Stopped in because of yelp reviews. Not disappointed. Great service and fajita combination was good. Only reason not 5, I would prefer fajitas be served on hot plate and more vegetables besides onions. read more

The Steak House Cafe - Homemade Pies - American Near Me - Tatum, New Mexico

The lady that worked here was extremely rude to me I was in a booth breastfeeding my baby and asked me to cover up, you can not see nipple it is 100% natural to feed my child and 100% legal as well she told me it was not aloud there. I'm sure the food is fine but if your a breastfeeding mom your not aloud or accepted there? read more

We were headed home from Ruidoso and needed a place for lunch. This was a great choice! The portions are huge! The food was great! The service is wonderful and the staff is sweet. It is a great small town place. It is a little slow so be patient but totally worth the wait!! We will definitely stop again on our way back through. read more

I have lived here for 20 years and have to have the steak fingers once a week. They are second to none.