Date Dined: June
1, 2014
Overall Rating:
4 Stars
My
old boss would send me to Rolla for traffic court mainly because it wasn’t her
car and she didn’t care how much mileage it tacked onto mine. So I would awake
at 5 in the morning to make court by 8 am. The only godsend of going was that I
was able to try new and wonderful places coming back home. This is one of them.
Décor Rating: 3.5 stars
You
aren’t going to find anything fancy here, and sometimes it seems like the
overworked AC unit can’t quite keep up, but you didn’t expect anything right?
To their credit, even though they serve a heapload of fried foods the place
never smells like rancid oil. What you will find there are rows of no frill
booths along the walls, old 50s style soda shop tables and chairs, and a
brightly lit dining room courtesy of the large windows. But you’re not coming here
for a fancy date, you’re coming here for the grub.
Service: 3.5 stars
I
always feel as if the younger servers here have never encountered a busy shift
before, but they’re always friendly. There are only about 20 tables in the
joint and there are three servers. When we walked in yesterday there were about
nine occupied tables and our server acted like she was in the weeds the entire
time. But she was super nice. Her only major shortcoming was that she never
would tell us what they were out of until we ordered it. The first time around,
no big deal, I sometimes forgot to tell patrons what we had 86ed. But the
second time? Just let us know. The third time we finally got some answers.
On
the plus side, the food all came out quickly, in the right order, and still
warm. We never had to ask for refills or bread, and she brought out everything
correctly. If you do have the chance to get the older of the three female
servers she is a treat. Typically, she’s the one who helps me out when I come
for lunch and she knows her stuff.
I
will say that they’re completely accommodating with exchanges and
substitutions. For example, I wanted to add a few pieces onto my chicken
dinner. No problem, we’ll just charge you a set price for each piece. Most
other places wouldn’t have been as friendly.
Price: 4 Stars
You
really can’t beat the price here for the entrees. Some of the appetizers are a
little pricey. The crawfish bites, which you’ll see below were a whopping nine
dollars, and the pie was four for a large, but pricey slice. But the entrees
are the money savers. For the same nine dollars you can get a half broasted
chicken with a side and a salad or soup. For just eight you can get a giant
plate of spaghetti with a sald. Their burgers are all affordable as well with the
basic ½ pound model only seven dollars again with a side. I’d say skip the
appetizers unless you really want to try one of them and walk away satisfied
for less than fifteen dollars with dinner and dessert.
Food: 4 Stars
I’ve
tried a wide variety of things on the menu now and I’ll say that everything is
definitely above average. The burgers will be cooked the way you like them,
moist, and very obviously homemade. The fried dishes will be battered in a
tasty coating with just the right amount of batter. The blueberry pancakes have
actual blueberries inside them, but nothing will blow your socks off. Except
for the fried chicken!
But
let’s start where the meal began shall we? I had always been intrigued by, but
never ordered the crawfish bites. I was anticipating large chunks of crawfish
with some breading on them, but what came out looked more like popcorn shrimp.
Not bad, mind you, but just not worth the nine dollars. At least when I pried
one open I could tell that they used real crawfish inside and the batter was
light and flavorful enough that it tasted pretty good actually. But if you’re a
crawfish lover you might want to stay away.
Bread
and salads followed. The rolls are never anything special, they look like they
were store bought, but they do come out hot and fluffy so no complaints. The
only reason to eat them; however, is the honey butter that comes out with them.
Sweet, light, and soft, this stuff is addictive. The salad is pretty standard
too, but it’s tasty and makes you feel good because it has the appearance of
being healthy. Take a grocery store iceburg mix, throw in some dark veggies,
toss in some thinly slice onion, lots of cheese, and smother it in a sweet red
wine vinaigrette and you’ve got their salad. It’s a nice way to take the edge
off your hunger.
Jess
wasn’t in a deep fried mood so she went with the spaghetti and meatballs.
Weirdly thick spaghetti noodles, but they were firm and al dente so who’s
complaining. The sauce was pretty standard, but it was thick, a little sweet,
and hearty. The meatballs were actually delicious and I suspect made in house
but there weren’t nearly enough of them. However the ones we did sample were
tender, bursting with Italian spices, and just pretty damn delicious. Just wish
there were four or five more of them.
Now
we get to the piece de resistance and why this place ranks as four stars in my
book. The fried chicken. I’ve had broasted chicken before, but this place blows
them out of the water. In most fried or broasted chicken places the meat is
always tender and juicy, but not often is it coated in the most delicious of
all coatings. This stuff is crispy, light, and somehow wonderfully salty
without making you reach for a glass of water after every sip. It’s like the
equivalent of a clean wine, you taste it, it explodes on your tongue and then
it leaves your mouth feeling brand new and fresh as a summer’s day. If you
don’t believe me go try it for yourself. They say this stuff takes 30 minutes
because they’re making it from scratch and I believe them.
The
peanut butter pie was satisfying, but again nothing mind blowing. I did
appreciate how the peanut butter wasn’t too sickly sweet and the concentration
was plentiful. The use of whip cream and chocolate chips were completely
unnecessary and I found myself scrapping most of these toppings off.
In Conclusion
If
you love fried chicken then take a road trip out to this place and stop by some
of the kitschy sites along the way. If you’re at the caverns or road tripping
it down 44 do likewise. You won’t be disappointed. At the very least you’ll
have a hearty meal that will leave you feeling happy, and the service is always
polite. Even with the large amount of food we ordered our bill topped out at
$45.00 with tax.
No comments:
Post a Comment