D'Arpino's

By Bob – Bob’s Whine and Dine

Lunch this day was with my wife and father-in-law at D’Arpino’s. I’ve been to D’Arpino’s several times in the past and have always liked the food here. Today was no exception.

D’Arpino’s has a daily special – usually for $7.95 including a salad and drink. Today’s special was lasagna. My father-in-law ordered that, my wife selected the sausage calzone ($7.95) and I chose the meatball sub ($7.95).

My father-in-law liked his salad, and said his lasagna was very good – with a nice spicy sauce. It was a pretty large portion for a lunch item and while he isn’t a big eater – he nearly finished the entire plate.

My wife’s calzone looked great – nicely browned on the outside, gooey on the
inside with meatballs, mozzarella and ricotta cheese. It was served with a side of the really nice marinara. She liked her lunch a lot. I had a taste and while I usually don’t like ricotta cheese I found that it worked well in this calzone.

My meatball sandwich was another winner. The meatballs were great – tender with a really nice flavor. It was served on what looked like a homemade hoagie roll which was tender on the inside and a bit chewy on the outside – the perfect bread for this sandwich. It also was dripping with mozzarella and sauce such that I needed a fork & knife to eat the first half of the sandwich.

On past visits, I’ve also enjoyed the spaghetti and meatballs, the egg plant
parmesan, the chicken parmesan and the lasagna. The house salad dressing on the side salad is very good as well.

Décor is a step above your standard strip mall. Warm colors on the walls,
ceramic tile on the floor (be careful though as it can be slippery), paintings and posters on the wall. I think I heard Frank Sinatra a few times in the background music. It is a pretty comfortable place for a meal unless it is cold outside. There is just one door opening into the restaurant and the cold air can really be felt across the dining room.

Service was spotty today. The dining room was nearly full with a couple of large groups present. The two servers working were really busy. We didn’t get any bread & butter to munch on (it was mentioned at one point however). It took a while after we finished our meal to get our check.

I really like the food at D’Arpino’s. It is good classic Italian. It is a busy place and reservations are recommended for dinner. I’ll be back.

3014 S. National – (417) 889-9898

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Cedars Chicken Fried Steak is $4.99 at any time of day

By Bob – Bob’s Whine and Dine

Originally published on BWAD (2/5/09)

I’ve been to Cedars twice in the last week for lunch – first with Danny, then again with some of my family. Cedars has two locations – the one I went to on South Campbell across from Wal-Mart and another one (the original?) on West Bypass.

We arrived for lunch both times about half past noon and the place was really jumping. Fortunately we were able to find an empty table both times. Also in both cases, the place pretty much emptied out by the time we were ready to leave after 1pm.

The first visit I ordered the country fried steak ($4.99) that comes with mashed potatoes and a vegetable. The veggie I chose this day was brown beans – the other choice was peas – but I think the veggies change each day as our second visit the choice was baked beans or corn.

The steak was large, nice and crispy outside, tender inside and was seasoned well. The potatoes were not freshly mashed and were either a better than average instant or some other pre-prepared item. They had a good consistency and weren’t bad – but they had that taste of processed food. The beans were very good with bits of ham. The white gravy covering everything was pretty good as well. For $4.99 – this was a really good lunch and was really more than I should have eaten.

On my second trip, I ordered the “Hillbilly” sandwich which turned out to be ground beef, breaded and fried like the country fried steak and served on a toasted hoagie roll. It came with a side of fries, pickle chips, onion, a tomato slice, lettuce and some mayonnaise in a little cup. The meat was formed into a long rectangular patty that extended beyond the hoagie roll on both sides. It had the same type of breading as the country fried steak and I liked it as well. The
fries were a thicker frozen variety – they were ok.

Danny ordered the cashew chicken ($4.99 and I didn’t like it). Others on the second trip had the pork tenderloin (good), spaghetti and meatballs ($4.99 good), pork steak ($4.99 good). With the exception of the cashew chicken – all of the home-style diner food was good. My wife especially liked the BBQ baked beans she had with her meal – she said they were the best baked beans she has ever had.

Cedars has a small salad bar which none of us tried. Breakfast is served in the morning. There are 6 to 10 specials everyday – with most in the $5 to $7 range. The décor is strip mall with some old farm implements hanging on the wall. The restrooms were clean.

Service was very good on both visits – with our friendly servers checking in on us frequently and my diet Pepsi getting refilled when needed.

To tell the truth, I have been avoiding Cedars for a long time. My first and until last week only experience with Cedars was at the West Bypass location many years ago. At that time the place was dirty, smoking was still allowed (this was before the non-smoking ordinance). I have let that experience keep me from trying the South Campbell location. I’m sorry I did that for so long.

The best thing about Cedars is the standard diner food selection – it is pretty good and  inexpensive. I will be back.

Bob’s Whine and Dine

3322 S Campbell Ave – (417) 890-1984

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Everybody deserves a vacation, including Bob. While Bob enjoys a cruise on the Alaskan coast, we bring you reviews from the archive.

La Fiesta

Originally published 12/7/07
La Fiesta is located in the small strip center in the Home Depot parking lot on South Glenstone in what used to be Schlotzsky’s. I consider La Fiesta to be (in Steve’s ranking) in the top tier of Mexican restaurants in town. We had lunch on Sunday after church with a group of about 11. We were seated in our own section of the restaurant in the back and it felt like we had the place to ourselves.

The chips were warm and tasted good, the salsa was freshly made and had a really good flavor – it also had a bit of heat to it which I enjoy. Steve ordered guacamole and I thought it was good when I tried it, chunky with nice bits of tomato and onion – perhaps a bit too much onion though in this batch.

Bob’s Whine and Dine

My wife and I decided to order two dishes we have had before, the Special Taco Avodado and the Chipotle Fajitas. The Taco Avodado are three open face corn tortillas topped with seasoned pork, onions and cilantro. I’ve had this twice before and loved it.

This time however things were different. There was a great deal of onion on top and a lot of cilantro – my wife does not like cilantro so she opted out of trying the dish after seeing so much on it. Removing the excess of both of these ingredients was helpful – but the pork is what was disappointing this time. In the past the pork was in small chunk form and had a very nice texture and flavor. This time, the pork was shredded and the texture mushy. This really let me down and I didn’t enjoy the dish near as much as before.

There was something missing in the taste this time as well – and I figured it out after I finished the last taco. I forgot to put the special hot sauce on top that the dish comes with – this was a big mistake on my part as I remembered that the hot sauce is what really stepped up the flavor. I will be trying these tacos again hoping that this was a one-time issue with the pork.

The other dish we tried was the Chipotle Fajitas. We got the mix of chicken and beef and both were tender and flavorful. What makes this one of my favorites however, is the chipotle sauce that they add to the fajitas during cooking – it really elevates this from a good fajita plate into a great fajita plate. The chipotle sauce adds a great flavor and doesn’t overpower the other ingredients. Definitely a dish to come back for.

Service today was very good with my diet coke getting refilled frequently. We got our food in an appropriate time and our server was by often to check on us. This was a nice change from the last time we came to eat here with a group after church. The last time, we waited a very long time for our food – I’m glad to see that they have addressed that issue.

The decor is nice with a modern look and lots of natural light from the windows. This is something that you don’t see much in most Mexican restaurants in town – which tend to be kinda dark.

Even with the problem with my Taco Avodado today this is still my favorite Mexican restaurant in town – fresh ingredients, really tasty food, and nice atmosphere (did I mention very good margarita’s?). When I want Mexican food – this is my first choice.

Bob’s Whine and Dine

3825 S. Glenstone Ave – (417) 886-7040

Link to Health Inspections

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Farmers Gastropub has been on my list to visit for a while.  Danny, Steve and I finally got a chance to have lunch again (which has been sort of a rare occasion lately) and we decided a trip to Farmers Gastropub would be in order.  I’ve heard mixed reviews from people I’ve know that have been there so I wasn’t quite sure what to expect.

We arrived about noon-thirty and there were just a few other tables occupied.  We selected a table along the wall and started reviewing the menu.  Steve ordered us a starter of hummus and “crudites” ($7).   We all wanted to try something different so Danny picked the fish & chips ($9), Steve got the Cottage Pie ($9) and I selected the burger ($9).   We wanted to try the Bangers & Mash but that item (as well as the sausage roll appetizers) were ‘not available’ on the day of our visit.  Funny thing to run out of for a ‘pub’.  The dinner menu appears to be a fixed-price ($36 this week) affair where you select from a couple of appetizers, entrees and deserts.  The dinner menu also appears to change frequently – I supposed based on what is available from their local vendors.

In short, Farmers' burger doesn't get a standing "O" from Bob.

I wasn’t familiar with the term crudites (I was pronouncing it ‘Krud’-ites) and wasn’t sure what we were going to be getting with our humus.  Turns out the term is actually crudités (pronounced ‘krew-di-tey’) and is French for cut veggies served with a dip.  So what we got were a few rounds of toasted baguette and a selection of cut veggies to go along with our ‘dip’.  We all found the veggies good but the humus fairly lackluster.  We also asked for and got a few more baguette rounds (which were good by the way) as there wasn’t quite enough dipping implements for the whole bowl of humus.

Danny’s fish looked pretty good and had a nice crunchy batter.  It was served with what we think was some homemade tartar sauce which Danny said was really good.  I had a taste of the fish and thought it was ok, but nothing spectacular – the batter could have used a bit more seasoning.

Steve’s Cottage pie is a take on Shepard’s pie.  The potato layer was nicely browned and very thick while the meat layer was pretty thin.  It was served with some sautéed zucchini which I’m glad I didn’t get (I don’t like that zucchini stuff).  Steve, however, liked the vegetables.  I had a taste of the pie and thought it was bland needing more seasoning.   Steve agreed with that assessment.

My burger arrived and I was pretty stoked because it looked sooooo good.  The bun had been toasted on a Panini grill and had those cool-looking toast marks on top.  The burger patty was obviously done by hand and the cheese was melted into all the nooks & crannies of the patty.  I added some ketchup along with the supplied tomato and lettuce to the burger and went to savor my first bite.  This, however, is where my love affair with this burger ended.  There was something wrong with the patty.  It was cooked just like I had ordered – a bit past medium – and had what at first tasted like a great charcoal flavor.  But that charcoal flavor quickly turned into a bad metallic/chemical taste.  Danny and Steve were looking at me kind of funny so I had them both try the meat and they agreed there was something very wrong there.  It is hard to describe the flavor.  We all wondered if they had left some cleaning solution on the grill or something.  Needless to say I was very disappointed.

Bob’s Whine and Dine

Moving on, the fries were OK.  They were fresh-style and somewhat crispy.  Not bad, but not as good as Grad School across the street.  The amount of catsup I got was not quite enough for all of the fries.

Service was just OK.  I had to ask for each drink refill but at least they came back quickly.  Our food was brought out in an acceptable amount of time.

There is an attempt to make this Gastro’PUB’ look a bit like a British pub inside and it works OK for Springfield.  There are chairs at the large bar, several large 6 person tables available in addition to the 4 tops we sat at as well as some booths.  There is another dining room towards the back of the space where the tables had white tablecloths.  I guessed that this is for evening dining as it was closed off on our visit. There is also a nice large outside eating area which looked like a great place to get some fresh air on warm evenings (I’m pretty sure smoking is allowed out there thought so maybe you won’t get fresh air).

So, bottom line – the food Danny & Steve got at lunch was pretty ho-hum with just about everything needed more seasoning.  That mirrors some of the comments I’ve heard from others.  The burger was downright awful.  I’m really hoping that this was a one-time deal and there is a simple explanation for the burger since it looked so darn good.  If that is typical of anything coming off the grill – then I would say stay away from any grilled items.  If it was a one-time deal though – why does it always seem to happen to me?

As I was leaving, I looked down the sidewalk, saw Grad School sitting there and wished I’d gone there for my burger & fries (can you say ‘Full Ride’?).

Bob’s Whine and Dine

431 S. Jefferson – (417) 864-6994

Link to Web Site

Link to Facebook

Link to Health Inspections

[View with PicLens]

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We have another BBQ restaurant in town – Billy Sims Barbecue (BSBBQ).  They opened up in mid July on South Glenstone near the Supercenter complex where the Boston Market restaurant used to live.  I love BBQ and there are only a couple of places here in town that are my go-to places for this simple, yummy, yet seemingly “hard to make well” food genre.  Of course I had to check it out.  I’ve been for lunch twice now and am ready to report in on what I thought.

Both visits were during a busy lunch hour but we didn’t have any trouble finding a table as they seem to turn around pretty quickly.  The process at BSBBQ is fast-food single-queue style.  You line up to examine the overhead menu board while making your way to the first stop at the meat cutting station.  This is where you tell the staff your BBQ selections.  On both visits I selected combo plates and have been able to sample, the pulled pork, sliced brisket, ribs, turkey and bologna (yes they smoke bologna here).

After you order, the meat-cutter then slices and portions your meats using a scale (except for the ribs which are counted out).  I noticed that for the pulled pork they add a bit of seasoning from a large shaker and mix that all up before putting it on your plate.  Next stop is the sides station.

The sides selection (sideliners) is pretty typical but has no fried items.  One interesting selection is listed as ‘mini-huskers’ – which is smoked corn on the cob.  I stuck with my usual cole slaw and BBQ beans on both visits.  Combo plates come with a piece of Texas toast.

The last stop is the register where you trade your money for food.

Bob’s Whine and Dine

Bottom line – I really liked the meats.  They all had a great smoky flavor with that nice dark outer smoky layer.  The meats were all tender as well.  The ribs weren’t fall-off-the-bone but were still tender and easy to eat.  The brisket & pork were just a bit on the dry side, but adding sauce fixed that right up.  Speaking of sauce, choices include regular and spicy.  Both were good but I fixated on the spicy one.  The bologna was an interesting meat to try.  It was well smoked like the rest of the meats and because of that, the taste was more smoke than bologna.  I’m glad I tried it but truthfully I don’t know why, for the same price, one would pick bologna over pork or beef.

(Sorry for no food pictures, for some reason my camera weirded out and they didn’t come out.  I’ll post food pics next time I visit.)

While the meat was good, the sides were ho-hum; nothing really special there.  The beans were a little weird.  There is pulled pork mixed into them – but the pork is so finely pulled that it makes the beans look stringy.  They would at least look better if the meat were little chunks instead of pork threads.

Drinks, plasticware– well everything really – is pretty much self serve.  During our visits at lunch time there were a couple of people making their way around the dining room asking if you needed anything.  Food is served on those plastic plate/basket things with a paper liner.

The dining room is pretty much left over from Boston Market and is pretty spartan but kept clean.  The ordering queue however is not easy to get to if you enter from the north side of the building.  It is a tight fit to get to the start of the line between the ropes that mark the queue and the first row of tables.  I would recommend entering on the south side of the building to avoid threading your way to the ordering line.

BSBBQ also has a drive-thru which I plan to make use of when I want my BBQ to go.

I’ll be back to Billy Sims Barbecue – it being close to where I live makes it likely I’ll be back often.

3757 South Glenstone Ave – (417) 883-7467

Link to Web Site

Link to Facebook

Link to Health Inspections

Bob’s Whine and Dine

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Wayo opened up on South Glenstone in the spot formerly occupied by Beano (and Burger King before that) earlier this year.  The week it opened I made a visit with my brother and his family and decided against doing a review at that time as they were obviously working out many kinks.

I drive past Wayo almost every day and have wanted to try it again.  A gift of a $15 off coupon from a friend pushed me to make a dinner trip with my wife and niece (hungry college student) recently.

Our visit was on a Monday evening.  When we arrived there was one other table occupied.  We sat at one of the regular tables because I thought the closed-in booths looked sort of creepy.

The dinner menu at Wayo is pretty simple.  You can get Teriyaki, Bento Boxes, Sashima/Sushi (chef’s choice on those), Tempura, Noodles as well as something called Katsu – pork or chicken breaded & fried.  Most dinners come with soup, salad and rice.  On my first visit both my brother and I got the ‘Spicy Chicken’ Teriyaki ($12.95) and found it to be almost too hot to eat (especially when you don’t get your drink refilled).  I’m not sure if that is the standard preparation, but on that night it was – it was very hard to enjoy.

So, staying away from the Spicy Chicken, I decided to go for the Bento Box ($13.95).  For the Bento Boxes, there are 10 entrée items to choose from and you can pick 2.  I chose the Teriyaki beef & spicy tuna roll for my box.  My wife ordered the Soba noodles with Chicken ($8.95) as she really liked the noodles on our first visit.

My niece decided on the Shrimp Teriyaki dinner ($13.95) which is her default meal at most any Japanese restaurant.

Bob’s Whine and Dine

We all got miso soup to start our meals, but the soup arrived just a few minutes before our entrées (more on that later).  I thought the soup was ok.  We never got the promised salads.

Bento Box at Wayo

The rolls were ok but not very spicy without the added kick from some wasabi.  I liked the teriyaki beef.  It had a very good flavor and the grilled veggies were all fresh and tasty.  The tempura vegetables were also pretty good and even included a fried asparagus spear, but they were just a bit on the greasy side.  The rangoons weren’t anything special.  The fruit (apple, melon & orange) was a nice touch – and the orange was artistically cut which was fun.  There was a good amount of food in the box and overall I liked it a lot.

My wife said she liked the Soba noodles & chicken.  There were lots of nice fresh veggies and everything was well cooked.  My niece also liked her meal of Shrimp Teriyaki.  So overall we were very pleased with our meals.

Service was a big, big issue on our first visit and unfortunately it was still an issue on this visit.  There was one server working on this particular evening.  I think there were, at the most, 4 tables occupied at any one point during our visit – which I didn’t think would be too challenging.  But obviously it was – we waited a lot for just about every part of our meal.  It took a long time before we were asked for our drink orders.  It took a long time before we got our food orders taken.  We never got our salads, the soup arrived 2 minutes before our entrees.  Refills were few (good thing I didn’t do the spicy chicken!).  And it took a really long time after we were done to get our check.  It was just a frustrating experience.

The chef made it by at one point to check on us.  I met him on our first visit and we liked him a lot.  On that first visit, we got some freebies during the meal, probably because my 5 year old nephew was with us that time.  We got a sampling of noodles and some yummy fried bananas at the end of the meal.  No freebies on this last visit though.

As far as décor goes, they did a pretty good job of removing the fast-food aura of the place.  The color scheme is black & red.  There are enclosed booths lining the outer walls which require a small step up and a twist to the side to get into them.  They have some red curtains covering the upper part of the opening.  The seats in the boots are hard-looking benches.  I don’t think I would like eating in one of the booths as they look a little ‘Munster-ish’.  The sushi bar is located in the ‘lobby’ just inside the doors and you can sit there, order & watch your sushi being made.  The restroom was clean.

The food at Wayo was really pretty good and I liked being able to get a Bento box at dinner time as most Japanese places make that a lunch-only choice.  The service issues are likely to keep me from coming back though – it was very frustrating.

Wayo is open really late (1am) on most nights and have drink & sushi specials for the late night crowd.  I hope someone comments about what late-night at Wayo is like and perhaps let us know how the sushi & sashimi are as we really didn’t go there on this last visit.

2119 S. Glenstone – (417) 886-0300

Link to Facebook Page

Link to Menu

Link to Health Inspections

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I recently got a gift certificate to Lola’s Pastries & Eatery in Nixa from a good friend.  Naturally I needed to go spend it, so last week my wife and I headed south to Nixa for lunch.

We arrived around noon and found the parking lot to be just about full – which is typically a good sign.  We were greeted at the door and were immediately taken to a table in the back room.

Lola’s is open for breakfast & lunch and the lunch menu is “tea-roomish” consisting of sandwiches, salads & soups with combos of each available.  My wife chose the “Heart Healthy Lunch Combo” ($5.99) which was a ½ order of Lola’s chicken salad with a cup of vegetable soup along with some crackers and a small fruit cup.  I picked one of the specialty sandwiches, the Roman Roast Beef Ciabatta ($6.19), roast beef, grilled onions & red peppers on a ciabatta roll.  Instead of the standard blue cheese dressing I requested some horseradish sauce.  Lay’s style chips, a pickle spear and orange slice rounded out the plate.

My sandwich wasn’t large, but it sure tasted good.  The grilled onions and peppers along with the horseradish sauce was a great combination.  The roast beef was standard deli style.  I also liked the ciabatta roll as a sandwich holder.  What I didn’t really understand though was the name – what is Roman about a roast beef sandwich?

My wife said the chicken salad was good.  It had grapes but wasn’t overly sweet.  It was also very lightly dressed which she really liked (for the fewer calories aspect).  I had a taste of the soup and it had a much richer broth that I expected.  It also had lots of veggies – so 2 thumbs up on the vegetable soup.

Bob’s Whine and Dine

For desert we decided to try the ‘chalk board special’ – a guiltless strawberry cake.  This was not a winner.  The desert consisted of a small piece of strawberry cake hiding beneath a big pile of soggy strawberries.  The cake was probably ok – but it was soaked through with the juice from the strawberries ladled on top.  The strawberries may have been fresh at some point, but based on the texture and consistency they seemed to be of frozen-then-thawed variety.  A pile of fresh strawberries was what this needed.  At least they were not sweetened with sugar so the calorie count was likely in the guiltless range.

Service was very good during our visit even though Lola’s was pretty busy.  Our server checked on us often and my diet coke was kept at an acceptable level.

Lola’s occupies what used to be a ‘50’s-style all-brick ranch house.  There are two main dining areas and the tables are nicely spaced.  They do have room for quite a few folks which is necessary since it was very busy on our visit.  It is a nice place to have lunch.

I liked the food at Lola’s and I’m likely to go back when I’m in Nixa at lunch time.  I felt the food was better than my recent visit to the Bee-Stro and the prices were better too.

Bob’s Whine and Dine

110 N Fort St, Nixa – (417) 725-9225

Nixa, MO 65714

Link to Website

Link to Health Inspections

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The Bee-Stro café is co-located with the Honey Heaven store on the Lawrence photo strip center on South Campbell.  I’m still not exactly sure why I visited the Bee-Stro except that I was told that I was taking my wife, sister-in-law and mother-in-law out to lunch and that was where they wanted to go.

We arrived during prime lunch time and the place was pretty busy but they found us a table right away and we settled in.  It took quite a while for someone to come back for our drink orders.

The Bee-Stro café fits into the tea-room category of places to eat and so the menu is pretty typical tea room with salads, sandwiches, quiche and soup.  The twist here is that most items include honey in some form or the other as part of the dish.

Two in our party got quiche and the other two got sandwiches.  My selection was the ‘Tracy Special” which was a grilled honey-mustard chicken sandwich with Muenster cheese on a ciabatta roll for $8.99.  Sandwiches come with a small salad on the side as do the quiche.  Sandwich & quiche prices are all $8.99, salads run $6.99 and a bowl of soup will set you back $4.99.  Link to menu.

While we waited for our food – our server dropped by a couple of small plates of Lay’s chips drizzled with some honey-mustard salad dressing.  It was sort of a tasty way to start things off.

When our food arrived, I was a bit disappointed with the size of my sandwich – it was on the smallish side.  But then again, that was probably good as I’m supposed to be eating less anyway.  The salad consisted of nice fresh greens with a small bit of tomato & onion.  It also came with a small slice of watermelon and a grape.

I chose the parmesan peppercorn dressing and thought it was a very good rendition.  The menu says they make all their own salad dressings.  The sandwich was ok – but I’m pretty sure that the chicken patty wasn’t freshly grilled.  The chicken breast was also a bit on the dry side, but it did have a nice coating of honey-mustard sauce.

There was more honey-mustard on the side for spreading and that helped moisten things up.  The ciabatta roll was good and had been warmed.  To finish off the plate, was a tiny chocolate chip muffin – which was pretty good.

Others in the group all liked their meals.  The “Ricks Special’ sandwich looked pretty good with a nicely toasted marble rye bread encasing the turkey & cheese.   We didn’t try any deserts – but several of the choices mentioned by our server sounded good.

Service was non-existent at first and we waited quite a while before a server came over to take our drink orders.  It was better after that.  It seemed like they were short-handed on our visit and our server apologized for our long wait.  I also had a long wait at the front counter for someone to appear to take my money.  Diet Coke is served in cans – so I didn’t attempt any refills, but water & tea refills were offered several times.

There are several dining areas in this combo tea room & honey-themed shop.  I was shocked and pleased that they didn’t cram in as many tables as possible like some other tea rooms I’ve visited.  The décor is honeyfied – with honey stuff everywhere you look.  Clientele is made up of mostly the female of our species – but there were a few gents dining including a Lieutenant Colonel from our very own U.S. Armed Forces (Go Army!).  As we left I noticed the ladies at the 2 or 3 tables in the front room of the place all having a good time playing some kind of card game after finishing their lunch.

I think people that like tea rooms will like the Bee-Stro café.  I thought it was a bit pricey for what you get, but my wife likes the Bee-Stro so we may be back at some point.

2516 S. Campbell Ave – (417) 869-0233

Link to Website

Link to Health Inspections

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Friend Kelly said there was a new restaurant in the Dillons strip mall on West Battlefield road.  My wife and I were driving by at dinner time the other night and discovered it was Springfield’s newest Mexican place called El Sombrero.

There were only a couple of tables occupied when we arrived and we were seated next to the front window.  Drink orders were made, chips & salsa was delivered and we started in looking at the menu.

The menu is typical of most Mexican places in town – probably 100 choices of the standard fare – burritos, enchiladas, fajitas, combo meals as well as some  house ‘specialties’.  A homemade sign at the cash register advertised $1.99 margaritas (with a limit of 3), unfortunately we don’t get to test whether the limit is actually enforced.   My wife settled on the chicken fajitas ($9.99) and I picked what I usually order at a new Mexican place – the pork – carnitas in this case ($8.50).

The chips and salsa were pretty standard.  The salsa, delivered in the typical salsa carafe, tasted fresh and wasn’t spicy – I forgot to ask if they have a spicier version.

My wife liked her fajitas.  I had a couple of bites and found them to be seasoned pretty well with a lot of chicken and onions.  It was a good sized portion and she was able to make 3 meals out of it.

Bob’s Whine and Dine

My carnitas were a bit of a surprise.  When the plate arrived, I found several very large chunks of pork looking at me – I’m used to smaller pieces.  Carnitas can be somewhat fatty and these were no exception.  While my friend Steve thrives on pork fat – I like my meat leaner.  Fortunately the pork was tender and the fat easy to separate from the meat.  The meat itself was tender and tasted pretty darn good – I was glad I made this selection.  This pork would be even better if paired with a nice green or red chili sauce.  There was one other nice touch to this dish – a whole roasted jalapeno pepper on the side to spice things up.  The rice and beans were pretty good perhaps a bit better than average for our town.

Service was good during our visit with our drinks staying full and our meals delivered quickly.

Everything is new inside.  The dining room is sectioned off into 3 areas.  Décor is nice and light with flowers & fruit artwork on the walls.  There weren’t any cartoon peppers, piñatas, sombreros or other south of the border type of items around so there are few cues that you are in a Mexican restaurant.  The upholstery on the booth seats are a strange color green though.

Overall we both enjoyed our meals at El Sombrero.  In the BWAD 3 tier Mexican Restaurant rating system (1 is best – 3 is well, not best) – El Sombrero earns a solid tier 2 rating – perhaps even on the upper end of tier 2.

Bob’s Whine and Dine

1529 West Battlefield Road – (417) 887-8810

Link to Health Inspections

[View with PicLens]

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Steve, Danny, Kelly and I ended up at Arris’ Pizza after a failed attempt at trying another place in town (it had closed).  I’ve been to Arris’ in the past but it has been a while.

We got there right before the big lunch crowd appeared and I think we may have gotten the last table.  I remembered from previous visits that this is a popular place and there is often a wait for a table.

Kelly got a Gyro since he didn’t want to share pizza with the rest of us.  I believed he liked it pretty well.   We other 3 decided on 2 large pizzas – one split ½ and ½ so we could try a variety of ingredients.  We ended up with the following: Full House Special ($16.25) and a ½ Sweet & Sassy and ½ Black & Blue Supreme ($16).   We thought 2 large pizzas would be just enough for 3 hungry guys, but there was about ½ of a pizza left over even after eating more than we should have – they were pretty substantial.

The House Special is the one I focused on and it was the one that had Arris’ homemade Greek sausage – which was the highlight of the pizza.  The sausage is in rather large chucks and for the most part, each piece of pizza had one large chunk of sausage on it.  The sausage had a mild flavor and the Greek seasonings made for a really tasty topping – the large pieces added to the experience.   Other toppings included ground beef, pepperoni, green peppers, onions and mushroom.  This was my favorite of the 3 styles we had this day.

I did not try the Black and Blue as I do not like blue cheese – that pizza had black olives, blue cheese, tomatoes, and the Greek sausage.  I also had a few pieces of the Sweet & Sassy – Canadian bacon, breakfast bacon, pineapple, onions and jalapeños.  One of my favorite pizza combos includes pineapple & jalapeños.  However, I didn’t care for this pizza as the two types of bacon overwhelmed the other ingredients – leaving the pizza too salty and too smoky for my tastes.

The crust on the pizza is better than average.  It was almost like a thin crust ‘Chicago-style’ crust which is more flakey than doughy.  It was not crisp all across the bottom, but the edges were nice and crispy and it did hold itself up when you picked up a slice.  The crust had a really good flavor – especially the crispy edges.

Speaking of slices & edges – Arris’ does the square-cut style when cutting their pizzas – I don’t like that!  I feel like I get ripped off when I end up with a square piece from the middle of the pizza that has no edge crust on it.  Fortunately for me – Steve and Danny volunteered to eat the middle pieces so I could always get some edge crust on my slices.

Service wasn’t outstanding but it wasn’t terrible either.  At times workers other than our server checked on our drink status and got us refills.

The dining room is fairly large and they have tables spaced out to accommodate groups (there were several on the day we went).  There is a small bar area with tall tables in the corner.  There is also a wide open kitchen that lets you watch what is going on in there.

Overall, the pizza was a hit and miss for me – a hit on the pizza with Greek sausage, a miss on the pizza with bacon.  I’m sure I would like their more standard pizzas just fine.  It was also a miss for me on the  ‘square’ cut slices.

1332 East Republic Rd – (417) 881-7260

Link to Arris’ Pizza Web Site (with menu)

Link to Health Inspections

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The menu at St. Michael’s is Italian influenced with pasta’s, salads, sandwiches and burgers. The special of the day on the sidewalk chalkboard caught my eye – an eggplant parmesan sub. I pretty much decided that’s what I wanted before looking at the menu.  The special came with a side and I chose the Italian wedding soup at Kelly’s urging. Steve ordered the cheese lasagna and soup and Kelly just had the soup saying something about needing to eat light.

Kelly’s been talking up the Italian wedding soup for quite a while and I must say it was a winner. The broth had a great flavor.  Goodies swimming around inside the broth were tiny pasta tubes, carrots, 3 meatballs and some fresh greens tossed on top.  The meatballs were just ok – I don’t think they were homemade. Overall this was a great soup and would make a great light lunch by itself when combined with the complimentary bread.

The eggplant parmesan sub was another winner.  Served on a toasted roll was a generous slab of golden fried eggplant topped with marinara and just the right amount of cheese.  The eggplant tasted great – as good as I’ve had anywhere.  The marinara tasted really fresh and was seasoned well.  After the soup, I only had room for ½ of the sandwich so was able to enjoy it all over again the next day.

Steve said his cheese lasagna was good.  When the lasagna came out it almost looked like a soup as they cover the lasagna with a good dose of that tasty marinara sauce.

Looking around at other tables I noticed a lot of salads being consumed out of large stainless steel bowls.  Kelly said that the salads at St. Michael’s are very good and based on the number of bowls I saw – are indeed very popular.

Service was pretty good with my Diet Coke kept full most of the time – but Kelly is on a first name basis with everyone working here so we may have gotten a little extra attention from our server.

Located on the corner of South and McDaniel, the restaurant has you typical downtown setup – a deep narrow space with high ceilings.  School memorabilia lines the walls.  The restaurant is “Dedicated to the Class of ’61” which I’m sure has a connection in some way with owner Nick Russo – just not sure what.  Perhaps someone will comment with more info on that.  The place also seems popular with the Roman Catholic clergy as I saw several priests lunching it up on our visit.

Overall, I’m sad….  Sad that it took me so long to try St. Michael’s.  I really enjoyed my meal and I’m going to arrange another trip soon with my wife so she can try one of those salads and I can try a burger – unless of course the eggplant parmesan sub is available again.

[View with PicLens]

301 South Avenue – (417) 865-2315

Link to Health Inspections

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I finally had the opportunity to visit the little Sub Shop on Seminole.  I’ve been driving past this place for years and don’t know why I’ve never stopped in to try it.  I was with my brother and his two boys so we had a chance to try a variety of subs.

I had the Fighter Pilot on white with salami, pepperoni, cheese, lettuce, mild peppers and sub sauce.  Others had ham and cheese and turkey and cheese.  We all ordered the large ($5 for any large sandwich) which seemed like a better deal than the $4 small.  The large sandwich was about 10 inches long.  My Fighter Pilot had 3 slices each of the salami, pepperoni and cheese.  The sub sauce is a kind of Italian dressing and the amount on the sandwich was just right.  I really hate places that pour on the sauce such that is drips out of the sandwich.

The bread is what everybody really talked about.  The sign in the shop said it is baked fresh daily.  The bread was soft but chewy and held together really well while biting into it.  It had a great fresh taste and was probably the best thing about the sandwich.  This sandwich is a big step up from the Subways of the world.

These are simple sandwiches.  You can choose white or wheat bread.  Provolone seems to be the only cheese offered (but the one I prefer).  There aren’t 50 toppings to choose from, but you can ask to have the sandwich made just how you like it from what options there are (e.g. no mayo, light sauce).

Bob’s Whine and Dine

We all agreed that for $5 we got a really good sandwich.  I wonder now if they had an option for extra meat and cheese on the Fighter Pilot as I think that would have made the sandwich even better.

They also had a special going that this day was a ham sandwich, drink and chips for $5 – which is even a better bargain.

One thing that I found not pleasing (to me at least) were the drink prices.  $1.75 for a 20oz drink that was mostly ice.  I didn’t ask but figured there were no refills.

There are two locations – the Seminole one where we ate and one on west McDaniel.  The Seminole location is really tiny with just enough room inside for about 5 people to line up to order at the counter – more than that and the line stretches outside.  We ate at one of the two small picnic tables outside but we noticed that most people either ate in their cars or just took their food to go.

The two people working when we visited were really nice and didn’t mind helping us newbies navigate the process of ordering.  Our sandwiches came out just as we ordered them.

We arrived at the Sub Shop right about noon and there was a steady stream of people the whole time we were there.  There were obviously some regulars as the lady behind us walked up to the counter and didn’t even have to order – the guy behind the counter said hi and just rattled off her ‘usual’.

Sub Shop is open only for lunch (11 to 2pm I think).  It is also a CASH ONLY place – but the sales tax is included in the prices so if you only had a $5 bill in your pocket you could walk out with any large sandwich.

I’ll be back – but will probably skip getting the drink and stick to the yummy sandwiches.

1721 E Seminole St – (417) 887-3804

456 W McDaniel St – (417) 831-8077

The Shop Shop made TAGsgf.com’s Top Five Sandwich Shops

Link to Health Inspections

Bob’s Whine and Dine

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This article, written by Bob first published just after Yum Yum Bowl’s opening on Bob’s Whine and Dine.

In the last few weeks, I’ve noticed the new sign at an old location on Battlefield near Kimbrough and witnessed quite a few cars in the lot at lunch and dinner time. I couldn’t tell from the sign exactly what kind of place the Yum Yum Bowl (YYB) was until I went for lunch today with Danny and friend David. Turns out Springfield has yet another Chinese restaurant to choose from.

There were a couple of tables occupied when we arrived before noon. This is an order at the counter, get a number, and they bring you your food kind of place. The soda fountain is self service. It got progressively busier (and louder) in the dining room as our visit went on.

The menu consists of some standard Chinese appetizers and several chicken, beef and shrimp entrées. There was one pork entrée and one vegetable entrée along with a couple of salads. (Check out the menu link below).

My selection was the Teriyaki Steak ($6.95), Danny chose the Kalbi Style Steak ($6.95) and David ordered the General Tso’s chicken ($5.95). I made mine an eggroll combo for an extra $1.95 which includes a drink (you can get the combo with two crab puffs as well). I also decided on an order of the Crab Puffs ($3.95) to share with the guys. The entrées all come with white rice and you can sub for fried noodles for an extra buck.

The Crab Puff was your standard crab rangoon – cream cheese in a fried wonton wrapper. We discussed how they were unusually uniform in size and shape and pondered if they were frozen pre-made items.

All of the entrées are served in a very nice looking disposable bowl with veggies and your protein selection on top of a bed of rice. The beef in my Teriyaki steak was in nice big slices, very tender and I think a big step up in quality from the beef found at your typical Chinese place. The Teriyaki sauce wasn’t my favorite, however, because it was missing that wow factor as I didn’t think it was quite flavorful enough. The veggies in my bowl consisted of 99.9999% cubed zucchini squash. The other .0001% was one small piece of broccoli and ¼ of a mushroom. I don’t like Zucchini so I left feeling a cheated on the veggie front.

I got a taste of Danny’s Kalbi Style steak. It turned out to be a take on a Korean dish and in addition to the same rice & zucchini it also had a small portion of Kimchi. I had a piece of Danny’s beef and found that I liked it a lot better than mine – large chunks with a really good flavor – sort of sweet and sort of spicy. I would order it if I came back. David mentioned that his General Tso’s chicken was ok – it wasn’t very spicy, consistent with what the guy at the ordering counter described.

I do have to mention the egg roll I received in my combo meal. It had to be the worst egg roll I’ve ever had. The outside was soggy; the insides were like a pasty mush and just didn’t taste good at all. I’m sure this item came from a box in the freezer.

All of our meals came out quickly and freshly prepared except for the thing they were calling an egg roll.

The location YYB occupies was, for a very long time, a Chinese restaurant. In the last couple of years, the spot has been either fallow or occupied by very short-lived endeavors including a Mexican place, gyro/pizza place and Chicago hot dog place. I had lunch here once when it was the Mexican place and can tell you that the new owners have transformed an old, run-down venue into a nice place to have a meal. There has been extensive remodeling and decorating and the place has a really nice up-scale feel to it now.

I think YYB is attempting to be a more up-scale fast food Chinese place. I think the prices are a bit higher than other places when you consider a “combo meal” works out to $8 or $9. Some of the items are of a higher quality like the beef, but others just aren’t any different or even worse (that egg roll thing) than other Chinese places. Steve wants to try YYB at some point, so I may make it back one more time – if I do, I’m going to try the Island Style BBQ Pork and see what that is about. I’ll also ask for less zucchini next time. Otherwise, I’m going to get my Yum Yum Chinese somewhere else.

Bob’s Whine and Dine

706 East Battlefield – (417) 882-3644

‎‎Link to Health Inspections

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I noticed 2 weeks ago a newish restaurant in the nook shopping center along South National where Shultz & Dooley’s 2 is located.  The name was Pickleman’s Gourmet Café and from just driving by I couldn’t tell exactly what kind of place it was, but it must be special to have ‘Gourmet’ in the name.  I talked my friend David into a trip to Pickleman’s to figure it out.

Turns out Pickleman’s is the newest sandwich shop in town.  On the menu board is a selection of toasted sandwiches & subs, soups, chopped salads and pizzas.  I think they are intending to position themselves in the ‘upscale sandwich’ market considering the ‘Gourmet’ in the name and the “Higher Quality Products, Freshly Prepared” slogan.  I think the prices are also an indicator as they are higher than other places in town.  It is probably more like McAllister’s or Schlotzky’s than Subway from a menu standpoint.

We almost left because we felt sort of let-down by the ‘Gourmet Café’ come-on, but then decided to go ahead give Pickleman’s a try.

I’ve just about given up on a good Italian sandwich in town but still decided to try the Pickleman’s Italian Club for $5.39.  David picked the Turkey Bacon Club for the same $5.39 price.  Setup is similar to other places, you order at the counter, scoot down the way a bit to the cash register to play – then head over to your table to wait to be called to get your sandwich.  It didn’t take long.

When our sandwiches were done, the first thing I noticed was the size – they are really short – especially if you are used to the ‘foot longs’ at other places.  There is only one size of sandwich as well.  The bread is not made in house and is removed from plastic bags.  Even so, the bread was more interesting than the stuff you get at Subway.  It was pretty dense and had a nice crust on it.  My sandwich was heftier than it appeared as well and I wasn’t hungry when I finished.  There was a fair amount of meat and cheese and with the Italian dressing – I thought the overall flavor was pretty good.  The ingredient quality is a step up from Subway.  David thought his sandwich was ok, but not spectacular.  He is a bigger eater than I am and we joked about where we were going next to finish lunch.

You’d think with a name like Pickleman’s that pickles would factor into the experience in a big way – right?  Well – the answer is no – it doesn’t.  If you want a pickle with your sandwich – you have to cough up .79 cents for a half or $1.39 for a whole – or make your meal into a combo and then make a decision to choose pickle instead of chips for your side.  Oh, and if you want to customize your sandwich with additional veggies (olives, banana peppers, cucumber, etc) – that’ll cost you extra as well.

Bob’s Whine and Dine

The décor is contemporary sandwich shop with a mix of tall and low tables as well as a few booths.  It is nice enough.  I think it is interesting that they choose a location a few doors down from Jimmy John’s.  This location is a prime area to catch the Medical Mile South lunch crowd and when we visited, I saw quite a few Cox Health badges dangling from people’s necks.

Pickleman’s offers catering and delivery as well.  Pickleman’s appears to be a somewhat local chain with their only other locations in Columbia.

My sandwich was ok – but the prices are higher than other places and they seem to nickel and dime you more for stuff.  Sad to say, but I’m still looking for that great Italian sandwich.

3522 S. National – (417) 887-7300

Website:  http://www.picklemans.com/ (their website is very annoying!)

Link to Health Inspections

Bob’s Whine and Dine

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My sister-in-law who lives in Ozark suggested a visit to Rosie Jo’s was in order.  I had some trepidation about trying another home-cooking style place after our recent experience at Patrick’s in Nixa.  But, this is what I do, so Steve and I had lunch at Rosie Jo’s this week – purposely leaving out Danny as we were pretty sure he wouldn’t want to go after the pie incident at Patrick’s.

We arrived around 11:30 and settled in – the lunch/dinner menu looks just like most other home-style places featuring the standard comfort foods like burgers & sandwiches, fried chicken, catfish, shrimp, roast beef, meatloaf, liver & onions, etc…  There is also a daily special – on the Monday we visited it featured all you can eat fried chicken with our server indicating that it takes about 20 minutes as they fry the chicken to order.

Bob’s Whine and Dine

We ordered an appetizer of onion rings to munch on.  For lunch I ordered the Hillbilly Steak with homemade fries and a cup of chili, Steve ordered the Chicken Fried Steak dinner with mashed potatoes and veg of the day (corn).

The onion rings quite good being thinly sliced and coated in a light & crispy batter.  While they didn’t seem overly greasy – we did notice a good puddle of grease in the bottom of the basket as we were finishing up.

I’ve had a Hillbilly sandwich once before at Cedar’s which was made with ground beef.  The Hillbilly at Rosie Jo’s is a pounded beef tenderloin breaded and fried like ‘chicken fried’ steak.  It meat was pretty rectangular fitting the bun almost exactly – I’m not sure how they do that.  It was fried to a nice golden brown and the batter was seasoned well.  The Hillbilly didn’t come with mayo or any other dressing – just the relish – so I thought it was a bit dry by itself.  The sandwich was served with some ‘spicy’ relish that wasn’t particularly spicy but I thought it was good and went well with the sandwich.  I liked the sandwich but I think some mayo would have made the sandwich a bit better.

The fries were a disappointment.  They are fresh-cut and only fried once and therefore suffer from the ‘fresh-cut sogginess’ – nothing crisp about these.  I only ate a couple.  The chili was pretty good – not spicy but with a good flavor and nice and chunky with meat & beans.

Steve said he enjoyed his meal and said that things were a big step up in the flavor department when compared to Patrick’s.  The steak took over almost all of the plate, leaving just the edges for the corn and mashed potatoes (which were real by the way).  I had a taste of the steak and thought it had a bit of ‘mystery meat’ taste which I’m not sure I cared for.  Steve called it a liverish taste and that he liked it.  I don’t think I could have eaten the whole thing if it tasted like that all the way through.

When we were looking at the menu, I was considering a burger for lunch instead of the Hillbilly – but had this vision of a frozen patty on a bun and didn’t want to go there.  But while we were eating we started seeing burgers coming out to other tables and they looked really good.  The patties were thick and looked juicy – I would like to try one if I make it back.

So, at this point – I had eaten a good bit of onion rings, a cup of chili, a large Hillbilly sandwich and a few fries.  I was pretty full – but the pie menu beckoned with the promise of “Made from scratch PIES!!!”   Our last attempt at pie was unsuccessful and we were hoping given the rest of our meal that we would find a pie here worthy of eating.

Not all of the advertised pies were available on our visit.  I picked apple, Steve picked chocolate.  The apple pie was a good solid specimen with a tasty homemade crust and a not-too-sweet apple filling.  The chocolate pie had a meringue topping instead of whipped cream and Steve had and issue with the ‘rubberyness’ of the meringue.  I had a small taste of the chocolate filling and thought it was ok – but not really exciting.

Prices at Rosie Jo’s are attractive with dinners all around 8 bucks.  You can get the burger with chips for $2.99.  I think the daily specials are also around 8 bucks and most are AYCE.

Service was good.  My Diet Coke refills were prompt and we were checked on frequently.

The dining room is pretty large and there are 3 levels to the room.  The décor is what I would call countrified ‘Rooster’ with rooster stuff everywhere you look.  The dining room was also nice & bright due to the large windows out front.  The restroom was clean.

I considered our outing to Rosie Jo’s Café a success especially compared with our last visit to this type of place.   We got country-style home cooking food that was seasoned and cooked well.  While I didn’t like the fries or the taste of the chicken fried steak – there is enough promise here to make me want to go back.

915 W Jackson (MO 14), Ozark –  (417) 581-6047

Link to Menu I picked up

Link to Health Inspections

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On a recent trip to D’ Arpino’s I noticed some picnic tables outside of the St. George’s BBQ & Catering storefront.  I took a quick peek and found a small dining area inside.  I had always thought of St. George’s BBQ as a catering only place and was surprised to see a dine-in option is now available.  Last week I got a hankering for some BBQ and decided to stop by for lunch accompanied by my friend David.

The menu is pretty standard for a BBQ place with pulled pork, beef brisket, ham, chicken, sausage in various combo plates and sandwiches.  Sides include BBQ staples such as potato salad, cole slaw, beans, fries and onion rings.  Wanting to try a sampling of meats, I chose the “Sample Platter” ($9.99) of 3 meats and two sides.  They didn’t have any sausage ready the day of our visit so I picked the brisket, pulled pork and sliced chicken with beans and slaw as sides.  David picked the “Combo Platter” ($7.99) with 2 meats (beef & pork) along with beans and fries.

Our meals where brought out quickly and on the 3 compartment plate, I was happy to see large portions of meat & sides.  There was a lot of meat on this plate – I wouldn’t be surprised if there was an entire pound between the chicken, pork and beef.  I loved that all of the meats had a great smoky flavor – you don’t always get that in this town.  One criticism I do have is that all of the meats were on the dry side.  I expected that with the chicken breast, but was surprised the pork was also kind of dry.  That turned out to be not a huge issue because I really liked the tangy BBQ sauce which found its way onto each forkful.  There are two sauces – mild and hot.  The two sauces are the same except for the heat level.  This time, I stuck with the mild sauce for the entire meal.

The beans were pretty good with some chunks of meat here and there.  The cole slaw was chopped very finely and was fairly lightly dressed.  It reminded me a bit of KFC cole slaw (which I like by the way).  The Texas toast on the side was just toasted – no butter or spread involved.

There was just too much for me to eat on the plate and I took about ½ of everything home (and had a nice dinner the next evening).  Friend David managed to eat his whole plate and said he too enjoyed it.

I had a short conversation with the owner (Chris St. George) and he said all of the smoking is done there at the restaurant in his digital controlled smoker.  He also said that all of the sides are made in house.  I was surprised to hear that dine-in option has been open for 2 years (but sorry I hadn’t noticed it before) and that they do a good dine-in business.

Towards the end of our meal, Chris left and went next store to the St. George’s Donut Shop (also part of the St. George’s Empire).  He returned a few moments later with a tray full of assorted donuts and offered us one on the house to finish off our meal.  I never turn down a free donut (even though I really didn’t need one) and enjoyed the nice cake-style specimen.

Besides the two picnic tables out front, there are 4 tables inside which makes for a very cozy eat-in venue.  Drinks are self serve.

I really enjoyed my lunch at St. George’s.  I want to go back and try the ribs & sausage.

3012 S. National – (417) 877-0291

Link to Menu I picked up

Website: http://www.stgeorgesbbq.com/  (Web site is a bit out of date)

Link to Health Inspections

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When it first opened, Tasia was one of my go to places for Asian food in town.  We celebrated family events there and recommended it to friends.  But then we had a bad service experience one evening with Danny and his family a couple of years ago that made me angry and I didn’t want to go back.  Well, we found ourselves at the new “Scam’s Club” on South Campbell around dinner time this week and my wife wanted to give Tasia another try.

This was a Monday night around 6pm and I was bit surprised at the number of cars in the lot.  While the place wasn’t full, there was a pretty good crowd for dinner.

The menu doesn’t appear to have changed all that much since they first opened.  Tasia offers food from several different Asian cuisines including Chinese, Thia, Japanese and Korean (link to menu at the bottom).  Many of the dishes can be ordered with different proteins including chicken, beef, pork and tofu.  We skipped appetizers and selected the Chicken Lomein ($7.95) along with the Thai Red Curry Chicken ($8.95 and printed in red on the menu indicating spicy).

After a short wait our meals arrived with a small bowl of white rice as a side.  We were both very pleased with our meals.  My wife’s Chicken Lomein noodles were a bit sweet, the chicken tender and there were lots of nice vegetables tossed in.  My curry chicken was also very good.  The sauce was a bit thicker than I’ve had at regular Thai restaurants and it had a really nice heat level unlike the anemic ‘spicy’ dishes at other places.  The chicken was tender, the veggies cooked well – overall a very good dish.  The portion sizes were generous as well – we both had extra to take home.

Service this evening was very good.  Our server (and the dining room helper) did a great job of greeting us, explaining the menu, taking care of drink refills, etc…  This was a big difference than our last visit a long time ago.  We didn’t get fortune cookies to nibble on though which I think I remembered getting on past visits.

The dining room is a nice place to have a meal with contemporary colors, greenery and other nice touches about.  The décor is several steps up from the typical take-away Chinese place.  Since my last visit, they have enhanced the dining space just inside the front door by putting up some wooden barriers creating some separation from the tables in that area and the foot traffic in and out.  The restroom was clean.

Tasia is celebrating their 5 year anniversary this month and to mark the occasion they were handing out some Tasia T-shirts (which we accepted – who doesn’t like free stuff?).

Today’s good experience has helped improve my opinion about Tasia.  I liked our meal and service was very good.  I’m glad we gave Tasia another chance and I would imagine we may make it back a bit more frequently in the future.

4728 South Campbell – (417) 890-6789

Link to Menu on AllMenus.com

Link to Health Inspections

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Last Friday was the Friday Night Art Walk downtown. My wife and I have talked about going for a long time now and we finally made it. Being Art Walk night we decided that the “Gallery” Bistro would a fitting dining destination. Joining us was Kelly and his friends Darrin and Katie. Kelly has been talking up the Gallery Bistro ever since I told him about how we liked Flame.

We arrived without reservations about 5:30 (Kelly, we should have called) and after a bit of discussion amongst the staff – they found us a table for 5 that we could have until 7pm – which was plenty of time.

Looking at the menus – it appears that there is something here for everyone’s tastes with selections of the standard beef, chicken and fish along with lamb, pork and duck. The cuisine is what I like to call “Fancy Eat’n” with each dish having special sauces (e.g. bourbon fig compote or tarragon demi-glace) or sides with ingredients you don’t get at home like cumin steamed broccoli or seared apple and walnut cous cous. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not knocking this here “Fancy Eat’n” – I rather like something different than what you get at Applebee’s and Logans.

Our drink orders were taken quickly and a small loaf of white bread was delivered to our table. We wanted to get to the Art Walk so we skipped ordering appetizers and we went right for entrées.

I decided on the Pacific Halibut ($22.95) which comes with saffron rice pilaf, cumin spiced broccoli and topped with a citrus scallop ceviche. My wife ordered the Hazelnut Tilapia ($15.95) which ordinarily would come with a wild rice pilaf – but she substituted the buttered spaghetti squash for her side.

My halibut was an excellent choice – it was a nice big piece of fish – firm and meaty. The fish was simply pan seared which made the flavor of the fish the main element of the dish. The ceviche topping was good – small bay scallops with bits of onion and some red peppers along with the sauce. The scallops were particularly good – but except for a couple of them – I did not taste any of the citrus used in the mix – there were two of the scallops that did have the sauce infused through them and they were the best tasting of the lot. (Note – I only know what ceviche is by watching the TV show Top Chef).

I also liked the broccoli – being flavored with cumin made it taste like something you would get at an Indian food place. The rice was ok.

My wife liked her Tilapia – I had a taste and liked it as well. Unlike the Halibut – the Tilapia got most of its flavor from the Hazelnut crust and the citrus butter sauce – but then Tilapia is a very mild fish and needs something to help it out. My wife also really liked her squash – shredded and slightly sweet, which made for a tasty side dish.

Hopefully Kelly, Darrin and Katie will comment on their selections.

Service was very good tonight – we saw the manager several times and our servers were attentive. I was impressed with the knowledge our server had of the menu and specials for the night. Our special requests were no problem. My diet coke was refilled often – usually before I emptied the glass.

The space occupied by the Gallery Bistro is typical of other downtown restaurants in that it has a fairly narrow but deep dining room with tall ceilings. This makes for a somewhat loud environment – but it helped a lot that the tables were not crammed up against each other like at some other downtown places (think Bijan’s). We were able to carry on our conversations easily. The art on the walls and in the nooks and crannies are the focal point of the décor. There are many rather large canvases on the walls which certainly reinforces the “Gallery” theme.

Overall, we enjoyed our dinner at the Gallery Bistro – the food was very good, service was excellent. It also helped that the prices are a tiny bit lower than some of the other “Fancy Eat’n” places downtown.

Oh, and the Art Walk was fun afterwards too!

221 E Walnut St – (417) 866-0555

Link to Health Inspections

Gallery Bistro Online

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Emack & Bolio’s (EB) has been in Springfield for at least a couple of years.  They used to be in a location on East Battlefield near Lone Pine in a new fancy strip center (after sitting downtown on Walnut for a short time).  My wife and I visited at that location once for some ice cream and didn’t really think it special enough to return.  Late last year EB moved to that tiny little rock building on Lone Pine across from Sequiota Park.  I drive by there a lot and noticed they had a sign out front advertising Paninis.  Last week I was on my own for dinner and decided to drop by on my way home and pickup a take-away Chicken Club Panini ($6.49) for dinner.

It wasn’t a very nice day and I was the only one in the restaurant while I waited for my sandwich.  My sandwich was prepared right away and I was ready to go in about 5 minutes.  The chicken club sandwich has sliced chicken breast, bacon, provolone cheese and ranch dressing on sliced ciabatta bread – then toasted on the Panini grill.  While the bread had a sort of toasty texture it didn’t look very toasty and didn’t have those nice browned grill marks I was expecting.

The sliced chicken (not thin deli sliced style) was plentiful as was the cheese and bacon.  This was a pretty substantial sandwich and I felt very satisfied after eating it.  The flavors worked pretty well together (can’t go wrong with bacon, cheese and ranch for that).   It would have added to the flavor had it been toasted longer.  The sandwich came with a small bag of Classic Lay’s potato chips.

There are 9 sandwiches on the menu along with soup and salads (see menu link at the bottom).  Of course there is also ice cream (cones, bowls, toppings, etc.) as well as coffee drinks, teas and smoothies available.  It appears that they make a point to highlight their home made waffle cones – with a specialty item being the rice crispy treat cone.

This new location in the little rock building is tiny on the inside.  There is barely enough room for the 4 tables.  While small, it was homey and kind of cute.   This particular building has been home to many different businesses over the years.  Most of the businesses were salons of one type or another and none of them had any staying power.

EB’s new location should bring good business as the weather gets better – they have a pretty good location to tap into the Sequiota Park patrons demanding ice cream in the summer.

Overall, I had a satisfying sandwich at EB.  I just wish they had toasted it a bit longer.

3521 S Lone Pine (Across from Sequiota Park) – (417) 889-3622

Emack & Bolio’s Online (menu online differs from
what I picked up on my visit)

Link to Health Inspections

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UPDATE

Winner winner, trout dinner!

We arrived around 5:30pm and there were just a couple of tables full.  We were seated quickly and got our drink orders in.  Looking over the menu, it doesn’t appear to have changed much.  I had made up my mind that I would avoid the pizza and Mac & Cheese.  There were two specials this evening – a pan seared trout with a cream sauce and chicken fried chicken.  My wife chose the trout special with mashed potatoes and veggie of the day.  I was in the mood for a burger so I chose the Big Daddy Burger with the veggies.

My wife said she really liked the trout.  It was cooked and seasoned well and the cream sauce was nice and light and did not overwhelm the fish.  She also liked the way the skin was easily separated from the meat.  She didn’t much care for the vegetables which turned out to be some broccoli trees and a few slices of roasted red pepper.  The broccoli was undercooked and almost raw – and therefore was very crunchy.  The roasted red peppers were ok – but appeared to be out of a can or jar.  She liked the mashed potatoes.

My half pound “Big Daddy” burger ($8.50) was pretty good.  It was served on nice home-made style bun with lettuce, pickle and tomato on the side.  I ordered the burger medium and it was cooked correctly.  It was nice to get a burger that wasn’t dry.  It also was seasoned well – with something that was a bit spicy – I liked that.  I had the same broccoli issue as my wife.  I put the roasted red peppers on my burger which was a better place for them.

Service was pretty good on this trip without any of the issues from last time.  It was nice to see the servers looking out for each other – I got a couple of Diet Coke refills from another server who noticed my glass was nearly empty while he was walking by.

Except for the broccoli – we both enjoyed our meals.  If you look at the other comments – people seem to be divided about Grant’s.  Grant’s isn’t making my list of ‘must-go’ places but I will probably make it back again to try something from the list of Italian entrées.

============================================================

Original Review – July 8, 2009

Grant’s American Family Dining opened up in Ozark recently in the space formerly occupied by Angeli’s (still sad about that).  I had dinner there recently with two of my sister-in-laws while in Ozark one evening.

The menu at Grant’s is what they are calling “American” with pizza, pasta, sandwiches, and dinner entrées like chicken, pot pie, pork chops and a sirloin steak.  The wide-ranging menu has about only 6 or 7 items per category which I like to see.  I’ve found that often places with smaller menus can focus on making a smaller number of offerings exceptional.

The pizza was prominent on the menu – with a big headline about the dough being made fresh and hand tossed.  So I asked for a small with pepperoni, pineapple, onion and jalapeno.  My dinner companions choose the Macaroni and Double Cheese and the Pork Chops with Apple Sauce for their entrées.

When my pizza arrived it came out with one pretty serious problem.  The crust was undercooked.  There was no brown on the crust anywhere – not around the edges, not on the bottom and it tasted a bit raw and doughy.  I also thought that the sauce tasted too much of raw tomato with little in the way of those tasty Italian herbs.  When I brought this to the attention of our server he offered to take it back to cook it more – but I didn’t want any more pizza at that point.  He went back to talk to the kitchen and came back with an explanation that the pizza oven had been turned off and they didn’t notice it while cooking my pizza.  I don’t know about you, but when I’m cooking pizza, I always look at the bottom of the crust to make sure it is done – something that wasn’t done on this occasion.  Perhaps someone else will comment about what a properly cooked pizza at Grant’s is like.

The Macaroni and Double Cheese was another disappointment – it was more like macaroni & cheese soup – the cheese sauce was thin and abundant and the macaroni just swam around in it.  Our server asked what we thought of the M&C and when we relayed our disappointment – he indicated that he has heard a lot of ho-hums about it as well.

The bright spot of our evening was the Pork Chops.  My dinner companion said that they were great – tender and full of flavor.  Perhaps she will post more about that.

Due to the issues with my pizza, I was offered and accepted a free desert.  I selected the apple pie based on the description of it being made with “secret spices and caramel baked in a flaky crust”.  The pie filling indeed had a unique taste that none of us could put our finger on – it tasted pretty good.  The crust however was not the flaky one as described, it was thin and tough.  If it had indeed had the flaky crust as advertised, it would have been a really good pie.

Service was pretty good once it started.  After being seated by one of the two hostesses, we sat for quite a while watching staff running back and forth doing other things while the hostesses were hanging out about 3 feet away from our table.  After a bit of trying to get someone’s attention, we finally made eye contact with a server who was standing around visiting with the hostesses and asked for someone to wait on us.  We ended up with a really nice guy as our server and service for the rest of the evening was pretty good.

The décor of Grant’s hasn’t changed too much from the Angeli days with the exception of a new wall that has been put up to separate the dining room from the bar.

There is some promise at Grant’s if the pork chop is any indication.  They had been open about 3 weeks when we visited so I will probably be back to try something else.  I’ll probably stay away from the pizza in the future because even with a properly cooked crust the sauce was not to my liking and crust and sauce are what really make a pizza in my opinion.

1759 West State Highway J, Ozark – (417) 581-6770

http://www.grantsrestaurant.com (menu is online)

Link to Health Inspections

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The Buzz

The menu consists of breakfast items (starting at 7am), sandwiches, soups and salads – oh yeah – they have coffee too.   On this day, my wife chose the spinach & chicken quiche with a side of fruit ($5) and I selected the curry chicken salad sandwich that comes with chips ($5.99).  There are also combos available where you can mix & match salad, sandwiches and soup for $6.99.

We had to wait for about 20 minutes for our food.  I could tell the kitchen was working hard to keep up as food was coming out at a good clip.   There were just a lot of people ahead of us.

Once our food arrived we dug in.  My wife said that the quiche was nice & fluffy and she said it was one of the best quiches she has ever had (and she really likes quiche).  The side of fruit was also very good – a good pile of nice, fresh cantaloupe, blueberries and strawberries.

My curry chicken salad was really good.  The curry gave it a nice sweet flavor.  The tender bites of chicken were mixed with raisins and cashews.  The dressing was nice and light.  It was served on soft wheat berry bread which did a good job of containing the filling.  The first time I fell in love with curry chicken salad was in Washington D.C. at a little local deli near the zoo – this sandwich brought back a really good memory of that trip.  The chips served with the sandwich are home made and crispy and had a really good potato flavor – they were nearly as good as the chips at The Grotto.

I visited The Buzz one other time for a takeout Southwest Chicken sandwich on grilled flatbread.  I recall it was a good sandwich as well.

At The Buzz, you order at the counter and take a seat.  They will bring drinks (and refills) and the food to your table.  I was a little worried about running out of Diet Coke due to how busy the place was, but the server managed to keep up with me.

Since the place was busy – it was also very loud and I found it a bit difficult to carry on a conversation – you could say there was a very loud ‘Buzz’ in the place (I know that was bad).   Our table was sort of right in the middle of the traffic pattern for people lining up at the counter to order and the server taking food around, so we didn’t stick around very long after we were finished.  Like most coffee places, there is a small lounge area with a couch & chairs to hang out and drink your coffee while you read or surf the internet.

Hours are 7am to 3pm for the breakfast & lunch crowd.

Overall, we both really liked our lunch and sort of wished we had tried this place sooner.  I’ll be back to get Buzzed again.

1360 E Republic Rd – (417) 881-4442

The Buzz Facebook Page

Link to Health Inspections

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Tony's Famous Spaghetti

Steve, David and I ordered the spaghetti special (plate of spaghetti, garlic bread and drink for $4.50) we all added a side of 5 meatballs for an additional $2.29 bringing the lunch total to $7.35.  Danny ordered the 16″ Gondola Sub Deluxe ($4.89).  Since Danny and I wanted to try both the spaghetti and a sandwich we decided to split our selections.   One nice touch was that they had free cinnamon bread for you to snack on before or after your meal.

First the spaghetti.  You receive a good portion of spaghetti cooked correctly on a foam plate with Tony’s red sauce on top.  The sauce was nice and thick, with no watery mess at the bottom of the plate.  The sauce tasted good and it had lots of meat in it.  The garlic bread was ok – we all decided that it should be toastier and have some crunch to it – instead it was warm and soft.   You get LOTS of garlic bread with your meal – the menu states that the meal comes with 1/2 loaf of garlic bread and they are not kidding.  No one finished all of their bread.   The meatballs were good sized and fairly dense and had a pretty good flavor – but not the best I’ve had.   One additional comment on the meatballs – they menu indicates that they are ‘spicy’ – we detected no spiciness to them.

After Danny and I finished splitting the spaghetti – we were getting full and were wondering how we were going to eat the 16″ of sub sandwich that was sitting in front of us.  David and Steve managed to eat all of their spaghetti and meatballs – only leaving a slice or two of bread (note that they were complaining about eating too much).  The amount of food you get for the price is good here at Tony’s.

Danny and I both thought that the Gondola Sub Deluxe was disappointing.  My search for a good Italian sandwich in this town continues.   It was just ham, salami and cheese and a bit of lettuce on Tony’s bread – it reminded me of what I could make at home – it is a large sandwich however and we each only got through half of our half (I guess that would be ¼ of a whole – right?).  Also supplied was mayo and yellow mustard in those little packets that are hard to open.  One other curious thing about this sandwich is that they put a nice white cheese (provolone?) on it as well as yellow American cheese.  Why the American cheese – I have no idea – it is not something that belongs on this type of sandwich.  The Tony’s bread is pretty good – a bit on the sweet side and soft.  They indicate that they bake it themselves and you can see the loaves ready for use on a rack

You order at the counter and they bring you your food quickly.    You get your own drinks at Tony’s from the soda fountain.

Tony’s has a pretty large menu of your standard pasta items as well as various hot and cold sandwiches.  At Tony’s you can get a lot of food for a pretty good price.   I’m certain I’ll be back when I’m in the mood for some pasta & meatballs.

834 E Division – (417) 864-8669

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Bob’s Whine and Dine

The completely mobile Taco Wagon is currently in an empty lot on West Sunshine.

Driving up to the taco wagon, the first thing I noticed was the ample parking.  The Wagon is currently setup on a large abandoned concrete pad where I’m sure some type of building was located at one time.  The Wagon is a walkup type place so you’ll have to leave the comfort of your vehicle and mosey up to the window to place your order.  The next thing I noticed as I approached the Wagon was the hum of a small generator providing power.  This thing is really portable.

The menu at Taco Wagon is pretty simple and written on a whiteboard next to the ordering window.  My selection was 3 tacos ($1 each), one each of pork, chicken and beef and 1 ‘homemade’ shredded beef tamale ($2) for a total of $5 which included the tax.  There was a selection of mild, medium and hot sauces available – they put that on for you.

The taco fillings are cooked up fresh so you will wait a few minutes for your order which is delivered on either those really thin paper plates or a paper boat each covered with some foil.  I decided to “eat in” – which means I took the plate back to my truck and dined in the parking lot.

The tacos are served open faced on two soft corn tortillas with a small wedge of lime on the side.  They are also pretty small and 3 easily fit on the paper plate.  The use of 2 tortillas is a structural necessity.  I tried to eat one using a single tortilla and had a hull breach with ingredients exploding through the side – good thing they give you a plastic fork.  The fillings were good and fresh, the meat was tender and grilled up with onion and cilantro.  I asked for the medium sauce which was green.  I wish I had chosen the hot sauce as I found the medium sauce lacking spiciness and flavor.  Squeezing the lime over the top is recommended as it helps brighten up the flavor.

I’m still debating with myself about how well I liked the tacos.  The fillings, while good on their own, didn’t have enough robustness in the flavor department to make their presence known when you double up on the tortillas.  That left me tasting mostly tortilla.  They were better with a single tortilla – but then you have that structural issue to deal with.  The tortillas themselves were pretty good – so I guess overall I liked them ok.  Next time, I’m definitely going for the hot sauce and ask them to put on a bit more than the standard amount.

The tamale was a good basic version of the classic.  They get warmed up in the microwave prior to serving.

While I waited for my tacos I took a peek inside the Wagon and saw a very compact, clean and modern kitchen.  I also chatted up one of the two ladies working the Wagon and she kept warning me about the tacos being ‘California’ style and not the crispy shell style.  She also mentioned that the tamales are made by a Mexican woman somewhere in town.

The Taco Wagon is currently located in an abandoned lot on West Sunshine just west Wal-Mart and West Bypass.  Given the mobility factor of the Wagon – it might make appearances in other parts of town.

There isn’t anything else like the Taco Wagon in town.  I’ve been to Mexico and the food is very similar to what you might find on the side of the road there – simple, cheap Mexican food.

Location: An empty lot on West Sunshine just west Wal-Mart – No phone.

Link to Health Inspections

Bob’s Whine and Dine

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(TAG Magazine is proud to bring Bob from Bob’s Whine and Dine to the TAGsgf.com team. He comes with great regard and a tremendous online following. I’ll let him explain his position: “I will not tell you whether you should or should not go to any particular restaurant – I’m only going to share my personal experience. I am not a professional writer and I’m not a food expert. I’m just a regular forty-something year old guy who wants to do a little whining.” Look for Bob’s Whine and dine every Wednesday.)

Bob’s Whine and Dine

The tortilla machine at Tortilleria Perches runs during lunch. Talk about fresh.

The name “Tortilleria” I believe refers to the tortilla factory that is setup behind the counter.  The ‘factory’ is actually a tortilla making machine – a really old one – with lots of grease covered gears and various bits of machinery attached to it.  It has a “Made in Mexico” plaque on it.  It wasn’t running at lunch time and according to the staff it is used only in the morning as it is loud when operating.  I may return some morning just to watch it work.

The menu at Tortilleria is on a large hanging board when you enter the restaurant.  The menu not your typical 500 item affair – but rather simple with choices of taco, burrito, tamale, or tostada either a la carte or as a ‘plate’ with beans and rice.  Each selection can be had with your choice of meat which includes beef tips, ground beef (carne molida), mixed meats (discada), shredded beef (barbacoa), pulled pork (carnitas), beef tongue (lengua) or beef cheek (cachete).  Today there were three specials listed on the white board – Chilaquiles Dinner, Caldo de Res, and my selection – Gubado de Barbacoa.  On my various visits I’ve come to understand that you really must order from the special’s board as I’ve never been disappointed.

Lunch mates Danny also ordered the Gubado and Steve ordered Chilaquiles Dinner along with a fish taco (also from the specials board).  The Gubado was shredded beef cooked up with onions and peppers served with tortillas and beans & rice.  The Chilaquiles is a layered tortilla casserole with a red enchilada sauce and 2 sunny side up eggs.

We also ordered some chips & salsa ($1.50 – no it is not free here, but they did bring more chips when we ran out) .  The chips are obviously made here.  They are corn tortillas but are more like fried flour tortillas in texture and taste.  I liked them.  The red salsa was very average – thin and tomato based with no heat.

The beef in my dinner was nice and tender.  The preparation was very simple with some onion and green pepper.  It tasted pretty good by itself wrapped in a tortilla, but it was even better with some of the hot sauce from the table.    The rice was good – perhaps one of the better ones in town and the beans tasted good.  The beans also are very thin – almost a soup with no actual beans left intact from the cooking & preparation process.

Steve raved about his selection (the Chilaquiles).  I had a taste and it was very good even though the only protein was from the eggs.  It would have been even better with some chicken or pork.  Steve also said the fish taco was excellent.  It was made with some nice grilled tilapia and a tasty sauce.  Steve thought it was better than the fish taco at Grad School – which is really saying something.

On other visits I’ve had the Burrito Plate with barbacoa – very large and quite good when you add the green sauce that comes on the side.  The soups that come up on the specials boards are also very good and served in large bowls.  The large bowls are a necessity – for example, the chicken soups comes loaded with 2 pieces of chicken on the bone along with a small corn on the cob along with all of the other veggies.

I also need to mention that the tortillas are really good here both in taste and texture.  I’ve only seen one type -  a white corn tortilla – and they are not quite round.

At Tortilleria Perches, you order at the counter and they bring your meal to your table.  Drinks are self serve.  Our meals came out quickly.

The dining room is small – with 8 smallish tables.  There isn’t much in the way of décor (there isn’t room).  There was a pretty good crowd for lunch on this day.  They are also only open until 4pm which means you have to go for lunch or a really really early dinner.

Overall I think the menu at Tortilleria Perches is more authentic than most any other place here in Springfield.  It is simple Mexican food and I appreciate that.  You won’t find fried chimichangas, or things covered with sour cream or piles of lettuce.  Everything has that home made look and taste to it.

I really need to make it back more often.

1601 W Sunshine St – (417) 864-8195

Link to Facebook page

Link to Health Inspections

Bob’s Whine and Dine

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(TAG Magazine is proud to bring Bob from Bob’s Whine and Dine to the TAGSGF.com team. He comes with great regard and a tremendous online following. I’ll let him explain his position: “I will not tell you whether you should or should not go to any particular restaurant – I’m only going to share my personal experience. I am not a professional writer and I’m not a food expert. I’m just a regular forty-something year old guy who wants to do a little whining.” Look for Bob’s Whine and dine every Wednesday.)

The Grecian at 417 Pizza getting sliced before a couple TAGsgfers devoured it.

Steve told me about a new pizza place in town that served only thin crust pizza. Naturally, this meant a visit was in order as I like pizza – especially thin crust pizza.

My recent visit was with friend David. When we walked in, there was no one there to greet us so we wandered back to a table in the back of the place and sat down. Our server then noticed us and came over for drink orders.

It is apparent that the focus at 417 is pizza because the menu is almost entirely pizza. There are a couple of salads, but I say why order salad when you can have pizza? There are 7 specialty pizzas as well as “Build Your Own” from a list of 17 ingredients (the menu is listed on the web site). There is only one style of crust – thin – so that part of the pizza decision-making process is simple.

David being the carnivore he is meant we decided to split a medium “Meat Eaters” pizza for $13.29. When the pizza arrived it was cut into squares, meaning there are lots of middle pieces without an edge crust – not my favorite. However, I was pleasantly surprised that this pizza was very crispy all the way across the bottom. It was crispy enough that I didn’t mind eating the middle pieces. Verdict: Crust was good.

Toppings were okay – not remarkably better or worse than most other places. Cheese is good old mozzarella and not that slimy provel stuff that is too often found on thin crust pizza in these parts. The sauce had a lot of flavor and was another hit for me. It was put on fairly thick, which I like, yet it didn’t make the crust soggy. Other ‘thin-crust’ places in town could learn something from this.

Between the two of us we polished off the whole pizza, leaving me with a satisfied but not-too-full feeling afterward. Our server said that the crust and sauce are made on-site. 417’s specialty is thin-crust pizza and they make a good one.

Our server was friendly but at one point I got up to refill my own drink as he went missing for a little while. I also noticed that another couple arrived while we were there and they weren’t greeted either. Steve mentioned they had the same problem on their visit. It appears that the staff hangs out in the kitchen until they notice someone come in.

The space 417 occupies is nice enough with a somewhat Italian flair to it. There are partial walls that create little cubbies to give diners a semi-private area to eat. This may be some of the reason for the greeting issue as it is hard to see all the tables from any one spot.

417 Pizza and is located on South Campbell, just south of James River Expressway occupying a spot in a strip center next to the Andy’s Frozen Custard. If you didn’t know 417 Pizza was there you probably would never see it as the building sits back from the road. The sign is also small and blends in with the other businesses in the center.

It is not easy to access the location from the north as you have to cross Campbell. If coming from the North you can turn at the light by Andy’s and then cut through the Andy’s parking lot. If you miss that turn, you will have to wait on traffic at the next turnout which doesn’t have a light. Leaving to go south has a similar issue. There is just a lot of traffic in this particular area, especially since the Sam’s Club opened across the road.

There is delivery available from someplace called “Lightning Delivery” for a $4 charge.

Overall, I liked the pizza at 417 Pizza. Based on my visit I would rate it among the better thin crust pizzas in town. The location is a problem, though, and I would imagine at rush hour it would be very difficult to get there.

4560 South Campbell – (417) 887-4417

417 Pizza: On the web, Facebook

Link to Health Inspections

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