LITTLE ROCK — Can one expect to eat like a king aboard the Arkansas Queen?
We set sail on a recent Friday night dinner cruise to revisit the riverboat, which we haven’t reviewed since it opened at North Little Rock’s North Shore Maritime Center in 2006.
April through December, the Queen offers Friday-and Saturdaynight dinner cruises ($39.95 per person plus tax, free for children 3 and younger) and Saturday lunch cruises ($24.95 adult, $18.95 child, plus tax; free for children 3 and younger).
Sightseeing cruises without a meal and various seasonal and musical cruises are available also, but this is a restaurant review, so back to the food.
Coffee, iced tea and water are included with cruise admission. A cash bar awaits those wanting soft drinks, beer, wine and mixed drinks.
Prior to boarding the all-steel boat, which can carry 338 passengers and crew (guess who read the Arkansas Queen History sheet in the entry?), we checked in and posed with a life preserver for a picture that was later available for purchase. It’s not just a memento opportunity — it’s a Homeland Security measure.
Expect to sit next to strangers (with a table in between) if you’re in a small party. And expect to scoot in when they want to get by you; rows in the vessel — with gold and blue chairs, burgundy window treatments and a busy carpet — are a bit cramped.
After being shown to our seats (in the aisle right by the buffet — either the best or worst spot, depending on the diner’s perspec- tive), we headed straight to the bar, along with everyone else. With one bartender concocting frozen drinks to order — and scribbling old-school credit slips rather than swiping cards electronically — the line moved slowly.
Slushy, boozy Riverboat Drinks ($9.50) tempt with names like Southern Belle, not to mention souvenir glasses (you didn’t spend all your money on the captain’s hats in the gift shop, did you?). An icy Island Breeze of pineapple juice, vodka and cream of coconut was refreshing, if not particularly potent. I appreciated how the staff had the glass rinsed, bagged and ready to take home post-cruise.
Once the boat left the dock, passengers had 15 to 20 minutes to dance to the music provided by a singer/keyboard player (they didn’t until later, maybe when the Mudslides kicked in), explore the outside decks and savor the Arkansas River scenery before dinner. (The Queen headed west, turning around before the Big Dam Bridge, then headed east past the Clinton Presidential Center before turning for home.)
We chatted with fellow passengers — some dressed in shorts, others sequins — from places like Amarillo, Texas, and Kansas City, Mo. We felt like we were on vacation, too.
The Queen’s dinner is a white tablecloth-cloth napkinand-dessert fork-above-theplate kind of affair, presented by staff in nautical garb (who we noticed catered to specialneeds guests quite well). Diners are led in orderly fashion to the buffet table, where they can serve themselves garden salad, Queen’s Chicken with choice of two sauces, roasted pork tenderloin with cinnamon-apple sauce, scalloped potatoes, corn, green beans and a dinner roll. It’s a onetrip buffet, not all-you-can-eat, so take what you want on that first and only visit.
Everything was respectable. The meats, while short on seasoning, were tender; sauces allowed guests to tailor meals to their tastes. The corn and green beans were standard, while the saucy scalloped potatoes had a slight black-pepper bite. Advice: Eat your hot food first, and then your salad, for one because the food is quick to cool, and for two, the iceberg salad with croutons is nothing special.
The “Captain’s Dessert” was cheesecake. Just a plain, chilly piece of cheesecake. Some berries or chocolate sauce swirls would have jazzed it up a bit.
Speaking of jazz, we enjoyed the tunes of the jolly suspenders-wearing entertainer, who performed songs from Louis Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World” to his own funny composition instructing guests to come in and eat.
While there is no entertainment on the 90-minute Saturday lunch cruise (menu: pulled beef and pork sandwiches, baked beans, potato salad, coleslaw and an oatmeal raisin cookie), there is a captain’s river narration.
After dinner, we enjoyed the night breeze while admiring the gorgeous sky and glittering city lights until our twohour trip was complete.
It was indeed a royal time.
Arkansas Queen
Address: 100 Riverfront Park Drive, North Little Rock
Hours: Lunch cruise noon Saturday; dinner cruises 7 p.m. Friday-Saturday in season (April-December). Boarding is 30 minutes before cruise time.
Cuisine: Buffet
Alcohol: Full bar
Reservations: Strongly recommended
Smoking: Allowed on outside decks
Wheelchair accessible: Yes
Carryout: No
(501) 372-5777
arkansasqueen.com
Weekend, Pages 29 on 08/30/2012