Sawbucks doesn't fill Maumelle void

Meet a friend for lunch in Maumelle, and chances are you'll be parking your car in front of a national chain.

Like many of Little Rock's bedroom communities -- Benton, Bryant, Jacksonville, Sherwood -- Maumelle suffers from a lack of local dining options. Specifically, options that go beyond basic burgers, pizza or some iteration of what we'll call Southern comfort food.

And so with every restaurant opening announcement comes the thought that maybe this one is the one. A destination not just for Maumellians (Maumellers? Maumammals?), but for the greater Little Rock area. After all, if those northwest of the city can make the trek into the city limits for a bite, why can't the opposite be true?

But the city's latest dining addition, Sawbucks Neighborhood Grill, isn't the restaurant hero Maumelle needs. Instead, its unoriginal menu of American favorites and inconsistent service falls flat.

The Arkansas franchise already operates locations in Cabot, Conway, Lonoke, Beebe and El Paso, each with a similar menu and look. Maumelle's location is nestled in a shopping center with parking aplenty (room enough for two fire engines on a recent visit).

Though shut blinds and tinted windows may read otherwise, the restaurant is indeed open for breakfast, lunch and dinner daily.

Inside, the dim one-room space is decorated in a pseudo-country style, with corrugated metal accents, a large chalkboard displaying the day's specials, plenty of cowboy bric-a-brac, a few saws on the wall and, naturally, a mounted deer head. Tables come with rolls of paper towels at the ready for sticky fingers. Despite being a new restaurant, the chairs and tables already looked as if they'd seen better days.

The breakfast menu is filled with diner-style favorites, including omelets, pancakes, hash browns, French toast and biscuits and gravy ($5-$8 for most entrees). Breakfast starts at 6 a.m. with carryout available for area office workers looking for a grab-and-go meal.

Lunch and dinner seem to be the more popular times to dine in. On each of our visits, most tables were full around noon, as families and co-workers dug into burgers, salads and barbecue.

With seven burger options on the menu, it seems as much of a signature lunch dish as anything else, and the old fashioned hamburger ($6.79 with home-style fries) we tried was just fine -- cooked to a requested medium and served with standard toppings on a standard white bun. But the side salad we requested with a balsamic vinaigrette arrived with creamy ranch dressing, and our server was nowhere to be found to quickly remedy the error. A dining companion's grilled chicken salad ($7.49) was a pleasant surprise, served in a huge portion (enough for leftovers) with flavorful chunks of grilled chicken breast, tomatoes, onions and cheddar cheese.

But service slip-ups also plagued a dinner visit when our salad never showed up at all, and the server seemed too busy rolling silverware and talking with co-workers to bring refills or the check. A hostess stand at the front also suffered from lack of attention, and several parties were left to seat themselves and hesitantly poke around for menus. Not a welcoming start.

The signature Arkansas appetizer -- cheese dip ($4.99) -- was in fine form here, served in the creamy white variety with warm tortilla chips dusted with a Southwest seasoning. Our orders of chicken-fried chicken ($10 with two sides, Texas toast and a drink) and a 6-ounce beef tenderloin filet ($15.99 with a side salad, baked potato and Texas toast) were both passable, though the steak was far too gristly to warrant the price. For simple, home-style cooking, it's not bad -- on par with the dishes you might get at a Cracker Barrel. Nothing to rock the boat or rise above the competition.

Dinner also revealed the reason for those tightly shut blinds. It was hotter than you-know-what on our first dinner visit, and subsequent lunch stop-ins didn't provide much relief. Despite ceiling fans (and, we assume, air conditioning) going full-tilt, the dining room sweltered thanks to the open kitchen in the corner. If my dining companion and I were shedding layers at our booth, I can only imagine how uncomfortable the cooks and servers had to be. Lesson learned: wear shorts.

Carryout service, on the other hand, was coolly handled. Our call-in lunch order of a rib plate ($9.99 with Texas toast and two sides) and chocolate pie ($2.46) was ready for pickup faster than we could haul tailpipe from downtown Little Rock to Maumelle (about 15 minutes).

Of everything we tried, the half-rack of ribs proved to be the most successful dish. The hearty serving came with a thick, dark bark and pale pink smoke ring on the meat. A slather of sauce provided a bit of spicy kick. A few bites were on the dry side, but for the price -- and with a side of perfectly crisp fried okra -- we felt more than satisfied.

The slice of pie, while a healthy size, languished with a soggy crust that fell away from the filling almost immediately. But the filling -- creamy, cool and oh-so-chocolatey -- was gobbled up with no complaints. Skip the crust and you're golden.

Bottom line? Sawbucks is a decent option if you're nearby and craving a quick barbecue or fried chicken dinner to-go. But those thinking of making the drive from outside the city limits would do well to find an alternative closer to home.

Weekend on 07/30/2015