Featured restaurants

Stoby's Restaurant in Conway

here's not much to look at in the dim, serviceable dining area with wooden four-tops and booths, save for fellow customers, the menu and some blackboard drawings of signature dishes and the kitchen happenings in ...

Krazy Mike's Shrimp N Wings

The windows and door of Krazy Mike's are all silvered over and reflective, so there's no way of seeing from the outside what's inside. Imagine our surprise when we discovered that the decor at Krazy ...

Los Rios

Upon entering, diners wait to be seated by a friendly employee. Light peach-colored paint on the walls brightens the somewhat cavernous dining area, and a few Mexican-theme items decorate the walls and ceiling. Los Rios ...

Pantry

Coming to Arkansas in 1996 with extensive Czech culinary and hospitality training, Bohm first worked at Bavarian Inn, operated by distant relatives in Eureka Springs. He moved to Little Rock in 1998 and did stints ...

Pizza Joint

Not much distinguishes the Pizza Joint from its competitors, decorwise or foodwise, but the staff is friendly and eager to please. Outside it's an unremarkable siding-over-frame building; inside it looks like just about every pizza ...

Shotgun Dan's-Kiehl Ave, Sherwood

Shotgun Dan's "Where the Best Meets the West." We think the slogan has something to do with the pizza joint's frontier theme. Its restaurants, in Little Rock, North Little Rock and Sherwood, look a bit ...

On the Border Mexican Grill & Cantina

On the Border, the chain Mexican restaurant with a west Little Rock outlet, has introduced a new menu, including a selection of "Fresh Grill" entrees, a couple of new salads and a couple of new ...

Ump's Pub & Grill

Fans of the late, lamented Bill Valentine's Ballpark Restaurant can be of reasonably good cheer about its successor. Ump's Pub & Grill is off to a credible start in its chosen mission to purvey the ...

Letti's Cakes

Usually cupcakes and pie only qualify as dessert. Not at Letti's Cakes, a new North Little Rock custom cake business serving what they call "Lite Lunch." The treats also can serve as one of the ...

Satellite cafe

The small dining space features black vinyl four-seater booths along the University Avenue side and in the center of the floor. In front of the open kitchen and along the Kavanaugh window, with a view ...

Forbidden City

While Forbidden City is showing its age, it does still have its appeal. It's the kind of place that is welcoming and accessible (as it's located right by the entrance of the ground floor parking ...

New Star's Chinese Restaurant

New Star's has finally jettisoned the buffet that had been the hallmark of previous administrations. Much like the early versions of New Fun Ree, with which it is loosely affiliated (the paper-only menus are very ...

Outback Steakhouse - North Little Rock

The mock-Australian motif carries over to the printed menu, where the below-$15 dishes introduced last month are marked with icons in the shape of tiny boomerangs. Never mind that there's hardly any distinctively Aussie flavor ...

Outback Steakhouse - Little Rock

The mock-Australian motif carries over to the printed menu, where the below-$15 dishes introduced last month are marked with icons in the shape of tiny boomerangs. Never mind that there's hardly any distinctively Aussie flavor ...

Mista Wings

There's plenty of seating at padded wooden and cafeteria chairs in the simple space that still wears the same dark red walls and hints of exposed brick but not the artwork of its predecessor, with ...

Feastros

The restaurant is small but nicely decorated in maroon and brown, with attractive artwork and a big TV anchored on the front wall. As you enter the front door, there's a bank of booths along ...

VanLang

The owners have added a half-dozen Korean dishes to the menu, including Galbi (marinated, barbecued short ribs, which take about 40 minutes to cook), Bulgogi (marinated, grilled beef) and three noodle dishes. It's not on ...

Kobe Japanese Steak & Sushi

Let's get right down to the business of how this one is different - if, in fact, it is - than any other cling-clang, chop-chop shop slinging giddy tricks and teriyaki chicken.

Best Impressions

The main entrance is through the Arts Center gift shop, off the main lobby, where a specials board lists the soup, dessert and special du jour but which is canted slightly away from the entrance ...

Cafe La Pace

Cafe La Pace, the latest addition to the Main Street restaurant row in North Little Rock's Argenta district, is still a work in progress, but it is already fulfilling some of its potential. Owner-cook-host Sam ...

YaYas Euro Bistro

Name notwithstanding, YaYas recently opened in the eastern third of the Promenade at Chenal shopping center (if you get to the IMAX cinema you've gone just a little too far west) with a pretty high ...

Maddie's Place

Maddie's Place is officially open for business. Tucked between Faded Rose and Buffalo Grill in a restaurant row along Rebsamen Park Road, the convivial - and sometimes rather noisy - operation is owned by chef ...

Frostop

Casa Mexicana - North Little Rock

The new Casa Mexicana is divided into several rooms, including a separate bar. Comfortable booths allow diners to keep to themselves, as sound from music and overhead TVs reminds them they're hardly alone. Maybe we're ...

Patio Pizza & Beer Garden

Jerry Meyer has turned the ground floor of the northern house, one of two crumbling old houses, into a surprisingly large kitchen; the seating area is in the southern house, a couple of dozen brown ...

So Restaurant-Bar

The Hillcrest restaurant, which opened in January 2006 as a snooty oyster bar, has successfully weathered a rough patch and a change or two of chef. The food is good; although the prices keep it ...

Hart's Seafood-Harkrider, Conway

The interior decoration continues the rugged the me that began outside. The walls are covered in corrugated metal and sport some interesting little signs, small farming implements, and old feed or seed bags. Tables are ...

Izzy's

Each table is topped with a work of art that can serve as a conversation starter, in keeping with one of the breezy slogans printed on menus, staff T-shirts and other surfaces: "Izzy's, a place ...

Sufficient Grounds Coffeehouse & Cafe

Mercado San Jose

Panaderia, Carniceria y Restourant, Se vende Botas y sombreros y vestidos de bautismo. Transportes a Mexico. Tenemos todas su nececidadas. Bakery, Meat Marcket and babtism assortments are availiable. We also carry a large variety of ...

Mr. Hunter's Southern Cooking

Mr. Hunter's Southern Cooking, in the four-eatery groundfloor food court at North Little Rock's McCain Mall, does a pretty good job with fried foods. Just about everything's made to order, so you know you're not ...

Big Whiskey's American Bar & Grill

Balancing burgers and bar fare with hearty dinner platters, Big Whiskey's - a first franchise of a Springfield, Mo., establishment - is supremely approachable in menu and price. The most expensive item on the menu, ...

Murry's Dinner Playhouse

Tickets (including buffet meal and show): $30 Sunday evening through Thursday, $32 Friday and Saturday, and $28 Sunday matinees.Other matinee performances are scheduled during the week and the evening performance cancelled. Check showtime calendar. Discounts ...

Bordino's

You enter into a cozy atrium stocked with couches and magazines, including Wine Spectator, which has given the restaurant an Award of Excellence the past three years. Through the double metal-clad doors and you're in ...

Uncle Dean's Catfish & Such

A counter at the back of the restaurant is where you order - from the menu that isn't huge but is varied enough to accommodate a range of tastes - and pay. The small kitchen ...

Mason's Bavarian Deli & Grill

Well, we don't exactly have a German restaurant yet. But we do have Mason's Bavarian Deli & Grill in the River Market, which goes some distance in filling that void, at least to the point ...

Red Lobster-McCain Blvd, NLR

Dine at the Red Lobster in Little Rock or the Red Lobster in North Little Rock, and you can pretty much count on the same experience any day of the year at either place. That'd ...

Red Lobster-W Markham, LR

Dine at the Red Lobster in Little Rock or the Red Lobster in North Little Rock, and you can pretty much count on the same experience any day of the year at either place. That'd ...

Popeye's-E Kiehl Ave, Sherwood

According to Dick Lynch, chief marketing officer of Popeye's Louisiana Kitchen, the company knows times are tough, and though customers could well have tightened their budgets, Popeye's doesn't want them tightening their belts. To that ...

Cactus Jack's

With satisfactory, if not always standout, fare, this restaurant in the McCain Crossing shopping center will get you by any night of the week. And probably the next afternoon, considering the portions. The spacious, pristine ...

Capi's

Tapas - small portions meant to be ordered a few dishes at a time as appetizers or even full meals - are still a relatively novel concept in central Arkansas, where the dining-out mantra tends ...

Haagen-Dazs

Ice cream can be served in cups or waffle cones (sprinkled, regular or waffle bowls) and blended into concoctions like drinks and layered Dazzler desserts. The store also sells ice cream cakes, cold drinks and ...

Long John Silver's Freshside Grille

Long John Silver's has finally caught up with competitor Captain D's and has started serving nonfried seafood, instituting a menu called Freshside Grille in its area restaurants. Now, should you find yourself in a Long ...

Long John Silver's Freshside Grille

Long John Silver's has finally caught up with competitor Captain D's and has started serving nonfried seafood, instituting a menu called Freshside Grille in its area restaurants. Now, should you find yourself in a Long ...

Philam Gourmet

But we do now have a place to get Philippine food: Philam Gourmet, in the Broadmoor Shopping Center space that originally housed Hunan and which for years has been a revolving door for middling-at-best buffets. ...

Larry's Pizza-JFK Blvd, NLR

The appeal of dining at Larry's is never having to fret about the Georges, Abrahams and Alexanders. That's because Larry's Pizza, which recently opened a new outlet in North Little Rock (there are eight others, ...

El Canaveral

From the previous location at 2006 S. Pine St./Arkansas 89, El Canaveral had moved down the street to 1103 S. Pine, at the end of a strip center about a block from Knight's Grocery Store. ...

Amruth Authentic Indian Cuisine

The decor hasn't changed appreciably - yellow-clad tables with soft-cushioned, red-plastic dinette chairs and earth-toned walls, though some of the artwork may be different - Hindu religious scenes between pictures of diaphanously clad princesses. Dark ...

Panera Bread

Very friendly order-takers staffing multiple registers helped move the line forward fairly quickly on our first couple of visits, and we lucked out and hit the place off-peak for a late breakfast on our third. ...

Samurai Japanese Steakhouse & Sushi Bar

We discovered upon visiting promising, pleasant Samurai Japanese Steakhouse & Sushi Bar - Little Rock's newest Japanese restaurant (unless another pops up by press time, and it's certainly possible) - that we're not really as ...

Taziki's Greek Fare

Taziki's menu merits the label "Greek Lite," given that it offers a limited number of genuinely Greek-rooted dishes, along with such marginally Hellenic items as pimento cheese sandwich, egg salad plate and penne pasta with ...

El Acapulco-S Rockwood, Cabot

El Acapulco offers a selection of 27 Combination Dinners for $6.49. Being a taco lover, I went for the No. 10, which consists of two tacos, rice and beans. Although the tacos weren't bad, they ...

Vesuvio Bistro

If you've eaten at Belle Arti in Hot Springs, or remember when there was a Belle Arti in Little Rock, you'll likely recognize the menu at Vesuvio Bistro. Chef Rosario Patti, who opened both restaurants, ...

Andy's

The menu at Andy's has diversified to the point where you can't call it just a burger place any more. You can still get burgers there - we had one, a mushroom-Swiss burger ($2.79) with ...

Scallions After Hours

Homemade is not homely - not at Scallions After Hours, a new venture offering dinner four days a week at the long-lived ladies-who-lunch restaurant on Kavanaugh Boulevard. Roberts sublets Scallions on Wednesday through Saturday evenings ...

Amalfi's

Amalfi's decor and menu lean more toward Tuscany than Campania. Just inside the entryway you get a good view of the large convex bar with copper-tiled walls suggesting a Tuscan villa. A hand-painted fresco above ...

Cantina Laredo

Contemporary and clean without a serape or sombrero in the house, the Arkansas outlet of a Texas-based chain with locations in nine states looks like it could serve any kind of cuisine in its chic, ...

Rumba Room

Carino's Italian Grill - North Little Rock

Understand that a regular reviewer dines over the years at plenty of restaurants that don't make his preferred list for a self-financed return visit. Carino's surpassed that threshold, with waitress Nikki's sprightly service adding to ...

Carino's Italian Grill - Little Rock

Understand that a regular reviewer dines over the years at plenty of restaurants that don't make his preferred list for a self-financed return visit. Carino's surpassed that threshold, with waitress Nikki's sprightly service adding to ...

America 13-50

The restaurant is in a rather plain building but if you look closely, you'll notice the sign, some flags and a bit of the patriotic theme that's continued inside. Inside you'll find a pleasant dining ...

Koto

Koto is the Hannah Montana of Little Rock Japanese restaurants. Like Miley Cyrus' persona, an average girl by day and a rock star at night, Koto leads a similar double life. It might be composed ...

Panda Garden

Peculiarly enough, the stir-fried-in-the-wok Chinese entrees like Mongolian Pork and General's Chicken were the least interesting things on the buffet. The steamed fish, once we managed to separate it from the bones, was the best ...

Fat Daddy's Fish House

Catfish lovers in the Cabot area have a new place to troll for lunch and dinner with the opening of Fat Daddy's Fish House at the corner of Southfork Drive and Arkansas 367. The new ...

Browning's Mexican Grill

Buoyed by an infusion of sandwiches and salads from the late and lamented Cordell's, Browning's fare now stretches farther beyond the brown-sauce dishes - "Ark-Mex" is an apt label - that continue to draw the ...

Odell's Uptown

Blond-wood tables and chairs on a greenish-pattern carpet, with some high-back wood booths on the side, green-gray walls and a large bar area in the back of the main dining room that no longer serves ...

Purple Cow-Cantrell, LR

And the Purple Cow, with two locations in Little Rock (the original on Cantrell Road, another on Chenal Parkway) and other branches in Texas and Virginia, skillfully caters to all our needs, we were reminded ...

Purple Cow-Chenal, LR

And the Purple Cow, with two locations in Little Rock (the original on Cantrell Road, another on Chenal Parkway) and other branches in Texas and Virginia, skillfully caters to all our needs, we were reminded ...

Chi's Express

Chi's Express started as a glorified takeout counter, a small rectangular space in a strip mall outpost way out west on Chenal. It was intended to be nothing more than serviceable location where the larger ...

Chi Dimsum & Bistro

That's the idea, however, behind the "bistro" part of Chi Dimsum & Bistro, the new restaurant that Lulu Chi has rebuilt, physically and "culinarily," out of the figurative collapse of her eponymous Chi's, West Markham ...

Faded Rose-Bowman, LR

Restaurants of long-standing stature like The Faded Rose can go through peaks and valleys of quality from year to year. The happy news for Faded Rose fans is that the Louisiana-focused food seems notably better ...

Faded Rose-Rebsamen, LR

Restaurants of long-standing stature like The Faded Rose can go through peaks and valleys of quality from year to year. The happy news for Faded Rose fans is that the Louisiana-focused food seems notably better ...

Mexico Chiquito-Cantrell, LR

The one thing you can be pretty sure of at the new fullservice Mexico Chiquito on Cantrell Road is that nothing on your plate will be bland. Everything we had exploded with flavor, some of ...

Copeland's of New Orleans

Copeland's is part of Al Copeland Investments, named for the colorful New Orleans entrepreneur who was most famous for founding Popeyes Chicken & Biscuits (and getting into fights and driving neighbors crazy with excessive Christmas ...

Colorado Grill

Colorado Grill seems to suffer from a slight identity crisis. The downtown Hot Springs restaurant proclaims that its specialties are steaks, ribs and "Mexican originals," and the menu also includes burgers, wraps, "Kbobs," and pasta. ...

Lulav

At last, Lulav has settled down and hit its stride. Executive Chef Brian Cochrane's menu continues that Mediterranean- California fusion concept, with perhaps a slightly greater shift toward the Mediterranean, particularly at dinner. Another Mediterranean ...

Platinum Wings

There are several flat-screen TVs on the walls, and a large jukebox in the back near the kitchen counter area. The menu features a variety of catfish, chicken tenders, shrimp and wings dinners, variety plates ...

U.S. Pizza Co. Salad Express-S Louisiana, LR

The newest U.S. Pizza Co. doesn't serve pizza - well, at least not yet. The original concept for the Salad Express location was to be a quickie lunch outlet for downtown diners, serving salads, sandwiches ...

ZaZa

The instant success is also driven by generally high-quality food and good-value prices, which are quickly building a faithful flock of regulars for ZaZa Fine Salad + Wood-Oven Pizza Co. That's the slightly precious full ...

First Wok

The fast-Chinese concept, available in malls around the country, has all of the disadvantages and few of the advantages of Chinese buffets. The food, a dozen or so items ranging from egg rolls to pepper ...

Gina's Chinese Kitchen & Sushi Bar

We're glad that the congenial and capable restaurant - formerly concealed in a snug Ashley Square space, where we do a fair amount of business and could easily visit to dine in or take out ...

Flying Fish

At the root of Flying Fish's sustained popularity is consistently commendable food served at reliably reasonable prices. The good value is more of a lure in this year of soaring gasoline prices and festering economic ...

Ferneau

Food: While continuing to serve Donnie Ferneau's ambitious New American cooking at dinner, this fashionable Hillcrest restaurant is now also open for lunch four days a week. The Burger, a best bet on the lunch ...

Starving Artist Cafe-Main St, NLR

Having outgrown its original snug space on West Seventh Street in downtown Little Rock, owners Paula and Jason Morrell - Jason's also the chef - have moved their establishment across the river to North Little ...

Capriccio Grill Italian Steakhouse

Perusing the menu reminded us that Executive Chef Andre Poirot and his crew face the challenge of being a full-service hotel restaurant open seven days a week for breakfast, lunch and dinner to guests with ...

Damgoode Pies - Cantrell

Not only do they serve a pie called the Funky Chicken ("Delivering you to Funkytown, Jack. Char-grilled chicken, Green Peppas, Shrooms, Onions & Black Olives"), they urge customers to try it and "Get some 'wah-ka-chick-a' ...

Damgoode Pies - Kavanaugh

Not only do they serve a pie called the Funky Chicken ("Delivering you to Funkytown, Jack. Char-grilled chicken, Green Peppas, Shrooms, Onions & Black Olives"), they urge customers to try it and "Get some 'wah-ka-chick-a' ...

Mi Burrito

Note: This restaurant has location in Maumelle and Hot Springs Upon entering, diners are seated at a booth or a table, and presented with rather extensive menus, chips and salsa. The walls have a color ...

Damgoode Pies - Rodney Parham

Not only do they serve a pie called the Funky Chicken ("Delivering you to Funkytown, Jack. Char-grilled chicken, Green Peppas, Shrooms, Onions & Black Olives"), they urge customers to try it and "Get some 'wah-ka-chick-a' ...

Sashimi Japanese Steakhouse

Judging from the number of people packing the place on weeknights, a Japanese steakhouse and sushi bar fills a niche in Maumelle. It's perfectly usual to have to wait a bit at a Japanese steakhouse ...

The Diner

The Diner is located in a new strip shopping center on the right that also houses a Shipley's doughnut shop and a tobacco shop. Diners seat themselves in the retro-styled diner, decorated with small vinyl ...

Sonny Williams' Steak Room

So I asked our waiter, Jon, at Sonny Williams' Steak Room what customer feedback he'd been getting on Sonny's Cioppino, the River Market District restaurant's version of the seafood stew that is a signature dish ...

Igibon Japanese Food House

Not only does the accessible menu, large in size and variety, describe dishes, but it also includes color photographs to assist beginners as well as experts who might want to branch out. And sushi ordering ...

Hop-E Markham, LR

The Hop has been a venerable institution on Cantrell Road for years. Alas, high property values and high rents are about to do what a traumatic change of ownership and even road construction that made ...

My Big Fat Greek Cafe-Office Park Dr, Bryant

The decor is a nice mixture of Mediterranean elements, the lower parts of the walls painted a red wine color, the upper a sort of ocher/peach, with a floral ribbon between them. Dominating one wall ...

Taco Bueno-Savannah Dr, Maumelle

Linguistic mayhem aside, the offerings of this fast-Mexican chain, which recently opened its second central Arkansas location (the first, 10114 Mabelvale Plaza Drive in Little Rock, opened in 2006) in what is becoming Maumelle's restaurant ...

1620 Restaurant

Amiable service is a sustaining virtue at 1620, where proprietor Evette Brady traces her roots to the dawn of fine dining in Little Rock as a kitchen apprentice three decades ago at the late and ...

Central Park Fusion Cuisine Restaurant

"Fusion" cuisine usually means a chef putting Asian elements together with European or American elements to create a hybrid that ideally incorporates the best of both worlds. Sometimes this kind of cross-breeding produces a whole ...

The Meat Shoppe

At the end of a small strip center smack dab in the middle of Gravel Ridge sits The Meat Shoppe, an unassuming little restaurant/butcher shop that offers a wide variety of meats, plate lunches and ...

Juanita's Cantina

Management evidently figures that we don't need no stinkin' knives (or spoons) to tackle the Tex-Mex fare at this convivial (i.e., noisy) Little Rock eatery and entertainment fixture, in business at the same Main Street ...

Shorty Smalls - Little Rock

The name Shorty Small's has nothing to do with the length of the casual eatery's menu or the size of the portions. Shorty Small, for those who don't want to take time out from devouring ...

MorningSide Bagels

They're offering nearly all of the bagel varieties that NY Bagel did (and more than the handful to which Rx had reduced the list), including the "standards" - plain, poppy seed, salt, sesame seed, garlic ...

Shorty Small's - North Little Rock

The name Shorty Small's has nothing to do with the length of the casual eatery's menu or the size of the portions. Shorty Small, for those who don't want to take time out from devouring ...

Wayne's Fish & Burgers to Go

Wayne's Fish & Burgers to Go, nestled deep in midtown, or what used to be referred to as the "west end," is deceptive. For one thing, Wayne is actually a woman. For another thing, she ...

Cafe 42

Clinton Presidential Center has undergone a metamorphosis. It has gone up the scale a bit under its new management, with a new style, a new menu and even a tweaked name. Cafe 42 is no ...

Capers

Whole Hog Cafe - NLR

Other Arkansas locations in Little Rock, Conway, Bentonville, Fayetteville and Jonesboro. When radio personality Michael Feldman recently performed his Whad'Ya Know show live in Little Rock, he couldn't wait to get his hands on some ...

Conway Pasta House

Italian Couple

New York NY Fresh Deli-N Shackleford, LR

Hours: 10:30 a.m.-8:30 p.m. Monday-Friday, 11 a.m.-8:30 p.m. Saturday, 11 a.m.-7:30 p.m. Sunday Cuisine: Sandwiches, subs, soups, salads

Sushi Cafe

Hours: 11 a.m.-2 p.m., 5-9:30 p.m. Monday-Saturday

Boston's, The Gourmet Pizza Restaurant & Sports Bar

Boston's, The Gourmet Pizza Restaurant & Sports Bar, opened around the end of November as part of the Holiday Inn Airport-East's face-lift. It's a bright, cheerful and inviting spot to dine. The dining room features ...

Flight Deck Restaurant

For the parents: The lunch menu includes appetizers, like spicy hot wings ($5.95), breaded mushrooms ($4.95), and hot tamales ($5.25 for six); salads, including popcorn chicken salad ($6.75), chicken taco salad ($6.75) and the grilled ...

Stroud's Country Diner

Next time you're in Mayflower, check out Stroud's Country Diner. It's in the heart of the small town with easy access to Interstate 40. From the outside, Stroud's, which offers plenty of parking, is housed ...

Famous Dave's Pit Bar-B-Que

Practically everybody and everything is famous at Famous Dave's. The waiter on our first visit was Famous Heath; on our second, Famous Derrick. Even the guy who answers the telephone is "famous." The menu features ...

Layla's Restaurant, Grocery & Halal Meat

Food: Believe the poster that offers "tastier, better quality gyro!" because the owner/chef doesn't buy it from a food service, he makes it himself, starting from scratch: He's also a halal butcher (the meat is ...

Cheeburger Cheeburger

For the parents: There are five sizes of burgers, ranging from 5.5 ounces to 20 ounces and from $4.89 to $9.99. You can create your own burger or chicken sandwich, choosing from the standard toppings ...

Boollo Eastern Flames

Food: Dong Lee, who used to run Hanaroo downtown (it has since passed into other hands), took his excellent Hanaroo sushi menu with him to his new place in a former Quizno's on Cantrell Road, ...

Zaxby's-Brookwood rd, Sherwood

Zaxby's, a semi-fast-food restaurant that serves chicken fingers, wings and sandwiches and loves the letter "z" is one of Sherwood's new hot "zpots." Zaxby's sells mainly boneless chicken tender selections, with the only bone-in option ...

Capital Bar and Grill

Businessmen lunching there recently said aloud that they were regulars before and will be regulars again. You won't get higher praise from us. The interior is luxurious without being ostentatious - old black wood in ...

Ashley's At the Capital

Flourishes include a wine list of dazzling scope with an attached three-page water list that may strike some diners hereabouts as a bit much. The 10 still and sparkling waters hail from six countries, including ...

Cracker Barrel on Shackleford

Real old-time country and bluegrass tunes come over the sound system (it won't surprise you to know that there's a section of the country store dedicated to selling country CDs, including a new one from ...

Trio's

After two decades of pleasing Ladies Who Lunch and an amiable mix of other dining demographics, Trio's executive chef and co-owner Capi Peck and her kitchen crew still purvey a few dishes with a pedigree ...

El Dorado Restaurant

El Dorado has acquired a little bit of age-related patina. That's the restaurant on Asher Avenue, pronounced El Dor-AH-do, not to be mistaken for the south Arkansas town with the same spelling but a long ...

Ristorante Capeo

Ristorante Capeo was Argenta when Argenta wasn't cool. In fact, the fine Italian restaurant, thriving four years after its June 2003 opening, is a big part of the reason why North Little Rock's formerly dead ...

Boscos

The Little Rock outlet of the minichain, which has locations in Memphis and Nashville, is so rooted in its clean, comely corner, that we've almost forgotten all the short-lived restaurants that once occupied the space ...

Timmons Lunch Cafe & Takeout

Those in the vicinity of Seventh and Main streets might want to check out Timmons Lunch Cafe & Takeout, which is on the first floor of the Donaghey Building. You enter the building about mid-block ...

COTIJA'S MEXICAN GRILL - Little Rock

Madea's Home Cooking

Fridays are catfish days which explains the larger than- normal volume of diners streaming out to their cars lugging Styrofoam containers. And while the foot traffic is an unmistakable endorsement, we opted instead for a ...

Delicious Tempations

Seating is at fairly sturdy tables with surprisingly lightweight but handsomely upholstered chairs. The two-top tables are a little cramped for two people but perfect for one. Delicious Temptations sells breakfast all day - well, ...

Bennigan's

"Feed your inner leprechaun," urges Bennigan's menu. But Fish 'N Chips and Guinness- glazed items aside, Bennigan's - from the huge portions to the fork-not-required starters (insists the starters menu: "Cast aside the tools of ...

Ciao Baci

Owner Suzanne Boscarolo's Ciao Baci quickly became, and still remains, the area's hot spot for the young (twenty- and thirtysomethings), professional, welldressed and well-heeled who don't mind paying a fairly high price for fancy fare ...

Jane's Kitchen

Jane's Kitchen is located in an unassuming little strip center on Main Street, right next to the train tracks. Upon entering, customers seat themselves at one of the laminate-topped tables scattered throughout the dining area. ...

Asia Buffet

Most Chinese buffets, even the better ones, suffer from pretty much the same failings: The food is bland, it isn't hot enough, it sits out on the buffet too long and gets gummy and greasy. ...

Sai Gon Cuisine

A sign above the entrance porch promising "authentic Vietnamese, Chinese, Thai food" denotes that Sai Gon is hedging its bets (rather more so than competitor Van Lang) for central Arkansans to whom the cuisine of ...

Cafe 201

No matter how mediocre such eateries might be, they've got captive audiences - travelers too weary, lazy or temporarily car-less to go somewhere else, conventioneers who have to go along with the program. They can ...

The Butcher Shop

The Butcher Shop's beef is prime or choice, depending on the cut, in sizes ranging from the 8-ounce Filet Mignon to the 25-ounce Porterhouse. The filet and the Kansas City Strip were both close to ...

Gypsy's Grill & Bar

Years after recasting Frenchfocused Alouette's as "casual world" Gypsy's, the estimable Denis Seyer has returned, with the help of new chef Chuck Menefee, to his more elegant Gallic roots.

Cotija Mexican Grill - North Little Rock

Food: Addicts of La Hacienda's cuisine can now get a fix north of the river at Cotija's - a close relative of the minichain that also has a lunch location in downtown Little Rock - ...

LeStar Pizzaria

The exterior still boasts a rather nondescript glass storefront, but the newly decorated interior feels comfortable and homey. The kitchen is somewhat open so patrons can see a bit of the action going on behind ...

Bonefish Grill

A member of the Outback Steakhouse Co., Bonefish Grill, which recently opened a handsome outlet in Pleasant Ridge Town Center, specializes in seafood, which we're told is flown in two to three times per week. ...

Cafe Prego

The one-page dinner menu lists a soup of the day, two salads, focaccia, three pastas (fettuccine, vermicelli, penne) available with any of six sauces, and 14 main courses. That's plenty of Italian-focused variety, but not ...

Copper Grill and Grocery

Mary Beth Ringgold, who brought you Capers and the successful revival of Cajun's Wharf, is on her "metal" with the menu for her third restaurant, with a separate grocery store on the ground floor of ...

Imagine, A Restaurant

Imagine chef/co-owner Adam Rosenblum has created imaginative dishes for lunch (for example, a ham, brie, spinach and apple sandwich with apple vinaigrette) and dinner (peppered lamb loin with potato medley hash and ratatouille, finished with ...

Arthur's Prime Steakhouse

Food: Proprietor Jerry Barakat buys top-of-the-line prime beef from a Chicago supplier and dry-ages it for three or four weeks. Priciest is the Australian Wagyu Ribeye ($50), from densely marbled cattle of Japanese lineage and ...

Fu Lin-N Bowman, LR

Food: Open for nearly two decades at its Bowman Road shopping center location after previous lives midtown and downtown - in other words, "forever" by Little Rock Chinese establishment standards - Fu Lin is quite ...

Cozymel's Mexican Grill

Food: Cozymel's is a bit more upscale than your average Mexican restaurant, not surprising since the name recalls the Caribbean island resort Cozumel (off the Yucatan Peninsula). Yes, the menu has nachos, quesadillas, fajitas, enchiladas ...

Vieux Carre

Food: Continental entrees (from seafood to steak) with Creole influences as well as unique flavors introduced by executive chef David Bennett. Mood: Sunny yellow walls, wide-planked wood flooring and an inviting leather banquette soften the ...