Little Rock Restaurants

For those who have heard of Lulav restaurant on 6th Street in Little Rock what has been heard is usually good. It was that good word that led us to go to Lulav for dinner recently even though we had never been before. We knew it was a pricey place and reserved this dinner for a special occasion with something to celebrate. What a mistake that was. Lulav disappointed on every count that a restaurant can be graded on.

Let’s start with the service. It is never a good sign when you stand at the door waiting on a server to even greet you, much less seat you (we had reservations too), but we stood for around 3-4 minutes just looking around when we were then greeted and told our table would be ready soon. Another 3-4 minutes later we are taken to our table at which time we don’t even have our drink orders taken, but do receive menus. About 5 minutes later, the waiter finally came back and when we weren’t ready to order our entrees yet, he left without taking our drink order still, but we were able to catch him and get a drink order placed. Then, about 10 minutes later, drinks finally arrive and our order is taken. So, about 20-25 minutes from being seated to get our drinks and our orders taken. The rest of the dinner service was similarly poor with drink refills not occurring timely and the waiter generally only appearing to bring the next course of food.

The food when it did finally arrive (the cooking times were similarly long to the wait service times) was almost obscenely of below average to average quality from a restaurant that is supposed to be a top level restaurant and that charges prices that would cause you to expect to receive top quality food. The entree steak was tough with a lot of gristly meat and was badly over seasoned. The accompanying sides were not worthy of the name and were also overcooked. The other entree steak was average, but definitely not worth the $38 dollar price that was being charged for it. As readers know, we normally sample dessert, but could not wait to end this dining experience so are unable to give a dessert review.

When all was said and done, the bill came to a total of $150. Wow! For that price there are several top notch restaurants that we could have eaten dinner at and they will be the ones getting our business in the future, not Lulav.

In its drive to be pretentious and try to make a name for itself, Lulav has failed miserably to bring its standards up to those required of those type of restaurants it aspires and falsely claims to be. The food, service, atmosphere, and price are all failures and going to Lulav to eat is not a recommended activity of this site.

Lulav in Little Rock gets two huge thumbs down from this writer and is currently residing at the very top of the list of this site’s worst restaurants in Little Rock report. The standards at Lulav need to rise significantly to justify a meal at half the price of what they are charging, but this writer will not be going back to find out if they ever improve. This was a disastrous experience that will hopefully not be repeated in the future by not going to Lulav.

The Flying Fish restaurant located downtown in the River Market district is a restaurant that serves up fried catfish and its normal accompanying menu items in accordance with the slogan “catch and release, into hot grease.”

This downtown restaurant is convenient for any visitor staying in the downtown hotel areas, but it also a local favorite. On most nights, and especially the busier hours of the weekends, there is a line to get to the counter to place your order for the tasty fried catfish, oysters, shrimp and other southern fried delicacies. In addition to the fried menu items boiled and grilled items are also available, but this restaurant excels in the expected deep fried catfish of Little Rock.

This isn’t a fine dining restaurant as it is self service for filling up your drinks, and picking up your order when it is ready, but if you are looking for really good fried catfish in a bustling environment this is it. The place is kind of loud with people talking and having fun. This is a casual place to go and have good greasy food with good people and enjoy yourself.

If you aren’t in the mood for fried catfish or other similar foods, or want to have a sitdown dining experience then choose another restaurant, but keep the Flying Fish on your radar when you are ready to bite into that fried fish. This is a good choice for those times when that is what you are looking for.

The Starving Artist Cafe in the Argenta area on North Little Rock’s Main Street is a unique local restaurant.

The attraction of this restaurant above the food is the original paintings and artwork that adorn the walls. The Starving Artist Cafe allows local artists to display their work on a consignment basis and it makes for a great atmosphere and visual experience while dining. All of the artwork is for sale, and at times artists will be working on art in the restaurant. As you can imagine this gives the restaurant a very nice atmosphere and a good visual appearance.

Now on to the food. The menu isn’t the largest, but there are daily specials to supplement the listed menu items and many of the ingredients are sourced locally. At lunch, try one of their tasty paninis and add a cup of soup for a total of $8. Also available are several salads and whatever the specials are that day. For dinner, the menu entrees expand and include steak, chicken, fish, and shrimp meals as well as the mentioned daily specials. Appetizers and desserts are also available with a varied selection.

To sum it up, the Starving Artist Cafe is a nice place to eat and take in the assortment of artwork from local artists. The food is good with good service in a very appealing setting. Enjoy lunch or dinner here, or just come in to look around if that strikes your fancy. We saw a few people just come in and browse the art last time. Put this restaurant on your to visit list if you haven’t been there yet.

Trio’s is a very good and long established local restaurant that serves up good food in a nice atmosphere.
Trio’s is one of the best restaurants in Little Rock. They serve up an eclectic menu that usually showcases several items from the local area. Many of their dishes have veggies from farmer’s markets, and one of [...]

A visit to Lilly’s Dim Sum will be an Asian food experience as they serve a mixture of Japanese, Chinese, Korean, and Thai dishes in their own style.
Lilly’s is located in the Market Place shopping center off Rodney Parham. It is a well decorated restaurant with pictures from late 1970’s Iran hanging on the [...]

Taziki’s is one of the few Greek restaurants in Little Rock. For those looking for a Greek dining experience in Little Rock there aren’t a lot of choices, but Taziki’s is a decent selection to fill that niche.
Serving what has been termed a “fast food” style Greek, Taziki’s can fill the Greek cravings, but doesn’t [...]

Five Guys burgers is a great lunch spot anytime and a pretty good dinner spot if you aren’t looking for anything too upscale.
Five Guys is first, foremost, and only a burger joint. You can get one patty or two and cheese or no cheese as well as a wide variety of selections for toppings, [...]

Golden Corral had never really shown up on my list of restaurants that I wanted to try until recently. There are a lot of other restaurants in Little Rock and anytime Golden Corral came up, a better choice usually presented itself.
My kids have a different opinion and after visiting the North Little Rock location a [...]

Osaka receives my vote for best sushi restaurant in Little Rock and ranks high on the list of best restaurants in Little Rock overall.
Let’s start with the sushi. Osaka has a very good selection of rolls to choose from including several specialty rolls. (The Razorback roll and the Smoky Mountain roll are excellent choices) [...]

Anyone who has kids can appreciate the value of finding a restaurant that provides meals from the kid’s menu for free. The below listing is a list of Little Rock restaurants where kids eat free. (Please call to verify before making any special trips based on this advice, the restaurants could change these at any [...]