Restaurant Development in NW Arkansas

[mcheiss]

Yes this is definately Long John Silver's main competitor, glad to see it's finally making it's way into NW Arkansas.

[slyder1]

Not trying to sound rude but I am still shocked to keep hearing of these chain restaurants that aren't in NWA yet. What other big chains are missing from NWA?

[KJW]

Not trying to sound rude but I am still shocked to keep hearing of these chain restaurants that aren't in NWA yet. What other big chains are missing from NWA?

Here's a cool one that I'd love to see open up near Pinnacle, slyder1 (Longhorn steakhouse)...it's out of Atlanta and has a menu like Colton's but a bit more upscale-seeming.

BTW, no thread drift intended but I saw where Branson's getting a HECKUVA tall building soon.

[Aporkalypse]

You guys will like Fish City Grill, which is supposedly going into the Promenade. They are just now branching out of Dallas into surrounding areas but they really have very good food and it's inexpensive.

[mcheiss]

Not trying to sound rude but I am still shocked to keep hearing of these chain restaurants that aren't in NWA yet. What other big chains are missing from NWA?

Well, we don't have checkers or anything like that. We have just about every chain up here, just not a whole bunch of restaurants like Little Rock or that.

[Mith242]

Not trying to sound rude but I am still shocked to keep hearing of these chain restaurants that aren't in NWA yet. What other big chains are missing from NWA?

I don't know. I may not know what I'm missing if it's not here. To be honest I'm really not sure what big chains we're missing.

[Aporkalypse]

Well, we don't have checkers or anything like that. We have just about every chain up here, just not a whole bunch of restaurants like Little Rock or that.

Checker's = Rally's

There used to be one in Fayetteville but I think the Health Dept shut it down after a Hepatitis A outbreak a few years ago.

[Mith242]

Checker's = Rally's

There used to be one in Fayetteville but I think the Health Dept shut it down after a Hepatitis A outbreak a few years ago.

Ah, I was wondering what Checkers was. Yeah there were several Rally's in the area. I think the franchise went belly up. I think there were two in Fayetteville and at least one in Springdale. Not sure about Benton County.

[mcheiss]

Checker's = Rally's

There used to be one in Fayetteville but I think the Health Dept shut it down after a Hepatitis A outbreak a few years ago.

Rogers had one as well, but it was transformed into a Corky's, then an ice cream store, then it closed for a while, and then finally changed into the extremly popular Shaky's.

Most chains have recently entered the market within the past 5 years: Popeyes, Starbucks, IHOP, Church's, Zaxby's, Krystal (On it's way), Steak N Shake, Olive Garden, etc.

[Mith242]

Rogers had one as well, but it was transformed into a Corky's, then an ice cream store, then it closed for a while, and then finally changed into the extremly popular Shaky's.

Yeah I know at one time all the former Rally's down here were Shaky's as well, before it changed it's name to Shake's.

[RemusCal]

I would like to see the following chains come into the area:

Macaroni Grill

Cozymels

Maggianos Little Italy

California Pizza Kitchen

Cheesecake Factory

Joes Crab Shack

Ruths Chris Steakhouse

Coldstone Creamery

These are more upscale, but great chain restaurants.

[jdevers]

I would like to see the following chains come into the area:

Macaroni Grill

Cozymels

Maggianos Little Italy

California Pizza Kitchen

Cheesecake Factory

Joes Crab Shack

Ruths Chris Steakhouse

Coldstone Creamery

These are more upscale, but great chain restaurants.

I haven't eaten at a Coldstone Creamery or Maggianos Little Italy, but I have opinions on the rest. Personally, I would hope we would never get a Joe's Crab Shack, they are simply horrible. The good thing is they won't come here unless a significant tourist industry is established, locals don't eat at places like that generally. Macaroni Grill and CPK are also nothing special. Cozymels is OK for what it is, but with all the real Mexican places here I doubt they would even consider it.

The others are welcome though I would definitely like a Ruths Chris, they are pretty dependable steaks even if they are a bit pricey for what they are.

[masons_dad1]

A tasty little restaurant recently opened its doors in the Mill District called the Greenhouse Grille. They use organic produce and free range birds and what not. It's a bit small, but definitely worth checking out.

I thought I'd add jiggyK's post to the restaurant thread. It just kinda got my imagination going since I just woke up and I'm really friggin hungry! Someone please find out more about this restaurant as my wife loves a good pheasant or quail. She even eats pickled quails eggs! Well she is from Louisiana if that explains things.

[Aporkalypse]

I haven't eaten at a Coldstone Creamery or Maggianos Little Italy, but I have opinions on the rest. Personally, I would hope we would never get a Joe's Crab Shack, they are simply horrible. The good thing is they won't come here unless a significant tourist industry is established, locals don't eat at places like that generally. Macaroni Grill and CPK are also nothing special. Cozymels is OK for what it is, but with all the real Mexican places here I doubt they would even consider it.

The others are welcome though I would definitely like a Ruths Chris, they are pretty dependable steaks even if they are a bit pricey for what they are.

I'm with you on Joe's and CPK. Coldstone Creamery is just another ice cream place, no better or worse than Marble Slab.

I actually like Macaroni Grill quite a bit, it's better than places like Carino's and Carabba's and offers more Northern Italian dishes.

I'm a fan of Cozymel's because it's different, they have dishes like Yucatan Sea Bass and Paella you don't get at family Mexican places.

Of all of these, I think Macaroni Grill is the one you'll see in NWA rather quickly.

[Mith242]

I thought I'd add jiggyK's post to the restaurant thread. It just kinda got my imagination going since I just woke up and I'm really friggin hungry! Someone please find out more about this restaurant as my wife loves a good pheasant or quail. She even eats pickled quails eggs! Well she is from Louisiana if that explains things.

I'm pretty sure I posted some info on it a while back ago. But this topic stays pretty active so it's probably a bit back in this topic.

[RAK]

While I like Macaroni Grill, the last few times I've been to it anywhere, it hasn't measured up to Carabba's for me. Both are far better than Johnny Carino's, which not only has lousy food, but none of the restaurants ever seem clean.

[jdevers]

While I like Macaroni Grill, the last few times I've been to it anywhere, it hasn't measured up to Carabba's for me. Both are far better than Johnny Carino's, which not only has lousy food, but none of the restaurants ever seem clean.

I guess my issue is the specific locations I've been weren't very good. I have been to two that were almost certainly under different regional leadership (different time zones), but the food was very similiar at both. I agree somewhat about the food selection, my wife is Italian (not in the traditional Italian-American from Sicily and other parts of southern Italy, but in the fact that her parents moved her from Florence a few years before she was born) and we cook a lot of northern Italian food, so maybe I'm biased and since we don't cook as much Italian-American food I'm not as biased there. Now, I will say that the interior of the place was pretty cool.

On the other hand, I've only eaten at JC's once, but it was pretty nice. Of course it was only about a week after the one in Rogers opened so it didn't have a chance to get dirty.

[Aporkalypse]

I guess my issue is the specific locations I've been weren't very good. I have been to two that were almost certainly under different regional leadership (different time zones), but the food was very similiar at both. I agree somewhat about the food selection, my wife is Italian (not in the traditional Italian-American from Sicily and other parts of southern Italy, but in the fact that her parents moved her from Florence a few years before she was born) and we cook a lot of northern Italian food, so maybe I'm biased and since we don't cook as much Italian-American food I'm not as biased there. Now, I will say that the interior of the place was pretty cool.

On the other hand, I've only eaten at JC's once, but it was pretty nice. Of course it was only about a week after the one in Rogers opened so it didn't have a chance to get dirty.

The Carino's I went to was clean and the food was decent, just basic. I prefer it to Olive Garden but not much else.

[RemusCal]

Hey everyone,

Carrabas grand opening is set for today. I tried to go for lunch today, but they are only open for dinner starting at 4:00. Kind of a bummer. They are really missing out on a big lunch crowd over there in Pinnacle.

[jdevers]

Hey everyone,

Carrabas grand opening is set for today. I tried to go for lunch today, but they are only open for dinner starting at 4:00. Kind of a bummer. They are really missing out on a big lunch crowd over there in Pinnacle.

Is that a temporary thing, or will they never be open for lunch? I've been to others in the chain in far less "lunch oriented" areas and they were open at lunch, actually, I don't know of ever seeing one that WASN'T open for lunch, nor any of the other properties opened by this company (Outback and a few others).

[RAK]

I think that's part of the Outback thing. Some of the others are not open until 4

[Aporkalypse]

Is that a temporary thing, or will they never be open for lunch? I've been to others in the chain in far less "lunch oriented" areas and they were open at lunch, actually, I don't know of ever seeing one that WASN'T open for lunch, nor any of the other properties opened by this company (Outback and a few others).

I'm sure it's a "phase in" to allow for expanding the staff. Most IHOPs aren't 24 hours when they open, it takes time to train the main shifts and then eventually they some to other shifts and those can train more employees. It's a process a lot of new restaurants use to phase in new trainees so that you don't have too many untrained staff at once.

[Julles]

My husband took me to Carabbas tonight for my birthday. I was not disappointed. I have 3 words for you: Pollo Maria Rosa. Oh my gosh, it was the absolute best chicken I have ever had in my life! No kidding. You know how sometimes you walk into a place (like Marketplace in Springdale), and there's this wonderful smokey, mesqite or hickory smell......and you just want to eat whatever it is that tastes like that? Pollo Maria Rosa. It's chicken stuffed with fontina cheese and proscuitto, marinated, smoke grilled, covered in sauteed mushrooms and lemon basil garlic butter sauce. We loved the bread which is served almost as soon as you sit down, as well as the pasta hagioli (sp?) soup. The service was decent; drinks, bread, appetizer, soup and salad were brought in quick succession, but then we did have to wait a while for the entree.

It's a little pricey - $56.00 for the two of us including tax and 20% tip, but that covered a bruschetta appetizer, soft drinks, soup, salad, bread, chicken for me, and a huge steak for hubby.

I'll be hitting the gym first thing tomorrow morning; I don't think even my fat pants will fit now.

[mcheiss]

Glad to see you had a good time.

BTW, was the restaurant themed in an Italian Village kind of way?

[nwa_479]

I would really love to see a Dave & Buster's here in NWA. And I would love to see The Cheesecake Factory here too but that's not going to happen anytime soon. And the same goes for Dave & Buster's too.