Carlita23

Hi everyone! My boyfriend, who lives in Little Rock, AR, has booked an anniversary trip for the two of us to Eureka Springs, AR this coming weekend. I'm looking for good places to eat, but all of the restaurant reviews I found here were around 3 years old (and I know the quality of restaurants can change dramatically in a few years).

Does anyone have any recommendations? We'd like to do one dinner at a more romantic, upscale place and then just explore the different culinary options for the rest of the trip. We're both total foodies and adventurous when it comes to eating out. Any recommendations for pubs or bars would also be greatly appreciated (particularly ones with a good beer/wine selection).

Also, if anyone has any advice for activities within (or close to) the town, I would love to hear it. We're both interested in cultural and outdoors activities (and I've been known to do some shopping every once in a while, haha).

Thank you!

SusanCS

I haven't been there in years, but Arkansas normally doesn't get a lot of posts here. You might try tripadvisor.com. Here's a link to the restaurants...

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restauran..._Arkansas.html

SusanCS

Just to clarify, I live in Little Rock, but haven't been to Eureka Springs in years! If you've never been there, you really should go see Thorncrown Chapel. It's one of the most remarkable places I've ever seen!

http://www.thorncrown.com/

japw82

Gaskins Cabin has good food. Not sure about it being romantic. Ate at Ermilios a few months back and it was a total disappointment. Several people said it was a must as the food and atmosphere was fabulous. I wasn't impressed. Sparky's Roadhouse has decent food. It isn't fancy but they have good burgers, sandwiches, etc.. We enjoyed having a drink at the Crescent Hotel in the bar on one of the upper floors. It offers a breathtaking view and a patio area. Plus the hotel itself is very unique.

Toucan2

I've done getaways the past three years to Eureka Springs and really enjoyed it. But, I took my MIL and aunt and they weren't big foodies so I don't have much to offer, sorry

We had decent, not exotic, meals at Mud Street Cafe, and really good burgers and steaks at the Rowdy Beaver. We went to the Bavarian one night and had a really delicious goulash and dumplings.

There are a lot of choices, but I didn't get to visit a lot of them.

You'll find lots of shopping, no problem!

Carlita23

Oh wow, Thorncrown Chapel looks stunning! That will definitely be something we need to check out.

I'd heard about the Crescent Hotel (and its ghost tours, which sound kind of fun). I think we'll have to stop by for a ghost tour and grab a drink at the bar.

I'll look up Mud Street Cafe, Rowdy Beaver, Bavarian, Gaskins Cabin and Sparky's Roadhouse. It's okay if they're not exotic and/or romantic. I think that as long as the food is good we'll both be perfectly happy. And I'll definitely avoid Ermilio's.

Thank you so much for all the suggestions! I wasn't expecting this many responses. Yay!

Carlita23

Okay, I looked up some of these restaurants and they all look great.
Sparky's beer selection looks amazing, and I like that they have such a huge food menu (including lots of veggie options).
Bavarian Inn and Gaskins Cabin look like they'd be good for some nicer dinners (and I love the idea of strudel at Bavarian Inn, yum...).
Rowdy Beaver also looks like a good place to grab a drink and relax with some good bar food.
My boyfriend is a big coffee fan, so he liked the idea of Mud Street's Cafe's large coffee selection. I think we'll be stopping there for breaksfast/brunch.
Thanks again for the suggestions!

Toucan2

Have a happy anniversary weekend!

japw82

You might want to try DeVitos Italian Restaurant. I haven't eaten at the Eureka Springs location but the one in Harrison is excellent.

Carlita23

I just wanted to give a quick report back on Eureka Springs, in case anyone consults this post in the future.

We stayed at the All Season's Inn and it was great. It was close to all of the downtown restaurants and shops (within walking distance, even in high heels), the staff was really nice and helpful and the rooms were beautiful and cozy. The only minor issue I had with it is that their breakfast is not very good, but we didn't mind too much, since there are so many food options in town.

Thorncrown chapel is stunning and super close to downtown (like a 5 min drive). It's hard to even describe, so see SusanCS's link to it for a preview.

Food was amazing. We were there only from Friday night to Sunday morning and I wish we'd had more time to try everything.

The people at the B&B recommended Ermilio's, but we followed japw82's advice and stayed away (just saw your post about DeVito's when I got back, wish I'd seen that earlier...). We did have brunch at Mud Street Cafe (thanks Toucan2!) and their quiche was delicious (some advice: show up early; they stop serving breakfast at 11AM). They also had a large variety of coffee. The Crescent hotel is beautiful and their bar is really nice. We didn't take the ghost tour, but just walking around the hotel on your own is enough to enjoy it.

We also had dinner at the Garden Bistro. They serve mostly local and organic food and it is very tasty. I had some salmon topped with a garlic sauce that was just divine. They also have some great freshly baked bread. They brought out my fish with the wrong sauce on it at first, but were really nice about changing it and even gave us free dessert.

We also went to a wine bar called The Stonehouse that has a great selection of wines and the most amazing cheese plates I've ever seen (they have not only cheese, but also sausage, veggies, nuts, honey, bread, etc). Great ambiance also.

japw82

Glad you had a nice trip!! Thanks for the review!!

SusanCS

Thank you SO much for reporting back! It doesn't happen often enough, and lots of us are left wondering "whatever happened to...?"

Especially glad you loved Thorncrown Chapel