Restaurants in Arkansas

Arkansas is Roadfood-rich. From the oil fields of El Dorado in the south to the Ozark Highlands Trail through the mountains in the north, inconspicuous town cafés serve expertly fried chicken followed by flaky-crust cream pie, fruit pie, or fried pie. In fact, Arkansas vies for the title of America’s #1 pie state. Then there’s catfish. Alongside lakes and rivers are fish camps that specialize in eat-’til-you-drop catfish and hushpuppy feasts. To the east along the Mississippi River are humble cafes that make spicy tamales along with single-serving sweet potato pies. The most seductive meals in the Natural State are barbecue. It is superficially similar to the smokehouse fare east of the Mississippi River—pork sandwiches hereabout often include the layer of coleslaw de rigueur on a Memphis sandwich, and many restaurants serve that Memphis oddity, barbecue salad. But Arkansas hickory-cooked pork is uniquely zesty; sauce tends to be a major player; and most BBQ meals include extraordinary beans or pit-cooked potatoes.

Arkansas’s Most Famous Dishes

Mountainous sandwich holds pastrami, egg, French fries, cole slaw, and a tomato at Primanti Brothers in Pittsburg, PA

Sandwiches

Wedge of pie with tall yellow base and even taller meringue, flecked with toasted coconut

Pies

Sauced pulled pork -- some soft, some chewy-edged -- overflow from a bun

Pulled Pork

Two rib bones are laden with a great mass of spice-crusted, smoke-cooked beef

BBQ Ribs

Arkansas’s Best Restaurants

Gene’s Barbeque

BRINKLEY, AR

Doe’s Eat Place

LITTLE ROCK, AR

Craig’s

DE VALLS BLUFF, AR

Rogerland Restaurant

PARIS, AR

Charlotte’s Eats & Sweets

KEO, AR

Jones Bar-B-Q Diner

MARIANNA, AR

Ed Walker’s Drive In

FORT SMITH, AR

Mr. Whisker’s Catfish

HOT SPRINGS, AR

Grapevine

PARIS, AR

Ms. Lena’s Pies

DE VALLS BLUFF, AR

AQ Chicken House

SPRINGDALE, AR

Feltner’s Whatta-burger - Single With Cheese
Feltner’s Whatta-burger

RUSSELLVILLE, AR

Old Mill Bread & Flour Co.

LITTLE ROCK, AR

Tequila’s Mexican Grill and Bar

AIKEN, SOUTH CAROLINA

Burial Brewing

ASHEVILLE, NORT CAROLINA

Boulted Bread

RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA

Butcher & Bee

CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA

Pot Smoker BBQ

AIKEN, SOUTH CAROLINA

Rumcow

WILMINGTON, NORTH CAROLINA

Fully-dressed cheeseburger ... square meals & cold beer
Bruce’s Bar and Grill | Square Meals & Cold Beer

WARRENVILLE, SOUTH CAROLINA

Plate crowded with breakfast of eggs, potatoes, bacon, sausage, and ham ... sweet Ozark eats
Brenda’s Country Cafe | Sweet Ozark Eats in Arkansas

MOUNTAIN HOME, AR

Arkansas Articles & Guides

View All Articles & Guides
Family Pie Shop - Exterior

Hog Wild for Arkansas

The best food in Arkansas is served in the worst-looking restaurants. If you have a sense of adventure and an appetite for down-home meals, you will eat majestically in...

Exterior at night of McClard's Bar-B-Q

Blue Plate Highways

Arkansas is roadfood-rich. From the oil fields of El Dorado in the south to the Ozark Highlands Trail through the mountains in the north, inconspicuous town cafés serve expertly...

A full plate of fresh oysters on the halfshell a must order at any seafood restaurant

The Essential 22 Seafood Restaurants in the US

Seafood is a delicacy that has been enjoyed since the beginning of time. Its flavors are unique and diverse, and it can be cooked in many ways. That is...

Interstate Bar-B-Q - Sign

Mississippi Blues Highway Feast

The magic of Highway 61 from Graceland down deep into the Mississippi Delta, through cotton fields and past speck-on-the-map small towns, is all about the blues. You might be...

The One Must-Eat Food in Each State, and Where To Get It

Unique Regional Dishes After 40 years and 5 million miles spent on the road looking for America's best regional food, we've assembled a list of the quintessential, must-eat food in...

Best Mexican Food Augusta, GA | Roadfood Bests

The Best Mexican Food Augusta, GA Everyone knows that the Central Savannah River Area (CSRA) around Augusta, Georgia, is rich with BBQ, peach pie, fried chicken, Coastal seafood, and meat...

Pies Across Arkansas

Which is America's #1 pie state? Iowa, Wisconsin, Oregon, and Maine all are contenders, but we're tempted to give the nod to Arkansas. Cream pies and fruit pies, baked...

Southern Kitchen - Pie

12 of the Best Pie Places in America

First, we apologize to the Stockholm Pie Company in Wisconsin, to Nick's Kitchen in Huntington, Indiana, to the Bang Bang Pie Shop in Chicago, and to Beardsley Cider Mill...

Peach Desserts

There are few pleasures in life more sensuously delicious than sinking teeth into a perfectly ripe peach to let its juicy, sugared sunshine flood over taste buds. Because their...

Delta Tamales

From the street corners of Memphis through the Mississippi Delta, tamales are sold in eateries of every kind. There is no clear explanation for the ubiquity of a Mexican...

The sign at Little Miss BBQ in Phoenix. AZ

Barbecue's Delicious Dozen

Of the hundred five-star barbecue parlors around the U.S.A. this dozen is the crème de la crème. .

Fried Chicken: The Delicious Double Dozen

Fried chicken is popular all across America and so different everywhere that it is not possible to say what city, state, or region does it best. While the process...

Great Arkansas Recipes

Tender wedge of spoonbread jiggles on a plate.

Spoonbread

Connect with us #Roadfood

Share to...