Whole Hog Cafe

We went to the one in Bentonville, towards the end of a UA football game.  This is another restaurant where you place your order at the front and they call your number.  You get your own drinks and silverware.  There were 6 booths, a bunch of tables, and some bar stools, too.

I got sweet tea and it ended up being unsweet, but not bad.  We both ordered the Pulled Pork, because, let's face it, pulled pork rules!  It was moist and tender, and not a strong flavor.  The Potato Salad was one of those loaded baked potato style ones.  The Coleslaw was good.  Too many places have really crappy coleslaw, but I liked this one; it wasn't too sweet.  The Baked Beans were okay.

It gets interesting with the sauces.  There are 6 of them in a container on your table, and you have the option to ask for a really really hot one at the order desk.  We tried most of the 6, but didn't bother with the 7th one.  I liked #1 because it was sweet and tangy.  Frank used #3 and said it was good on the beans, that it added some good heat.  They had different flavors, from maple to mustard, which I really liked.  I got a brownie for dessert and it was very good.

Overall impressions:  Not bad.  This is a chain restaurant, and for a chain it was pretty good.  But it wasn't outstanding.  The people were friendly.  They actually messed up my sandwich by adding the coleslaw to it, but they fixed it very fast.  I think the main problems for us were that acoustically it was very noisy, and there's no real service.  You get all your own stuff, including your food.  Also, I've just heard so much hype about this place and how awesome their food is, that I was expecting it to be better.  Don't get me wrong - it is good barbeque!  But I didn't think it was great barbeque.  So, because of the hype and no-frills and their side dishes, I'm going to have to say 3-1/2 stars.



Note:  Photos to be added.

Aroma

This is a Pakistani-Indian restaurant in a strip mall in Bentonville.  It's fairly small.  There were 7 four-person tables, and 2 larger tables.  The buffet is up front and is also a little small.  This is more of a "hole-in-the-wall" type of place.

We got there a few minutes before supper officially started, so most of what we ate was actually the remains of the lunch buffet.  And it was still good!  There was no one about, so we sat ourselves and then got our own drinks.  I'm not sure if you usually get your own drinks or not, but it is very small, and a family-run place. The buffet officially started at 6 pm, but they were running about 15 minutes late.  There only seemed to be one person there, so we understood. 

My favorite was the Chicken Qorma.  It was really good and actually hot, too!  They also had a Chicken & Mutton Biriyani, something called Nahri (I hadn't heard of that one before) and some Egg Curry.  The owner came around and brought us some fresh Samosas and fresh buttered Naan.  They were both excellent.  Overall, the flavors were good and some dishes had a lot of spice!

It's a bit hard to judge the restaurant because we were still eating the leftover lunch buffet.  But that was good enough for 4 stars.  Provisionally, they might even go 4-1/2 stars for the fresh buffet.

Note: They do take credit cards, but the receipt did not have a tip line.

Note: Photos to be added.

Pho Thanh

This place is in the old Taco-Tico building on Walton Boulevard.  It's a bit bare bones.  There are napkin dispensers on the tables and small tables throughout the area.  Classic rock was playing when we were there.

I often measure restaurants by their tea.  The ice tea here was a bit off, but not too bad; I could drink it.  We ordered spring rolls which come with a peanut sauce.  They were good, and had lots of shrimp in them.  I prefer fish sauce with my rolls so we got some of that too.  It was really good - I was actually wondering if was home made.

For dinner I had the Grilled Pork and Shrimp Bun (noodles).  It was pretty good.  It came in a big bowl with veggies and I poured a lot of fish sauce over it.

Frank had a soup with pretty much everything in it.  It was a dark broth, but it was light and rich.  Frank said it had a good flavor and wasn't Americanized.  There were a variety of textures too, so he felt it was done properly.  He liked it a lot better than the Chinese/Vietnamese place on College in Fayetteville (Red Saigon?).

Overall, it was pretty good.  There were a lot of Asians eating there, which I always think is a good sign, and a lot of people coming in to pick up orders.  And there was a ton of food.  We really enjoyed it, and have gotten takeout several times since them.  Four stars.

Note: Photos to be added later