Dining in Springfield, MO

When you want to celebrate a special evening, Argentina Steakhouse is the place. You can actually watch you meal being cooked (behind a glass wall) over wood fires the traditional Argentine way. The menu includes steak, pork chops and chicken breast. These items are extremely tender and very flavorful. Servings are very large... you will probably end up taking some home with you. The service at this restaurant is among the finest in town! Cost of a meal is $20-$40 without drinks, but it is worth it!

This is one of my favorite places in town because it is so much fun! Nakato is a Japanese steakhouse where you are seated with 10 other guests around a cooking stove. The Chef comes out and puts on a show while preparing your meal. The food is extremely good and the servings are large! You may have to ask for a take home box. My favorite meal is the Sea Scallops which are huge and tender!

The Sushi Bar at Nakato is also unique. After your sushi is prepared fresh by one of the area's top sushi chefs, it is put on a small wooden boat to float down a "river" until it reaches you.

Nakato has excellent food and it is very entertaining... you have to try it!

Yen Ching is actually located in Ozark which is 6 miles south of Springfield... but it is the best Chinese restaurant in the area! Although Yen Ching is located in a small strip shopping center, you forget all that when you enter the doors. Yen Ching is decorated with colorful paper lanterns, umbrellas, origami and other treasures from the far east which you will enjoy looking at during your meal.

The food and service at Yen Ching are second to none! My favorite dish is "Happy Family" which has beef, chicken, shrimp,scallops and vegetables ($12). Since the servings are very large, I would suggest ordering an appetizer and then sharing the entrée with your companion. This has always given us more food than we can eat.

Make plans to visit Yen Ching... you'll be glad you did!

There are some restaurants you go to for the overall experience... not just the food. Lamberts is definitely in that category! Be sure to have some extra time because you will probably have a 45-60 minute wait to be seated for dinner. That is how popular this "southern cooking" restaurant is.

The atmosphere is almost like a carnival inside with a huge collection of nostalgic signs, an electric train running on tracks above your head and very lively servers.

Lamberts is known as the "home of throwed rolls" and that is exactly what they do. Instead of serving rolls to you on a tray, they are thrown across the dining room to customers who want these delicious treats fresh from the oven. This creates a bit of chaos... and a whole lot of people yelling "throw it here".... but it really is a fun place.

The menu at Lamberts comes from the deep south with entrées such as: fried chicken, pork chops, chicken fried steak, fied catfish, ham and more. In addition to your meal Lamberts also has servers giving out "pass arounds" such as fried Okra. Lamberts is probably not the healthiest place you will ever dine at... but you will not go hungry!

The food is not gourmet and this is not a quiet place for a romantic date, but the "carnival" atmosphere can be a fun place to take friends from out of town.

I have enjoyed sushi at many different restaurants in Springfield, but Haruno is the best! This contemporary sushi bar is a must for those who crave sushi and nigiri. The "Sushi boat" is a huge sampler served on a wooden ship at your table. This will feed 2-3 people and costs approximately $35.

Be warned about the wasabi at Haruno... it is the hottest in town! I enjoy it, but some people find it overpowering. Use very small quantities at first.

The food and service are excellent. Your needs will be taken care of by a very attentive wait staff. Depending on how crowded the restaurant is, you may have a bit of a wait for your sushi... all prepared fresh when you order.

Golden Corral is a popular restaurant with many families across America. The reason for this is simple: there is something for everyone on the massive food buffet.

I have enjoyed Golden Corral in the past, but this time I was quite disappointed. As a former food service worker who had to oversee a buffet, I know it is very difficult to keep up with a buffet... but it can be done. It is important to keep things hot... but not dried out. The same is true for the cool dishes.... they must be kept at the proper temperature. This is for health reasons as well as the taste of the food.

It would appear that Golden Corral is more concerned about saving money by cutting back on staff than maintaining its image and quality. I ate at this restaurant at 6:30pm on a Wednesday night (some Mexican entrées were offered). The restaurant was not crowded at all but it seemed the staff were not keeping up with it. Either the restaurant was understaffed...or the staff were not doing their job.

Unfortunately it seemed that the people who oversaw the buffet were not doing a good job. There were a number of containers with dried, crusty food that should have been disposed of. I shudder to think how long this might have been sitting there. The steaks were burned and very dried out. The fried chicken was actually sitting in a pool of grease! The buffet was very messy... and unfortunately this affects the dining out experience.

The food at Golden Corral has never been what I would classify as gourmet.... but I thought it was good homestyle cooking. I think the restaurant would do better to stick with the meals that made it famous rather than do a half hearted attempt at "Mexican theme nights." The quality of the food was extremely poor compared to what I was used to at this Restaurant.

I will give credit where it is due...Golden Corral still has the best dinner rolls you will find anywhere! These rolls are warm from the oven and they melt in your mouth.

My bill for 2 people eating the buffet plus drinks was $22.24. Although that is not expensive dining....it is too much to pay for poor quality! I am sorry to say that I do not think I will be going back.