Opening in 1942 as a 15 seat classic diner, the Mark Twain Dinette has been a fixture of the…read moreHannibal, Missouri dining scene since, providing locals and tourists alike a combination of value priced food. It is known for their giant spinning root beer bug. My wife and I stopped in for lunch on our fourth day of our Mississippi River road trip, and found the food and service to be great. The dinette is part of the Maid-Rite family of restaurants (all individually owned) and specializing in loose meat sandwiches (seasoned ground beef kept loose like a sloppy joe without the tomato sauce). This is the main reason why I came, as I had not had a loose meat sandwich in a very long time. The building has greatly expanded since the initial start, and now consists of a large souvenir shop (mostly focusing on various board games) on one side, and a dining room on the other. They have a drive-in in the back and plenty of surface parking surrounding the building. It wasn't too busy when we came in, and got to choose a window booth. My wife started with a homemade root beer in a frosty mug ($3.50) and said it was refreshing and delicious. The soup of the day was chicken noodle ($6.50 for a bowl), and my wife found it to be very rich, similar to a chicken pot pie's filling. We shared a poutine - hannibal-style ($12.50) and it was good, though not sure why they called it hannibal-style...maybe because the gravy was darker than what I expected and the cheese curds were the battered deep fried kind. Any who... my wife and I finished as it was quite good. I did get the maid-rite sandwich ($7.24) plus a $1 upcharge to upgrade the side to onion rings. The sandwich was OK, good quality beef and not too greasy but nothing to get too excited about...hard to eat without it falling apart on ya. But the onion ring upgrade was the real deal, with obviously homemade battered sweet onion rings deep fried really well...very very good and something I would actively seek out. Service by Sydney was excellent throughout and was pleasantly surprised by the value for the amount of food we got. We got the bill at the table, but was asked to pay upfront (at the same register that supports the retail shop). We ended up finding a couple of party mystery games on sale at the store, and bought them to bring to our friends that we were about to visit. Super glad that we stopped in, for both the food and sale priced items.

Update: I couldn't leave Hannibal without trying the infamous fried chicken. I ordered online and…read moreset a pickup time. Also had the fried green tomatoes and potato salad. Excellent and definitely would have been worth the 25-min wait had I eaten in again.

HUGE menu. Something g for everyone. High quality meal with excellent service. Can be noisy due to…read morekids and hard surfaces.

I found this restaurant a nice surprise outside of Hannibal. We visited there over Labor Day…read moreweekend and had a good experience. The menu is vast, providing a choice for everyone. The establishment is also large, with seating for small and large groups. I ordered the chicken jambalaya and was not disappointed. Sometimes ordering a Cajun dish outside of the South leaves something to be desired in seasoning but that was not the case here. Service was good and prompt. Definitely would visit again when in the area.

Delicious! I loved the food. The chips are delicious and me and my friends had a great time there…read more Definitely recommend for picky eaters just a regular sub with maybe tomatoes

I haven't been to Subway often so can't much compare so…read more.. We pre-ordered an order of about 50 boxed lunches for a school group. Students had the choices of sandwiches, cookies & drinks. All was ready on time and neatly packed in large bags for us to transport to a nearby park. Boxes contained the sandwiches (rather plain, but how do you customize an order that large?), a bag of chips, a cookie, packages of mustard and mayo. Separate boxes for all of the drinks. Perfect!

Everything was great from the moment we walked in to when we left…read more Our server, Amanda, was great. Polite and always checking to make sure we were ok.

Exceptional service and very affordable meal for the portion sizes. Out party had the roast beef…read moreand mashed potatoes as well as the tenderloin with mashed potatoes. Both options were fantastic. This is a hidden gem.

The food was delicious! My husband got the pulled pork sandwich and I got the boneless ribs…read more Everything was tender. Flavor was great! Staff was very friendly and quick to offer suggestions. The place was clean

Ok. Read the whole way through.... Walking in here is a trip to a day and age when it was only…read moreabout the food. The ambience is enough to scare away folks that want a plush dining experience. As it can often be... look past that. Just accept it as they are focusing on the taste of the food itself. Because that's really what's going on here. The brisket, the pork, the buns, the sauce, the beans, and more, all come together in an amazing taste experience. This was filled with flavor, immaculately done, with complexity and taste that beats some of the more upscale places. Customer service was one guy, handling the register and the kitchen, and yet he had time to check on us, be cheerful and friendly, and just make sure we had a good experience.

Clean . Sandwich well made and she never asked twice what I asked for. No time at all I'm making me…read morea clean cut sandwich

Best place in the area to eat. The bread is fresh and the vegetables are fresh. The meat is…read moreadequate for the size of the sandwich.

We have never been to one of these before. Drakes was right across from our hotel. Our server,…read moreAiyanna, was great! Ask for her. The ambiance here is cool. Good music, cool bar, great staff! I had the Chili Mac with a side salad. The latter was kinda small. The entree was fine. It was made with angel hair pasta, so that was unique. I make mine with elbow macaroni, hence Chili MAC. My wife had the 8 ounce sirloin which was absolutely fantastic!!! She totally out ordered me!! She had the baked sweet potato for her side. That steak. Man. Just SO good!! We both agreed the salad dressings here were special. She had blue cheese and I had 1000 Island. It was not orange like the cheap stuff. This was great! We'd absolutely return here to dine and split the 16-ounce sirloin. There's a $5 split plate fee, FYI.

Was craving a good steak and came across Drakes add in motel room. Ordered a rib eye. Overdone…read moretough piece of meat. Heavy salt that make it impossible to finish. The baked Potato was cold and came with a frozen chunch of butter. The salad was the only good item in that meal. When the waitress returned I told her my thoughts. She said "I'm sorry and walked away.

Recommended by Rockcliff B&B as a local establishment so we headed to town dor dinnee. Our waitress…read moreCortney was amazing and took great care of us. We got the Cajun tortellini,.which is my favorite and the Garlic Lovers pizza. We got a #4 by accident and it was yummy. The Garlic Lovers was so stinking good and cheesy. We found a bottle of Montepulciano on the wine list for a fantastic price. Can't go wrong with this Italian wine. We were pleased with the recommendation and would go back!. Definitely recommend the local haunt.

The place deserves a 3.9, but I only gave it a 3.0 as it committed an unpardonable sin: the credit…read morecard surcharge (or as they call it here: "ADMIN FEE"). Accordingly the Merchants Payments Coalition the credit card surcharge/admin fee, has increased from 2.02% in 2010 to 2.35% in 2024. Now while I agree this seems a little high, it's not catastrophic, and I have trouble believing this 0.33% increase has directly led to this brave new world of bifurcated billing: one price for cash and second price that is somewhat more than 0.33% greater. Well it has at the The Brick Oven, as I was charged 3.75% (see photo). If your going charge me more to use my credit card, then you need inform me. And as the only thing I really demand from capitalism is transparent pricing, do owners really want to start off my dining experience with a review of how it ends? Well instead this place chose to avoid this checkered conversation by annotating the bottom of my bill accordingly. Dining here was supposed to a moment to relax with my wife and think some very Twainian thoughts, and not about conducting some financial analysis. But I guess that's the last memory the owner wants to impart. Our server (the guy who lives above the place), was excellent and I feel bad about taking the difference between 3.75% and my 2% credit card cash back out of his tip, but something must be done. Btw: Whenever I'm asked to choose between paying more or paying cash, I always have a distinct feeling it's less about saving a dollar in credit card fees and more about saving 20 dollars in taxes.