Been going here for 34 years and everytime I'm in kirksville I go to Pagliais. Everything is good.read more

Love the pizzas here, sausage is v tasty and it's a great quick lunch or delivery dinner. Service…read moreis fast and it's easy to stop in and grab a seat. Fun setting inside with a diner vibe.

Awesome food friendly service, recommend any one try Hobo restaurant. Very clear, affordable foodread more

TLDR: Best fried food in Kirksville. Great burgers. Homestyle American classics. Large portions at…read morea more-than-fair price. Another restaurant called a "grill" with no grilled food. MENU: Mainly burgers and sandwiches. The specials are your typical homemade dinner type stuff, like meatloaf or pot-roast. No desserts. FOOD QUALITY: Everything is well-made with care. They tend to be busy, and the methods they use to compensate for that can reduce the quality of some menu items. For example, they make the fried chicken in batches and let it sit; this means that the quality of your yardbird can be hit or miss depending on when the last batch was made: if it's been sitting for a while, it will tend to be dry, but if you catch it when it's fresh, it's juicy, tender, crispy, top quality. Not that the owners have a reason to care what I think, but: I'd rather wait twenty minutes and have fresh chicken than have it come out immediately and the meat be dry and chalky. MENU FAVORITES: Best restaurant burger in town. Best fried food in town. You can get a whole half of a handmade fried chicken for under $20. (Also, if you order a piece meal, you can choose the cuts you want.) I'm a big fan of fried catfish and here you can get it either of two ways: fillets, or nuggets. The portion size relative to the price seems to be larger with the nugget version. Tasty sauces. Try the macaroni salad. MENU FAILS: It seems to me that the food here tends to be a tad over-salted, but it's not a dealbreaker. Pass on the coleslaw, it's watery and way too acidic. (Save the distilled vinegar for cleaning your windows.) I get a chuckle out of some of the eccentricities of the menu. Like, their main burger option is called the Waddlin' Chuck - named after a famous hobo, I assume - but the menu has a typo and lists it as "waddin chuck" without the L. No doubt I'm more smooth-brained than you, and I mispronounced it several times on different occasions before one of the host staff mentioned the correct name. Waddling makes a lot more sense than "waddin". Doh! Everything on the menu is "famous", but the restaurant was open for several months before I had even heard about it. FRONT OF HOUSE SERVICE: I've never eaten inside the restaurant, because I always get my food to go. But all the folks I have interacted with are friendly and helpful. Have your phone number ready if you're making a takeout order. I've also never had a drink here, but the bar looks legit. KITCHEN SERVICE: You're gonna get your food quick, fast, and in a hurry. Guaranteed. COMPETITION: Maxwell's is the most similar restaurant. The burgers are cousins, and the chips exactly the same - so much alike that I wonder if someone at Hobo's used to work there. If you're a catfish fan like me, the difference is at Maxwell's you'll get one large fillet, with the option of making it a sandwich; while at Hobo's you'll get two medium-sized fillets with the option of a third. You can get a fried chicken tender sandwich at Maxwell's, but not at Hobo's - minor differences like that. Some of the fried items at Hobo's are adjacent to what you'll get at the Wooden Nickel, and the quality here is way better. ATMOSPHERE: Freezing cold air conditioning in the summertime. Every time I've ever been to Hobo's it's hopping busy. The parking situation is a mess, too.

After finishing my daily routine and heading home, my wife and I decided it was time to grab…read moredinner. She suggested Italian food and I was immediately on board. As luck would have it, we found a relatively new place only about ten minutes away that didn't have hundreds of reviews yet. Those are usually the places that catch my attention the most. From the outside, Venezia Italian Restaurant has one of those buildings that makes you curious. You stand there looking at it wondering what's actually behind the door. I'll be honest, I wasn't expecting that interior at all. The moment we walked in my opinion changed completely. Warm lighting, beautiful decor, comfortable seating, and music playing quietly in the background. Loud enough to create an atmosphere, quiet enough that you can actually have a conversation. We arrived around 3:15 PM and were the first guests in the dining room. That gave us the freedom to choose any table we wanted, so we picked a corner table where we could see the entire restaurant. The young gentleman who greeted us also ended up taking care of our table. Drinks arrived quickly, followed by fresh rolls, butter, and a salad while we waited for the main course. I ordered the Chicken & Shrimp Lamora. My wife ordered the Sicilian Marsala. Both dishes arrived surprisingly fast. The portions were generous, everything tasted fresh, and there was absolutely no feeling that ingredients were being stretched to save money. Between the pasta, shrimp, chicken, mushrooms, vegetables, and sauce there wasn't much left on my plate by the end. At that point I was honestly going back and forth between 4 and 5 stars. Nothing was wrong. The food was good. The atmosphere was great. The service was good. But I still wasn't completely convinced. Then our server asked a simple question. "Would you like to try the tiramisu?" Normally I skip dessert. This time I didn't. And honestly, that's the moment this review changed from a 4-star review to a 5-star review. The tiramisu was excellent. Not just because it tasted good, but because it completed the entire experience. Sometimes it's not one big thing that earns the fifth star. Sometimes it's a lot of small things done right and one final recommendation at exactly the right moment. I spend a lot of time on the road and eat in restaurants all over the country. Places don't surprise me very often anymore. This one did. After dinner, dessert, and drinks, the final bill came to just over $63 for two people. Seeing that total made me smile. California, I don't miss you. Great food, great atmosphere, friendly service, a fantastic tiramisu, and a restaurant that turned a normal afternoon into a memorable one. I'll gladly stop here again the next time I'm anywhere near Kirksville.

What a fantastic place for lunch or dinner!…read more The atmosphere is the first thing that stood out. The dining room is softly lit with lots of warm lamps, beautiful tables, and quiet background music. It has such a cozy, relaxed vibe that makes you want to stay awhile. The service was outstanding. Keaton welcomed us right away, took our order, and kept everything moving perfectly. Before our entrées even arrived, we were served warm garlic bread with whipped butter, then fresh salads (I was already starting to feel full at that point), and just a few minutes later our pastas were on the table. I ordered the Sicilian Marsala, and my husband had the Chicken & Shrimp Lamora. Both dishes had unique flavors that we hadn't tried before, and they were absolutely delicious. The portions were huge, I had to take half of mine home. Now I'm already looking forward to coming back and trying more of the menu. My husband also ordered the tiramisu, and he said it's one of the best he's ever had. The total came to just $63, which felt like an incredible value for the quality of the food, service, and atmosphere. We'll definetely be back!

Short answer: Maybe…read more This location is a treasure, with a history going back decades. It's a special place. A media release this past summer announced, "Hospitality company ExplorUS has been awarded a 10-year contract to operate concessions at Thousand Hills State Park in northeast Missouri beginning in January 2024." That was just a few weeks ago. I was visiting town and came for dinner here for the first time in years, so this is my first look at the new operation. So how are things faring? - The food was okay. Not bad. But seems to fit more into the realm of "something decent in a place that's convenient for where you already were" rather than destination dining. Here, you're likely coming for the view or because you're already nearby. - The drink menu was disappointing. Better than you might find in some other places in years gone by, but not quite where it could be. - Kind service. Young team, we were there on one of the first days of the season, so they were still getting their rhythm- not in a negative way. They were great. I love this location. I love this part of the world. I am rooting for it hard. As such, I'm protective of this place and the people. So let's talk about value: This is where it falls off for me. As an example: One of the appetizers is onion rings, for $10. They aren't bad. They might be good enough. They are not $10 good. And there are not enough of them to justify the price point. Or their cocktails: Some places out there are charging $14 for mixed drinks. Even more! I don't begrudge it, some places are doing inventive work with an expertise or ingredients that costs money to sustain. But then other bars and restaurants follow the trend and deliver the price point... but not the quality. That's where I get annoyed. It's possible the drinks are $14 amazing, but reading their menu left us skeptical and we just went with a beer ($8) and a glass of wine. Another aspect of the menu is the menu itself. Ours were very clearly printed on inkjet printer, then laminated. If I may offer some free internet advice - go with laser, or a print shop, or adjust the design. Very difficult to read certain prices because the typeface is small and skinny, and white text on a blue background can look great, but with a basic inkjet printer you're going to get bleeding (which ours definitely had) and uneven coverage, and laminating can make it even harder to see. Is this a super nerdy tangent? Absolutely. But it's a detail that's fixable, and one that impacts guest experience and perceived value of what you're delivering. The part of the menu that really got to me, though, is the fact that all the prices end in .99 or .95 - this is a marketing cliche that to me just feels disrespectful at this point. You do that when you're trying to trick people. That's not a great sign for where priorities are at. A place that serves filet mignon does not need to be doing this kind of hack chintziness, it's tacky. Just own it - either your food is worth it or not, this is not a place where impulse buyers are going to matter a whole lot. This location should be a destination, with food that complements the beautiful setting. Imagine something on the level of The Pear Tree and Sebree's. A place that showcases just how amazing what we grow here is- food, talent, people. And one focused on delivering as much value as possible for the population it serves. I don't know about you, but I like that idea. So why mention all this? ExplorUS has just a signed a 10-year contract. They will be here a while. So the choices they make will impact the experience that visitors to our park will have. And those experiences will form a picture of this area- for the people who live here and those who don't. ExplorUS is a management company that used to be called Ortega National Parks, a concessionaire that was recently bought by a private equity firm. That firm is based in Los Angeles. They will want a return on investment. And that return is not going to stay in the local community. Those pressures are real, which is why I'm vigilant and wary. Done well, these arrangements can add resources which will improve the experience for everyone. But if the pressures for profit get out of control, it turns into an extraction operation where the goal is to take as much from the area while giving as little as possible. Corners get cut while prices increase. Which is not an environment I want for our park or our people. It feels easier to get right when the leadership is in the local community. And in some ways, the eccentricities of the menu might be a sign of local involvement in the design, or at least the printing. Hopefully the local management will feel empowered and supported in making improvements. I am rooting for them! So we will see how it goes. And for the next ten years we will have no other choice.

Not horrible, but ain't great either. The appetizers were even greasier than most fried food I get…read morein restaurants. The salad was okay, but nothing to write home about. The cocktail was good. Service was okay, but they were out of at least 2 items that were wanted by my companions. Don't know how many other things that nobody was asking about. The view is FANTASTIC and makes for a pleasurable meal.

The food was perfect. The most important part was the excellent customer service. Hardee's at…read moremessed up and so it tried to charge me full price on a deal that was on the app. The manager that was on duty, figured it out for me and gave me a discount. She also remade my burger because I forgot to ask for no ketchup. She did it with a smile on her face and was very friendly. I highly recommend this location.

Hardee's done the way it should be. Service was professional and food was great. Counter personnel…read morewere very friendly, and eager to serve. That's refreshing to find considering most dining out experiences today. Easily one of the better fast food experiences we have had. Will definitely be back again.

would love more hours and summer hours, we love, food is always fresh and always as good as reg…read more chick fil a, glad we have one in town

The workers are not normal chick fil a workers... they are Sodexo workers and they are so rude…read more They are always out of stuff, there is always an extended wait for what you want and they never say "my pleasure".

Headed to Kirksville for some personal business and was interested in checking out some of the…read morelocal Mexican food. Mi Casa was a pleasant surprise. We visited on Sunday afternoon during the lunch rush and was able to get seated without any issue. Once seated we were given a healthy portion of chips and salsa and our server took our drink order. Mi Casa has a cool decor with several authentic art pieces. There is plenty of seating but I do hear happy hours do get pretty busy and did I mention a $2 margarita special? I didn't get a chance to try one on this visit but will be back soon and will update my review. Mi Casa has a very diverse menu with a variety of vegetarian, beef, pork and chicken dishes. Prices were very reasonable and our server answered all questions we had. We ordered enchiladas verdes, a chicken chimichanga and a delicious ranchera beef plate. All dishes were large portions and very good. Our server was great and checked in with us several times to ensure everything was good. Overall Mi Casa provided a great experience, I recommend visiting if you're in the area. If you do stop by, let me know how the $2 margaritas are!

We ordered the lunch specials and it was a good portion. Food was great, the fajitas were a little…read moresalty, but all the other food had good flavor. Waitress was nice and attentive. The inside decor was simple and authentic.

I enjoyed the breakfast vegetarian pizza! The staff were pleasant and accommodating- an overall…read moregood experience, and I would recommend take-out.

I have had a terrible experience with this gas station! I was seemingly overcharged by $16 due to a…read morefaulty pump last time I came here, and when I requested a refund from the manager, named Dale Magruder, he got hostile and agitated with me and hung up the phone. They have lost a valuable life time customer! I will go to the one right next to it and never come back here!