Comfort food…read more Service and atmosphere: We received good service throughout the stay. The restaurant looks cool and has old school vibe. Food: Their menu offers breakfast and lunch staples. I tried an omelette which you can build yourself. It came out pretty fast and tasted good. Side of salsa helped by adding extra flavour. Chicken fried chicken was moist and had good amount of crunchy texture. Many items are on the fried side. Pricing: $$ - standard prices for breakfast and lunch options.

Minus one star for cleanliness. Read on…read more Very good breakfast. Popular! Tons of people. We only had about a 20 minute wait at 9am-ish on Mother's Day. That's fine because it allowed us a bit of time to check out downtown Bastrop. Once seated, service was American cafe classic. Very friendly and full of memorabilia on the walls and decore. The evening cleaning crew left us an upside down dead . . . Yup, you guessed it. We told the server, they might want to clean it up before seating the next guest at that table. Rule of restaurant opening is to sweep before the doors are opened. We will probably be back because it's still a great place for breakfast. CritDicks

The Friar is a great eatery at Sherwood Forest Faire. While you can't just simply drive up to eat…read morethere, as this inside the Faire, you can enjoy their faire food. They do have a delectable specialty dish you should ask if they have available -- their Queso cheese fries. This dish was accidentally invented when they ran out of normal cheese at VikingFest and used Queso instead of the normal boring cheese for cheese fries. It is an outstanding improvement over all other known cheese fries known to man. So good they are life changing. That's right, having a mid life crisis? Order the queso fries. Going thru a messy divorce? Order the queso fries? Dying of cancer? Order the queso fries. While your milage may vary, and the Fat Friar can't fix all your problems, you at least can face the world over a tasty meal.

Great soul food and cajun. We tried the karoke night menu: gumbo, red beans & rice, macaroni &…read morecheese balls, boudin egg rolls, chicken fingers. All good! (It was dimly lit for extended hours karaoke night so my photos may look washed out, sorry.) They had dessert too but we were too full. Casual with family friendly attentive service. Unique, genuine mom & pop shop. Full restaurant with a quirk of being connected to a convience store.

We're spending the summer in McDade for a work assignment, and after working all day in the HOT…read moreTexas sun... who's cooking? Not us. Let's start with the basics... Easy to find. Plenty of parking. Cool little atmosphere. Now here's the plot twist... It's attached to a gas station. Before you clutch your pearls and drive on by... DON'T. Some of the best food comes from places your GPS forgot to brag about. The menu is HUGE, and they even had a daily special posted. Our table tackled: Tortilla Burger (whatever the official name is... I'd order it again!) Philly Cheesesteak & Fries Shrimp Po' Boy Orleans Pasta Fried Mac & Cheese Balls Everything came out hot, fresh, and in portions big enough to make tomorrow's lunch jealous. Now... let's talk onion rings. LORT. Hand-breaded. Golden. Crunchy. And about the size of a toddler's bracelet. Order them. Just trust me. The shrimp on the Po' Boy? Big, juicy, perfectly cooked, and definitely hand-breaded--not those little frozen shrimp trying to fool anybody. A few more reasons we'll be back: Breakfast served ALL DAY. BYOB. Karaoke nights (check the sign inside for dates). ‍‍‍ Plenty of room for large groups. And a special shout-out to our sweet server, Nicole. She was attentive, kind, and one of those people who genuinely enjoys taking care of her customers. She absolutely made our visit even better. TW'S REAL PANTS RATING: -- 5 out of 5 Real Pants As a full-time camper and proud naturist... I don't put on real pants for just anybody. This place earned 'em. We'll definitely be back.

I like this place but they need more bagel options like onion, garlic, or jalapeño. Whoever reads…read morethese reviews please give us more to choose from. Thx

My wife and I had lunch today at Stem & Stone in Bastrop, Texas and you should go out of your way…read moreto give it a try! My wife had a Greek salad and I had a shredded pork sandwich with fries. We had a super cool server whose name is Janae. She was really attentive, friendly, and helpful, which made our visit even more pleasant. We were impressed by the number and range of menu options. The restaurant is relatively new, having opened in 2020 just before they (and we) were slammed by Covid 19. They also have a very nice bar, but I was driving today so I stuck with iced tea. :-) I hope you will visit Stem & Stone yourself. You'll be grateful to me for suggesting it.

Hadn't been in a while but decided to stop by Saturday for lunch with my family. Service was great,…read morefriendly and attentive. We all ordered different sandwiches, burgers and a salad and everyone was very happy either their meals. The salad was large and packed full of ingredients which is always appreciated. The burger was large and juicy and my son throughly enjoyed it. They were a little light on the fries as a side though. Overall, very happy with our food, prices and service and can't wait to go back and try their Sunday brunch.

Cheap, great food, open at 6am. Doesn't look like much from the outside, but the lady was cheery…read morewhen we walked in at 6:05. Coffee is good black and you can probably order anything on the menu without having to worry about going hungry. Tacos are ridiculously large and the filling was excellent. Lots of cheese, plenty of meat, and home made tortillas. The potatoes had a great texture to them and seem like they were from fresh and not frozen potatoes. The have a green and mild sauce that went pretty well and had decent flavor and kick. Now I want to go back for the biscuits and gravy or chicken fried steak. If you're in town and need some fuel for the AM, this is the place.

The menu is tacos for breakfast style but you can get normal breakfast too. The inside is run down…read morebut the service was great and friendly and the food was hot and tasty.

Best thing in smithville. Everyone is always so grateful and happy to serve customers…read more Best breakfast Always get the waffle board so delicious

This place is great. I ran out of food while camping at a nearby 5-day music festival so I drove…read moreinto Smithville and had breakfast here. It's entirely donation based. You place your order and then take a seat and when they bring out your food, you get a little pocket to put cash into to pay whatever you want. The food was great and it benefits addiction recovery. My only complaint is that they really really really need to put fans on the patio cause I was swatting away flies the entire time I was eating. I wouldn't eat outside again. I went for breakfast and had a 3-meat omlette which I actually couldn't even finish cause I was full. It was a little weird getting the apple juice in a cup full of ice but I guess I could have gotten more if I wanted it. I'd like to back for lunch sometime.

Love! Deliciously fresh food, friendly staff, cute lil spot. My husband and I always stop here when…read morepassing through Bastrop and it's always worth it

Healthy options, great -tasting breakfast with coffee and matcha…read more Service-style was quick and easy, and has clean place. It has tables outside where you can enjoy a quiet breakfast.

This medium sized restaurant has just about everything you'd want served all day long. Breakfast,…read morelunch, and dinner? They serve it all day long. It's a cute nostalgic space with old-timey instruments displayed in the corners and has a really unique feel. The wait staff is friendly and funny and very knowledgeable about the menu. Personally, I've had the big thick burger and the pulled pork sandwich. Both are delicious. Others have had the chicken fried steak, the lasagna, and everyone I've gone there with loved it. Great comfort food and delicious pie for dessert. Try it, you'll like it!

TLDR: Restaurant in an old high school band hall that delivers on nostalgic vibes but falls short…read moreon food. The fried green tomatoes are great here but for me, almost everything else was a disappointment. Not as kid-friendly as you'd expect. It pains me to leave such a low rating (and I rarely do) but this was one of the most disappointing restaurant experiences I've had in a while. And it didn't have to be that way so hopefully my review can grab someone's attention. This place has so much potential because it's in such a cool location -- the band hall of an old high school (fun decor and cool nostalgic vibes). I had really high hopes for this restaurant but it let me down. Here's what went wrong. THE FOOD: First and foremost, the food was disappointing... except for their vegetable appetizers. The fried green tomatoes were fantastic. Nailed it in terms of texture and flavor. My husband and I were both surprised by how good they were. Their Brussels sprouts appetizer was really good as well. After that, it was all downhill. I had the Mom's Meatloaf with two sides: Cowboy Caviar and green beans. The meatloaf wasn't bad but it wasn't exactly a loaf -- it was like meatballs connected together? I didn't taste the bacon in the tomato sauce and the portion felt tiny -- same size as the sides. The sides were a real letdown. The green beans tasted like they came straight from a Jolly Green Giant can. The Cowboy Caviar (which I usually love) was so bland. It was like they just poured beans and corn and pepper and onion in and that's it. I didn't taste any seasoning. Cowboy Caviar needs to have that zing (many simple recipes use Italian salad dressing). Moving onto my husband's dish which was probably the worst part. His tomato soup tasted like marinara sauce but we were hoping the filet mignon would deliver. It was simply not good. It wasn't as tender as filet mignon needs to be -- it was chewy. It did seem to be cooked as requested (medium rare) but it didn't taste good and seemed flavorless -- almost as if the meat was poor quality. Now, I know that filet mignon is a much more mild tasting cut and less flavorful than a ribeye for instance, but still, something felt very off with this steak. Neither of us enjoyed it and that's a bummer (especially at that price point). KIDS: Usually restaurants like this one are more kid-friendly so I was a bit surprised. Our kids are 3.5YO and 2YO. They brought a booster for my youngest. It had no straps at all (which I'm not even complaining about because those straps are broken at literally every restaurant). We were in a booth so it worked okay mostly. What I'm unhappy about is the lack of coloring options and kids menus. We were not brought any crayons and coloring paper upon seating so we inquired. The waitress said she'd look and ended up coming back with crayons and some paper placemats to doodle on? I respect the ingenuity but I was confused. They have crayons on hand but they don't offer them to the kids? What's the deal with that? They didn't have a kids menu printed anywhere and the waitress just told us the offerings out loud. So is there an official kids menu or not? I'd like to be able to see the prices as well. Also a bit perplexing. We went ahead and ordered one grilled cheese for the kids to share and I'm glad because it was big but also not very good. The bread was too dense so it was more of a bread sandwich. My kids weren't that into it. Almost forgot -- the fries that came with the grilled cheese were actually very good (got to give credit where it's due). TIME: Our food took forever. It wasn't a fun wait -- the kids were getting super restless. The waitress stopped by a couple times to tell us that "our food is just around the corner." Even though it ended up being untrue -- I appreciate her checking in.

I had a much better time than thr last time I was there when the guy seating us swung a chair to…read moreremove it and hit Me with it. Hadn't been in a while.... The plates physically got smaller, as did the tenders and the price has increased. Since the price of groceries have increased we have no choice. But everything was delicious. Chciken tenders were crunchy, broccoli cheese casserole was cheesy and good. My kids loved it. Especially the croissants.

Cheddar's is part of the Garden Corp (Olive Garden, Ruth's Chris, Bahama Breeze, Capital Grill, and…read moreseveral other chains). I had never heard of Cheddar's until a couple of years ago when some Texas friends mentioned it. The time had finally come for us to go. First of all, I don't understand the negative reviews. You know what this place and others like it are before walking in. I digress... You start with a complimentary basket of croissants drenched in butter. Holy bread are they good! Totally addictive. I had the pot pie and it came with a side salad. The pot pie was really good and the crust tasted like the croissants...woah! The salad was crisp and fresh and very typical of what you get at such chains. My boyfriend got the Monte Cristo sandwich with fries. I hadn't heard of a Cristo since the 80s! Had a couple of bites and it was really good. He totally loved it. Our server was attentive without being overbearing. Tablets mounted to tables for self-pay. We had an enjoyable visit & good food.