REVIEW: All Aboard Restaurant & Grill, Little Rock, Arkansas

Travels and Kids Rating:  
4.5 out of 5 travel buggies (fun factor)
2.5 out of 5 travel buggies (food)
Sticking with our train theme from a few days ago but this time a visit to a restaurant in our neck of the woods, we visited the All Aboard Restaurant & Grill on a Sunday night.  It was about an hour and half before closing so we had the entire restaurant to ourselves.  If you ask our kids they would have probably wished there were more people in the restaurant just so they could view the unique food delivery experience again and again.

You place your order at the counter. The menu is displayed on large digital screens above the cashier. For a first time visitor, it took a minute to review the three screens so a paper menu might have been handy.  The menu is fairly minimal though - hot dogs, nuggets, macaroni & cheese, etc. for the kids while wraps, burgers, soups for adults with carrot sticks, fries or chips as side items.  After paying, the cashier handed us a key to activate our order at a table of our choosing.  Our kids could not wait to find a seat so we positioned ourselves for best train watching.  It's all booth seating for our family of 6 it was little tight but helped that our youngest in still in a high chair otherwise we would have needed two booths.

Did I mention the unique food delivery experience?  That's right - a train delivers your food to your table via tracks above the tables.   There were 4 of 5 trains and when the order makes it way to you all the trains are set in motion.  Soon the training was headed overhead and the kids were about to scream (glad it was an empty restaurant).  The train drops off a tray without stopping and then a slow moving elevator lowers the food to the table.  The kids kept saying, "Wow! wow!"  They were ready to order something else before they even started eating their food.  Speaking of the food, it seemed to be your average grill type food - nothing too special but not too bad.  Dad's burger was grilled fine, topped with fresh toppings but a few spots of the patty had a bit too much salt & seasoning, my baked potato soup was fine and the kids cleaned their plates of macaroni & cheese and nuggets.  (You fetch your own condiments, napkins, forks, knives - no train deliveries for these items.)

With no other customers, the trains didn't travel too much although I think the employees did run them a few extra times as they heard our kids talking about how they wanted to see the trains again.  By the time we were leaving, the big three kids were all talking about how they wanted to come back for their respective birthdays.  Probably not a destination for food alone but if you are looking for a place to thrill the kids, it's worth a visit.

The employee said they had been open for about two months and the only restaurant of its kind, although the owner is considering franchising if successful.  He said it had all been word of mouth advertising up until a few days ago so not sure if we hit on a lite crowd night or if they might consider doing a little more advertising.

411 on the All Aboard Restaurant & Grill:
www.all-aboardrestaurant.com
6813 Cantrell Road, Little Rock, AR 72207
Hours: Sunday - Saturday, 10:30 a.m. - 9 p.m.

Travel Tip #21 - Take Out Sometimes is Necessity (and you don't miss out on McClard's Bar-B-Q)

We spent the day at Magic Springs and Crystal Falls in Hot Springs, Arkansas today and by day, I mean the whole day. Oh, did I mention it is hot, hot and very hot outside.  Actually, I have never sweated so much before but that is not what this post is about.  Anyway, the kids had a blast and were wet, hot and exhausted when we finally called it a day.  But when you come to Hot Springs you can't leave without having bar-b-q from McClard's.  We knew from many failed restaurant experiences that our crew was in no way able to go out to eat and sit through a meal without major, multiple meltdowns.  So we did the next best thing: take out!

I am sure that people often forget about getting their food to-go on a trip but often for us it is the best thing to do.  You can leisurely eat your meal at your hotel room or wherever and your kids can run around, eat whatever they want (sure, you could even stop and get their McDonald's on the way) or they can even throw that long overdue fit without bothering anyone.  Seriously, sometimes when we get take out, it is so much more relaxing for us and we still get to enjoy the food from the restaurant that we wanted to try (and my husband would add that we saved money on the tip!)  So pick out that place on your next trip that you have always wanted to try and bring it back to the hotel room-you (and your kids) will thank me!

By the way, I bet you were wondering what makes McClard's Bar-B-Q Restaurant so special.  Well, their bar-b-q is great and world famous but our favorite menu item is their tamale spread.  Two tamales, Fritos, cheese, beans and beef (and even onions if you want them-we didn't).  I think I might just get out of this bed right now and heat up our leftovers in our little hotel microwave.  It is mouthwatering good and probably worth the trip to Hot Springs just for the tamale spread.