What’s up, friends? I’ve been a little busy lately, but I’m right back at it with a brand-spanking new review and a new website design! What do you think?
I recently went to Highway 61 Roadhouse and Kitchen with my mom and sister. Located in Webster Groves, MO, Highway 61 is a cute little restaurant with a lot of character.
Look at all of the cool stuff on the walls! I’m a sucker for that sort of thing. 
HIghway 61 offers a happy hour on Monday nights from 4-6:30pm. You can buy one appetizer and get one free! Want to guess what we ordered? 
My sister and I chose two appetizers each to share. Four appetizers didn’t sound like a lot, and of course we had to take advantage of the special!
Let’s get started. I know you all are here for the pictures, after all!
We started with the Louisiana BBQ Shrimp:
The menu described it as ‘plump shrimp sauteed and baked in Worcestershire herb butter and served with French bread’. Mmm! It certainly looked tasty.
And it was! The flavors definitely popped. The herb butter was rich and very well seasoned. The plump shrimp soaked up all of the yummy flavors, and with each bite I think I could feel my tastebuds doing a little happy dance. Nice start! Let’s keep going.
Next were the Roadhouse Fries:
These babies were topped with pulled pork, applewood smoked bacon, cheddar cheese sauce, and scallions.
Now as you all know, I’m a huge sucker for smothered fries. But how did these compare to those at The Shaved Duck? Well…I’m sad to say these fell short. The sauce was delicious, cheesy, and rich. The pulled pork was tender and juicy. But the fries were terrible! They were hard and seemed almost stale. You can’t have good smothered fries if the fries are bad! C’mon! What a disappointment.
Hoping for better luck with the next appetizer, we went with the cajun nachos:
The menu made these sound so tempting: ‘spicy tortilla chips topped with cheddar cheese sauce, pepper jack cheese, andouille sausage crumbles, red beans, sour cream, and green onions’.
Long story short: these also fell flat. The chips were most definitely stale. To make matters worse, the toppings weren’t good! Where’s my andouille sausage? All I could taste were the black beans. Fail. Huge fail.
I was feeling a little defeated at this point, but we still had more food to consume! It’s a tough job, but someone’s gotta do it!
Next were the ‘Gator Toes’. Don’t worry – it was actually just chicken! (I do love alligator, though! Mmm!) These were hand breaded chicken strips served with a choice of BBQ, Voodoo, Crossroads, Louisiana Lucifer, or honey bourbon glaze. We chose the BBQ, Voodoo, and honey bourbon glaze dipping sauces.
These were pretty good! The chicken was moist and tender, and it was pretty heavily breaded, which satisfied the carb-a-holic inside of me. The dipping sauces were all pretty tasty, although I think the honey bourbon glaze won my heart.
My mom decided not to partake in all of the gluttony that my sister and I participated in, and instead opted for a sad, lonely chicken breast topped with cheese:
She didn’t like it; she said that it was too dry. I decided to take her word for it and not torture myself with another taste of a failed dish.
As a side, she ordered the sweet potato pie. Okay, I’m lying – I convinced her to order the sweet potato pie as her side dish, and she agreed. Thanks, mom!
Sweet potato pie is one of my favorite desserts (second only to bread pudding, of course!) Let’s play a game, shall we? Fill in the blank — “This sweet potato pie was ________”
A. Dry
B. Not very good
C. Pathetic
D. All of the Above
If you answered D, you win! Your prize is this sweet potato pie (minus one bite) and the rest of my mom’s sad chicken breast.
Seriously, though – this was not good. Moving right along…
I think we were all feeling pretty defeated at this point, and it was clearly time to call it quits. But I saw bread pudding on the menu! And I have one rule when it comes to desserts: if bread pudding is on the menu, I must try it.
So I did. Highway 61 offers their desserts in regular portion sizes and smaller ‘tasting’ sizes. My hopes weren’t too high, so I opted for the ‘tasting’ size.
It was a little…burnt. But with bread pudding, even when it’s bad it’s still pretty darn good. My sister and I gobbled down every last crispy bite.
Despite the abysmal food, everything else about Highway 61 Roadhouse was pretty good. The atmosphere was rustic and charming. Our server was friendly and helpful. The prices were decent (especially factoring in the generous happy hour specials!). Let’s get to scores, shall we?
Food: 1 star (out of five)
Ambiance: 3 stars
Service: 4 stars
Value: 4 stars
If I didn’t make it obvious enough through my review, I’ll say it now: I really have no desire to return to Highway 61 Roadhouse. Sorry! While this wasn’t the worst restaurant experience I’ve ever had, it certainly wasn’t the best.
So what do you think? Did I give this place a fair shake? Was I too harsh? Share your story about your worst restaurant experience in the comment section!
