Dining with MNtraveler

[MNtraveler]

During our recent trip to Branson we dined at a number of places... all of them good to excellent. We did not eat all of our meals out. We were staying at our condo and actually bought groceries and made use of our kitchen. Of course we were kind of on vacation, so we weren't about to cook ALL of our meals.

Reviews in the order we visited the restaurants.

1. Casa Fuentes. We love this place. It is just a hole in the wall but it has EXCELLENT food. The ownership of the place is great. We met our real estate agent / friend there at 6:00 PM for dinner. We finished dinner and continued to enjoy our great conversation until their 9:00 PM closing. At no time did they indicate that we should perhaps pay our bill and move elsewhere like may places would have.

In fact we were given a FREE order of Sopapillas a while after we had finished our dinner. The server said that we seemed to be having such a great time that they wanted us to have something to snack on while we talked.

2. Andy Williams Moon River Grill. We greatly enjoyed this restaurant, and consider it one of the better dining experiences we’ve had in Branson. I gave this restaurant a more complete review in this thread: http://www.1branson.com/forum/t41521.html

3. Hong Kong Chinese Buffet. We actually ended up there by mistake. I was originally headed for the Great Wall Chinese Buffet, but we passed the Hong Kong first and it was in the right area. I figured maybe they had changed their name. The food at this buffet is WONDERFUL. They have a huge selection of entrées and best of all it is all HOT and FRESH.

Many Chinese buffets will give you maybe one or two beef entrées and one or two chicken entrées and that is it. Hong Kong offered MANY entrées with each type of meat and they all were excellently prepared. Their egg-fu-young was probably the best I've ever had. It was wonderfully light with great flavor and a great brown sauce to put over it. There was also a great selection of deserts for after the meal.

We never tried any of the America items, but there was a large selection of American entrées for those in your group who may not be fans of Chinese food. We liked this place so much that we took my mother and sister there a couple of days later.

4. Luigi’s Pizza. What can I say? This place, along with Case Fuentes, has already made our must do list. The pizza is of excellent quality and they offer both thin and thick crusts. The pizza is tasty, hot and fresh. The service is friendly and prompt. What more could a person possibly want from a pizza place?

Well, that is pretty much it. Like I said, we actually ate a fair number of meals in our new home. That was really a great thing to do. Cozy Cove now TRULY feels like home to us. We hated to have to head back to Minnesota at the end of our week. We are SO READY to be permanent residents of Branson!

[lindiet]

Originally Posted by MNtraveler

During our recent trip to Branson we dined at a number of places... all of them good to excellent. We did not eat all of our meals out. We were staying at our condo and actually bought groceries and made use of our kitchen. Of course we were kind of on vacation, so we weren't about to cook ALL of our meals.

Reviews in the order we visited the restaurants.

1. Casa Fuentes. We love this place. It is just a hole in the wall but it has EXCELLENT food. The ownership of the place is great. We met our real estate agent / friend there at 6:00 PM for dinner. We finished dinner and continued to enjoy our great conversation until their 9:00 PM closing. At no time did they indicate that we should perhaps pay our bill and move elsewhere like may places would have.

In fact we were given a FREE order of Sopapillas a while after we had finished our dinner. The server said that we seemed to be having such a great time that they wanted us to have something to snack on while we talked.

2. Andy Williams Moon River Grill. We greatly enjoyed this restaurant, and consider it one of the better dining experiences we’ve had in Branson. I gave this restaurant a more complete review in this thread: http://www.1branson.com/forum/t41521.html

3. Hong Kong Chinese Buffet. We actually ended up there by mistake. I was originally headed for the Great Wall Chinese Buffet, but we passed the Hong Kong first and it was in the right area. I figured maybe they had changed their name. The food at this buffet is WONDERFUL. They have a huge selection of entrées and best of all it is all HOT and FRESH.

Many Chinese buffets will give you maybe one or two beef entrées and one or two chicken entrées and that is it. Hong Kong offered MANY entrées with each type of meat and they all were excellently prepared. Their egg-fu-young was probably the best I've ever had. It was wonderfully light with great flavor and a great brown sauce to put over it. There was also a great selection of deserts for after the meal.

We never tried any of the America items, but there was a large selection of American entrées for those in your group who may not be fans of Chinese food. We liked this place so much that we took my mother and sister there a couple of days later.

4. Luigi’s Pizza. What can I say? This place, along with Case Fuentes, has already made our must do list. The pizza is of excellent quality and they offer both thin and thick crusts. The pizza is tasty, hot and fresh. The service is friendly and prompt. What more could a person possibly want from a pizza place?

Well, that is pretty much it. Like I said, we actually ate a fair number of meals in our new home. That was really a great thing to do. Cozy Cove now TRULY feels like home to us. We hated to have to head back to Minnesota at the end of our week. We are SO READY to be permanent residents of Branson!

Sure sounds like you love the place you found! We understand completely! We love our condo too and can't wait to move to Branson.

[Mellie]

Thanks for the review, looks like you found some great places to eat. Hong Kong Buffet is one of my favorite places. They always give me LOTS of hot mustard, when we go through the drive thru. They know I love it. DH asks for extra soy sauce and they give him a few. They know I'm the one that tips them.

[Critter]

Thanks for the tasty review!!!

[bransoncutie]

Great reviews -- thanks!! I've still got to get over to Casa Fuentes. Moon River Grille is one of my absolute favorites. Love Hong Kong Buffet!

[Country Gal]

Thanks for the review!

[Daytimer]

Thanks for the review! What did you order at Moon River Grill?

[MNtraveler]

Originally Posted by Daytimer

Thanks for the review! What did you order at Moon River Grill?

My wife and I started by sharing the Salmon Cake appetizer. For entrées my wife ordered the Open Faced Hot Turkey Sandwich and I ordered the Chicken Pot Pie. Both were delicious and satisfied our craving for some 'comfort food'.

They also have 'fine dining' entrées like Pecan encrusted Trout and Roasted Breast of Duckling as well as Steaks for the hard core beef lovers.

The Moon River Grill has an atmosphere of 'comfortable elegance'. You see people wearing just about everything there, but personally I would be most comfortable wearing at least Dockers and a nice Polo shirt. The Grill offers a full bar and a nice selection of wines.