The Traveler

Issue date: 3/6/09 Section: Lifestyles

For some time now, I have been craving a good Italian restaurant.

We all know about the Italian giants in town: Olive Garden, Noodles and Pesto Café.

They're all delicious (Pesto is my favorite), but I seek to tell you about restaurants that you might not know about.

Ever heard of Joe's Bistro?

You have probably seen it - it's the pleasant-looking café with outdoor seating located in the eyesore that is Fiesta Square. It looks as much like a European bistro as the shopping center will allow. In fact, one of the restaurant's strong points is its atmosphere.

But before you put down the paper and rush to eat at Joe's, keep reading.

We started our evening off with an order of the creamy spinach dip. They serve it with delicious, buttery slices of bite-sized bread that simply melt in your mouth. The spinach dip was heavy on the cream side, almost to the point of being a really thick soup. But, that's not necessarily a bad thing.

It was still delicious, so we were off to a good start.

Our meals were served with salads topped in delicious dressings.

A true lover of creamy Caesar dressing (Brough style, for example, is delicious), I was saddened to see that Joe's serves a thinner, yellow style. But by the end of the salad, I found myself growing somewhat fond of this mysterious yellow Caesar, although I still prefer the creamy kind. And my company praised the ranch dressing.

For my entrée, I chose the pork tenderloin with steamed asparagus and fettuccini alfredo as my two sides dishes. I'm generally not too interested in how a meal is presented, but I was a little disappointed with the staging of the pork.

When I pay $18 for a meal, I feel like I deserve for it to be aesthetically pleasing. With that said, the pasta and the asparagus looked great.

(I'm one to give the bad news first so that we end on a positive note.)

So, the bad news: there wasn't enough pork.

I'm a growing boy, and I like to see a lot of meat on my plate.

There were only three small slices of swine under a bed of caramelized onions and atop a few leaves of overcooked spinach.

At $3 a bite, not counting the sides, this dish was just too expensive.

The good news, finally: the demi-glace sauce was delicious.

I ended up raking my plate with some bread just to soak it all up. It had a bold flavor, which probably stems from the shitake they use. The onions were delicious and perfectly complemented the sauce. The fettuccini alfredo was also great, and I loved the fresh noodles.

The other people in my party ordered the meat lasagna and the angel hair pasta with marinara sauce.

Sorry, Joe's, I have more bad news for you.

Both of my friends complained that the sauce was sweet and spicy.

I didn't try it, mostly because I don't like sweet marinara sauce. But if you enjoy sweet marinara sauce (frankly, I don't know who does), then go to Joe's.

The bread served with the meal was the same as the bread served with the spinach dip, except it could cut diamonds. I'm not sure if they accidentally gave us the overgrown crouton basket, but we were so disheartened when we crunched our teeth into the bread.

I mentioned earlier that the atmosphere was great at Joe's. On most nights, I'm sure it is. On our night, however, the season finale of "The Bachelor" just happened to be blaring from the TV across the room.

I didn't see that coming.

And I'm not talking about Jason's decision to dump the one girl and propose to another (what a jerk). But, I guess the season finale of "The Bachelor" only happens once, so who would not want to watch it while eating at a fancy Italian restaurant?

All in all, the meal was fairly good. But the worst part was the price.

Granted, Italian food is almost always grossly overpriced. But Joe's was not as good as the prices suggest. The portions and preparation simply didn't match up to the prices, in my most humble opinion.

On a scale of $0 to $18, I would probably give the pork tenderloin dish a 10.5. But my friends probably wouldn't be so generous to their pasta dishes.

So, my advice to you for Italian food: stick with what's tried and true.

Joe's Bistro has a great atmosphere, especially in nice weather when you can sit outside.

Their lunch menu has some good deals on sandwiches, and they knock a few bucks off the entrées during the day.

But, in the end, I can't recommend Joe's against the competition.

Want me to write about your favorite restaurant or maybe there is one that you are too afraid to try?

Let me know at rtgarner@uark.edu.

I'll eat anything.

Happy eating, everyone.

Robert Garner is a staff columnist for The Arkansas Traveler. His column appears every Friday.

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