After 32 years finally decided to get calico county a try and it did not disappoint. The food is as good as southern food gets so authentic

Three stars are going toward the decor, free cinnamon rolls, and friendly server. Two stars removed for the wait times when they weren't very busy and the blandness of the food. There were several groups waiting at the front door and no one was being helped. Two groups ahead of us were just standing there, while one man was waiting for a to go order and another was waiting to pay. There were 2-3 hostesses at their station at different times with their backs to everyone and occasionally they would walk off and come back and stand with their backs to us again. After about 10 minutes of watching this go on, I asked the different groups there if they'd been helped and finding out everyone was just waiting for one of the hostesses to come over. I went over to see if they were busy, but they were just chatting. She asked how many in my group and I said this other group was here before me. Another hostess seated them while the one I spoke with put her back to everyone again. I thought maybe she had to check a seating chart so I just waited, but it took a long time to get the different groups seated despite there being more than enough tables for all of us and three hostesses seating people. I felt like they were kind of hoping we'd all just go away. There were complementary cinnamon rolls which is a nice touch, but all of the food was rather bland and unseasoned. We had fried green tomatoes and I've never had a fried food that lacking in flavor. I'm guessing they were hothouse tomatoes, but the breading did not make up for the flavorless tomatoes. We also got the meatloaf, chicken fried steak, squash, mashed potatoes, and fried okra. Everything just kind of tasted the same. Our server was very nice, though she left the bill when she left the food and we had to wait quite a while for her to come back after that. As much as you have to pay anywhere anymore, any place has to have something really going for it for us to go there more than once and this place, unfortunately, didn't have it. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't good either. I'd go again if someone else was paying, but it wouldn't be a place I suggested. All in all, it was meh. read more

Had a catering order for this morning that I ordered yesterday morning, & got there this morning & my order got cancel without anyone letting me know. And then I was told that my order was cancel due to me ordering this morning, & it wasn't until I corrected them that the order was placed yesterday morning, & even had to show them the email I got yesterday from them confirming the order & accepting it. Totally unacceptable. I've been doing catering orders for 15 years, & this was a first. read more

The last few times i have gone the food has been soggy and the chicken fried steak has been burnt. Its a wonderful place to eat but it has been hit or miss lately. Hopefully they can turn it around because im sure it is probably a turnover issue with the way things are now. The cinnamon rolls of course make up for it. read more

Headed home to Texas looking for a good lunch spot (non fast food). This was good. Ordered the fried mushrooms and got mushrooms not all batter. Best we have had in a long while. Got the smothered steak & mash potatoes, well seasoned. If ever in the area again will definitely stop. read more

Phenomenal! Chicken fried chicken! Chefs kiss! So good! Service is great, food is excellent. It's almost like eating at my grandmas. Couldn't ask for better. read more

I was just passing through and needed a place to eat. Glad I stopped for some good home town country cooking. The waitress was very friendly and the decor was cute too. read more

I have had some disappointing food experiences as of late, and Calico County Restaurant was JUST the cure to end my streak of gloomy happenstances. You are greeted with charm, you are sat promptly in a cozy comfy seat, and given time to browse over their menu while your drinks are served up. First off, can I just say that I love the simplicity of their menu. Plenty of choices, but not so many that the decision is an arduous process full of anxiety and foreboding. I chose the chicken fried steak (lite portion) and hubby got the hamburger steak...I will never understand his affinity for hamburger steak. An appetizer of Fried Green Tomatoes, and our selections were off for preparation whilst we were left to enjoy some simply delicious VERY homemade-like cinnamon rolls. Then comes my petite salad. Oh my land, the crotons alone were enough to give you plenty to read about, super flavorful, light, and crispy. Good crisp fresh salad...plain good. In the middle of my salad arrived the tomatoes. A good cornmeal batter, and overall, just a delicious introduction to remoulade sauce for us. We added a touch of pepper to the tomatoes and that made them about perfect. Shortly after we split the last tomato, our food arrived. At this point, I can't tell you how thankful I am that I selected the lite eater portion. The mashed potatoes are real, red skinned, lumpy, and delicious. I added a touch of salt and everything was perfect. I tried his hamburger steak, and it was also good, fries were excellent. Rolls were deliciously dense. EVERYTHING tasted like it was real, homemade, not from a can, fresh from market, food. Now...as a side option you can choose to get cobbler. Do it, and do it in peach. This was heavenly y'all. I am so sad we went here, as we are 275 miles away from this dish alone. Much too far for a casual drop in. Hats off to Brandi for her excellent service and oh another plus...You HAVE to respect a business that closes early for Super Bowl. Thank you for turning around my bad streak of miserable eating experiences, and oh what a turnaround. read more

What a lovely meal. Should've come on Tuesday for Chicken Fried Steak special. But the Monday specials were great. The small salad is plenty big enough and the "veggie plate" (4 sides) was great. The cinnamon rolls were a nice touch read more

Every time we are in Fort Smith we have to stop by and eat. My wife loves their food and specially their cinnamon rolls!

Place is known for the cinnamon rolls that are served daily fresh and hot. You can have home style cooked food all hours of the day with a variety of soups daily, Busy during peak hours read more

Out here from California. Place is great. We're at the fort and was needing to eat and we found this place. Great staff,portions and prices. Definitely will come here again when visiting. read more

We showed up at 11:02am and they would not, at all, serve us breakfast...."have to have order in by 11:00"...that's just poor service and won't be back. Bensons is better anyways. read more

Very friendly employees but super disorganized today. Didn't seem like anyone was trained for breakfast. I placed a to go order and waited for over a half an hour to get the order right then it was cooked total wait time one hour 15 minutes. read more

Service was great, food was good but the burger was a little over cooked for me. I like a medium rare and it was well done. The onion rings were really good and they had Pepsi which was awesome for me. Very cool place. My class and I stopped in for lunch returning to SIUE campus in Edwardsville, Illinois from a storm chasing trip in central Texas. read more

Their biscuits are really good. I have never eaten inside, but their take out is always yummy!

The pancakes here are delicious! Seriously, the best pancakes I've ever had! (I had mine with chocolate chips) They also have homemade deserts and cookies. I will definitely be back! Sadie, my server, was wonderful as well. read more

Best spot in fort smith! Customer service is excellent and the food is unreal! Thanks for the great service! read more

A FABULOUS dinner after a LONG day. Ordered the fried green tomatoes and a fried catfish dinner. Both were exactly what I needed!! Tomatoes were tender and crisp breading; just the right amount of tanginess. Catfish was fork tender, a hearty portion, and breading that was not overly seasoned so the flavor of the fish can come through. Definitely a place I will dine at again and recommend for tasty Southern cuisine. BOO YAH!! read more

Cinnamon rolls are great. I had the chicken fried steak and it was good. I mashed potatoes were good and the service was good

Went there Tuesday night to eat and ordered a chicken fried steak and it was greasy and salty when I cut it open and then the mashed potatoes and gravy were cold. Yea was mediocre. The server claimed the food wasn't greasy and just said it was in a grease pocket. Who wants to eat that? The manager was unkind and could care less if we returned and insinuated they had plenty of customers. read more

im in Arkansas visiting my lil sister & family & we came in for a meal, it was their 1st time eating here too, we sat down & they took our drink order & brought out cinnamon rolls & i tried a small piece, very tasty, i had a cheese burger & fries & it was good, the atmosphere was like an old diner, we'll try it again the next time i visit read more

Great local eats! We stopped in for breakfast and the detour off the interstate was worth it. They start by giving you a couple of their homemade mini cinnamon rolls, which were so good! Eggs cooked in butter - yummy homemade biscuits - huge fluffy pancakes - "hog" sausage - delicious! Coffee was very good and they leave a thermos of it for refills at your table. Price was reasonable and service was friendly. Tip - the short stack of pancakes is huge - I wish I had ordered just one and sausage. They sell many of their baked goods - cookies - mini "sweet" breads - jars of local honey - etc Glad we stopped! read more

Great family restaurant! We are breakfast here and everything was wonderful. The decor has a Cracker Barrel feel to it and the service was great. I've never had a deep fried breakfast burrito before. It was GREAT! They tease you with an appetizer of cinnamon rolls which resulted in us purchasing a dozen to go!! We will be back for lunch or dinner when visiting Fort Smith again. read more

See all

We just love everything about CCR !!!!! Enough said !!!! The food service the ambience is great !!! Eat here often and love their fried green tomatoes !! read more

Excellent food....big menu, downtime cooking, decent sized portions. This is the go-to for comfort food. I had tried mushrooms and then a chicken pot pie. Everything was spot on. Loved it. Oh...and complimentary cinnamon rolls??? That's different. Different and awesome. I'm definitely coming back here again. Loved it. I heard more than one server, on more than one occasion, get snippy with other servers (and one seemed to be the manager or owner or something) and that seemed a little unprofessional. If I heard it again, I would probably change my mind about coming back...pretty unprofessional. read more

Calico County Restaurant - Fried mushrooms - Southern Near Me - Fort Smith, Arkansas

See all

I would like to compliment the food! My husband is allergic to pork! They serve turkey sausage. They made his gravy with turkey sausage and put turkey sausage in his scrambled omelette. What a blessing! They were so willing to make these changes and we were so pleased there was no extra fee! Being served a cinnamon roll when we were seated was awesome ! They kept my unsweetened tea glass full! The coffee came in a carafe to refill yourself. My bacon was delicious ! Just a great meal and will eat here again the next time we are in the area. The restaurant was full read more

Got to love this basic southern cooking restaurant. Visiting family there I decided to stop here for some country cooking. I wasn't dissappointed. I think I visited this restaurant before, but it seemed in a different location -- or maybe my memory is fooling with me. My server, Beau, a handsome young buck was friendly and efficient. The two warm cinnamon rolls were a great start. While I looked at the menu, my waiter Beau brought me some sweet tea which wasn't too sweet -- just right. I ordered the traditional catfish dinner fried. The two sides I picked were turnip greens and a broccoli and rice casserole. The choice in sides range from traditional mashed potatoes to deep-fried okra and corn-on-the-cob. I also ordered "the works" which basically gets you a salad or soup and an order of cobbler. The salad was the typical iceberg lettuce, tomatoes and a dollop of ranch dressing. Everything came out really quick. The food was great with the catfish being fresh and tender. The meal comes with tarter sauce, cornbread, a roll and the two sides. The cornbread was traditional -- heavy. Though I'm not a huge fan of cornbread, I know what real southern cornbread tastes like. And this is about as traditional as you can get. The roll was a surprise hit -- freshly baked and delicious. The turnip greens came with a bottle of pepper vinegar. Okay, I'm a big eater, but there was no way after downing those two cinnamon rolls was I cleaning the plate. Beau recommended the apple cobbler, since there wasn't much left of the cherry cobbler. The small portion was a perfect ending to a great southern meal. read more

Came here with my family for a evening meal and I have to say all in all we were quite pleased. The food was good, service was great, and the welcoming cinnamon rolls when we sat down was a welcoming surprise. The really only downsides were the general seating arrangements (the booths are fairly cramped and the tables are quite closed together), which a family of 9 drowned out our conversations. This is not there fault, it's just that had the layout been differently or seating better than this wouldn't have been an issue. The other really only other complaint I had was that the TVs were on various news channels - this clashed to me with the idea of a meal with the family, which I want to escape the daily news chain and just enjoy each other's company. That being said, if yelp did 4.5 stars I would give it this - however, that is not the case so it will be a 4 star for me because I believe a 5 is something truly amazing for its service. Would I recommend? Yes Would I go back? Yes read more

See all

I have read some recent reviews left and I would like to say....Shame on ALL of you! This establishment has been open for a very long time. It has taken them a lifetime to build their reputation and now the ugliness of an election year and politics is going to destroy it. When you leave a review about a restaurant, it is supposed to be about their food, not your political affiliation or what the owners opinions of today's current events are. That's whats wrong with this world. If someone thinks differently than you, you seek out to destroy. Don't you think this man has gone thru enough damage with this pandemic, and the very worst thing any parent could every suffer, a loss of a child? Every one of you leaving nasty reviews, trying to burying a business owner for an opinion different than yours, is just as wrong as he is for making a public statement about how he felt. Did any of you consider he may be grieving? What's your excuse? Other than just down right mad because his opinion was different than yours! Just stop it! Stop it right now! There is no better time to grow up and love thy neighbor than right now! I am so tired of hate! Aren't you? I didn't think our community acted the way other's are! I guess I am wrong! Calico County, based off of food, atmosphere and customer service, as a Yelp Review ought to be based off of, you deserve a 5 star. And Yelp needs to get control of this political hatred and begin deleting! read more

Super bowl Sunday they apparently were closing at 4 for the game, yet my family and 3 other tables were seated. So they had a bad attitude to start. Why not lock your door at 5 mins til 4? Why seat us? Waitress pretty much forgot us as she was cleaning to get out of there and you could tell the man running the register was not happy. We hurried after realizing this, only to be treated rude when I picked up 2 containers of cinnamon rolls that were clearly marked day old and discounted half price ( if you never been, this place is about the cinnamon rolls) They had been put out everywhere including at the cashiers counter. Instead of being nice, I mean we did just have the whole family there for dinner, he said you can't have them. You need to pay full price. "So do you want them or not?!" I decided the treatment and attitude from him right there in front of my family was the last time I would ever step foot in the restaurant!! Then he preceded to want to know who was responsible for putting the cinnamon rolls out, I dislike a deflector especially one that instantly goes after the workers in front of customers. Just wrong! They were right in front of his face and he was to busy talking to a waitress!! Needless to say I was not allowed to buy the clearly marked and discounted cinnamon rolls at 4:15 pm after I had just paid for dinner for my whole family. They closed at 4. He would rather lose customers and let the cinnamon rolls set overnight , so then they would be day old. I know the table behind us was talking about getting cinnamon rolls to, I wonder if they got theirs(?) Am I the only one that can see the stupidity here? Terrible customer service!!!! Will not be back ever. read more

Based on the other Yelp reviews I stopped in when traveling for business. Restaurant was busy at 6:30 on a Tuesday but not packed. Server Percy was friendly and helpful with the menu. Drinks came out quick and the free cinnamon rolls are on the table. Brewed tea tasted great. Ordered the fried green tomatoes as an appetizer. The tomatoes were hot and crispy and served with Ranch and a remoulade sauce. They came out fast, the order of 5 is plenty for 2 people. As for the entrees we ordered the chicken fried steak special with the squash casserole as suggest by Percy and the mash potatoes. The food again came out hot and fast. The portion size (lunch for the special) was more than plenty of food. The chicken fried stake was good, the mashed potatoes were real, and the squash casserole was as good as Percy said. The dinner roll was amazing yeast roll and real butter on the table. My friend had the fried catfish, mashed potatoes, and green beans. The catfish was light and fresh tasting perfectly seasoned. But her favorite was the green beans she said they were delicious. She had the cornbread and said it was good. The hush puppies were also excellent. Then the finale was the terrific cinnamon rolls, no dessert necessary after this wonderful treat. Other Yelp reviews were spot on this place was great when you are looking for yummy southern comfort food. read more

See all

Simply amazing, Greeted promptly with a smile, spoke to with genuine respect and appreciation, sat and again the server was quick and through on what I was ready for and what I needed a min on. The food came out hot and fast , looking amazing and tasting even better then it looked all while enjoying the comfortable atmosphere. read more

I liked it, I'm a big fan of local restaurants and skip chains at every chance. The food was warm, tasty served with a very reasonable wait and two tempting sweet rolls. I really thought that should be illegal since AA doesn't include the sweet roll addiction in their program read more

Have been a customer at Calico over 30 years. Everybody might not know your name but they know your face. I eat there at least twice a week.

Nice family restaurant style cooking. Love the cinnamon rolls! Services always friendly

As we travel across this great country we always try to find a local country cooking restaurant. Calico Country is one of our best finds. My wife had meat loaf and I had chicken fried steak. All our sides were great too. Our server, Paige, even made it a greater experience. We took home half our meals so we could have some of their apple cobbler and ice cream. I failed to mention they start you of with warm cinnamon buns. read more

My favorite breakfast spot in town! Love to come here when I go home for the holidays. If you haven't tried it yet, check out the chocolate gravy for your biscuits and gravy. I was skeptical at first but was pleasantly surprised at how delicious is was. The prices are great. Value for the money is unbeatable! read more

Calico County is a must visit in Fort Smith. It is a staple in the community and something everyone knows. The homely atmosphere and outstanding service is worth the wait. The menu is somewhat daunting at times, because you want to purchase everything all at once! However the staff is attentive, polite and friendly. The food. Oh man, the food. We went plan and ordered just your regular burger, fries and the cinnamon rolls. Let me tell you something. The damn cinnamon rolls are EVERYTHING your grandmother made. I don't know where else you can find something that delicious and the burger was juicy, the addons are good AND fresh. Over all I would recommend to anyone! read more

This is one of the "local gems" in Fort Smith. The food is excellent and so is the service. Their cinnamon rolls are fabulous!! The menu is family cuisine--they have the best 1/2 lb hamburger I have ever had. (As a native Texan I know my beef!) The open face roast beef sandwich...my mouth waters just thinking about it. Getting there can be tricky so use Siri or your GPS because it is off of Rogers Ave close to Hobby Lobby. You will be glad you took the time to stop and eat here. They have something for everyone! read more