Great open beef sandwich. Great home cooking and burgers, etc. Friendly and attentive staff.read more

The best burger I have eaten in a long time If you want to…read morebe treated like you have family in the restaurant business and have some of the best fresh cooked food come here If you want pretentious expensive overpriced slop go to a chain The burgers were amazing and onion rings to die for Ice cold beer excellent I'm a fan But the creme de la creme was the "dessert" Seriously great food , great prices and service second to none You won't be disappointed

Carolyn's Essenhaus is a true gem on the Kansas prairie. Located just southwest of Salina along…read moreState Highway 61, it's well worth a stop at almost any time of day. They're open from 6:30 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. on Monday, Thursday, and Friday, and until 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday and Saturday. They're closed on Sundays. After a long day on the road traveling from Las Cruces, New Mexico, to Salina, Kansas, we arrived around 6:00 p.m. on a Monday evening. We were more than ready for a break. We had found Carolyn's Essenhaus on Yelp, and from the photos and reviews, it looked like just the kind of place we were hoping to find. Inside, the restaurant was much larger than we expected. The dining room was filled with local artwork, charming Kansas memorabilia, comfortable tables and booths, and a classic salad bar prominently displayed in the center. Table service was friendly, warm, and welcoming--like enjoying dinner in your grandmother's kitchen. My wife ordered the chopped steak topped with cheese and grilled onions, served with green beans and sweet potato fries. I chose one of the local favorites, essentially a hearty patty melt featuring a grilled burger, grilled onions, and a thick slice of grilled ham. Both entrées were excellent, but the real star of the meal was the salad bar--especially if you appreciate an old-fashioned, homemade selection. It instantly reminded me of family potlucks with all my aunts and uncles. There was macaroni salad, cottage cheese, potato salad, broccoli raisin salad, a sweet and creamy chopped cucumber salad, and plenty of other homemade favorites. It was so good that I went back for a second small plate and happily told our server to charge me for the extra trip. To finish the meal, we couldn't resist taking two slices of their homemade coconut cream pie to go. It was every bit as delicious as the rest of the meal. Before heading out, we picked up a few of their homemade cookies from the front counter, paid what we thought was a very reasonable bill, and continued our journey with full stomachs and smiles. If your travels ever take you near Arlington, Kansas, do yourself a favor and make time for Carolyn's Essenhaus. It's the kind of place that reminds you why small-town restaurants are often the most memorable stops on any road trip.

Seat yourself, waited on quickly. Hot coffee, food arrived soon and was delicious!…read more A little out of the way, but so worth the drive!!

Friendly and helpful servers. Great food. Refreshing beer lots of beer on tap…read more Burgers & sandwiches, fries were well seasoned.

Great small town bar restaurant nice clean place for lunch. Friendly attentive staff. Had a…read morecheesesteak and pountie both really good!

It's everything I want from a small town diner. Our server was working her first day at the new…read morejob. She was a delight!

Amazing food with a fun and energetic atmosphere that makes small town cafes the best place to eatread more

We've added The Library to our stop list for our drives from Colorado to Nebraska every year. The…read morebeer is cold and the burgers are delicious. This is a place with so much heart. Ilona, the owner, is so wonderful!

Excellent small town bar and grill that serves Victoria fresh food and cold drinks! Staff is…read morefriendly and hard working. There are booths and tables with a small bar and a separate room for larger parties. A/C works great! There's also a pool table and juke box, a perfect hang out and worth exiting the highway.

Was in town to visit Eisenhower Presidential Library and Seelye Mansion and stopped by here for…read morelunch. It's a casual family-owned one room restaurant whose patrons seem to be mostly locals. This is always a good thing. They serve breakfast all day, numerous burgers, sandwiches, and various plates. We ordered the reuben and BLT sandwiches and the catfish plate with mac n cheese. The veggie of the day was green beans. Everything was good except for the mac n cheese, which didn't taste very fresh -- you can tell the pasta and cheese had become coagulated. It wasn't creamy cheesy as good quality mac n cheese should be. Wasn't even homemade. And the green beans? Straight from the can! It was mushy and bland. Who wants to eat soggy green beans?! This was rather disappointing. Service was straightforward. Free parking in their small lot but also ample street parking.

Great food & Great service... very welcoming atmosphere.. very friendly place to eat....read more

We were in town for my son's first football game and decided to check out Sterling Cafe!!…read more Great food! Great service! Food was very hearty! Family owned restaurant which is a plus! Ambiance is very casual and perfect for grabbing lunch! The waiter was super nice! Can't wait to come back to visit when we're back in town!

Stopped here with my kid for lunch midday on a Saturday. There were a bunch (most) of the tables…read morefilled with dirty dishes which I figured must be left from the breakfast rush. We sat at the counter since there were open spots there. I got the famous fried chicken dinner with tator tots and my kid had a cheeseburger meal. The food took longer than I expected (~30-40 minutes) and not once during that time did the sever refill my coffee. It honestly felt like they were just trying to make it to closing time (1:30pm). When the food arrived, it was an ok portion for the price. My kid was happy with their cheeseburger and fries (hard to mess that up!). I ordered dark meat for my chicken and that is what came out, but they were pretty small, overcooked and the blandest fried chicken I've ever had. The tator tots were good though. It was an overall pretty mediocre experience and I'd highly recommend avoiding the "famous" chicken if you like stuff with flavor or feeling full.

Great home cooked food including breakfast. Also very affordable. If it was in a city would be on…read moreDiners, Drive-Inns, & Dives as one of the go to local restaurants.

With two others working on air drills around Plainsville. This truly is one of the best, if not the…read morebest diner in terms of taste, price, quality and size of food. Hands down the best all American breakfast I ever ate outside my own kitchen. Omelettes are huge and delicious. Hamburgers rock. They even have sweet potato fries. I will eat here every time a come through. A true gem.

It is a total Dive and it is Awesome! The smell is so historic it leaves with you! Cute town tooread more

What a place! I wandered into Ol Stuga while walking around downtown Lindsborg. I was in search of…read morea little drink before I had to meet up with some people. I wouldn't call Ol Stuga a dive bar, but I also wouldn't not call it a dive bar. It's definitely not fancy or trendy. This is not the place to get a glass of wine. (I'm not entirely sure they even have any wine.) They don't have any local beer on tap. But that's not Ol Stuga's fault -- Kansas isn't really a craft beer state, I've learned. Bud Lite and domestics are what you'll find here, mostly. One of the first things you'll notice when you walk into Ol Stuga is all of the money on the ceiling. I sat at the bar, next to a guy who seemed like a regular. I asked the guy why there were so many dollar bills stuck to the ceiling of the bar. He told me, and unfortunately for you, I don't remember what he said because there was alcohol involved. If you want to know why there is money on the ceiling of Ol Stuga, you'll just have to visit and find out for yourself. They have a few things on tap here, and I got a fruity beer from Missouri. I wanted something "local," and Missouri was the most local place that Ol Stuga had on tap. The beer was really good -- light and refreshing. Later, I told some locals that I had visited Ol Stuga, and they high-fived me and asked, "Did they treat you OK?" I was like, "Um, yeah? Why?" And they said that sometimes fights break out every once in a while. I didn't see any fights while I was there, unfortunately, but everyone at OS was great and I had a great time.

Every time we come to Great Bend we definitely make it to Charlie's. Great bartenders and the…read moredrinks are always reasonably priced. Jesse and Jennifer

If you are in Great Bend, this is a place to hit, even if it's just to the see the mostly naked…read moreposter of Burt Reynolds in the women's bathroom. Retro 70's awesomeness! Anyways, on to the bar, they have cheap beer (domestics) most of the time and their well drinks are $2.75 all the time. They have only a few non-domestic options, but fair enough for central Kansas. I like the kitschy atmosphere, and they have pretty good specials most nights.