Wooden Spoon

The BEST lunch and Friday night dinner in Northwest Arkansas! Worth the drive and the wait! Outstanding food and service!

Amazing place. The service was friendly and prompt. The atmosphere is very unique, and had a very home feel to it. It is a very busy place so I recommend showing up early. The food was great. I had a double bacon cheeseburger and roasted potatoes. I also sampled the fried catfish and hush puppies. Everything was delicious. The desserts are where it is at. The bread pudding was some of the best I ever had. Highly recommend the Wooden Spoon.

This place is soooo good. I would recommend it to everyone. The food is fresh and juicy. I got the pot roast and it melted in my mouth it was so tender. The gravy was wonderful and the aroma was wonderful. My husband and I got the strawberry ice box cake. The strawberries were home grown and awesome! Come here! Like seriously!

Simple, tasty homestyle cooking. The fried catfish is perhaps the best I’ve ever had, and is consistently great every time we come. The only negative to Wooden Spoon is the occasional 30min+ wait times and the limited evenings they are open for dinner.

Amazing food, all made from scratch. Lunches during the week, and open for dinner on Friday, worth the wait. Chalkboard daily specials, and a wide range of made from scratch desserts and pies available first come first serve. For lunch, the chicken salad on a butter horn roll is delicious and filling, but you can’t go wrong with the menu! Keep in mind no alcohol served here, none needed to dull the taste of the incredible Amish recipes! If you can’t make it all the way to Gentry, try their food truck in Bentonville called «A Spoonful». Many of the same fantastic offerings available on the go.

Came here after hitting up the Wilderness Safari around the end of the lunch hour (actually, like 30 minutes before they were supposed to close), so we didn’t have wait AS long as other people have stated.
As an appetizer, we got the baked potato soup, which was GOOD. It was really thick and creamy and flavorful. I got the special, which was fried chicken with vegetables and a roll. The roll was really good and tasted homemade. I wasn’t too impressed with the rest. The fried chicken was a boneless chicken breast patty with breading that fell right off. The chicken and the vegetables were bland. My sister got a sandwich and it was really good. I think I just chose a bad entrée.
We got the bumblebee pie and all I tasted was Splenda/​artificial sweetener. I was bummed.
Our waitress was really nice and attentive the whole time, even though we were there past their closing time.
The inside of the restaurant is really nice and open with a rustic feel. I would go back, but definitely choose something else.

Really, really good food. Awesome pies too. The staff is friendly. The only downside is how long it takes to get a seat. But that’s only because everyone knows how good the food is. You can call ahead and make an order for takeout, but reservations aren’t available.

This is actually a review for the food truck but I think anything you can get at the truck you can get at the restaurant.
I got the fried green tomato BLT, and it was one of the best sandwiches I’ve ever had! I was a little worried about the price ($ 9) but the sandwich was huge and I got their delicious homemade baked beans. Great food, great value! I had never been to the restaurant or the food truck, now I’m going to have to restrain myself from going everyday.
The women who served us were very nice, helpful, and there wasn’t a line at all. New favorite food truck!
UPDATE: still delicious, although not every sandwich is a home run. The turkey with green apples is good, could be great with some kind of sauce/​condiment top add more flavor. The chicken salad sandwich is good too, pretty basic. The Arkie and steak sandwiches are AWESOME. I will keep coming back, never had something I didn’t like!

This is a great place! Only open for weekday lunches and Friday supper — but totally worthy of a long drive and an occasionally long line to eat here! I can seriously recommend almost everything on the menu… and the daily specials are fabulous too.
The only item I don’t score them high on is their hamburgers /​cheeseburgers — they’re not bad but since everything else on the menu is so awesome I recommend that you get something OTHER than a burger!
Some favorites are their Spinach Quiche and Arkie Sandwich… mmmm… great potato salad… really good slaw… good iced tea… OH, and they do a portabella mushroom sandwich that is amazing!
Be sure and save room for dessert — their homemade sweets are spectacular! The Bumble Berry Pie is a slice of heaven! You can’t go wrong with ANY dessert!
Service — did I mention the service? Wonderful people who are usually very attentive and speedy! This restaurant is run by Mennonites and they seem to really take pride in doing a good job and taking care of their customers. Friendly, helpful and they’ll keep your tea glass full! Southern hospitality at it’s best!

The wooden spoon will never be a big hit since they are closed on weekends and only open for dinner on Fridays, but that’s a good thing because you will still have to wait to be seated .
They have a good selection of vegetarian items from what I could see but they seem to be very popular for their desserts. If you can avoid the burgers, find something else on the menu. Not much you can do to a burger that hasn’t already been tried and since they stick to the classic burgers you won’t find anything interesting by ordering one.
I ordered the meatloaf sandwhich along with the baked beans side dish. The meatloaf was well seasoned with a soft texture, not overly bready and the sweet barbeque sauce was a nice complement. There was no veggies served with it. The baked beans has roughly 6 different beans and the sauce was sweet, but good.
Bottomless flavored sweet tea with a to-​go cup at the end of the meal was just what I needed. I’ll be back to try the Arkie sandwich.
The rough hewn beams used in this restaurant are reclaimed from an old building from Michigan and made from trees that grew in the 1600s. I was fascinated to see the tool marks that are probably 200 years old.

This place is close to the job site, it’s always packed! They open at 10 a.m. and if you want a timely seating you better go to lunch at 11:00. The folks who run this place are Mennonite and they can cook some food! Plus the barn post and beam construction on the inside is cool to look at. Oh! And, they have pre-​prepared casseroles frozen for $ 13 that serves 4 to 6 — killer deal!

This place is amazing… I stumbled across this place while working and had the privilege to eat there twice. It’s extremely popular, and only open during the day except for Friday they are open until 9pm.
Home cooking that’s better than any cooking I’ve had at home. Plus save some room for pie! So good!!!

Great little place! We always try to make it out to the Wooden Spoon when we come down to visit my Grandparents. Homemade food… everything on the menu is delicious and the desserts are even better. Definitely save room for dessert and get there early so you have the full selection of items to chose from. It does get busy, but I think it is well worth the wait… and being from Chicago, we are used to waiting to get into restaurants that are worth it. Their new location is beautiful… they used to be located in a strip center and shared space with a fireplace shop. Their new building is a repurposed barn. The ceilings are high, so it can be a little noisy at their busiest times.

Good home cooking food, pleasant and comfortable atmosphere (although can be a bit loud at times with a lot of people).
Had turkey ranch sandwich and pasta salad for a side. Sandwich was good, poppyseed cream cheese spread was the only thing terribly unique, a little more bread than sandwich. Pasta salad was very good! Had a vinegar based dressing vs usual mayo, unique and quite tasty! Lemon pie slice for dessert, definitely homemade crust and good flavor, terrific meringue; generous portions. Have enough for a second meal with both!
All around very good!

The food here is very, very good — and the desserts are out of this world. Dining isn’t just about the food though… there is something to be said for the entire «dining experience.»
If you go between the hours of 11:15 am and 1:00 pm, you will wait. And you will wait. And wait a little more. It’s very busy during the lunch hour, mostly because of the good food — and because it’s one of only two or three non-​fast food «sit-​down» places to eat in Gentry.
Do not expect speedy service once seated. Do not expect more than passable politeness. If you’re looking for a super-​happy waitress, move on down the road. They’re busy and don’t have time to be chatty or overly friendly.
You can call ahead and place a to-​go order. I have done this on several occasions — I don’t have the luxury of dining for 1.5+ hours on a lunch break. Fifty percent of the time my order was not recorded and I had to stand and wait for whatever I had ordered to be prepared. Twenty-​five percent of the time, I’ve had to stand at the to-​go pick up area and wait for someone to man the register. There is a bell to ring to summon service, but it’s not loud enough to resonate over the kitchen noise. The remaining twenty-​five percent of the time I’ve received and paid for what I ordered in an acceptable (less than 15 minutes) amount of time.
If you’ve got the time, and you don’t mind a chilly, less-​than-​bubbly waitstaff, the food and desserts will rock your socks off.

Delicious, homemade food. Think ‘Cracker Barrel’ without the preservatives and food from a can. Save room for the desserts!

Great atmosphere for family dining. Home cooking at its best. Worth the wait and we are never disappointed! You must get dessert to have the full experience!

The Wooden Spoon was a great restaurant for massive, high calorie foods. Everything feels incredibly authentic, and the food was amazing. Its just fairly obvious that they cook for taste, not health. Not that its a big deal, but it should be noted that if you eat there, you will leave more then full.
I had the hamburger steak with mashed potatoes and while it doesn’t sound like something you could put a lot of love into, it was really good. Everything taste very homemade, if that makes sense. The best part of the meal was their home made bread pudding. It was the perfect consistency, and came out of the oven hot with glaze poured all over it. The service was also super friendly. I mean like, long lost family friendly.
Overall a great experience, and a perfect place to acquire diabetes.

Stopped in for Friday lunch. I had the meatloaf special with cheesy potatoes, green beans and a roll. All very good. The meatloaf was cooked just right, juicy and tender. That roll was excellent. My wife had the spinach quiche and fruit bowl. She said both were very good. My wife had the coconut pie and I had the bread pudding for dessert… huge portions, I had to take part of mine home. For three about 11:45 and had about a 15 minute wait, not to bad. Service was quick and efficient. It seemed to thin out after 12:45 so it might be better to go a little later. Overall a good experience.
One disappointment is that their website indicated the special would be turkey and dressing which my wife was really looking forward to. If you are looking at the website you may want to call to confirm if the special if that is what you are looking forward to eating.

Today, as we ventured out to Gentry to visit the Wilderness Safari, we thought we would stop into a local restaurant called The Wooden Spoon. A few of our friends had recently visited and said it was well worth the drive. After we visited it, we agreed.
The Atmosphere:
The restaurant itself was quite huge and reminds you of a cross between a rustic lodge and a very nice barn. Inside is quite welcoming and the front of the restaurant is filled with adorable kitchen wares and knickknacks. We also learned you can preorder desserts, rolls, casseroles to go and there is a large room available to use for any type of gathering.
Our Meal:
Our future brother-​in-​law, had the BLAT: bacon, lettuce, avocado and tomato. A perfect combo of sandwich ingredients: carbs, protein and fat with delightful textures ranging from crunchy to creamy and of course, flavorful. As Wes said: «it was made even more special by your special someone siting next to you.»
My husband ordered the ranch turkey sandwich and noted that the French bread roll was fresh and fantastic. The poppyseed spread was a nice compliment to the sandwich pieces.

My sister ordered a salad and soup combo which according to her was the perfect portion size for lunch. The baked potato soup was filling and comfort-​homey. The fresh yeast roll was delish, as was the Caesar salad which was tossed with freshly made slightly sweet Caesar dressing. The homemade croutons on top were a nice touch as well.

Since The Wooden Spoon declares dessert is their specialty, we had to indulge in a few sweet treats. We ordered the bumblebee pie (freshly baked with a combination of raspberries, blackberries, blueberries and strawberries) and the 6-​layer key lime pie. Our server brought out the wrong dessert the first time, so we also got to try the delicious bread pudding. While it was our preferred dessert of choice, we were glad we were able to try it as it was a yummy version drizzled with (a drinkable) sweet butter sauce. The key lime cake was very good and we think they layered in crushed graham crackers in between cake layers and icing. Each dessert came with whipped topping.

The home-​run dessert hit though, was the bumblebee pie — there wasn’t a crumb left!
All in all: it was a great combo of great atmosphere, service and food. Just make sure to bring good company too!