South and Walnut Bar and Grill

I travel the country for the bulk of the year, every year, and I love seeking out craft cocktail bars. We stumbled here by chance, and though it doesn’t have the façade of some of the trendy speakeasy style cocktail bars, it most definitely has the quality.
Firstly, the food is great. We got the pulled pork for $ 6 and it was both flavorful and plentiful, as well as a few salads that were crisp and fresh. Secondly, it is surprisingly inexpensive. We’ve been to a number of cocktail bars that would easily charge double or triple the price and wouldn’t take the time or effort to make such a great drink.
Andy, our bartender, was very interested in tailoring drinks to our specific preferences and tastes, and in all honesty, they were some of the best, and most unique cocktails we’ve had.
I highly suggest this bar/​restaurant to anyone looking for great food and amazing drinks.

I kept hearing about South and Walnut so I thought I’d give it a try and WOW!
If you want a good cocktail and not just a simple vodka cranberry than this is the place to go!
I went in there last week after work to just check it out and immediately felt comfortable. The bartender welcomed me in so I grabbed a seat at the bar. Noticed they offer a «happy hour» and it was $ 2 domestic beers, $ 3 import beers and $ 3 Mothers beers all day every day. I thought that was a good deal so I started with that. The bartenders name was Joshua and he was very friendly and even had a handlebar mustache, you don’t just see that behind any bar. We started talking and he can carry on a good conversation. Most bartenders downtown can’t even say two words. Joshua said they’re more of a craft cocktail bar where they use fresh, in house made ingredients, infused alcohols and study the art of a cocktail. I was curious on how good of a drink he could make so I asked him to make me something. He didn’t hand me a drink menu, he actually asked what liquor I preferred, if I wanted something sweet, sour, fruity, tasteful, strong… etc…
I told him I preferred whiskey and wanted a tasteful drink with a little sweetness. He created a masterpiece! I watched him use Jack Daniels, Amaretto, a fresh orange, a couple other ingredients and some fresh juices. It was amazing! I had him make me a couple other drinks just by the flavors I liked and he made each one perfectly to my liking.
I left South and Walnut knowing that I would return again.
I returned to South and Walnut last night to try the food. I was greeted by Nick, he was my server. They offered a special that was a bacon burger, sweet potato fries and a spicy blueberry mandarin barbeque glaze, that sounded good so I tried it. The chef put cinnamon sugar on the sweet potato fries and it was like eating candy, the burger was grilled to perfection and the meal was wonderful! I saw they had Monday Night Football on so I moved to the bar and spoke with the bartender, his name was Andy. He was a nice man and asked if he could make me a drink. He also told me about the bourbon he was infusing with cut up apples and cranberries so I thought I’d give it a try. It was delicious, so i stayed and hung out for a bit. After the game and every Monday I was informed they have, Dj Vinyl Richie. Unfortunately I couldn’t stay out too late because of work in the morning but I will definitely be back to check it out!
I had a great time to South and Walnut on both my visits and would recommend it!
The staff is friendly, the food is great and the drinks are amazing!
I’d say that Andy and Joshua are two of the best bartenders in Springfield.

This place is easily forgettable. Went in with some friends to check it out and it was awkward from the start. «Just sit wherever you’d like» was a problem considering there’s very little seating and a lot of open space. When we picked our seat we got menus on clipboards made with a Microsoft Word template. It was lazy and very awkward to look through. The food was like every other bar downtown and just as expensive. I can go anywhere and get a grilled cheese and I don’t expect to pay $ 8 just because it comes with some fries. So we ultimately decided just to order a drink and an appetizer so we didn’t look like jerks just leaving. Got the cheese fries and they were just that, fries with Kraft shredded cheese melted on top — and took 20 minutes to be made. They also cost $ 6. Our server was no where to be found when we needed more to drink so we finally just found someone and asked for our check and went somewhere else for dinner.