Food Review: Mountain View, AR Restaurant Visits- Spring Break

Over this spring break, we went camping around Mountain View. What’s new? 🤣 Here are the run-downs of all the restaurants we tried:

The Rusty Cup

The outside of The Rusty Cup, downtown Mountain View

This new restaurant is the one I was MOST impressed with. It is adorably decorated with plenty of tables and booths inside, though I got my order to go.
The menu, while it is not posted anywhere online for me to link, is full of breakfast items and lunch items, as well as many coffee and other drink options. The breakfast looks very tempting! From traditional items, such as country plates with eggs, steaks, bacon, or sausage, to more healthy options including avocado toast. There are also great looking pancakes and breakfast burritos.
For lunch, there are mostly sandwiches and some salads that are delicious!
For coffee, they have it all! There’s also specialty cold drinks, like a wild strawberry lemonade, and even scoops of ice cream!

Reuben with no cheese from The Rusty Cup

I went for the reuben, which was delicious! (And I’m pretty picky about my reubens). The meat was tender and juicy. The homemade dressing was divine. I loved this sandwich and will definitely get it again. In fact, I may not try anything else. It comes with your choice of side, and I got the coleslaw, which was colorful and not too mayonnaise-y, which I like.

I also really wanted to try a new salad, so I went for the Asian Chicken salad. It was awesome! For less than $10, this is great! A large salad, full of different textures and flavors. It is very pretty as well and had enough chicken to make a meal of its own. Again, their homemade dressing made it fantastic!

The Asian Chicken Salad from The Rusty Cup

Overall, this place brings a few new food additions plus the country, homey food we all love. It is cute, the service must be great because my to-go order was ready early and made a fast and flawless check out. I love it!

Sasquatch Cave

Inside of Sasquatch Cave in Mountain View

Directly next door to The Rusty Cup is Sasquatch Cave, a new coffee, smoothie, and panini lunch spot. It’s interior has only one table and a bar at the window to sit at, but most people get items here to-go.

When I saw the menu pics on their Facebook page, I got very excited because they have an acai bowl! I love acai bowls and they are very hard to find anywhere in Arkansas. So, props to this place!
Besides an acai bowl, there are so many delicious-sounding smoothies, to which you can add protein powder or collagen. There are also a few paninis and wraps to pick from, and even breakfast sandwiches served all day.

As for the coffee, there are frappes!

Acai bowl at Sasquatch Cave

My acai bowl was beautiful and filled with plenty of fruit, granola, and an edible flower. If you aren’t sure what an acai bowl is, its just a smoothie bowl. However, the smoothie part is a thick blend of strawberries, blueberries banana, and acai with almond milk. It was huge! While the fruit was a little sour, I think in the summer months when fruit is more in season, this bowl will be perfect.

The Roast Beef Reuben at Sasquatch Cave

Even though we ate inside, all food was put into to-go containers, which works great for leftovers. I had to order the reuben, but this one is made with roast beef instead of corned beef. It was a panini, so the bread was crispy, which I loved. The roast beef was tasty, and the regular sauerkraut. I was surprised when it wasn’t dressed, but came with a Ken’s Thousand Island on the side. Using a store-bought dressing would usually be a negative, but Ken’s is the best. So, I am not complaining. For to-go orders, this is perfect. Keep your sandwich crispy until you’re ready to drown it in the dressing and gobble up. The sandwich came with a side bag of chips of your choice as well. Overall, this isn’t the best reuben I’ve had around these parts, so I’ll probably try something else next time.

Overall, the people are so friendly here. You can watch the smoothies being made while you wait. Though, the seating is an issue with only about eight chairs total? Before I can give any more of an opinion, I’ll need to try more off their menu. Have you tried any of their smoothies? What’d you think?

Mountain View Donut Factory

Mountain View Donut Factory

Damn you, Mountain View Donut Factory. I have spent years not eating donuts. Now I’ve been for a box of donuts TWICE this week! Y’all….this place is awesome.
There are SO many donut options and they are all at a very affordable price. From crullers, to cake donuts, to regular yeast ones with tons of different toppings, to stuffed donuts you can fill with whatever filling you choose, and even savory kolaches and biscuits and gravy.

The first visit, I got a $2.50 massive apple fritter, a plain donut, a chocolate long john filled with bavarian cream, and an “original” blueberry cruller (not pictured above). Everything was good, but that blueberry cruller was the best donut I’ve ever had. That’s why I had to go back for more.

On the second visit, I got three blueberry “original” crullers, two plain, and a chocolate donut stuffed with the white cream. The white cream is hands down delicious! It’s like whipped cream mixed with a little icing, fluffy and delicious. I’ll continue to stick with this filling forever.

Overall, this place is a gem. Its owners are so kind, the prices are so right, and the donuts are so delicious.

Food Review: Minute Club in Mountain View, AR

The Minute Club is a long-awaited new restaurant that took over Mikey’s Smoked Meats and Deli down Hwy 5. I went in to dine solo after a hike one day and was thoroughly impressed. Here’s the breakdown:

ENVIRONMENT

The bright blue of the outside of the newly updated building does set the perfect precedent for the entire atmosphere of Minute Club. Everything is updated, new, clean, and shiny! With a blue and red theme (your drink even comes in a red solo cup), tv’s playing sports all around, and a digital juke box, this place is fun! While there’s plenty of tables to sit at, there’s also a bar. There’s even a nice patio outside for when the weather isn’t freezing.

What stuck out to me most when I arrived, however, was how genuinely friendly the staff is. The waitress was beyond nice and patient with me as I tried to quickly decide on what to order. She let me know her favorites and didn’t rush me in the least. Then, I believe the owner (or manager?) came by a couple times to answer questions, make sure the food was good, and he was just as friendly as could be! I really appreciated everyone being so kind and talkative, especially when I was dining solo.

MENU

While the menu is typical southern food, mostly sandwiches, they have some unique items not found around the area. They have cheese curds, fried mushrooms, beignets, fried oreos, and daily specials. However, they are best known for their many different burgers, which are supposed to be the best in town. Their pizzas look very enticing, as well!

FOOD

The first thing you see when you walk into the restaurant is this full dessert display case full of at least one thing you’ll want to try. I couldn’t decide, so went with the owner’s suggestion of the strawberry pie to go. I know we should talk about dessert last, but we’re already here.

STRAWBERRY PIE- $5

With a graham cracker crust, a sweet and creamy filling topped with perfectly delicious macerated strawberries, this pie was very tasty!

BIG ROG- $12 with hand-cut fries.

This sandwich comes with fried bologna, cheese, bacon, lettuce, and mayo on a hoagie bun. I got mine without the cheese, but added an over-easy egg, which they did not charge for. Yay! Instead of house-cut fries, I opted for the beer-battered onion rings instead for $2. These rings were delicous! Crispy, not greasy. Dang near perfection! I didn’t even need the ketchup they provided.

The sandwich was the star, however. Was it messy and required me to use SIX napkins?? Yes. But that’s okay- any good fried bologna sandwich is a big ole mess to eat. It was sooo good! There’s the right amount of bolonga and all the toppings. The crispy bacon was a delicious addition I had never tried on fried bologna sandwiches before. The egg, though MADE IT! Perfectly cooked egg with nature’s gravy (egg yolk) running throughout the sandwich. I loved it!

The only downfall was the price. I ate all my food and took home a dessert for almost $20, not including tip. This is a little steep for the area, but worth it for a nice meal out.

If you give this place a try, let me know what I should get there next!