Garry's Slingblade Drive In — Restaurant in Benton

First I’d like to say, the older lady that was working was very nice and helpful.

The place is definitely a local landmark, it’s been there forever and was of course in the sling blade movie. So I get the significance of it and I hate to rag on it but I am just honest when it comes to food 🤷🏻.

It wasn’t great. Maybe in its glory years, but to me it just seems to be satisfied being mediocre. I get people love it, but I’m not from the area and I just judge on what I am given.

Starting with negatives…the burger and fries were just not great. The burger was expensive for what it is and rather small for a “large”.

The burger itself tasted ok, if you’ve had a burger at any run of the mill diner, it tasted the same to me. The patty seems like it was premade.

The fries were just fried frozen crinkle fries, once again just ok and generic.

Onion rings fared no better unfortunately, the oil needed to be changed. It was obviously old oil and the onion rings once again were frozen. Just ok, would be way better with fresh oil.

My main pro was that the fried pie was pretty good and was the best part of the meal.

All in all, service was friendly, it’s a unique location. Food was lacking. I’m glad I went but I probably...

Well I had to try it mostly because of its history and reviews. I arrived at 11:00 and was the 3rd person in line. Order was taken quickly and with a friendly smile at 11:05 am. at 11:35 our drinks were brought out and at 11:45 our food was (yes 45 min after ordering). we both had cheese burgers with everything and fries, to be honest I thought it was a kids meal when delivered. the tiny burger patty only covered 2/3 of the bun (which was not a large bun), the fries were a normal sized regular order. The taste was decent, but nothing spectacular the fries were at room temperature. My friend who I met there for lunch was a regular - he was very disappointed and made the comment about how far down the quality had come. The tiny dining room (part of the quaintness) was half full of stock that should have been in the kitchen and there was an abundance of flies inside. The price was reasonable in todays economy. Glad I tried it as I am a fan of the movie, I do not see a return trip in my future, not even for the "french...

The 3 star place is actually a star place. It was one of the locations featured in the Billy Bob Thornton film shot right here in town, and named after that name sake, The Sling blade. The fast-food places had nothing on Gary's Sling blade. Its the menu, which is very good.. It just seems that , especially in this day and age, my age not included, I was hoping to have been made welcome. Only that was not the case. Being a trans woman in Arkansas isn't easy. Especially with the old traditions of bigotry that , even I myself grew up in, painfully, has been a long time staple here in the south. Nevertheless, I highly recommend the Sling blade diner. You'll be...