R&M Southern Eatery - Conway — Restaurant in Conway

My Fiance and I have been excited to come to this restaurant for a couple months now. We live 3 hours away and did a lot of research on where to eat in the area. This place had great reviews, several videos on TikTok and my Fiance is from the south so when I saw what type of food they were serving, I knew I had to take him there, especially after hearing so much good hype about the chefs.

All we have to say is… I am not sure where everyone else ate at, but I wish we could have eaten there.

We came in around 7:15- a bit late after finding out they closed at 8, but we came into town later than expected and were only going to have one night here so we wanted to try anyway. The staff didn’t seem particularly happy we walked in, but I asked if we were still allowed to be seated and she said yes. She sat us down and gave us two sets of to go silverware- the kind that come with the napkin and salt and pepper in them. I looked around and saw a few other couples there with to go containers and wondered if they were wrapping up. After a few moments, I realized though, that is what we were being served out of- to go containers.

After a few moments, a gentleman came out of the back and looked at us, almost appearing upset, then went to the back. It then sounded like he was arguing with someone about our dishes- I assumed it was us, since my fiancés dish was mentioned and everyone else present had already gotten their food.

I’m not usually picky about dishes or lack of silverware but for the portion sizes I saw advertised and the portion sizes of the containers we got, about $30 per portion just seemed astonishing. I wish I had taken a picture of my finances dish, it was so small, but I didn’t want to be rude or embarrass the staff while there. We ate and I took what I had left with me. No cornbread came with my meal, which I had been excited about. I didn’t want to ask for any because at this point I felt somewhat unwelcome. One person did ask us how we were doing but since everyone was cleaning up I also didn’t want to bother her.

I had been really excited about getting peach cobbler beignets but after everything had gone, I felt like I would have bothered the staff to stay, even though another couple had come in after us and also been served, I just felt like they were ready for us to leave. We did leave a good tip, as most of the food was good and we did come in late. I am just very disappointed and wish we had the experience everyone else seemed to have, or at the very least the same portion sizes, service and sense of welcome everyone got. Maybe we will try again on...

Returning customer. First time was great! We hyped this place up so much for my in-laws. Decided to come today for a mother's day lunch. First off, they were out of fried green tomatoes, yams, and beignets. Second, my father in law is an avid mac and cheese eater. Again, hyped this place up. Imagine our disappointment when we go to order and my FIL orders mac and cheese only to be told THEY NO LONGER MAKE MAC AND CHEESE!!!! The fact that this was not written anywhere or omitted from the menu or even mentioned by the staff was unbelievable. We ordered the pasta eggrolls for an app and they were COLD in the middle. The kitchen remade it but refer to the photos. One was burnt to a crisp and the others were chewy and inedible. I order the Cajun seafood smothered grits with shrimp and sausage. The only thing that smothered the grits was the amount of tomatoes in this dish. Grits were not hot. There was maybe 4, 5 shrimps and 5 pieces of sausage. My MIL got the catfish and chicken strip entrée. From the photos you can see one side of the catfish is burned and the cornbread muffin was dry as a bone. What did my father in law have, you ask? NOTHING. As if not having mac and cheese wasn't enough, his meal was forgotten altogether. He ate off of our plates. When it was brought to our waitresses attention, it was taken off the bill. His food was made at the end and put into a to-go box. THEN, adding insult to injury, their internet goes down and we had to wait a significant amount of time before the staff finally asked if we had Cash App or Zelle to pay for our meal. Super disappointed. We understand that people have off days but there was just too much that went wrong for us to...

Let me preface this by saying I do not go out and order gumbo, etoufee, or shrimp and grits from any establishment here in Central Arkansas. 30+ years here has taught me the best place to get this is at home.

So, hearing this might be a place to change our mind, we decided to give it a try. First thing to mention here, we had a party of seven, so they asked for a 50.00 deposit... unusual, but ok. We pay it. Later on we find out that 25 of this goes to food and the other 25 goes into thin air to the owners. Fyi...we verified it does not go as gratuity or against the bill. Be careful.

For an appetizer, since we had kids with us, we got the mac&cheese eggroll...and it was actually decent. The thing that gave it flavor was the sauce.

Onto the entrees, the rice is instant (and on several of our plates, not cooked). The "blackened seasoning" has absolutely no flavor, the etoufee, no flavor, the shrimp, while fresh, no flavor. The sausage was the ONLY decent thing on the plate. Too badd there wasn't enough of it. The impression of the food is best described as Dennys trying to make a stab at serving something besides breakfast.

We could have gone to Mike's Place for cheaper, had good service, great food, solid table seating with cloth napkins, and a working ac. We really wanted to like this place, since we try to support local when we can...but this place fell short at SO MANY levels. We wish them all the luck, but we will...