Walk-On's Sports Bistreaux - Conway Restaurant — Restaurant in Conway

3.5 would’ve been a better review here, but alas Google does not allow that.

This the first time we’ve been to a Walk-Ons and we’ll definitely give them another shot, just probably not this location.

We were greeted with friendly faces and seated promptly. Our server, while very nice, seemed a little inexperienced or possibly on the new side.

She gathered our drink order without issue but stumbled upon some rather basic questions. In this case, she didn’t know any of the local beers on tap (not really a big deal) and when asked what the spiciest wing sauce was the response was “ummm, Buffalo I think” this really isn’t that big of a deal, just worth noting that some extra training, or effort in learning the menu would be appreciated.

We ordered our food and it was delivered pretty quickly. We both got a 1/2 po boy. My wife got the boom boom shrimp, and I got the ribeye with a side of gumbo.

The sandwiches flavors were great, the portion size for the price left a little to be desired though. The gumbo also had an excellent flavor profile albeit on the thin side and a little light on rice for gumbo.

My kids got a grilled cheese and a spaghetti with marinara, sauce on the side.

The grilled cheese was a hit minus the fact that it was literally a half a sandwich for $8. Again, the value proposition here sucked.

The noodles though, this is where things went really bad.

Let me preface this, I’ve worked in the restaurant industry for over 20 years. I know my way around kitchens and general restaurant management.

We did ask for the sauce on the side for the noodles because kids are like that sometimes. The kitchen tossed the noodles in a fat to keep them from sticking, which is pretty standard practice. The problem is they didn’t use butter, they used oil. And not just some plain canola oil. It was old oil that was either left in a pan, or old fry oil. The taste was unmistakable.

By the time our server finally table touched again, the rest of us had eaten. Our youngest refused. When I told the server the food was bad, she immediately took it and offered to remove it from the bill and refire us a new order. We ordered the other half of the grilled cheese sandwich.

Another 10 minutes went by, which was longer than our initial entire table order took, the waitress came back and asked if the replacement food was delivered. It was pretty apparent that it wasn’t. So she rushed back and had the sandwich boxed to go.

The meal was not removed from the bill, which is fine just not what we were told.

Just as well, the manager never table touched either which is restaurant management 101 when it comes to poor food quality or service.

All in all, the bill was $70 with tip for 2 half sandwiches, 2 beers, and 2 kids meals which left us feeling a bit underwhelmed either way the whole experience.

This review isn’t to bash the server, or the kitchen on the whole. Rather it’s to let management know that they need to tighten up, and corporate know that their value proposition is...

Let me start by saying, we had full intention of eating more than appetizers here but we left the restaurant before ordering our entrees. We came around 3pm and had a table of four. We were greeted, seated at our table and we were waiting on our server. It was not busy at all, there were two people sitting at the bar together when we arrived. 15 minutes went by after being seated and no one came to take our drink order. We looked around and there were four employees standing at the host stand talking. They stared at us and pointed at us, but no one came to take our order. A friend saw a manager walk by and asked if we could get a server, and one came over to us. The manager stated that it was just a shift change that delayed everything, and she was very sorry for the inconvenience and we appreciated the explanation and her honesty. She also offered to buy us an appetizer. We ordered the queso and (I can’t remember the name) but they were basically grilled jalapeño poppers. We also ordered 3 beers and a margarita. When the drinks came to the table, my friend’s margarita looked and tasted like orange juice. The queso that came to the table was equivalent to what you would receive at a baseball park. The cheese looked and tasted like it came out of a large jar of nacho cheese and it had jalapeños and tomatoes thrown on top of it. The jalapeño poppers were good, just not good enough to make us want to order entrees. It just really was not worth it. We made the decision to just leave it at drinks and the appetizers, and were looking up other restaurants nearby while waiting on the check. The ONLY reason I’m giving this place three stars is because the manger was incredibly sweet and apologetic, and a friend said she had a great experience here a few days before we went so maybe we just came on an off day. I’m not sure what’s going on in the kitchen or with the servers, but I’m just overall...

Edited.... See edit below. Good atmosphere, plenty of TVs, good beer selection. We ordered two apps for the table. The first, the boudin balls arrived just barely over warm, and the perfectly uniform appearance if outer batter screams food service supplied or definitely not prepared in house. The second was boom boom shrimp. Again, not served hot, and not particularly flavorful. We then ordered entrees. One guest ordered a burger which she said tasted good, but was served with exactly four waffle fries. One would expect a bigger portion for the price of the burger. The second ordered a bowl crawfish etoufee. The top was “skimmed over” as he described it indicating that it had been sitting for a while and not again, it was not hot. I ordered the Redfish Rudy. Again, NOT SERVED HOT! The serving dish was hotter than the fish that was plated in it. I ate a few bites and concentrated on the beer and the basketball game. This is not a Cajun restaurant. This is a sports bar that serves Cajun style food, so if you go with those expectations, you will not be disappointed. I do plan on going back, because it has a good atmosphere; again plenty of televisions, and the waitress on staff, “Dee” was prompt and friendly; perhaps the best element of our visit given that the home team lost that day. By the way, I want to meet the reviewer who said this was “the best food he ever ate.” My guess is that his culinary experiences have mostly come from the freezer section of the local grocer. Edit: STAR ADDED I have returned to Walk-ons on at least three occasions since the review, and the quality of the food has improved immensely. The food has been served hot, and the catfish po-boy that I ate was as good as you're going to find around here. I believe the first review was based on an experience at a restaurant that was still fairly new and getting its legs under it. Give it a try and see...