Dairy Shack — Restaurant in Eminence

Service was nice and the food was your standard carnival fair, for better or worse. I would rate them higher save for the steady bevy of inconsiderate folk smoking in line just upwind from the crowd of children and their families hanging out under the sole shelter to stay dry from the rain. Only inconsiderate, thoughtless trash would be so arrogant and selfish so as to smoke upwind around a bunch of young children seeking shelter from the rain in 21st Century America. But, to be honest, this same dynamic also made the people watching amazingly entertaining. Never has the mullet had a stronger showing, without irony or regard to current fashion trends, no, their haircuts flowed as free as the nearby Ozark springs and as wild as the local forest horses, all natural phenomena you have to see in action to believe. This place an hour before sunset on a summer Saturday has all the charm of a State Fair: the same carny feel, the people who don’t seem to exist outside smelling distance of venues selling fried cheese, the bad tattoos, jiggly bellies, and not infrequent Confederate flags on clothes. Like the food, for better or worse, this is Deep (fried) South.

I say this as a proud Southerner, but these people are the type to buy big trucks but never use them for cattle, construction, or any form of work that is physical (their soft bodies are testament to this). Some of the people are nice, some are even real nice, & some are just...well, I omit them from the record because that would be a disservice to the majority good n’ decent folk. Come for the food, stay for the show.

Food was two stars,...

Overall, you just really can't beat places like the Dairy Shack. Just a good ole mom&pop diner with burgers, ice cream, fried pickles & the list goes on. They have only outside seating with picnic tables off the main strip of Eminence, MO. We stopped by for a late lunch/ early supper. We got 2 burgers, fries & fried pickles. Everything was really yummy, especially those pickles!! Patties on burger looked hand pressed so that always a plus. We did have some ice cream the next day at munchie time & that was just awesomeness!! Oh, when your order is ready, they call your ur name over the mic & you pick it up at the window on side of building.

Bathroom is right off seating area but only one bathroom. Parking can get tight if they are slammed. It gets kinda hot if it's hot out but at least their is shade from roof. Some outdoor ceiling fans would be really awesome though.

Overall, if you go through eminence, must add this stop to your map....

This is a poor excuse for a business. The staff and owner are rude and disrespectful. After driving 10 hours all day we stood line for 45 minutes only for them to make an announcement 4 people ahead of us that they would only take orders for the next 5 minutes(this was at 9:12pm, they do not close until 10:00) . When it was our turn in line at 9:16pm we had 45 seconds left to order however they decided not to honor the 5 minutes they announced and declined our order. There were only 4 customers left in line to order. Apparently they do this routinely to people as they do not want to actually stay open until 10:00pm. They should change their business hours to reflect their poor work ethic. We went across the street to the Sinclair where we experienced great customer service and were finally...