Theo's — Restaurant in Fayetteville

Let me confess that I am a troll. I expect price to reasonably correlate to quality and never post positive reviews when it does because, frankly, that’s merely meeting expectation. That disclaimer out of the way, here comes the troll. I have been eating at Theo’s for years. I’ve dined here dozens of times and have always found the quality to correspond with their high(ish) prices…until last night. We spent around $300 on dinner and drinks for two, and there were admittedly a couple bright spots. The cocktails and oysters we had were both great, which was consistent with our prior experiences. But that’s the end of the positivity. The service was so slow that we ordered our second (and third) round of drinks before we had even put a dent in the prior round, and we waited almost two hours to get our entrees. However, we were patient and optimistic because the drinks and oysters were good, and we hadn’t yet had anything (other than service quality) that wasn’t on point. But then came our dinners. My wife ordered an absurdly expensive pork chop that, by the time the bone was cut away, consisted of about a 2” x 4” piece of meat. It was tiny, tough, and underwhelming (“that’s what she said”). I got the octopus, which was surprisingly tender, but tasted like it was marinaded in chili flakes and battery acid. I ate two bites and gave up, which left me sharing my wife’s hot-dog-sized sliver of pork chop and the store bought polenta that they failed to liven up even slightly, which my octo-ulcer was presented upon. We also ordered 3 sides and every single one was as disappointing as the entrees. Suffice it to say that we left bewildered at how a place we had enjoyed for 5 years or more had so suddenly taken such a precipitous nose dive. A friend clued us in later that Theo’s had recently been purchased by Southern Food Company, which makes total sense because I went to that place once and thought it sucked nearly as bad as they’ve now...

What an outstanding place! The ambiance was perfect. Candlelight with white linens and low light...soft jazz playing in the background. The perfect place for a memorable evening. If you’re looking for a great “date night” location, you’ve found it. The music was the perfect volume that it wasn’t a distraction but yet added to the experience. The food, prepared by Chef Devin Gamache, was spectacular. We had the duck and the filet. Both had balanced flavors and truly will have us coming back over and over again. Outside of the amazing food, the star of the show was our server, Jordan. He truly knew his menu thoroughly. Jordan was aware of our dietary restrictions as we had made our reservations through the open table app. He was prepared for this, on short notice, and had menu suggestions as well as how each of our selections could be changed in a way to meet these needs. I’ve literally been around the world. I’ve eaten in amazing food cities such as Hong Kong, Köln, Paris, New York, Chicago Philadelphia and New Orleans. In all of my culinary ventures, I’ve never had a server as knowledgeable or as familiar with his menu such as Jordan. Hands down - the best server that I’ve ever had at my table - bar none! I highly recommend Theo’s for the best ambiance, food and service in NW Arkansas. We’ll be back when our travels permit. Thanks to Theo’s Fayetteville for a...

Theo’s certainly lived up to it’s reputation for my first (and probably only) visit. It is definitely a nice restaurant, and probably the finest in town. We were unable to secure a table trying to get a reservation for a weekend and calling as they opened at 5 PM. So obviously, it’s a popular place. We did get a “bar table” on the bar side of the restaurant that still had great service and allowed us to order off the dinner menu. The service, as I said, was great. The food was good. We had a couple of appetizers (really liked the tuna nachos). My pork chops were very good as well. Everyone seemed to enjoy their dishes and the dessert was good (chocolate crème brûlée). As I said, it lived up to expectations-everything was good/great except for the prices. You have to try things once. It’s really hard for me to say the my $40 pork chops were “that much” better than the $25 pork chops I could get at a lot of other places. I actually wanted the steak but couldn’t pull the trigger on the $70 price tag. That really comes down to taste and affordability preferences. Maybe another visit on a special day would make it a different story and an actual table at the restaurant, but I guess we will see. Most of the menu options add some “fancy items” on it that didn’t sound all that appealing to me. Again, it’s about taste preferences...