Miss Anna's on Towson — Restaurant in Fort Smith

We walked in. I noticed the restaurant has definitely been here in Fort Smith a long time because of the stained booths and mismatched curtains. Everyone in the place was 50+; I'm not saying that's bad, but it is generally a red flag on food quality. Hear me out- I'm not ageist- as we humans age, we gain a certain complacency, and senses decline. It's easier to pass off lower quality food unnoticed when you're serving it to people less sensitive to it.

Fine, totally fine- it's just a diner, I wasn't expecting like fine Italian or my mother's home cooking- but I have a standard of expectations for any "sit down" establishment: serve better food than I can get through a drive thru. I have this expectation for a few reasons, the most straight forward of which is simply that they charge more. This is not unreasonable.

Despite the shabby affects, the place was relatively clean, so I didn't insist on turning around and going somewhere else. I asked the waitress for a water with lemon- no lemon, but they have lemon juice packets. 3rd red flag (1st customer base, 2nd aged and stained decor,) because they either did not have enough requests for it to keep it on hand, meaning low volume of customers, or the restaurant cannot afford something that does not have a long shelf life. Both reasons indicate business is not great, which is never a good sign. I should've declined anything further, but I like giving people a chance. Now I know, three red flags, leave now. I'm a learning robot, I won't repeat this mistake. Probably.

So we look at the menu for a few minutes. My date decides he wants kickin' chicken. He orders that with fries and corn. I am an adventurous eater with a strong preference for spicy food, but that's not the kind of place this is. No problem, easy to get the measure of a place with the basics. I order a chicken basket and upgrade fries to mushrooms after asking the waitress if the chicken strips and mushrooms are hand breaded and made in-house. She says yes, that's why I paid $4 on top of the $11 for my chicken basket, and $12 for my date's meal.

I'm not blaming the waitress here, she was lovely, and of course I tipped. I honestly think she just didn't know what she was serving because someone had told her what to say and it was not accurate.

The chicken for both our entrees was processed pressed chicken, not whole breast cutlets. At this point, everything was not fine. I was (am) very hungry due to a meal mistake on my dinner from yesterday at another location, so I was very disappointed but decided to give the mushrooms a shot, even though they, like the chicken, very obviously came from the deep freezer and were not fresh, in-house, and hand breaded as I was told. And while they would have remained disappointing and over priced, were they cooked properly, they would have been edible.

At first I thought they were just tossed into a fryer that wasn't hot enough, because they were very mushy, but then I bit into something awful that made me reconsider the fryer being the issue. I've never had a rotten mushroom before, but about four mushrooms in I bit into the sickly sweet flavor only bad vegetables take on. At this point I was done. If you can't store food properly and safely, you shouldn't be in business at all.

I should've just tipped the waitress and walked out, but I've heard stories of restaurants putting the responsibility on the employee to pay, and I didn't want to risk that. She did knock five dollars off the final bill when my date complained. For him, I'll also note the corn he ordered was literally just canned corn they heated up. No seasoning, just warm canned corn. It was at least warmer than the cold white gravy I ordered with my chicken.

Final bill was just over $23, an unjustified total when considering the two plates full of inedible food left on the table. They did offer us a free stale bakery item, but we declined for obvious reasons. I paid $27 cash and we left.

The fries...

I have traveled up and down the mississippi, been to the local joints from Shreveport to Tucson, and the bougie bars of Atlanta to Austin... Nowhere...and. i. Mean. NOWHERE Have i experienced the perfect trifecta of food, service, and atmosphere as I did at Miss Anna's.

I was greated outside by Heather who brought the ambience home immediately. What a vibrant staff member. I am in love.

My waitress Amy dealt with my 85 year old mother and here ludicrous requests like a seasoned pro.

She provided small chat (which is what that generation wants) and STILL took my order and got the food out correct and on par! What a fascinating jewel of an employee.

YOU MUST GET THE GREEN TOMATO RELISH! I ordered from the supplier and will be serving it at my establishment.

The portion were plentiful- Go with what is offered as sides- Trust me.

Now for the dude or dudette in the back on fryer. You are now crowned THE BEST hushpuppy master in the U.S. Perfect crisped outsides and the exact size in which to drop. From one Fryer to another- exceptional performance my new best friend.

Oh- i also looked at all the other fantastic creations on display that others were consuming- Amazing.

I may have to move to Towson to become a local so I can eat here everyday.

Thank your whole staff for providing a perfect dining experience to a man driving his mother across country for the last two weeks. From the hills of Georgia to the Arizona Mexicam border- You reign supreme.

Matthew Gantz Retired fry cook and manager of The...

Everyone was very friendly and the place looks nice, BUT...every time they refilled our drinks, they brought us the wrong drinks. EVERYTIME. For all of us (2 adults, 3 kids. A Pepsi, 2 diet cokes and 2 sweet teas. Even the teas would come back as either soda or even water once.) They forgot part of my order, brought my husband the wrong thing, and the lasagna had no sauce in it and was very dry and crackly. Noone at the table that tasted it liked it and the mac and cheese was inedible. The burgers (we had a ranch burger, a kids burger, and a bacon cheeseburger) were just 'alright' in that they really did not have any flavor, although they were cooked well and looked great. The saving grace, food wise, was the french fries and the loaded baked potato. Both were so good. Our biggest complaint was the service felt rushed. The place was practically empty the whole time we were there. They brought our food and then less than 2 minutes later came by and asked what to-go drinks we wanted. They brought our drinks (which, no joke, were wrong and like Russian roulette to figure out what was what) and then would not refill our regular drinks after that. We were less than halfway done, had been 9 minutes since food was delivered, when they brought us a stack of to-go containers and told us to have a good day. Then we were pretty much just ignored after that. We won't return and I do not...