Higdon Square Cafe — Restaurant in Hot Springs

Tried this for the first time and it will definitely be the last.

When we walked in, a group of 7 and a baby, the place was understandably busy, but most tables had been served and people were just lingering. We were fine with waiting but the waitress looked around, shrugged, and said “well we ain’t got the room for y’all right now. I don’t know what to tell ya.” Probably should have been a sign right there that we should leave since they didn’t seem too thrilled with our business.

Once we were actually seated, it was to a dirty table (no big deal as they came to clean it fairly quickly). However I have a baby who had her hands on the table. When the waitress, (same ray of sunshine from before) started spraying down the table, I moved my daughters hands so that she didn’t get it on her. The waitress gave me a dirty look and squawked “it’s JUST sanitizer!”. I responded “okay? I still won’t want her hands on the table where she will get it on her and put them in her mouth.” She shrugged smirked. I just felt like it was a bizarre interaction.

We placed our order and the wait began. We waited an hour before she finally came out and said “alrighty guys, only 2 more tickets before they start on yalls order!”. 😳 We said “wait what? Start? As in, they haven’t started at all?” And she just said “Yep. That’s what it means. Haven’t started.” Absolutely no apology or any semblance of one. Just a bad attitude and a shrug. (We were already close to leaving at this point but we stuck it out. As mentioned before, I had a baby and she needed to eat. I do feel that it needs to be mentioned that this place was NOT very busy and there is no reason for this length of wait.)

When she told us that they still hadn’t started the food, we asked if they could bring out our biscuits at least. She said sure. She brought out 4 biscuits (for our table or 7+ a baby, shrugged and said “that’s all we got. Ran out of biscuits. Y’all want some cornbread?” 🙄

Finally, we did get our food and she brought out mine and my husband’s food first. She noted that she “knew the baby needed to eat”. I did appreciate this gesture and that’s the only reason I’m giving this 2 stars.

I’d give the food a solid 3/5 but honestly the service was abhorrent. I will not go back here. 🤷🏼‍♀️ Not sure of our waitresses name, maybe Robin? Either way, I think she might be in the wrong...

I have a ton to say about this place, so buckle up! My group decided to have breakfast here on a Saturday morning, and let me tell you, it was an experience. Before I even get to the food, I have to talk about the place itself. It doesn’t feel like eating at a fancy restaurant. It’s more like visiting family you haven’t seen in ages and having a meal in the warm, cozy atmosphere of Grandma’s house. We even had the privilege of sharing the company of another guest and had conversations we will never forget. The staff is super friendly and welcoming, and the prices are super reasonable. The coffee is fresh and hot, and they even have an amazing selection of hot teas. Now, let’s talk about breakfast. I take breakfast seriously, because it’s the most important meal of the day, right? My wife ordered the French toast, and it was absolutely divine. The outside was crispy, the inside was soft and custardy, and it was just the right amount of powdered sugar on top. My friend got the pancakes, and they were soft, moist, and fluffy with a nice drizzle of maple syrup. The bacon was crispy and served hot, and the hash browns were perfectly seasoned and had a nice crunch. I ordered the all-meat omelet with hash browns, and let me tell you, I’ve had a lot of omelets, so I know when I’m impressed. The egg was like a perfectly cooked, moist wrapper for the filling of sausage, bacon, ham, and cheese. The filling was so juicy and evenly distributed throughout the omelette. The hash browns were perfectly seasoned and had a nice crunch, and the inside was soft and fluffy. It was one of the best, if not the best, breakfasts I’ve ever had. My only regret was I haven’t tried their biscuits and gravy… yet. We loved it so much that we went back the very next morning. We live almost two hours away, but I promise you, any time we come back to Hot Springs, Higdon Square Cafe will be on our must-visit list. I hope you’ll add it...

Higdon Square Cafe

Overall 3.5/5

For no real reason I've never been here during breakfast, my son wanted to check it out.

Atmosphere: 3.5/5 small and cozy.. decent enough air conditioning I'm not sure how good the air conditioning works later in the day when it gets hot. I don't know how to describe the decorations but it just felt old like ..like the first hotel I worked downtown hot springs 18 years ago.

Food : 4.0 I ordered the half order of biscuits and gravy which was a full biscuit with what appeared to be scratch made gravy.. and unexpected treat from the majority of places that use canned gravy. My son got the French toast it was good .heavy on the vanilla but it was really good . Sausages were good. The breakfast potatoes with onions were the real treat of the breakfast amazing amazing I would come back just for those!

Service,: 5/5. Upon entering there is no sign for seat yourself or to wait, so I asked the table sitting by the register, and was told to go and seat myself but it'd be a minute since the waitress was by herself. There were maybe six tables occupied.. menus were quickly provided, drinks were in large containers and were kept full.

All in all it was good, I didn't feel that I ate $30 worth of food but you see the prices when you order you can always leave and everything's expensive these days, with that said i would recommend it, but it's not convenient for me and to me it's not...