The Venetian Dining Room at the Arlington — Restaurant in Hot Springs

I was really excited about this brunch and then quickly realized I should have done more research.

I don't mind paying $29 for brunch but this was not worth the money. There were so many missed opportunities. Brunch did not come with a cocktail and it should have. Crepes were really good when fresh but they were being made in advance so mine was reheated? This is insane, everyone waits for the omlets at the next table, why not serve your crepes fresh? Why use Cool Whip? It takes almost no effort to make home made whip cream and would do I want something from a restaurant that I can buy at the store myself. No bagels? How can you serve lox and cream cheese without bagels.

As for the carving station, I will say the rib roast and ham were both very good.

On the other said of that the dessert was really, really bad. It was dry and flavorless and also tasted like it was from a grocery store or previously frozen.

The piano player was a nice addition and he played very well.

Lastly, the smell of the room as you walk in. This is to no fault of the dining room but in the main lobby of the Arlington, they have a black box industrial “air freshener.” I know that most hotels do this and in moderation I think it’s pleasant but this was way too strong. Each time I walked past I thought I would be sick. Unfortunately, the power of this smell carried over into the dining room and just added to an already...

Hold onto your hats for this one. 😅

Made reservations for a Friday night seafood buffet. Food was okay-ish. It was definitely overpriced though.

Waitress was okayish. She didnt really seem very happy about being there. Ive waitressed many years of my life and i get people have bad days so I wasnt upset over that.

As we were paying for our checks, we thought it didn't really add up. I asked if gratuity was charged, the waitress says no. She says that we got charged for using the side room. We never asked to use the side room, we were just sat there. So I was confused why they would charge extra for that room. One person in our party asked to get their receipt. Waitress says she couldn't print receipt for us?

Finally I had enough and went up front to find a manager to ask why we got charged for using the side room. Manager had no idea what we were talking about. They dont charge for the side room. Turns out, the Waitress did indeed charge us gratuity (which is fine, we were a large party) but then lied to us so she could get tipped even more. We all tipped 20% ontop of 20% she already charged.

So then we have to get our checks refunded and re-ran. Which took FOREVER. I think we were there for an extra 30-45 minutes just getting that sorted out.

Honestly, I would've expected a discount or something for the complete mess this turned into. It was the single most wild experience I've had at...

We live in Little Rock and eat out once or twice a week was the worst dining experience we have had in a long time. I think it’s worth mentioning this is the first poor review we’ve made in years.

There were five tables on a Saturday night. It took 62 minutes to get our food from when we sat down. Meals we brought out in two waves 7 minutes apart. The menu says you can buy off of one side until 10:00, but they told us the chef wasn’t serving burgers tonight. Meanwhile, after ordering, we watched them continually carry burgers to the bar side. We had a family member with special needs who is a very picky eater they wouldn’t let order a burger. When asked, I was told the chef of 2 weeks was new and wouldn’t allow burgers in the fine dining room. My wife ordered the filet and it was the worst filet we had ever eaten. It looked like a small piece of sirloin and was maybe 3/4 inches at its thickest, as well as being over cooked. I wish we took a picture. They were out of ceaser dressing because “the chef makes his own and didn’t have anchovies.” I think I was just annoyed by the continued excuses instead of apologies. Even when I asked to speak to a manager, no one said sorry. Just continued justification of why they were right. Once again, five tables on the night of the Arkansas Derby was warning enough we should have gone...