Southern Heaux Maumelle — Restaurant in Maumelle

This morning I took my wife and son to try the new Southern Heux restaurant for their soft opening. In case you don't know, this place is in the same spot as Pizza Hut used to be years ago at the corner of Millwood and Club Manor.

Entering the restaurant, the place was clean and was about 1/3 full. I didn't notice any booths, but there may have been some hidden in the back room that I didn't see. There appeared to be a take-out area/bar by the kitchen with people waiting on their orders.

The staff were all friendly enough -- you could tell they were on the brink of stressing out, but they were handling everything professionally and with a smile. After a short time, our server came and took our orders and that was that.

I ordered the biscuit and gravy plate which came with 2 eggs, meat, one biscuit, and gravy. My wife ordered a 3-egg omelette with 3 fillings, and my son ordered the waffle plate, which -- you guessed it -- came with 2 eggs and meat as well. We also ordered a plate of beignets for the table.

The beignets came to the table a short time later -- they were hot, gooey, and covered in powdered sugar. While not quite as tasty as what you would get at Cafe DuMonde in New Orleans, they were still pretty good. I believe 6 came in an order.

The main course arrived a short time later. Appearance-wise, the food looked like any other short-order restaurant you get breakfast at. While my plate was good, I had a few small gripes. The main one being the biscuit needed about 5 more minutes in the oven. The center of it was still moist and not at all flaky. My other gripe was the crispy eggs. I prefer mine over-medium, which is how they were cooked. But I also don't like a crispy exterior. I prefer a smooth texture to my eggs. Some places get this right - Strouds, Bobby's, Waffle House. Again, they were cooked perfectly on the inside, I'm just picky about my eggs 🙂

The omelette was good -- filled nicely with fillings so as not to have large gaps of air. It came with a croissant which was a nice bonus. My son's waffle was, well, a waffle. He said it was better than most, so I'll take that as a plus. Both his and my bacon was cooked nice and crispy with a nice greasy sheen to it.

Some observations: If you order an app, or anything to be shared, make sure you ask for some small plates. We were not given any and it made eating the beignets a messy endeavor. Also, make sure to ask for extra napkins as the ones they use are thin and in no way absorb the mess you will likely make. Make sure you check your bill -- no, ask for your bill. The server will come by your table and ask if you are ready to pay and then checks you out at the table. For everything we got, she told us it was like $70 which didn't sound right but we paid anyway because we had things to do. After thinking about it, I asked for an itemized receipt and noticed our server had charged us for a crab cake ($15). So that had to be taken off. As of 45 minutes later, I'm still not showing the adjusted charge in my bank -- but I know some restaurants batch process things at the end of the day, so I'll wait to raise a stink about that until the bank settles the transactions.

Since this is a soft opening and they are still working all the bugs out, I'm not holding any of these petty issues against them. Overall, the experience was good, if not a tad on the pricey side for what you get, but this is 2024 America I suppose.... Overall, I'm giving them an 8.5/10. Hopefully, in a few weeks when they are in the full swing of things, I can go back and see them on their A-game and change...

I’ve heard about this place since February this year and we finally got to try it this past Sunday. We arrived about noon on Sunday and the small dining room was packed. I was with my mom. The manager asked if we would be okay with the bar. I said yes. I’ve sat at a lot of bars and prefer it a lot of the time. However, because this place is small ( in the front room anyway) it was a bit crowded at the bar. Waiters constantly passing. And the stools were slippery. So we asked to be moved and the manager was accommodating as soon as she could!

In the meantime, my mom and I checked out the menu. It’s quite extensive. There’s something for everyone whether you want breakfast, brunch or lunch. The drink menu was also good. It had all the trendy drinks I like like 8 different mimosa and a mimosa flight! There was even strawberry lemon drop. But I decided to try their peachy lemonade since I had never had it before. It was sweet and addicting. Definitely try the house punches. I didn’t really taste the vodka!

My mom and I are boring brunch goers so we both ordered pancakes. She got the basic pancake meal for 13 dollars and I got the $16 Southern Heaux meal which was two pancakes and four wings and eggs.

Food came out pretty quickly. Everything was hot and fresh and stayed hot. My eggs stayed hot the whole time I was eating and I’m not a fast eater. I was impressed. I added white chocolate strawberry topping to my pancakes. I thought the white chocolate would be smeared on top like ihop but it turned out that the pancakes were filled with white chocolate chips with strawberry slices and powdered sugar on top. I loved it. The pancakes were perfectly sweet, substantial but fluffy. My mom and I both enjoyed the pancakes. She got hers regular. Even when we brought the leftovers home they stayed fresh. The eggs were well seasoned as were the chicken wings. I enjoyed all of my food.

This place is trendy and busy but not overly loud. Prices are very reasonable. It’s a great place to go for good food and something different in the area. All of the staff were very nice and attentive. I’ll definitely...

I want to share some feedback in hopes of helping this restaurant improve. When you walk in, there’s a wall blocking the view of the dining area, so if no hostess is present, you’re left standing there waiting for someone to notice you. During my recent visit, an older lady was cleaning tables and saw us walk in, but she ignored us for about 5 minutes, wiping down tables that were already clean. She eventually came to seat us, but it felt like we were an afterthought.

From there, the service went downhill. She wasn’t sure if they had sweet tea, and 20 minutes later, we still didn’t have drinks. Another lady came to take our drink order again, but another 15 minutes passed before a gentleman finally brought us unsweet tea instead of sweet. It was clear there was a lack of communication among the staff.

It took 45 minutes for us to get our food, even as other couples who arrived after us were served and left before we got ours. While the food was good with no complaints there, the disorganized service makes it hard to want to return.

My recommendation: Always have a friendly, welcoming hostess at the front to greet and seat customers promptly. A smile goes a long way in setting the tone for the experience. Serve drinks within 2 minutes of seating. Waiting 35 minutes for tea is unacceptable. Hire more servers to lighten the load and improve communication between staff members.

This was my second visit, and unfortunately, the same issues with service were present. For example, during my last visit, I noticed coffee refills weren’t offered—something that’s typically standard at most restaurants.

Maumelle needs this restaurant, but the service will make or break it. I hope you can address these issues because the food is good, but the experience needs a...