The Keeter Center-Dining — Restaurant in Missouri

Went for a lunch date with my husband while in Branson. Arrived early for lunch and got a blueberry scone and chocolate chip cookie with a vanilla latte and mocha from the bakery. The pastries were delicious, and they warmed them for us. In contrast, the coffees were mildly warm, and I always prefer my coffee to be hot when ordered as a hot drink. The bakery workers were very kind and friendly though.The shopping in the gift area was enjoyable, and I purchased a silk pillow case and necklace and earring set. We got in line for lunch at 10:30am, and there were 3 hostesses standing behind a podium. They told us there would be a 10-15 minute wait, even though the dining area was empty and was supposed to open at 10:30. We sat down on some wooden benches and waited about 5 minutes before my husband received a text message saying our table was ready. Again, it was very strange in that the dining area was empty. We were taken to a table by our server from Spain. We ordered our drinks and a Brussels sprouts appetizer. It took about 15-20 minutes for the appetizer to arrive. It was much smaller than we expected, but it was tasty and had a delicious creamy drizzle of sauce. We would order this again. The server told us about a flank steak special, so my husband ordered that, and I ordered a Cajun pork chop with mashed sweet potatoes and green beans. When the meals arrived, our server also offered us some rolls/cranberry biscuits with 2 types of butter. This would have been nice to have at the beginning of our meal instead of waiting until our food arrived. We looked around and saw other tables had bread before their entrées. My pork chop had a fried breading and was sitting on top of a puddle of sweet potatoes, with the green beans on the side. The sweet potatoes made the whole underside of the pork chop completely soggy. The pork chop was extremely greasy and the breading had no flavor. In contrast, the sweet potatoes were inedible and tasted as if someone had dumped paprika or tabasco sauce in them. It was the most awful, spicy flavor I have ever had in sweet potatoes, and I like spicy food. I guess this is what they interpreted as Cajun? Although, the pork chop was not “Cajun” at all. The green beans were waxy, with no salt or pepper or butter or olive oil. They must have been blanched or steamed, because water was the only thing that ever touched them. My husband’s flank stank was well, well done and dry. I’m guessing this was the previous day’s special and they were trying to get rid of the leftovers since our server told us there were only 10 of them left. He said the seasonal vegetables (cauliflower, carrots, bell peppers, etc) were delicious, and the mashed potatoes were good, but the steak tasted reheated. Our server asked how our meals were, and we politely shared a few descriptions, and she said she had never tried those dishes before. Given the great ratings, we really expected better food and were highly disappointed with the meal. We got some cupcakes “to go” from the bakery on the way out, and the boxes they stuffed them in were too small to accommodate the icing, and they were squished on the top. They even acknowledge that they wished they had taller boxes. Considering they sell cupcakes daily, this is a major oversight. We took the cupcakes home to our kids as a treat, and they enjoyed the Oreo one and most of the red velvet one (minus the hard, clay-like lump of bitter chocolate buttercream in the middle of the cupcake). My daughter had the cupcake with pink icing piped in the shape of a flower, and she is usually a huge fan of icing but asked if she could not eat the icing because it tasted funny. I sampled a small bite and agreed that it had some sort of chemical flavor. It was definitely a buttercream icing; it wasn’t very sweet, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on the awful taste. Overall, we were highly disappointed by the quality of the food. The highlights were the blueberry scone and chocolate chip cookie, warmed up, and the shopping, which would appeal to a middle-aged to...

Disappointed! I have heard so many wonderful things about the keeter center I finally made time to go eat lunch on a Friday afternoon , sadly to say the experience and food fell short of my expectations and standards for a quality dining experience which is what is advertised to potential guests . From the moment we entered we were greeted by 3 giggling students they could hardly focus long enough to greet us and ask for information ( phone number , name etc ) before seating us which I thought was odd since there was no wait and I found it irritating the girls struggled to get the computer to work and it took them a minute to get it together , but I told myself this is a teaching experience for them cut them some slack , our waiter however was very kind although nervous and seemed to be stumbling a bit but i understand students so I was not concerned there at first , the sweet tea was excellent unfortunately it was really the only thing I enjoyed , we both ordered the meatloaf entree , extremely small portions , chewy almost overcooked it required a steak knife to cut I have never in my life had to use a steak knife on meatloaf I definitely had the feeling it was not fresh but I was starving so I ate , it was a slow Friday afternoon when we went not very many tables and plenty of students so I was shocked my tea was only refilled once although I will say our waiter was very nice he seemed almost uncomfortable with us and I was stunned he didn’t take the initiative to refill our beverages again nor did he offer straws , I didn’t think they had them there so I didn’t ask until I saw them provided to another table so I had to stop him to ask for straws he should’ve offered in the begging but he took the time to converse with the table beside us which is how I overheard he had been serving at the keeter center for 3 years I believe , seriously at that point you should be more confident of a server , there was also no management in sight I was stunned this is supposed to be a quality dining experience and there is no management checking in with the guests or watching the students in the dining room , also not a very comfortable experience for us once the table across from us left 2 girls were resetting the table again cackling and talking girl talk and clanging the dishes on the table very unprofessional, sadly to say I was ready to leave as soon as we could , and unfortunately not even an hour later both of us had extremely upset stomachs from lunch , I do not blame the students I blame the teaching staff these are students there must be a manager there to make sure everyone is pleased and obviously someone needs to train the waiters and hostesses better the keeter center is not your local burger joint and the students should be held to a higher standard of etiquette, less gabbing with other students and personal gabbing with guests and focus on the job at hand , sadly I will not attempt to...

This was an exceptional dinner experience for my wife and I. I'd say this is a hidden gem that a lot of folks from out of town don't realize is just a 10-15 minute drive away from Branson.

I'll start with the atmosphere as there was live piano music in a spacious dining room with a very jovial vibe and feel.

The exceptional service started from the moment you were greeted at the hostess stand and didn't stop until you were out of the building. Literally we were told to enjoy our night by three or four different folks. Our waiter Ebin was courteous and kind with a willingness to answer the questions we had. This student led staff didn't miss when they introduced themselves, took orders and delivered your food. They also sang happy birthday to several tables while we were there that added to the overall experience.

The food, if everything else above isn't enough to get you to try things out this should be. We started out with the charcuterie board and it delivered. The salami and cheeses were great matches with the toasts. As someone who doesn't always enjoy brie this was a mellow but creamy surprise that paired with an olive or pickled onion was great. I'd say the board was good for 4 people though we just kept eating more. Then came out the bread basket that contained two dinner rolls, two biscuits and three different butters (regular, strawberry and apple). The handmade biscuits with any of the butters was my favorite, they will even refill your basket if you'd like. My wife also enjoyed the Camp Lookout beverage that was made with grapefruit and lime and it was very refreshing. They have Coke products but no Coke Zero yet. My entree was the KC strip and it was cooked to a perfect medium with whipped potatoes and asparagus. Each was well seasoned and went well with the steak. My wife made a great choice and it was the meatloaf dinner which consisted of a moist bacon wrapped meatball with mashed potatoes and green beans. The portions are adequate for the price but not so large that you feel like you shouldn't eat it all.

Definitely save room for dessert as I truly enjoyedy carrot cake with some decaf coffee. You could have fooled me that it was gluten free!y wife had a waffle cone with browned butter pecan ice cream and even with just getting the single scoop it was almost more than she could eat.

Of you find something you like there is a decent chance that you can find it in the general store just outside of the dining area.

If you haven't been here you are...