Jay and I went to eat at Cache Restaurant in the Rivermarket area of Little Rock, Arkansas for our 9th anniversary. We’ve never eaten there before and decided to give it a try.

Parking

We drove around the Rivermarket over and over again before they started closing the streets. The restaurant has a valet service, but they were full that night due to FunkFest happening downtown. We parked in the Convention Center paid parking lot and walked to the restaurant. It was a nice night and we actually found a ten dollar bill which we tithed the next day. If there are no events at the Rivermarket, I’m sure you would be able to valet your car and have a pleasant experience.

Location

Cache is located on 425 President Clinton Avenue in the heart of downtown Little Rock.

First Impressions

My first impression was the cool outdoor fire pits they have. The photo below was taken from the inside of the restaurant. You can see the blurred firepit that was outside.

They have an upstairs balcony as well but we sat on the ground floor. Right when you walk in there is a receptionist who was busy speaking to one of the employees when we walked in. She greeted us, and told us to follow her about three minutes after we walked in. There was a wall of wine bottles which was cool.

When we were seated, we had an ipad on our table. I told Jay the waitress from the table before us must have left it here. I figured they do a system similar to Europe and pay at each table. He told me that the hostess brought it to the table. I was baffled at what to do with it. Can we open the cover? What is it for? Do we order from it? Jay (the brave one) opened it and saw it was a wine and cocktail list.

Selection of Food

The selection of food was so great. You can view their dinner menu here. They are also open for lunch. Their lunch menu can be viewed here. I loved that they had escargot! When I read this, I got really excited!

Typical Wait Time

The wait time for our food was average. Not terribly fast but not terribly slow either.

Staff? Friendly, efficient, courteous, and knowledgeable water and waitresses?

Our waitress was nice and gave us recommendations when we asked her. She was very friendly. She refilled our drinks when we needed it. She wiped the crumbs off the table and fixed our silverware as well. She wasn’t too fussy though. It was just the right amount of attention.

Seating Arrangements

We sat at a table, not a booth in the middle aisle of the right hand side. One row were tables and booths and the other row were two tops.

Quantity and Quality of Food

The quantity of food was Americanized sized and the quality of food was great. No disappointments here.

Beverage Selection? Wine List? Bar?

The wine and cocktail list was on the ipad. Just out of curiosity, I looked on the website after I ordered my glass of wine, and saw that there were loads more drinks on the website than on the ipad. Why is this? The waitress told me that the ipad needed to be updated, but still. This was disappointing. The wine list on the website can be found here. The cocktail list can be looked at by clicking here.

I had a glass of  a 2011 Santa Margherita Pinot Grigio white wine. (I forgot to take a picture. It was just white wine in a glass.) It was pretty good. I’m just a sucker for a buttery Chardonnay though. I also had a Lavender French cocktail that I wish I could order at this very moment. It was incredible. It had lemon, gin, lavender bitters (but their menu says lavender simple syrup) and champagne float. If you like lavender at all, you HAVE to get this!!! I would go there again just for this drink. It was a 10 out of 10.

Children’s Menu?

There wasn’t a children’s menu that I saw. This is not a place for children. Please for the love of all things good, do not bring your children here. Jay and I were at Bravo one night and there was a screaming two year old that sat right behind us. The mother did nothing to calm him. One of the customers yelled “Will you shut up?!?!?!” I looked at Jay completely stunned and was a bit afraid she was going to get up out of her seat and hurt the child. If it’s a “nice” restaurant, please leave the kids at home. It completely makes it miserable for the entire rest of the restaurant.

Our Food

We ordered two appetizers. The first was a baked escargot with baguette with maitre d’hotel butter, Parmigiano Reggiano, and mie de pain. It was nice. Jay loved it. I could’ve done without the cheese on top.

The second appetizer was the crispy braised pork belly with manchego jalapeno grits, sunny quail egg, and aged balsamic vinegar. This was my favorite appetizer. However, it wasn’t crispy at all. I loved getting a taste of all of the ingredients in one bite. It went together perfectly. However, when you tasted the grits by itself, it needed salt.

I ordered the pan-seared duck breast and confit leg with cherry gastrique and sauteed spinach with a medjool date puree. The duck breast was a tad overcooked and needed seasoning if you ate it by itself. If you had the spinach and the cherries with it, it was a perfect bite.

Jay ordered the gnocchi with creamy nage, jumbo lump crab, bacon, and 62 degree egg. This dish melted in your mouth. It was so good. I would order this again and again. It was so creamy.

Dessert Menu? Made in-house?

I ordered the pecan pie. I’ve honestly had better. Chef Jamie McAfee (2ndgen) makes the best pecan pie I’ve ever had.

Jay ordered the Chocolate Box, which included a scoop of Rocky Road ice cream, a vanilla scoop, bananas, strawberries, raspberry sauce, caramel sauce, homemade marshmallow fluff, homemade whip cream, and two cookies.  My favorite part of Jay’s dessert was the raspberry and caramel sauce.

Reservations Available? Required?

Reservations are available but not required.  You can actually make reservations on their website. If you have more than 6 people, you need to call the restaurant.

Takeaway Available?

There is takeaway available, but why do that? Don’t you love the whole experience of eating in a great restaurant? I know we sure do.

Prices?

The appetizers on the dinner menu range from $12-$25. Salads range from $9-$15. Entree’s range from $21-$115. Pastas range from $17-$38. I’m not sure how much the desserts ranged, because ours was free. We told them we were celebrating our anniversary there and they gave it to us for free. How awesome is that? Our final bill including the $25 tip was $152.00. We thought it was going to be closer to $200 or more, but we got our desserts for free. Thank you Cache!

Acoustics? Music?

The oldies were playing and we thoroughly enjoyed it. We may or may not have sang along towards the end when the dining room was a bit emptier than when we arrived.

Attractive decor? Well-kept and updated?

The decor was modern and well-kept. There was no dust and the floors were clean except for one pretty big bite of food on the floor under the table next to ours. I love dust-free dining rooms.

This light fixture was near our table:

This is a picture of the bar:

This was near the restrooms. The windows were completely open (if we ever build a house in a mosquito-free zone, we will have these). There was another fire structure outside. Pretty cool.

Sanitation

Everything was clean and sanitized that we saw.

Bathroom Cleanliness?

The bathroom was very nice and clean. I loved the art in the bathroom. There’s just something about a well-designed bathroom that makes everything ok in the world. The faucets were pretty cool. I was really hoping that no one would walk in while I was taking a picture. I’m pretty sure they would think I was insane.

 

Type of payments (credit cards, checks) accepted?

Credit cards are accepted here. I’m sure they accept checks. Cash is welcomed as well.

Atmosphere? Romantic setting? Family setting? Singles hangout?

The atmosphere is a great date restaurant or maybe a ladies night out. It’s not really a family setting unless they are all adults. We didn’t see many singles, but we didn’t go around asking either.

I just want to make it clear that we received no compensation for doing this review (although we are totally open to it, if you know what I mean). We will definitely be back at this great place!