Cache Restaurant
CITY GUIDES | ARKANSAS
The Best Little Rock Restaurants Right Now
New favorites, old standbys, and the places worth a detour
By Rebecca Thompson | Jan. 27, 2026
AUTHOR BIO: Rebecca Thompson has held many jobs over the years, from daily newspaper writer to middle-school math teacher. As a restaurant critic, she’s reviewed Michelin-starred fine-dining to gas station barbecue.
For years, I’d arrive in Little Rock and drive straight to my company’s suburban office, and dinner was whatever could be eaten quickly before opening a laptop again.
Then the city’s food scene started calling me. The better meals weren’t hiding behind special occasions, and the new places weren’t acting like they needed permission to be ambitious. Now, my Little Rock trips are built with dinner in mind, which is a slightly irresponsible way to do business, but also the only way I like to travel.
Some visits mean revisiting favorite restaurants that have earned their spot in the rotation. Other trips mean chasing whatever just opened, because Little Rock has gotten good at making “new” feel like it belongs. Here are the best Little Rock restaurants right now, the ones that keep pulling me back.
Allsopp & Chapple
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Chef James Hale runs this place like a steakhouse that got bored and started showing off. Go straight for the lobster crab mac, then circle back for the short rib meatballs or the shrimp Veracruz when someone at the table pretends they “just want something light.”
Best for: A dressed-up night that still includes mac and cheese
BCW
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BCW (bread cheese wine) is the argument for doing something simple and doing it obsessively, with a menu that reads like a greatest-hits album for melted cheese. The move is the grilled cheese plus tomato soup, then something snacky like the lemon herb potatoes with tzatziki ranch when hunger turns from practical to emotional.
Best for: A low-effort night that still tastes like someone cared
Cache
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Cache is chef Payne Harding’s sleek, downtown dining room, the kind of place where the lighting flatters everyone and the menu keeps flirting with “special occasion” even on a Tuesday. The food has that polished, chef-driven energy—think dishes like duck confit tacos and French onion soup—without acting like it is doing the city a favor.
Best for: Date night for people who pretend they are “just grabbing dinner”
El Sur Street Food Co.
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El Sur started as a food truck, and it still cooks with that fast, bright, street-food urgency—only now there is room to sit down and linger. Co-owners Luis Vasquez and Darren Strayhorn built a menu around Honduran staples like pollo chuco and almuerzo del dia, with house tortillas and plantain chips doing a lot of the heavy lifting.
Best for: A meal that turns into ordering one more thing again and again
Flora Jean’s
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Flora Jean’s is what happens when breakfast gets serious without losing its sense of humor. Co-owners Helen Grace King and Leila Kamiya King run a menu with no misses, starting with beignets and moving into richer territory like the mushroom steak benedict.
Best for: Brunch that feels like a full-morning plan
The Fold: Botanas & Bar
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The Fold operates out of a retro service-station building on Old Cantrell, and it treats tacos and cheese dip like a serious weekday lunch strategy. Co-owner and chef Alex Smith (a CIA grad) has a menu built for repeat visits, from the bison burrito with black beans, caramelized onion, and spicy ranchero to tacos like the gringo, plus brunch moves like cornmeal waffles topped with braised pork or the best huevos rancheros in town.
Best for: Patio tacos and drinks
George’s
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George’s leans into Italian classics with enough “wildcard favorites” to keep it from feeling like a red-sauce reenactment, and chef Wes Mickel runs the whole thing with grown-up confidence. Start with the focaccia and meatballs, then order the rigatoni with spicy vodka sauce in the smaller portion and act like restraint was the plan.
Best for: A dinner that feels like a small celebration
Kemuri
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Kemuri is Hillcrest’s sushi-and-robata anchor since 2014, and it has learned the trick of feeling both dependable and fun. The kitchen is led by chef Braylon Wilson, and the Kemuri roll shows up loaded with seared tuna, blue crab, cream cheese, mango, jalapeño, and avocado, which is a lot on paper and an even better idea in practice.
Best for: When you don’t want to pick between sushi or small plates
The Pantry
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Tomas Bohm opened The Pantry in 2009 and built a Little Rock institution around Czech and German comfort food. The menu leans hard into house-made bratwurst and Hungarian sausage, plus staples like schnitzel and goulash, with enough extras—paté and lasagna al forno included—to keep repeat visits from feeling repetitive.
Best for: Eastern European comfort food
Raduno Brick Oven & Barroom
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Raduno is where a simple idea—pizza and drinks—turns into a whole evening once the first plates hit. Start with the whipped feta (honey, lemon, chili flake, herbs, bread), then move to the spicy honey and sopressata pie with olive oil, spiced salami, mozzarella, tomato, crisped basil, and chili flake.
Best for: Pizza night that turns into “one more round”
The Root Cafe
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The Root Cafe is Jack Sundell and Corri Bristow Sundell’s SoMa anchor, the kind of place that built a reputation by sourcing locally and stays busy through all three meals. At breakfast the pancakes are the obvious move, then later in the day it’s the pimento cheeseburger, a Simon Farms patty, homemade pimento cheese, house sweet pickles, and garlic mayo. Plus there’s the entire section of brats when the day wants something saltier, snappier, and more beer-adjacent.
Best for: A casual meal that still feels like a destination
Tacos de birria Mary’s
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Tacos de birria Mary’s keeps it simple: birria, done the way people want it, served in multiple Little Rock locations, open daily. Order the birria tacos, birria ramen, and the quesabirria, and make sure the consomé is part of the plan.
Best for: A cheap, messy birria fix
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