Girls' Weekend in Eureka Springs

For my mom's 50th birthday, we had a girls' weekend in Eureka Springs, Arkansas.  It was SO much fun.  Most of the buildings are from the late 1800s to early 1900s - you can read the town's history here.  We stayed in a little cottage that is part of the Arsenic and Old Lace Inn.  The cottage was clean and charming and there was a batch of made-from-scratch cookies waiting for us when we got there!

We had a blast shopping at all the little boutique and antique stores.  We ate dinner Friday night at Cafe Luigi, which was advertised as "recommended by Southern Living and National Geographic".  All I can say is DON'T! The whole experience was awful.  Everything was pretty much fine until after the salads came out, when the waitress could be heard on the phone, loudly arguing with someone she owed money to.  It was ridiculous.  Then they brought out the complete wrong entree for me, she came out and made a bunch of excuses and by the time they brought out the right entree, our drinks had been empty for 15 minutes, our salad plates were still on the table and everyone else was finished eating.  She made a bunch of excuses about why I got the wrong entree and then didn't offer to do anything to make it right.  To top it all off, the food was comparable to Fazoli's and the price was $15-$20 an entree.  We were the only table in the place on a Friday night, so that should've tipped us off.

Local Flavor Cafe, on the other hand, was AMAZING!  Everything was decorated so cute.  There was an entire wall made of corks when you first walked in.  The table we sat at was tucked away by a window and the ceiling was mod podged with really cute squares of scrapbook paper.  I suck that I don't have a good pic of this to show you.  The service was outstanding.  It seemed like there was a person designated to clear plates and refill drinks, in addition to our server, who was fantastic.  The food - I can't even begin to describe it.  We started out with the Spinach Artichoke Dip, which we all agreed was the best we'd ever had.  I ordered the Chicken Milan, which was topped with artichokes, mushrooms and mozerella.  It was SO GOOD.  My only complaint is that it's 9 hours away and I can't go there every weekend.  If you are ever in Eureka Springs, this is a CAN'T MISS!