Mark Twain Dinette

The fried chicken is worth the wait. The staff are friendly and wonderful. I am in love with maid-​rites now!

We order the fried chicken meal. The chicken was bloody, the bake potato cold and they ran out of sour cream. The onion rings where OK, we liked the dipping sauce. The pretzels where yummy. Service was slow. The kid waiter with his hat on backwards was loud.

This was the first place outside of the New Jersey/​Philly area I ever had an «authentic» Philly cheese steak. I was told the owner had been to Philly and this was the real thing. You don’t make a Philly cheese steak with SWISS CHEESE! I told them I was from the area and this was not a Philly cheese steak. Didn’t matter, I was told again the owner had once visited Philly and this was the real thing.
Other than that the food was good, nothing special. The root beer tasted just like Stewarts or A & W,

Good comfort food and friendly servers. The homemade root beer is pretty good. Very few vegetarian options unfortunately, but the appetizers are not bad

The server was super friendly, the maidrite and hand breaded onion rings were stellar. Local favorites served. Just don’t use the online order service. If you do everyone is always confused and chances are your order will not be done.

Sad and disappointing. Food was oversalted and lacked flavor. Young wait staff hung out in the kitchen instead of with guests. Their «special chili ranch» sauce is bad — the person who makes this needs to have their tastebuds cleaned… UGH!
On the positive side, it was neat and tidy, booth was clean and well stocked. They use a SQUARE for debit/​credit transactions.

Every time I come to Hannibal my family and I always eat in this restaurant. My visit today was extremely disappointing. First our hostess and server did not bring us silverware. I actually had to track someone down to get silverware sets. Meanwhile my family was using their hands to eat everything and put condiments on their sandwiches. I asked for a coloring book and crayons (which they have at the hostess stand), but I had to get up and grab it myself. Our waitress stopped by only to take our order, drop off food, and leave us our check. Everyone at our table ordered the homemade root beer which is really good. My mom asked for refills on our beverages, but nobody ever brought any. I finally went to get someone to ask for refills again, and he made a snarky comment. The menu said free refills! We ordered our usual foot of onion rings appetizer and it wasn’t a full stack (they were tasty as usual though), I had my usual fried pork tenderloin (which was also tasty), but my mom ordered the Cajun tenderloin which was dry, and genuinely not good. I would never recommend it. I will be returning though, because this is a place I have enjoyed since I was a kid. Someone please do something about the absolutely atrocious, rude service before this nostalgic, yummy restaurant is ruined.

Negative 4 stars! How terrible! Horrible service, rude staff! Food not very tasty! Don’t waist your time… go a block or so south to the little diner with the red bench in front!

The service was a little slow, but not terrible. The root beer floats are delicious. The sundaes are big and tasty. The onion rings are delicious as well, try the homemade chili ranch dip. Sit outside in their shaded patio and play some checkers while relaxing.

S L O W. Paid $ 8.75 for a burger that McDonalds wouldn’t sell. The floor was wet EVERYWHERE. Do yourself a favor and find another place to eat.

Not sure why so many bad reviews. Nice little diner. Food was good! Service was good too!

Typical small town diner fare. Friendly staff, quick service. Kids found something to eat. Maid rites and fries were tasty. Convenient to hotel.

We were caught in a torrential pour and glad to find a good place to eat. Very traditional setting but nothing spectacular.

Staff was very friendly. Décor a little dated, but still nice. They make their own root beer. Hubby and kids loved it .
The food :
I got the chicken salad. And cole slaw. Was okay. Tasted premaid. Really mayonnaisey.
My husband and kids got hamburgers. My husbands onion rings were amazing. The burgers were good not great. The steak fries were really good too.
This place was nice has okay food. Nothing to right home about.

I am sorry to report that this restaurant is consistently nasty. I have visited a couple of times over the year. The last time I stopped in I was hoping that the time before was just a bad day and not the status quo. I was sorry that I gave it another chance.
Kind of funny, they have a sandwich called the «Maid-​Rite». This seems to be a knock off of the sandwich that the restaurant chain called «Maid-​Rite» in Iowa and Illinois are famous for. Not only does it appear to be a knock off, but it is a sorry excuse for a knock off to boot.
Do yourself a favor and don’t let the name fool you; choose a different place to eat while you are visiting Hannibal.

Good:
— Friendly
— Big portions
— Clean
Needs:
— Basic quality food
— Runny off-​brand ketchup
— No half n half
— No real jam/​jelly («spread»)
— No Tabasco
Won’t come back

Wait staff was friendly. The food was just a step and a half above fast food though. I would eat there again.

This is a fun place for first visit of Hannibal. They have a very good root beer. If they provide better food, it will become a very good restaurant.
Chili dog, not too bad for this price.
Spaghetti came with a side salad. I like the salad dressing. Spaghetti, looks great. It will be better if they remove the noodle water completely.
Onion rings with a stick is no longer exist. Only onion rings basket.
I personally hope the cooks could treat food better.

We’ve come to the area for over 25 years and always hit Hannibal for Java Jive/​Ayers Pottery, and the root beer at the Mark Twain Dinette.
But I’d have to say over the past ten years, the tradition has become more of a burden at the Dinette. The root beer is still outstanding (don’t bother getting any to go unless you consume it within an hour or two. We bought a gallon for the 8 hour drive back home, and it was as flat as roadkill the next day). But the food has become so-​so, and the price of Maid-​Rites is really out of line (Maid-​Rites are a last vestige of regional cuisine, and they grow on you despite its school cafeteria appearance)..
It seems this restaurant prospers from its location and caters to a lot of tourists. So the food is so-​so, and the prices make it a sub-​par value.
But if you love root beer, you still have to try it.

This is a small-​town diner, full of local ambience. Old pictures of Hannibal are all through the restaurant, giving it an old-​fashioned, homey feel. Nice, comfortable atmosphere!
I had heard that their «Mark Twain Fried Chicken» was one of their signatures, so decided to try it. Since they make it fresh to order, it took 15 – 20 minutes to arrive, but our server made sure to let me know that as I ordered it. It was worth it! The meal came with 2 sides, and I order mashed potatoes-​n-​gravy (REAL mashed potatoes!) and homemade macaroni and cheese. It was all delicious! Hubby ordered the chicken strips, which were very meaty and flavorful. His also came with 2 sides; he ordered the mashed potatoes-​n-​gravy and macaroni and cheese, and loved them!
We both decided to try to homemade root beer, and it was great. In fact, we bought a gallon to take home with us so we are continuing to enjoy it!
Our server was very outgoing, friendly and attentive. She made sure we were well taken care of. Yes, we would go back if we were ever through Hannibal again.

Das war schräg! Und damit habe ich mich bestmöglich (im positiven Sinne) ausgedrückt.
Nicht schmackhafte Gerichte — praktisch alle auf der Basis von: Burgerbrötchen und «fried chicken» — garniert mit «klassischer Musik» (Für Elise usw.).
Ich finde Traditionen kann und soll man ruhig pflegen — aber dabei trotzdem auf Stil und Qualität achten.