Cafe Klaser

A touch of class & fine dining in the least expected place! Most importantly — the food is excellent. I have traveled all over & this place competes with the best. I had the shrimp scampi, the rest of my party had steak & salmon. Fresh & unique recipes on some classic dishes. Don’t let the salad bar fool you, this is a very nice place — but it is in Arkansas (so salad bars are a must)! Full bar & dessert were a bonus. Our service was also great, but the only reason I vote ⁴⁄₅ stars is because the hostess was awful. (I will assume a spoiled relative of the owner who obviously thinks she’s above being a hostess). She barely spoke & refused to make eye contact while seating us. Nonetheless — We will definitely be back :)

The salad and desert was good, good variety, the main course on the buffet was cold the equipment didn’t seem to be working. The shrimp was also not cooked enough. Not impressed. Probably will never be back!

We stop by Café Klaser almost every time we go up to The Little Red for a weekend of trout fishing, and have found it to be consistently good.
The portions here are huge, and everything we have ordered has been immensely satisfying. The fried catfish is lightly battered and super flaky, the crawfish po boy is slightly tangy and served on a large soft homemade roll, and if you feel like going all out, the stuffed steak is definitely worth a try. I haven’t tried a burger yet (I’m usually too distracted by all the seafood!) but they look amazing.
Gold Star Bonus: When the weather is nice, you can enjoy your meal on their large patio overlooking the river!

Food was cold, waitresses were rude and it just didn’t taste good for the prices they charge.

Apparently known for their stuffed steak, we bypassed that and tried the buffet. It was pretty good but a little pricey at $ 19. The catfish was good and very fresh tasting. Breaded shrimp good but a little salty. The ribs were hit & miss. Good flavor but many were too fatty. The chicken was disappointing — gray appearance from the smoke I guess, and not hot enough even though we ate right when the buffet opened. Also on the buffet: peel and eat shrimp, gumbo, pasta, various overcooked veggies and hushpuppies.
The salad bar was good but nothing special. The peach cobbler was tasty. I’ll come back — I enjoyed the service and the outside seating looked nice and relaxing. But I will skip the buffet and order off the menu next time.

The food was good, not great but good. Problem with this restaurant is the lack of front of house management. Our server was great but none of the other staff enjoyed being there or wanted to be there at all.
Our table was not clean though it was cleared. We saw many staff handling dirty and then dishes with full food, knowing they didn’t wash in between.
This place has SO much potential it’s crazy, too bad a few domineering waitstaff seem to run it as they want. BTW the hostess will probably never acknowledge you.

The food was terrific! Dessert was great. Service was decent. The facilities are dated and the restrooms are in need of repairs. For the prices, I would expect a building in better condition and a more upscale wait staff.

Let me start by saying that I usually dont review restaurants owned by people that I know within the culinary world. Chef Billy Klaser and I are NOT personal friends but I do know him through our mutual professions.
It is an unwritten rule to not promote, just for the sake of promoting a chef or business, just as it is the same for writing a negative review. Chefs tend to stay away from bashing or promoting others because it tends to muddy the waters and leaves a biased opinion.
However, this has gone on long enough for me. Café Klaser has been through three locations, and MANY MANY servers and staff. It takes time to find yourself as a chef with those that you employ and to weed out the lackluster wait staff and the reviews of this place have certainly not been warranted.
Let me start by saying that there will be a person who will find fault in anything and everything. Those people usually tend to love coming to review locations like Unilocal and letting their opinions be heard. Seems like self gratification and narcissism lurk within those reviews. I am not saying that these reviewers didn’t have an experience that wasnt what they expected but do they know the inner workings of a restaurant and or do they know the inner workings of a restaurant in an area like Heber Springs where the work pool isn’t that deep?
Megan has been out waitress ever since she started and we always ask for her table. Not that the others are not competent, it’s just that it’s routine to have her. It must be my OCD, but I prefer to have the same person wait on me. Kinda like Melvin Udall from As Good As It Get’s. Megan is as attentive as can be. We never want for anything. Gracious and kind and knowledgable.
I have been coming here since the very beginning and have never had a meal that wasn’t expected. If I had a meal that wasn’t up to par it wasnt because it was horrible, it was because something was forgotten or left off. NO BIG DEAL, shit happens. Chef Klaser is a talented chef who has the credentials to bake it up (Intended. He is a great baker). IF and this ia a very big if, IF there was an issue I am certain that it was related to miscommunication and not actually cooking issues. As a Chef, things become second nature with muscle memory and we can do this in our sleep. We know recipes that we created without having to go back to what was written. It is an inherit ability as a chef to just know what is what and reproduce it time and time again successfully.
There was a time when Chef Klaser wasn’t in the kitchen and that may have been when someone experienced a meal that wasnt up to his or their standards. I can assure you that Chef Klaser is back in HIS kitchen and producing meals that are worthy of better reviews.
The only issue that I have had at Café Klasers were the bartenders. But let’s look at that first. Heber Springs is a dry county and not a place that has a market on people who know how to make a correct Old Fashion or even a proper Appletini. This was my only drawback, which wasn’t that bad, but I found out tonight that that has been resolved. My wife and I just left after visiting for Memorial Day and had an outstanding meal with great cocktails.
Chef Klaser is in the kitchen and a new bartender is at the helm and the wait staff runs like s finely wound swiss watch so a great dining experience is for certain.
Someone mentioned that the menu was ‘heavy’ with ‘everything fried’. Look deeper. The steaks, hamburgers, baked fish, pastas are all NOT FRIED. Dont order a fried dish and complain about it being fried, seriously. Besides, it’s the South. We fry WILL most anything but there are other alternatives on his menu.

A family favorite. Grilled walleye is delicious and the guys in our party of 13 enjoyed the stuffed steak a lot.
Fried green beans, spinach dip. appetizers are excellent and the salad bar comes with the meal.
Casual atmosphere and our waitress was great. Patio is beautiful and overlooks the river.
Fun place, great for groups and families.

Hard to find because it does not show up on the gps correctly or the iPhone, but worth the search! Great patio view. Our server was the best we had in Heber springs… Very efficient and happy! Food was good but not great. Ribeye did not have much flavor but was tender and the grilled shrimp were small but had good seasoning.

Beautiful view! Sit on the patio if you get a chance. We grew up here and personally this is my favorite place to eat in Heber Springs.
You have to try the stuffed steak, you won’t find anything like that around. Steak stuffed with rice and crawfish, smothered in a cheesy, creamy crawfish sauce. Delicious!

It was a nice day so I decided to sit outside. I ordered the crawfish Po Boy with a side of fried green beans instead of fries and some sweet tea.
The service was not really the greatest, but I just reasoned out that I was in the south and people usually take their time in the south.
The food was pretty heavy so I lightened the load by taking off half the crumb coating on the green beans and also eating just the crawfish bits with a little bit of bread.
The best part of the restaurant was eating outside. The seating area overlooked the river.

service is nice but spotty. food is very heavy and if that’s what your looking for,(as most arkansans are) it has some very good dishes. it’s on the river and that is a huge plus. steaks burgers and fried fish are all good.