Forty Two

I had lunch here last Friday, June 24^th. Food is beautifully presented, but our server was pretty much missing the entire time we were there. So how long were we there for lunch? How about 2 hours. Yup. Two hours. We arrived at 11 a.m. and left at a little after 1 p.m. I understand this is a tourist spot for lunch, but we showed up professionally dressed and it was pretty obvious we were there for a business lunch. I would like to think our server (I believe his name is Quinn) was giving us the time to conduct business; however, I don’t believe that was the situation. There was a large party enjoying a catered lunch on the patio. We arrived well in advance of this group, placed our orders, but once the group arrived, we were forgotten. When we ordered our dessert items, it took every bit of 30 minutes for the those items to be delivered to our tables. Two of us ordered a slice of lavender cake while the third person ordered a trio of mini cheesecakes. I mention this because the items were obviously pulled from the refrigerator already prepared as the plates arrived completely chilled with chilled forks. How is it possible to have these dessert plates arrive 30 minutes later when all they did was pull the items from the refrigerator?
I ordered the chimichurri mahi on a bed of salad with a side of carrot purée. It sounded like a great dish. When it arrived, it was beautiful. The chimichurri sauce was missing from the plate. I decided it was not worth the wait to request it as it took WAY too long to even get a refill on our drinks. One person ordered the fried catfish and the other person ordered the tuna salad. We all agreed the fried catfish was the winner at lunch time, so if you must go, skip the tuna and mahi. Go for the catfish.
This is my third visit to this restaurant and it is quite an ordeal to visit this place. You park in a lot beside the musuem, then you go through security before taking the stairs or the elevator down to the restaurant. Getting there takes at least 15 minutes (minimum). Then you have a wait staff that will have you there for another 2 hours. This easily became a 3 hour lunch for me. I luckily have a flexible schedule, but if you only have an hour for lunch, choose another spot for your weekday lunch. The food is not worth the visit as you will find other places in the downtown area that respect your time and will serve you lunch in a speedier time frame.

We shared a salad and the chilaquiles! So good! Beautiful setting with tablecloths, nice china and chilled salad forks. The waitress, Camille, could not be nicer. Treat yourself to a very reasonably priced lovely lunch and see this interesting piece of American history.

AMAZING. I had the barbecue pork belly grilled cheese with fries; seriously one of the best sandwiches I’ve ever had. The pork belly was tender and delicious with good pieces of meat, the barbecue sauce was light and sweet, the bread was light and delicious. The fries were seasoned and cooked perfectly. Good portion sizes, and affordable (I believe the sandwich was like $ 8 – 10).
The service was great. I came in with a large party of 13 and we were well taken care of the whole time. In addition to our main waiter, about three other employees helped to support our party and make sure we had everything we needed without the main waiter feeling overwhelmed.
The venue is beautiful with glass showing the a great AK natural backdrop. I was pleasantly surprised with the quality of everything here and would love to come back here again if I’m ever in AK again!

So much better than we would have expected! The service was fantastic and the food delicious. We tried poutine for the first time, the pork cheek made it delectable. Their soups and salad portions were large and very well prepared. Definitely an unexpected treat!

Upscale casual atmosphere. Basic fare done in a fresh and delicious way. Loved the beef minestrone and peppercorn turkey Reuben and the club sandwich. Great wine list and friendly service.

Today I confirmed why I LOVE WJC’s 42 restaurant.
Started with a sausage and chicken gumbo, I ate every bite. Right on time the Grilled Mahi topped with superfood salad in a fresh baguette with creamy aioli arrived. Wow! I passed on the Jackfruit BBQ with regret. I asked for a fruit salad, the blackberries were monsterous and sweet, paired with tropical fruit. Pricing is in line with the quality ingredients and care the chef puts into his creations.
Very nice place, you do have to go through a security checkpoint to enter the building. Take the elevator to the basement of the Clinton Library.
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Turkey burger was good not great. A little bland.
Regular burger was better.
Chips were good.
Sweet Potato fries are great. Get the wasabi aioli.
Mahi mahi salad was ok. One piece of fish was cooked ok and the other was too dry. Both bland. Comes on a salad of raw kale, cabbage, carrots, brussel sprouts. With a purée on the side. No dressing. Big portion.
Waitress was lovely.
I was just confused because I thought this was more high end than it is? But I’m not from Arkansas so maybe it’s more relaxed here?
My sister has been here a few times now and it’s always just ok.
They don’t have sparkling water — only club soda.
And the dishes and utensils were a little dirty for an upscale place.
The view is nice.
The room is big.
Photos of the clintons on the wall
A tv if you just can’t miss the game.
Lunch ends promptly at 2.

Very nice location and much better prices than expected! Would be an awesome spot when the weathers nice with a large outdoor patio on the river. Watch for the hours as they are somewhat random.
Food was great with the exception of my corn beef sandwich was dry and greasy at the same time.
Will be back next time I am in the area especially is the weather is warmer than it was today.

Don’t let the white linen tablecloth and black napkins fool you, it’s not expensive! My buffalo chicken sandwich and cream of celery with caramelized onions was $ 10 and tasted great. The wait staff was attentive and friendly. This is a great spot to have a quiet lunch with friends.

The chili, almost a purée, is some of the best I’ve had. It’s made with both pork and beef. A real western taste. The candied peppered bacon on my burger was the perfect blend of salty and sweet on the pallet. Nice atmosphere with great views and a reasonable price. Way to go, Mr President!

Came here with my family. We ordered portobella hash, mom’s veggie sandwich with sweet potato fries and a classic chicken sandwich. The staff was great, the food was fantastic, and the view was beautiful. Overall, I was happy with my experience here.

Man! That was a great burger!
Unless you’re against bacon (to each their own, of course) I highly recommend getting bacon on your meal if you can — they use thick, juicy, locally sourced delicious bacon and it is *awesome*
You do have to go through a metal detector to get into the Clinton Library, and you have to take that main entrance to get to Forty Two, just a heads up, that caught me by surprise with a belt and a pocket full of change.
Came in here with a big group for lunch, and we had a blast. There were 25 of us, which kind of overwhelmed the place at lunch — which was being served/​bussed by only three people, and pretty busy not including us. I’m not sure if they’re used to big groups or what, but they were definitely short staffed.
Enough fluff, on to the food!
So I had the fortune of seeing/​trying the salmon salad, steak salad, house burger, house chips, fries, sweet potato fries and muffuletta. I also saw a glimpse of the wine list (not bad), the bar (Long Island Ice Tea and a White Russian), and I ordered a Lost Forty Honey Bock for myself.
Verdict: Yum!
Everything was well cooked, portions weren’t bad, the flavors were excellent, and the presentation very impressive. The Salmon Salad was especially good on that last mark.
I had the house burger, with smoked cheddar cheese and bacon, with sweet potato fries on the side. The burger was delicious and juicy, and *stacked.* It took some muscle to squish it down enough to take a bite with all the layers in it, but of all problems to have, that was a good one!
The sweet potato fries with a burger are very, very good — but I started chowing down on someone’s sweet potato fry order (the solo appetizer) by accident, and the sweet potato fry appetizer comes with some excellent barbecue sauce, be sure to ask for that with your normal fries! That sauce doesn’t come with the burger side, sadly.
The Long Island Iced Tea was described by the manly man drinking it as «strong,» and my honey bock came cold, in the can, and I had the choice to keep it in the can or pour it into a chilled glass (pre-​chilled glass, nice touch!)
Some service notes:
As mentioned above, they were understaffed, but big points for being honest about that, apologizing, and making obvious extra effort as best they could. Plus, we were a group of 25 split between two tables, and we kept playing musical chairs so everyone had the chance to socialize. Considering all that, they kept up admirably.
But–
We never saw a drinks menu, any of us. When orders came out they had no idea where orders where supposed to go (which was understandable since we kept moving), and no one was ever asked how they wanted their burger cooked (rare, medium, etc), when I asked for that barbecue sauce as an extra, it never came. And our servers kept switching out — one person would take the orders, then three or four different people came out at different times to check the orders, and all of our meals came out from different people. It wasn’t a problem, it was just strange, and I imagine because of it, a lot of messages were mixed up.
All in all, our service was friendly and attentive, but… well, confusing. It worked though.
I really liked the space, the food was delicious, the chairs were exceptionally comfortable, and it comes with a very nice view of the lawn and pedestrian bridges, not counting the outdoor patio, which is super nice on a nice day. Service was far from bad, despite the above confusion, and it was both classier and more affordable than I expected.
I’d come back!

Great food, super staff and interesting menu with reasonable prices! Definitely worth eating at the restaurant while visiting!

If not for the host, or visit could’ve been a disaster. Our assigned server had a table of at least 16, including a bunch of little kids. He was a little busy. The host stepped in, took our drink order, food order and made sure we were taken care of. Our server finally was able to come by and check on us later.
As a former waiter and restaurant manager, I had no problem, since we came to eat.
The food was so-​so. I had the club sandwich and my companion had the bacon and egg burger. Mine was better than hers.
When we paid the check the server never returned our change. I figured he figured that was his tip. It was less than he would’ve gotten if he’d brought back the change.
My advice? Eat before you go to the museum.

This is a sit down restaurant, which is unusual for a museum, even a museum as prestigious as a presidential library. Service was rapid and efficient. We had lunch here so focused on sandwiches. But they were tasty and large. Bbq in Texas toast was the highlight.

The signs say Forty Two and Coffee Bar so I assumed there would be a coffee bar, no. You have to order coffee from the hostess who didn’t know what they had to offer but it was only 4 types of flavored coffee. There was no where to stand and put cream and sugar in so we did so on the dessert tray. They should just remove the Coffee Bar from their sign, it’s a sit down restaurant that has coffee.

If you MUST eat at the Presidential Library — like if George W. Was holding an unlicensed gun to your head — ok, you could eat here. It wasn’t awful, just mediocre. The chicken and white bean chili was pretty good but we also had the tomato bisque, which tasted like it came from a jar soup. The grilled cheese sandwich had promise but was too cheesy — yeah as impossible as that sounds — it was just too buttery fat without a good balance of crusty, tasty sourdough bread for balance. I wish we would have eaten at once of the local places just blocks away. The library itself was FABULOUS. I’ll write a much better review of that. It may have been tastier if we’d been able to eat outside — the ambiance and view were good, but that’s not what nourishes me when I’m hungry.

A great place to relax after (or before) a tour of the Center.
All of the food was fresh and seasonal. I started with mushroom & rice soup – perfect for a cold day. For my main meal, I had roasted chicken, brussels sprouts, and fruit. It was all light, but filling. Dessert was a wonderful bread pudding.
Our waiter was a little slow in taking care of us, but very nice. I loved the bright atmosphere!

Roasted egg plant and squash salad was tasty… Asparagous chauder delicious…
Service was little less than fair…
Still a good place to stop.

I’m not a fine dining person, and was surprised at how pretty this café was. It is on the bottom floor of the Presidential Library. You do have to go through the x-​ray (it’s an easy x-​ray, they just send your purse through the scanner, then you walk through the detector. It is exactly like the JFK memorial in Dallas.) I asked, and you don’t need to pay museum admission to eat there.
It is very softly lit, with white table cloths, and crystal stemmed water glasses. a small vase with bamboo plants on each table. Though it was breezy, there’s a nice patio seating available. Jazz music softly played in the background. You can watch the Arkansas River from your table. The reflection sometimes creates natural light.
I talked to the chef, and the menu items are made from locally (when possible) grown vegetables, organic when available, and the meat is local as well. The recipes are chosen from favorite recipes, often of the MAN himself (that would be President Clinton). Each month they have a fine dining night, where chefs come in from different places, and cook dishes from other countries.
I had lunch there. Chicken Panini with home made potato chips. The panini was carefully made with a mixture of mustard greens… here’s the actual ingredients:
Arkansas Raised Grilled Chicken Breast, Apple Cider
Braised Mustard Greens, Pepper Bacon with a Maple
Bourbon Aioli
The homemade chips were thick, and seasoned well. I tasted a kind of Cajun origin. It cost me $ 8.90, and was a very memorable experience. One I hope to bring a family member to, at a later date. They really made this café nice and classy. The atmosphere, itself (with picture on the wall of jazz musicians, and the monotone with the bamboo greenery), makes it worth 5 stars. And the price? They could charge much more for the quality of food they offer.