After driving by Our Best Restaurant many times since moving back to Kentucky, we finally stopped by one night for dinner. Are we glad we did.
This restaurant sits many miles away from the expressway, on Route 22 East of Louisville in a little town called Smithfield. It’s a classic farmhouse type of structure with memorabilia and homestyle surroundings you will struggle to find anywhere else. In two words, “It’s America”. Over 30 years ago it was founded with family recipes and family style comfort foods, and great homey service.
We first went to Our Best Restaurant and showed up early at 5:30PM on a Thursday night for dinner. We found the parking lot to be nearly full, and thought they may have been entertaining some sort of event. Nevertheless, we went in. We found the dining room full but we were immediately greeted, and they found us a table. Yep, it was 5:30 on a week night and packed!
After looking around, we were one of the youngest couples in the place (we are turning 70 this year), though we did see a few families with younger children enjoying themselves. Our wait person immediately came to see us, got our drink orders and took our meal order a couple minutes later. Needless to say, service here is incredibly friendly, and frankly impeccable.
The following week we returned for lunch, showing up early again just after 11:30 on a Wednesday. This time again the restaurant was packed. We were immediately greeted and waited just a couple minutes for a table. Everyone seemed to know everyone else here, and it couldn’t be a more friendly atmosphere as people comfortably talked to each other from table to table.
The menu itself is filled with classic comfort food at great prices. The fried chicken was just the way our mom’s made it and delicious. The meatloaf was great. Everyone gets “fried” corn bread, and all the sides match perfectly. Interestingly, I thought I was so far into the country that I might have to pay cash for our meals. Even though it feels like you are decades in the past when you walk into the restaurant, they are amazingly efficient and use the most current point of service dining devices available, right at our table. My biases were again confounded.
If you are looking for high level and massively more expensive fine dining you should consider some of our other Kentucky suggestions on this website/blog. However, if you are looking for a unique “real American Kentucky” experience, a great homey environment, friendly and impeccable service, an inexpensive meal of high value, and true homestyle Kentucky comfort food, take a drive in the country to Smithfield. You won’t be disappointed!
