The atmosphere was great. The prices are a bit high with my family of five, one eating from the kid's menu we paid a bit over $90 after tip. So let me break it down.
1. Fried mushrooms, these were actually very good and part of the reason this wasn't a one star review.
2. Potato skins. Don't bother, they are just potato skins nothing, and I mean nothing, on them. Basically paid $5 for pieces of potato that had been fried. No cheese, no bacon, no nothing.
3. Chicken fried steak. I guess it was okay, my son didn't complain about them.
4. Fried chicken. My daughter didn't complain, my wife tried a bite and said it was bland.
5. Kids menu cheeseburger. Frozen patty that had been burnt and dried out. Son ate maybe half. Got it with a side of applesauce and loved that.
6. Prairie Pasta. Wife said it was oily and average in taste.
7. Pork Chops. Two chops, charboiled, with a baked potato and applesauce. Chops were overcooked, burnt, and so dry I actually had to use Ketchup. Baked potato was just that. A potato that had been baked, not a thing on it despite asking for sour cream. Apparently the waitress didn't hear that part. Thankfully they do bring bread out ( not sure what kind but it was really good and had a hint of apple in it) with butter so I used the butter from that on my potato to make it palatable.
Apparently the chef today doesn't know what seasoning is as everything was bland as could be.
All in all I say don't bother, I don't know how good the cafe up the street is, but I know there is also a dairy queen and a sonic close by and they have better offerings than Hays House at much lower prices.
I would've complained at the end of the meal when I received my $79 bill (pre-tip) but I didn't see the point, even if I had the meal discounted I'm still stuck with the after taste of the meal.
I won't be back.
My wife and I have eaten here twice while passing through and thoroughly enjoyed it each time. Our first visit was random, it just happened to be lunchtime so we parked and walked up and down Main St and more or less flipped a coin between this and an attractive cafe up the street. The friendly waitress changed my mind by describing the day's special, and it turned out to be a great decision. I rarely have dessert, but chocolate pecan pie sounded too unusual not to try, and that turned out to be a great decision too.
That trip was two years ago. I purposely arranged to be going through Council Grove around lunchtime last month and we weren't disappointed. We love finding places off the beaten path, and Hays House is a real gem.
Wasn't expecting too much based upon prior reviews, but was pleasantly surprised. Had an excellent (I mean really good) beef brisket sandwich with homemade bread. Â There was a lot of brisket that was very tasty and tender. Â My "crispy" fries were not at all crispy. Â My wife had a very good chicken salad. Â The desserts looked good so we had strawberry pie. Â Yummm, flakey crust, fresh strawberries, and just enough filling to hold the strawberries together so they could cut slices. Â Nice atmosphere and good service. Â All in all, a very good lunch in this cute town in the middle of some spectacular countryside.
Review Source:I had the rib eye steak, with mashed potatoes. The salad bar wasn't too huge, and it was sufficient for my needs. The house dill salad dressing was really good, I recommend that. Â The hostess was kinda clueless and I had to wait too long for a drink refill, otherwise I would tell my friends to try it out.
Review Source:This restaurant is under new ownership and management. New manager is past owner and chef, he has brought back his incredible made from scratch menu with wonderful aged steaks. Great food ,great prices and great service. Give this historical restaurant  which is located right on the Santa Fe Trail a try.
Review Source:Very cool historic restaurant that has been operating continuously since 1857. Â Wow! Â The food is good, most of the family had beef of some sort. Â Being a lazy-vegetarian I settled for being a pescatarian for the night and was pleasantly surprised by the salmon.
If you go, make sure you poke around in all the rooms. Â It's like eating dinner in a historical landmark... well... actually it is. Â heh.
The history here is so interesting, it hardly matters if the food is stellar. Â That being said, I had an AWESOME KC Strip steak here. Â It was juicy, flavorful and cooked to perfection. Â My boyfriend's prime rib was average. Â The sides were decent, as was the salad bar. Â My favorite part, though was the albino buffalo head mounted over the stairs. How cool. The manager said it was one in ten million. Â Hay's is said to be the longest continuously operating restaurant west of the Mississippi. It's founder is Seth Hays, great grandson of Daniel Boone and cousin of Kit Carson. Â The old photos and artifacts alone are worth a stop if you're in the area.
Review Source:The atmosphere here trumps the food. A great, old restaurant with terrific old photos and pictures on the walls. The food, however, was just average. I had the fried chicken that everyone had raved about and found it to be plain old fried chicken, nothing special, and upset my stomach later on. The wait staff seemed average as well, not on par with what I had experienced in other restaurants in the area. Go for the history, not the food necessarily.
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