Pros:
Excellent juicy burgers
Ice cold beer
Prime rib has a good flavor, even if it has a little too much gristle and fat for the price.
Cons:
1. Cost
2. Cost
3. Cost
This place is good, but its not THAT good. Â Most dishes are priced about 30% higher than you can find at other quality restaurants around the Evansville area.
When I used to live in Evansville, I dined here at least a few times a month. It's been 4 years since I've stepped foot in the Hornet's Nest, and not a lot has changed. It's still dated, but, fortunately, Vanderburgh County finally went smoke free.
The menu is diverse, and from what I recall, everything used to be pretty damn good. The bar was always full of regulars- generally a few prominent lawyers, with possibly a sheriff, or even a politician sprinkled in. Drinks. Stiff! Strong, and reasonably priced.
The food was always good. The menu has everything from catfish, orange roughy, to fried chicken, and even rave reviews from their steaks. (Personally, I never thought much of their steaks). I came here for the entertaining ambiance, very good bar food, and the drinks. It was a fun crowd, good food,and strong drinks. What's not to like.
Fast forward 4 years- I came in with family on a Friday night at 6:30, and the place wasn't that packed. Strange, it wasn't out of the ordinary for people to wait 1-2 hours on a weekend. "New owners" someone chirped. I also noticed that the prices seemed insanely expensive. Here's an example:
Crab stuffed orange roughy $18.95 For orange roughy?
Catfish for $13.95. Really?
The food was good, but it didn't match the big city prices, in my opinion. The drinks. My beer was cold, so I was satisfied, but my sister and wife said that their mixed concoctions were rather tame. The service was pretty prompt, and good; so, no complaints there.
If I still lived in Evansville, I'd still dine here *occasionally*, but with the new (high) prices, I think there are much better options...
Was told to go there by a few locals who rave about the fried chicken. Â Place is a wide open, loud, very informal looking local restaurant with a more diverse menu than I would've expected.
A variety of steaks, and other meals you wouldn't expect to see as I thought the chicken would be the lead meal offering.
We were told the onion rings we're great. They were okay...normal sized rings with a mildly sweet batter. A chipotle or some kind of sauce would have helped, but the rings weren't bad.
  Ordering the chicken was a bit difficult. Either a half or quarter chicken in white meat  or dark meat. So half / white would get you the breast, and a wing. Wife ordered a quarter white and she got a breast and a wing. Same piece count, but mine cost more....?  order would get you a thigh and a leg. ...very confusing... What is a quarter of a chicken anyway? Dark, white, waitress told me I could mix dark and white so I got a breast and a leg..since I ordered a Half I was, and still am confused. Recommended side was mashed potatoes ( and they came in the same styrofoam type cup that KFC serves.
   The chicken was very moist, but the pieces were from small chicken. The skin was very crisp and darker than I am used too, but i think the color was from seasoning in the fried batter, as it was a bit spicy ( different but good),
    My only complaint would be the amount of chicken you get. Since the pieces were relatively small the feeling was the meal was a bit overpriced.
    Coke products are served,  Yeah !!!!!
    Service was excellent and we were visited often with refills and "check ins".
    All in all, I would go back again. And I would recommend it to those of you who like fried food. But it's not a date type of place, unless maybe your date is very very casual.
Recently moved several miles north to be closer to work, and this place is just around the block. Â Reminds me of places I used to go in upper Michigan, the old school grandmas restaurant vibe. Â I had the prime rib and the gf had fried chicken with a twice baked potato. Â Prime rib had a lot of fat on it, but it was a huge slice with good flavor, and I've certainly paid more for a worse prime rib. Â Fried chicken was eh but you rarely see a twice baked potato anymore so that has to be worth something. Â This is really a 3 star place, but I think it's worth going to again so that bumped it up to 4.
Review Source:Not much to say, it's southern Indiana, one of the only joints around if you don't want to drive to town. Â Â Standard bar fair but not bad, wait staff is friendly, drinks were nice and strong gotta like that. Â Jukebox is good, and if you like Karaoke, they have that on the weekends on one side of the place.
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