Spinelli's Italian Grill

I had the opportunity to visit Mena, Ar during the Ouachita Challenge mountain bike tour. Spinallis was no doubt a real gem to find after a hard day of mountain biking on the Ouachita trail.

I was surprised to find a place in Mena that actually had a decent beer selection beyond the typical Nati Light, Coors, and Budweiser. The ambiance is great here with both a nicely decorated interior and outdoor patio. I enjoyed a Guinness out on their patio. They even had some live music playing at an enjoyable volume.  

As for the food, the lovely waitress regaled me with a fine selection of Italian entrees. I opted for the Chicken Marsala. The food was great tasting with the Marsala Wine Sauce and obviously made with high quality ingredients. Additionally, the taste of the food was almost as if it were from your grandmother's kitchen (if she's Italian). All in all, I've eaten at most of the chain Italian venues over the years, and the independently operated Spinallis tops them all. They are a class act and would be tough to beat even in larger metropolitan areas!

Very neat place in Mena will surprise you... better than some places in Texas. Charming staff, will helped us get exactly what we wanted, with no problem, just by asking! The portions are generous as well. We enjoyed the large crab cake appetizers and the richness of the Fra Diablo sauce and the creaminess of the irresistible creme brulee. The atmosphere is charming throughout the dining area and on the back patio as well. And if you're not laid back enough by just breathing the fresh Ouachitas Mountain air, they also have a club you can join so you can imbibe. We will definitely be back!

The absolute worst meal I've ever had. The appetizer was fried mozzarella, brushetta, and forget what the third was, but the brushetta was either from a can or made from canned tomato. I had chicken masala,  it looked and tasted like a chicken with mushroom gravy frozen dinner dumped on top of some over cooked pasta. My friend ordered chicken fra diavolo and asked to sub shrimp, which they did gladly. What came out was some cold boiled shrimp on top of ragu sauce on top of over cooked pasta. Pasta is not supposed to be cooked until it's mush, any Italian restaurant should at least know this. The service was mediocre at best. They really had no care that we didn't eat any of the food, when that asked if every thing was ok we replied no that the food wasn't prepared properly and the waitress just shrug and brought us our $48.00 bill. Which we paid and went to another restaurant and ate immediately. On the one hand if you want alcohol it's the only place currently in this town to get it. Beautiful restaurant, to bad the menu doesn't match it, next time I'll bring my own frozen dinner and ask then to cook it for me.