Review: Hart's Seafood in Conway, Arkansas

Hart's Seafood shot to Internet notoriety thanks to a bizarre promotional video ripped from their website and posted on YouTube. In case you missed video, as ethereal music played, the camera slowly panned around an empty restaurant, lingering lovingly on pans full of fried catfish. Questionable advertising tactics aside, Hart's Seafood has a great catfish, chicken and vegetable buffet at an affordable price.

Hart's Seafood is seldom as empty as the now-famous video makes it seem. It is frequently crowded an there is usually a line at the buffet. Come early to avoid the wait. There is no menu. Hart's is strictly a buffet-only restaurant. The buffet has a wide selection, including catfish fillets, catfish steaks, chicken tenders, hush puppies, fries, onion rings and a variety of non-fried items such as boiled shrimp, baked beans, cole slaw, green beans salad, baked chicken,soup, gumbo, baked potatoes, BBQ ribs, corn and dessert items.

The chicken is good, but no better than you will find at any other restaurant and the vegetables range from bland to overly salty, but it is the catfish that makes Hart's Seafood a local legend. The catfish is coated with cornmeal breading and is flavorful, firm and fresh. Fillets are cut thin and are fried crispy at the ends, but tender in the middle. The catfish steaks are cut thick and are slightly moister than the filets. Pans are rotated often so that the catfish is always served hot. For an extra fee, Hart's Seafood offers all you can eat crab legs in addition to the food bar.

Dessert offering are limited to cherry, peach and apple cobbler with soft serve ice cream. The cobblers are obviously frozen industrial products, but they are tasty and make a good end to your meal.

Service at Hart's ranges from very good to very bad. Even though Hart's Seafood is a buffet,servers are available to refill your drink and keep dishes cleared away. During peak business hours it can be difficult to flag down a server for a drink refill, but the service is usually adequate, if not stallar.