Rail Road Cafe, Bartlett

Last Sunday, we decided to go for a motorcycle ride and ended up at the Rail Road Cafe in Bartlett. On a side note, those are not our bikes in the above photo. I “borrowed” someone’s photo from the internet since I forgot to take one.

We were greeted outside on the sidewalk by a young girl (the cafe owner’s daughter) who asked us where the rest of us were. We were momentarily confused until she told us they were expecting a large group of motorcycle riders from the Austin area and thought we were part of the group. We sat down at a table and the young girl decided she was going to wait on us. I think she was fascinated by us and our bikes. She gave us menus, got our drinks and stood at our table talking to us while we looked at the menu. Martie decided she wanted to try the chicken fried steak, and I was anguishing over whether to try the brisket sandwich or the chili cheese burger. I asked our young waitress her opinion and said they were both really good, and the chili was homemade. I was leaning towards the chili burger when she told me that they were out of chili and brisket. Even though I’m not a huge fan of chicken fried steak, I decided to order it as well.

Our lunch came with a salad and I was happy to note that they don’t use iceberg lettuce. The chicken fried steak was huge. We could have shared one. Neither of us could finish half the food on our plates. It wasn’t the best chicken fried steak I’ve had but still very good. It was moist on the inside and the meat was tender. The gravy was good and had a lot of flavor. The owner stopped by our table and twisted our arms into ordering dessert. It really didn’t take much arm twisting when she told us what our choices were. I ordered the peach cobbler and Martie ordered the German chocolate pie. The cobbler was excellent. Even though I was full from lunch, I would have had no problem eating the whole thing. I did let Martie try a small bite, being the nice person I am. Her pie was really good too. I think I ended up eating most of her pie also.

We will definitely go back there to eat. It was a nice ride up there. Bartlett also has an antique auction on the first Sunday of each month. Make sure if you go you save room for dessert.