Planning a trip to do some spelunking in Mammoth Cave National Park and have no idea where to eat? Take a look at some of the places we tried during our trip - hopefully it'll help you with your upcoming travels!
See our other Mammoth Cave Kentucky posts for info on what to do and where to stay!
Mammoth Railway Cafe
I'm gonna go ahead and start with the best meal that we had on our trip to Mammoth Cave: the Mammoth Railway Cafe.
Location: 5 Old Dixie Highway, Park City, KY 42160
Website: https://www.facebook.com/Mammoth-Railway-Cafe-135239396900558http://www.mammothrailwaycafe.com/
Quick Glimpse: Open Thu-Sat 11am - 8pm, serves salads, soup, sandwiches and southern dinner specials. Kids menu available.
The cafe is located inside of the beautiful Grand Victorian Inn.
The cafe has its own side entrance that leads directly into the dining room.
We were greeted instantly by the friendly staff who immediately made us feel welcome and right at home.
It's always a good day when a restaurant's kids menu serves macaroni & cheese, and the majority of the time we let the kids order it for dinner because we know they'll sit quietly, eat, and in turn that means WE get to sit and eat! Healthiest choice? Nah, but c'mon fellow parents, you feel me on this one. And isn't this the prettiest kids plate of food you've ever seen? The portion was huge and there was plenty for our kids to share.
I chose the Engineer Bourbon Glazed Chicken, served with a roll and a choice of two sides. I chose green beans and a side salad with honey mustard dressing. I can easily judge a kitchen staff's cooking skills by whether or not they can properly grill chicken, and Mammoth Railway Cafe knows their stuff. My chicken was cooked perfectly, still juicy and tender, and the Bourbon glaze was the perfect sweet and tangy flavor combination. The green beans - prepared with bacon - were life-changing, and I gobbled up every bit of the generous portion. The salad was simple but fresh.
Matt ordered a bourbon glazed pork chop served with pinto beans and buttered corn - a southern dish if ever there was one.
After dinner, make sure you spend some time exploring the pretty grounds surrounding the bed & breakfast.
Spelunkers Cafe & Ice Cream Parlor
We took a short hike to River Styx Spring but the crazy heat and humidity made it feel like it was three times the length that it was. When we returned to the trail head next to The Lodge, we were ready to pop into Spelunkers to cool off with a creamy cold treat. Spelunkers serves basic cafe food and ice cream from Chaney's Dairy Barn, voted #1 ice cream in Kentucky.
Location: 171 Hotel Road, Mammoth Cave, KY 42259 located in The Lodge at Mammoth Cave, across the pedestrian bridge from the Visitors Center.
Website: http://mammothcavelodge.com/spelunkers-cafe/
Quick Glimpse: Open 8am - 5pm. Cafe serves sandwiches, wraps, burgers, and hotdogs. Soft serve and hand-scooped ice cream and sundaes.
The kids shared a chocolate soft serve with rainbow sprinkles, because when you're a kid (or heck, even when you're an adult) ice cream has to have rainbow sprinkles.
I ordered a scoop of Bourbon Crunch ice cream. Silky smooth texture with crumbles of bourbon balls made with Makers Mark. It went down way too easy after sweating to death in the summer heat and humidity.
Matt ordered a scoop of Pralines & Cream, always a solid choice!
No better way to cool off than with a cold treat!
Jasper sat down and, after digging in, said, "It sure is a yummy day for ice cream!" I don't know where this kid comes up with this stuff.
Bucky Bee's BBQ
Location: 822 Mammoth Cave St, Cave City, KY 42127
Website: https://www.facebook.com/BuckyBeesBBQ/
Quick Glimpse: Mon - Thurs 10am - 7pm, Fri - Sat 10am - 8pm, Sun 10am - 3pm. Serves wings, BBQ, burgers, ribs, brisket, etc... kids menu available.
Bucky Bee's has an extensive menu with everything a BBQ lover could want. The restaurant is clean with cute decor and the staff was friendly as we arrived and were seated quickly.
Matt ordered a plate of pulled pork with pinto beans and green beans. He enjoyed the pinto beans but thought the green beans could use more seasoning (I agreed). The pork was "okay" but not the quality one would expect from a restaurant that specializes in BBQ.
While acceptable, the pork could have, and should have, been much more tender with more flavor. There are two sauces on the table, sweet and spicy, and we found both to be thin and underwhelming.
Because I had just had a pork dish the day before, I ordered the grilled chicken and though the portion was generous with two large breasts, the chicken was dry and overcooked, under-seasoned and had a tough skin. The green beans were acceptable but also under-seasoned.
The cornbread is presented in pan-fried pancake form, which we all thought was pretty cool. It's served with whipped butter, but be sure to ask for honey to really jazz it up. My baked beans were adequate but as was the theme with many of our side dishes, they lacked flavor.
The kids shared a kids meal of a hot dog, fries, and also shared a side of cornbread. Kids meals are kids meals so I don't have a critique about this dish, though we were impressed by the large number of choices on Bucky Bee's kids menu.
We were fairly disappointed in our meal at Bucky Bee's. Reading the reviews on sites like Yelp, Trip Advisor, and Google, it seems like most people disagree with our assessment of their food, so I'm willing to chalk it up to us visiting them on an off day. Let me know if you give them a try!
The Front Porch Diner
Location: 1004 Mammoth Cave Road Cave City, Kentucky (located near the entrance to Jellystone Camp Resort)
Website: https://www.facebook.com/thefrontporchdiner/
Quick Glimpse: Tues - Sun 10:30am - 10:30pm, Monday 4pm - 10:30pm. Serves wings, quesadillas, flatbread pizzas, sandwiches, burger, espresso drinks, and milkshakes
We stopped in for dinner late one balmy afternoon. We were melting from the heat and thankful for anywhere that had air conditioning inside.
Wilted and sweaty after a visit to nearby Dinosaur World, we were starving and ready to nosh.
Miss Baby Girl was a good sport despite being hot, tired, and hangry.
The kids were on a hot dog kick during this trip, so that's what they chose from the Front Porch's kids menu, served with crinkle cut fries and a dessert.
Right as we walked in we were greeted and told that we absolutely must try the pulled pork that day, because, "It is incredible." I took the recommendation and I'm so glad I did - this pork was delicious! Fall apart tender, robust with flavor, and you could tell it had been treated with a hefty dry rub, as was evident by the bits of flavorful bark throughout.
Though Matt is definitely a carnivore, he enjoys ordering black bean burgers in restaurants. He said the Front Porch knows how to do black bean burgers right - his patty was juicy with plenty of spice and flavor, covered with cheesy goodness and topped with standard burger dressings.
See our other Mammoth Cave Kentucky posts for info on what to do and where to stay!
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