10 Places Where Locals Love to Eat in Branson

Drafts Sports Grill is the place to go if you're looking to catch the latest football, hockey, baseball, or other game while enjoying old-fashioned pub fare in a relaxed atmosphere. The grill advertises itself as offering an innovative menu with unbeatable ambience.

In addition to a broad selection of craft beers, wines, and cocktails, the menu offers craft sandwiches, burgers, flatbreads, steaks, chicken, ribs, and, of course, all the appetizers you can shake a stick at. Numerous high-definition flat screens placed throughout the bar ensure you won't miss a single goal. It's just a 10-minute drive to the west of downtown.

Famous Dave's is a classic barbecue restaurant offering ribs, pork, brisket, chicken, and others with their signature award-winning barbecue sauce. They bill themselves as "America's Best Barbecue," and their founder developed his recipes after sampling some of the most famous barbecue restaurants and traditions all over the country.

Some interesting menu standouts include sweetwater catfish fingers with Cajun seasoning, barbecue-stuffed baked potatoes, cedar plank salmon, burnt brisket ends, and dry-rubbed rib tips. Famous Dave's is located right in downtown at Branson's Landing.

Pasghetti's Restaurant & Attraction is a family-style Italian restaurant that also offers wild decorations, themed dining rooms, an indoor arcade, and even a Ferris wheel inside. They are a family-owned and -operated establishment that seeks to add an element of entertainment to eating and to keep you playing games, riding rides, and building memories.

Menu highlights here include their giant meatballs, spaghetti and meat sauce, zinfandel chicken and feta salad, penne with vodka sauce, ribeye steak, and grilled salmon. The unique kids' menu offers their "Pasghetti & Meatball," chicken tenders, lasagna, and fettuccine alfredo, among other dishes you don't often see on kids' menus. Pasghetti's is just 13 minutes from downtown, to the west.

McFarlain's Family Restaurant serves up home-cooked family-style meals in antiques-filled surroundings with gimmicks like joke tables that rise up on you while you eat. This quirky and fun restaurant is sure to offer heaping portions of comfort food and a wide range of family fun all in the space of a single meal.

It's open for breakfast/brunch, lunch, and dinner every day. Some country-style menu highlights include fried green tomatoes, a chicken strip basket, a fried fish po'boy, pot roast, fried chicken, pot pie, and chicken-fried steak. It's just about 12 minutes away from downtown.

Wakyoto Japanese Restaurant is a casual, laid-back Japanese kitchen located in a shopping center and serving imaginative dishes, sushi, sake, and cocktails. In addition to the sushi staple, Wakyoto is known for its "box" meals, a lunch box and dinner box, respectively, which contain salad, soup, various kinds of sushi, fruits, and a customizable selection.

Some of the varieties of sushi offered here include California roll, spicy crab roll, salmon roll, and tempura. In addition, you'll find gyoza, egg rolls, tempura, shrimp or chicken teriyaki, and other staples and unique twists on Japanese cuisine. It's just about 10 minutes from downtown.

El Lago Mexican Restaurant features casual, family-style Mexican dishes alongside craft tequila cocktails and a selection of craft beers. They are famed for their tilapia, fajitas, guacamole salad, and grilled shrimp tacos, but they offer an extensive menu that's sure to have something for just about anyone.

For those looking for lighter, less expensive fare, El Lago offers a separate lunch menu that's available till 3 pm every day and features staples like burritos and chimichangas along with lunch combos that offer items like tacos, enchiladas, and burritos together. The restaurant is situated only 4 miles west of Branson West, just a few minutes from the center of town.

Mitsu Neko Fusion Cuisine and Sushi Bar offers up sushi, nigiri, and fusion cuisine in a relaxed but modern and trendy atmosphere. They use local, fresh, and all-natural ingredients to ensure their food is always the highest quality, which is one of the things that makes them so popular to locals.

Some of their menu highlights include classic potstickers, edamame, shrimp tempura, strawberry salad, miso soup, pelmeni dumplings, duck in black cherry sauce, and balsamic steak. They can be found only an 8-minute drive from downtown Branson.

White River Fish House is a down-home seafood restaurant in a lodge-like building that serves hearty portions of country-style food. The restaurant specializes in fried food, but grilled seafood is also on the menu for those who like their fish unbreaded. Some of their signature dishes include blackened mahi-mahi, brown sugar glazed salmon, and Ozarks trout.

Of course, you can also enjoy classic dishes like fish and chips, a breaded catfish platter, or hand-breaded fried chicken with country gravy. The restaurant is located downtown in Branson Landing.