400 N 3rd St
Hannibal, MO 63401
(573) 221-5300
We drove through Hannibal, Missouri on our way to St. Louis from Minneapolis. We drove through on the way up too, but it was dark and we didn't do any exploring. Since Hannibal is the home of Mark Twain, and it was daylight, Warren insisted on a detour. It took us awhile to find the actual town, rather than the town that exists along the highway, but once we did, there were several dining options. Nothing quite compared to the Mark Twain Dinette and Drive In. I mean, look at that sign!
The actual restaurant is pretty ordinary on the outside.
But it does actually have an old fashioned drive in. Not sure if you can actually still order there though.
The restaurant has been around since 1942, and I gotta say, that sign gave me high hopes! Inside, everything has been paneled over and it doesn't quite have the charm you might expect. It's more of a 70s vibe. There were a lot of little old ladies eating bowls of chili. We also saw several people eating huge stacks of onion rings, which looked tasty.
We were seated in a back dining room, and got to work looking at the menu. Jiro, again, went with his standard cheeseburger and fries, but Satchel was conflicted. He wanted catfish, soup, and mashed potatoes. None of those were an option on the kids menu, so I let him get an entree of catfish curls with soup and potatoes as his sides.
Warren was having trouble making up his mind, and was fairly convinced I'd ordered Satchel too much food, so he only got a small Maidrite sandwich, which is a loose meat sandwich, a regional thing. I too was indecisive. I wanted something healthy, but ended up ordering a fried catfish sandwich with fries. Go figure.
The first thing to come out was the kids' root beers. Apparently they make it in house and it was described by Jiro as "the best ever." I took a sip and it was pretty darn delish.
While we waited for the food, I made a run to the ladies room, which was one of the most bizarre restrooms I have ever seen. Possibly the result of squeezing in an extra stall? I feel sorry for anyone in a wheel chair or physically disabled in anyway who needs to go. Besides being cramped and angled weirdly, it had the tiniest sink I have ever seen, placed in the corner with the most traffic. I had to take a picture.
Anyways, no room for a changing table in there.
While I was gone I had asked Warren to order a side salad for me, which he did. I had seen one across the room and thought it looked good. The only other thing of note was that a family of 7 was seated next to us--two parents and five kids of varying ages. The youngest, a girl, came over to talk to Satchel, which gave him quite a giggle.
Our food came out soon after and was met with mixed reviews. Jiro, despite the look on his face, liked his just fine.
Satchel was happy with his, although his catfish curls looked more like crumbles to me. I felt a little grumbly about their $9.95 price tag.
Warren's small Maidrite sandwich was certainly small. It made me laugh out loud.
My sandwich was good, nothing special. Apparently my salad wasn't either since I didn't even snap a picture.
Satchel immediately attacked my fries and got insulted when I said he should eat his food first. (He's notorious for over-ordering.) He ate most of it, but Warren did a lot of helping. I ended up sharing with Warren too since his meal was more like a snack.
Our total came to $32.00, and in the end I wished we would have just eaten fast food. As we paid, I told the owner I thought the catfish curls were overpriced and not really even worth being on the menu. He explained that they are the scraps from the larger filets, but that didn't change my mind at all.
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