Searcy’s Rock House restaurant is rock-solid

The name of the Rock House in Searcy is a cool play on words, as the exterior of the building features rock, while the interior is adorned with rock ’n’ roll concert posters and other memorabilia. The team at the restaurant has delivered culinary hits since February of 2015.

During my visit, General Manager Misty Gordon was a great host, and other members of the team, or band, were charming and accommodating. They were always smiling and ensuring that the guests were treated as if they were in a VIP suite at a concert.

The Rock House’s menu is as diverse as the lineup at a three-day music festival. It includes appetizers, handhelds, sandwiches/wraps, salads, pasta, chicken, pork, seafood, steak, wings and burgers.

The Spinach & Artichoke Dip was the star appetizer. The crowd-pleasing dish was house-made and attractively garnished with diced tomato and parmesan cheese. The dip, which had a nice kick to it, was served with fried bow tie pasta for dipping, making for a memorable duet.

No small fry, Rock House’s Cheese Fries filled an entire pizza pan with fried goodness, melted cheese, bacon and chives. Homemade dipping sauces only added to our enjoyment. The Fried Pickles weren’t the frozen variety; these dill pickle chips were skillfully hand-breaded and fried to perfection.

The wings were as steady as a solid lead guitar player. The creative names for the different sauces mirror rock tunes, including Renegade, Old Time Rock and Roll, Kashmir and Eruption. Please note that the Eruption is hotter than an Eddie Van Halen guitar solo, according to Misty. She brought my group a serving of the Californication wings; they had a lively sweet honey and lime flavor.

The Rock House has a legendary lineup of specialty burgers. The restaurant uses only freshly ground ribeye cuts of beef in the hand-patted burgers, and more than 1,000 burgers are sold each week! I enjoyed the Wyoming burger that was harmoniously topped with cheddar cheese, bacon, pickles, barbecue sauce and a fried onion ring. If you prefer to customize your burger, you can build your own — or “Make Your Own Kind of Music,” so to speak.

As for entrées, the Chicken Alfredo was a standout solo act. Featuring a generous serving of fettuccine pasta, tossed in a delicious cream sauce and topped with a grilled chicken breast, it hit all the right notes.

The kitchen team deserved a standing ovation for the fork-tender Pork Chop. Flawless grill marks made the large and flavorful boneless chop as eye-pleasing as it was palate-pleasing. The Rock House glaze served on the side enhanced the wonderful flavor.

Just when I thought the Rock House food concert was over, it was time for the encore: a shared serving of Chocolate Tower Cake! The showstopping dessert was a huge portion of a four-layer chocolate cake with chocolate icing, drizzled with chocolate sauce and served with four dollops of whipped cream and cherries. Wow. Just wow.