The Purple Cow Restaurant

The place is decently clean. There was only 1 waiter & he was making sure everyone was taken care of.
The food was pretty good. Typical American food.
The unique attribute here is their purple milkshake. It was tasty, but the food coloring is extremely heavy in it.

Over rated. Best i can say. If the meat is fresh it didnt taste it. Had sampler frozen plate. The ice cream soda was fine

I was visiting LR and a good friend of mine bought me here for a quick lunch. I loved everything about this place! From the quirky décor to the shakes to the food to the wait staff! It was such a fun experience. I ordered a cheese burger with the purple cow milk shake… And I’m still dreaming about it. The shake was literally the best shake I have ever had. The purple definitely makes a difference from the traditional vanilla shake. If you are visiting LR, this is a MUST!
PS the shakes are huge, so I would recommend splitting one with someone else. They even pour it into 2 separate glasses for you!

Had a great experience. Food was great (I had the Five alarm burger, my wife had the French dip philly cheese steak), waiter was attentive, but not hovering over out table, and atmosphere was awesome. Now mind you it was at around 330 pm so it was during a slow period (which if possible I recommend). Also, if you go here and don’t get the purple milkshake, your doing yourself a disservice.

From out of town and wanted some ice cream late night. Read the Unilocal reviews and gave it a shot. My entire family enjoyed the food and the milkshakes. Staff was more than polite. Would definitely visit again anytime I visit town.

The one in Virginia was amazing. I really wish we still had the one here. This was my childhood. The purple shakes, the food, and how the shop looked like an old diner.
My day care use to take us when every once in a while.

The Purple Cow is an okay place to eat. Overall, my husband and I thought the food was fresh. Everyone talks about how great the milkshakes are so we shared a purple milkshake. My daughter wouldn’t take more than one sip and you can taste the food coloring used to make this vanilla shake purple. Maybe the shakes without food dye taste better.
The food was hot, ready and on the table quickly. My husband got the double burger with cheese. Said it was pretty good but nothing special. I ordered the grilled turkey sandwich, added bacon and guacamole. Horrible decision on the guac. It looks like the green version of tomato paste from a can and doesn’t taste much better. Thankfully it came on the side so that mistake was only on a couple bites. Besides that the meals were good and my picky daughter did not complain about the chicken finger basket.
The service was great. The staff was friendly and helpful. We enjoyed the atmosphere but the food isn’t worth driving 25 minutes for. They provide full sheet coloring pages and more than the common 3 pk of crayons; which is appreciated and made it possible for my husband and I to enjoy a little adult conversation while the little one colored. Maybe we’d go again if it was just down the street. They really need to improve their food. Maybe that’s why they give you an optional feedback card to fill out with the check. We filled it out.

I loved it! Found this quirky little place in a travel book and decided to give it a go. To be honest I picked out this place because I liked the name, and I was happy to find that the Purple Cow theme went farther than the title. The milkshakes were delicious and the purple vanilla shake was adorable. Everyone in my family loved their burgers and salads (myself included) and I was super happy to learn that even the shakes could be taken to go. The wait wasn’t long at all and the staff was very friendly and helpful. The overall atmosphere was tons of fun. Hopefully I get to visit Arkansas again soon so that I can go back!

Food was very satisfying. I ordered the double pattie rodeo burger with fried egg and sweet potato fries! It was my first burger prepared in such way! Ate it with peanut butter chocolate purple milkshake. ‘Twas magical! My next meal was not till 2am! Lol! Overall I would definitely come back for more juicy burgers. They have add ons on the menu to customize your burger. I was really really satisfied and stuffed! If purple cow was human Id be in love! Lol

Like many reviewers, I’m not sure why all the hype. The burger was decent, but the chili-​cheese burger version didn’t impress me. The onion rings were pretty good, but the milkshakes weren’t anything special for 4.25 (almost as much as the burger). I’m not unhappy, but I’m not impressed. If I’m ever in Little Rock again, I’ll be trying my luck somewhere else…
The service was pretty good and the atmosphere fun, but once again, nothing spectacular.

The cheeseburger was good, the purple shake was awesome, and the kids loved it. Prices are very reasonable.

They have got a milkshake machine but still just hand stir the milkshake that I order and for some reason can’t get it mixed up. I can do a better job at home. I expected better service from a place everybody was saying is so great, you just got to try one of there milkshakes. Well I have tried them 3 times now and they SUCK !

Tasty sweet potato fries and cheeseburgers. You have to try their milkshakes!

Fast and friendly=happy kids kinda joint.
Food was fine, go for the milkshakes, they are really good.

I did not want to drive so far to eat at this place, but my kids insisted. Glad we did. The boys enjoyed the milkshakes and burgers. The Ceasar Salad that I had was drowning in dressing. I will ask for something else next time. Definitely a place to take the kids! The purple milkshakes were a fun twist.

I love with their Grilled Chicken Caesar Sandwich! Although I do ask them to hold the mushrooms :) Everything there is fantastic. Can’t go wrong.

If you’re in Little Rock and looking for a nice little diner right out of the past (although a little out of the way it seems for an out-​of-​towner), then this place is worth the visit. Complete with golden oldies, burgers and fries, shakes, and draft root beer my family and I really enjoyed the food and ambience. Great creamed spinach soup (that I had to share it with my daughters). Everything smells great and the menu is very affordable. Vegetarian burger choices available also. A decent kids menu. Our little one loved his grilled cheese and fries.

I wanted to love this place. Truly, I did. It has a fun atmosphere, and the food was pretty good. But I have to be honest.
We went on Sunday around 7PM and it was so packed that there were only patio tables available so we decided to enjoy the evening and accept outside seating. Sounds great, right? Keep reading.
We were seated and then waited a looooong time for our waitress to appear so we could order drinks. She was sweet and they were so busy so I was still feeling forgiving. We ordered a bacon cheeseburger and fries, the rodeo cheeseburger with fried pickles, and a creamsicle shake to share. The fries were perfect… crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. The fried pickles were really really delicious. And the shake was heavenly!!! The burgers were good BUT my rodeo burger had absolutely NONE of the sauces from the description, which made it incredibly dry. And the waitress was so hard to flag down that I gave up on trying to get the sauces and ate it dry. Quite disappointing.
When we left, I was feeling conflicted. The waitress was nice but almost useless. The food was good but also managed to be hard to eat! And the atmosphere was really fun… but we were stuck outside facing the street.
What finally made me decide to give this place only two stars? The freaking huge, ugly bruises I have on my butt/​upper thighs from the patio chairs we were seated on!!! Two days later, it looks like I got in a fight with a cheese grater and lost. How do I know the bruises are from the dang Purple Cow? Because the bruises are in the pattern of the metal grates they called chairs! LOL
Bottom line? No one should have to pay for shoddy service, shoddy food, and a seriously bruised bum!!!

This review is only for one item ordered in my only experience with Purple Cow, but I will definitely be back!
My husband and I had just come from several hours working out (running and biking) at the Big Dam Bridge, and we were so hot and depleted. I suggested we stop at the Purple Cow for malts because my husband strongly prefers malts to shakes and not every place has them. We went in pretty disheveled in our exercise clothes, sweaty and hot, and everyone was very friendly and helpful to us. We reviewed the menu and both of us ordered the chocolate-​peanut butter malt. I watched the server make them, and I could not believe how much chocolate and peanut butter she put in the malts. Plus, the malts were HUGE! I couldn’t finish mine, even though I was famished.
If you haven’t had a malt from the Purple Cow, you have missed out!

Kids will love its violent and bovine-​themed décor (it’s based on the nursery rhyme «I never saw a Purple Cow») and adults can enjoy a great meal at a reasonable price. Retro-​style diner is almost always full with kids and since seating isn’t super-​generous you might have to get comfy with some little ones. Can also get packed on Sundays and at rush time and they don’t exactly move quickly when there are shakes to slurp on.
The shakes are excellent and generous in their portions, plus they have their signature purple cow ice cream (really just intense food coloring I think). I also enjoy their ice cream sodas and they have a good variety of other desserts, although none are exactly cheap. You can customize a lot of things and they’re pretty good about working with requests (i.e. I like cherry with vanilla, so they put both flavors in).
The burgers are always good and have relatively generous portions. Nice variety of sandwiches as well, but unfortunately the salads are overpriced for what you get. Service is usually friendly and sometimes can be lightning-​fast.
This has been my standby go-​to place in Little Rock when I’m in town for years and I have yet to be disappointed (unless some places downtown), so as long as you don’t mind the kids and chaos