MONTANA STEAKHOUSE
   
4120 E. McCain Boulevard (McCain Crossing Center), North Little Rock, (501) 955-2244. Lunch is served 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Monday-Friday and 11 a.m.-4 :30 p.m. Saturday-Sunday, dinner is served 4:30-9 :30 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 4:30-10 :30 p.m. Friday-Saturday and 4:30-9 :30 p.m. Sunday.
   Food: The second Montana-theme steak house in the steak house-packed McCain Mall vicinity of North Little Rock, Montana's menu features steaks, chicken, seafood, sandwiches and other assorted specialties. Our visits were inconsistent, featuring undercooked and overcooked steaks and cold food.
   

Mood:
The spacious restaurant certainly looks good. Everything -- the glossy wooden booths and tables, the bar area that divides the dining room, the restrooms -- is pristine. But the total effect -- simple light fixtures perched above tables, walls naked except for random beer signs -- is generic and lacking in ambience.
   

Moolah:
A lunch menu of sandwiches and smaller portions of dinner entrees costs $6.59- $9.99. Steaks range from the Beef Tips with peppers, onions and mushrooms ($10.99) to a Steak & Lobster with a 6-ounce filet and 5-ounce lobster tail ($27.99)
   -- Jennifer Christman
   

IMAGINE A RESTAURANT
   
11525 Cantrell Road (in the Pleasant Ridge Town Center), Little Rock, (501) 801-5530. Open 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Monday-Friday. Dinner is served 5-10 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 5-10 :30 p.m. Friday-Saturday. Pending liquor license approval, the restaurant plans to be open Sunday for brunch and dinner in the near future.
   

Food: Imagine's
spirited cosmopolitan comfort food emphasizes locally grown, raised and produced ingredients. The dinner menu starts with "beginning" courses like a thick and complex Butternut Squash Soup with a pureed arugula center, continues with hearty "middle" courses like a tender, salty Tea-Brined Pork Loin and ends with whimsical desserts such as Chocolate Soup With Krispy Kreme Bread Pudding.
   

Mood:
Dining at Imagine, it's very easy to imagine that you're somewhere besides the-big-box-store-andchain-restaurant capital that is west Little Rock. Warm in its color scheme and Friday night din, the simple and swank restaurant tucked into Cantrell Road's new Pleasant Ridge Town Center has an up-and-coming-neighborhood-in-a-large-city feel. You might expect to see comely passers-by jogging or walking their dogs, if the restaurant didn't have a view of the big, bright Parisian store across the parking lot.
   

Moolah:
Lunchtime visitors can expect to spend less than $10 on an 8-ounce Homemade Hamburger ($7) or Orecchiette Pasta with pesto Alfredo sauce ($9). Only one dinner entree (a $17 pasta dish) is priced under $20 with others ranging up to $26 for a steak.
   -- Jennifer Christman
   GADWALL'S

GRILL WEST
   
14710 Cantrell Road, Little Rock, (501) 868-4746. 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Sunday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Friday-Saturday.
   

Food:
Ducks are everywhere in the decor of this kid brother of a successful Sherwood restaurant, except on the mostly middlebrow bill of fare, which features chicken dishes, pretty good burgers, sandwiches and a half-dozen entree platters. Best bet is the don't-miss sweet potato fries, available as an appetizer or side item; and the Hamburger Steak Platter, good even if you don't like the fried onions.
   

Mood:
There are plenty of ducks on the walls, including stuffed and mounted ducks and framed duck artwork, plus other hunting-theme wall decorations. The physical layout of the place hasn't changed much from predecessors Cotham's West and Izzy's ; seating is at comfy booths (with enough space for the girth-challenged, thank you) and at tables in various subdivided rooms and alcoves. In lieu of a sound system, a couple of televisions are tuned to a cable sports network. The weeknight wait staff was young -- they looked like mostly high school kids -- but helpful; the Sunday night staff was older and more experienced.
   

Moolah:
The most high-falutin' entree is the Tuna Steak Platter ($7.85); the only more expensive entree is a 12-ounce rib-eye for $19.95.
   -- Eric E. Harrison
   

PEI WEI ASIAN DINER
   
Midtowne Little Rock shopping center, West Markham Street and University Avenue, (501) 280-9423. Open 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Sunday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Friday-Saturday.
   

Food:
This second "label" for the P.F. Chang's China Bistro chain offers a pan-Asian menu with Chinese, Japanese, Thai and Korean noodle dishes and Chinese, Japanese and Vietnamese appetizers. Everything comes from either a wok or a deep fryer and just about everything is boldly flavored; when the menu says spicy, as it does with the Pad Thai, Blazing Noodles, Kung Pao and Asian Coconut Curry, believe it.
   

Mood:
The decor is mostly red and black, from the floor and chairs to the waiters' casual uniforms to the plates and bowls that come out of the kitchen, with hardwood tabletops, booth dividers (there's some booth and banquette seating and four chairs at the open kitchen) and ceiling supports. There's a separate entrance and counter for to-go orders. The slightly confusing order system, in which you pick your dishes from a menu board while you stand in line to reach a hostess/cashier at a register (a food-runner brings your order from the kitchen), can mean long delays at peak periods, though the food comes out quickly -- too quickly, with entrees arriving on top of appetizers. Service after food delivery ranges from excellent to indifferent.
   

Moolah: It's
awfully tempting to proclaim that, as at P.F. Chang's, you "pei wei" too much for your food, but that's really only true of a couple of the appetizers. Entrees are reasonably priced at $9 and under.
   -- Eric E. Harrison

This story was published Friday, December 01, 2006