2-Minute Review: Coesters

The city's newest sports bar/restaurant is a Missouri State-themed treat for the taste buds.

The Place: Coesters (631 S. Kimbrough Ave., 417-862-2327) is the brainchild of Jordan Creek owner Mark Coe, who shows—like friend Paul Sundy before him—that he can make people hungry as well as he can make them dance. Completely renovated from the bars that preceded it, Coesters is a slick sports bar/restaurant hybrid, with enough Missouri State stuff to be sporty, but not enough to be distasteful. Particularly awesome is the neon Bears logo above the bar. TVs cover almost every inch of the perimeter of the restaurant, and there’s a variety of seating, from booths to bar to tables to a couch and fireplace, which is welcoming if a bit odd for a sports bar.

The Menu: I had to flip to the back (entrée) page of the Coesters menu before I found much of anything pricier than $10 (don’t worry, the steaks are there). There’s not a burger or pizza that reaches double digits, which makes a lunch or late-night snack (Coesters is open until 3 a.m. for the post-bar wind-down) more than affordable. The options were pretty predictable, though I’ve never met anyone who was disappointed by pizza, burgers, tasty appetizers or salads.

The Food: My measuring stick for any American-fare restaurant is its burger, so on a recent Friday I took an early lunch, sat at the bar to watch SportsCenter on a crystal-clear plasma, and ordered up a black and blue burger. I ordered it well done, and that’s just how it came—you’d be surprised how often chefs butcher a burger order—and the ingredients were super fresh. And the blue cheese is the real deal—not dressing, not imitation. Mmm, mold. Hand-cut, extra-salty fries fleshed out the $8.99 meal.

The score: Coesters is a welcome addition to Springfield’s crowded sports-bar-with-expansive-menu field, and probably one of the best looking. What sets it apart is the fact that it’s open until 3 a.m. Thursday–Saturday and the fact that Coe has established a relationship with Missouri State University right off the bat (they threw Barry Hinson a birthday party there recently), ensuring steady business.