A new restaurant is in town taking Joplin by storm. It’s called Cheddar’s, a “American food” restaurant just off of I-44 and Range Line Road.

“Cheddar’s can best be described as casual fine dining,” said Josh Desoto, Cheddar’s general manager. “We have a high quality of food for a cheaper price. You can get a chicken platter for $6.99. You can get a burger and fries for $5.50. The most expensive item on our menu is only $12.99, which is for the steak and ribs. That’s pretty cheap for steak and ribs.”

Besides good food, the restaurant supplies its guests with an upbeat music selection of 80s music, and a décor of pictures of local areas.

“We want the restaurant to be personal,” Desoto said. “We want our customers to feel like they’re at home when they come to eat here. We’re about making our customers feel at home when they’re eating away from home.”

Cheddar’s also offers a bar where guests can hang out, have a couple of drinks and catch up on a football game, baseball game or the news on one of Cheddar’s many plasma screens positioned around the bar. The restaurant has a happy hour where pints are two dollars from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. daily, and all day Thursdays.

“Of course we carry all the name-brand beers such as Budweiser, Coors Lite and Bud Lite,” Desoto said. “We also carry special 18-ounce margaritas. Flavors include Texas Margaritas, Strawberry Margaritas and Swirl Margaritas.”

Desoto described the staff at Cheddar’s to be “very friendly, very laid back, very upbeat and very wanting-to-please.”

Cheddar’s believes Joplin to be a growing market.

“What we do in sales, is higher, I think, than what anyone else in the area is doing,” Desoto said. “Our maximum occupancy is 335. We’ve had lines where people have had to wait an hour and forty-five minutes-that’s huge.”

Cheddar’s has good food, good service, a laid back atmosphere, and a bar that most cannot resist. With events such as happy hour, it is no wonder that Cheddar’s has become such a big hit with the Joplin community.