Table Mesa Restaurants Group

Small Business finalists
Table Mesa Restaurants Group
Bentonville

Owners/co-founders: Carl and Lindie Garrett
Year founded: 2008
Line of work: Restaurant operator
Website: tablemesabistro.com

Over the past 15 years, Carl Garrett and his wife Lindie have grown Table Mesa Restaurants Group to include six highly reviewed Benton County restaurants — new and reimagined — with broad and diverse menus and a dynamic catering service.

The Garretts opened Table Mesa Bistro on the downtown Bentonville square in August 2008. Specializing in Latin cuisine, with burgers, salads and other dishes representing a more flexible eating style, Carl Garrett said he aimed to provide a vibrant atmosphere appealing to diverse demographics. With a background in hospitality and a passion for cooking, the Garretts envisioned Table Mesa as a fusion of consistency and quality.

“I’ve always loved, I would say, lively food,” he said.

The Garretts also own Bentonville restaurant concepts Tavola Trattoria (2011), Table Restaurant on Sixth (2019) and Table at The Hickory Inn (2022).

Tavola is also on Bentonville’s downtown square, part of the early commercial development downtown, which was initiated in response to the November 2011 opening of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.

Acquiring the Table Restaurant on Sixth was also a strategic play by the Garretts. The restaurant, formerly known as The Station Café and situated on Bentonville’s downtown square, changed ownership in the spring of 2018 and relocated that summer southeast of the square to its existing location, a renovated residence at the corner of Southeast Sixth and D streets — one block west of the Momentary. The international arts venue opened in February 2020. The immediate neighborhood has proliferated with residential and other developments.

Table at The Hickory Inn is the former Fred’s Hickory Inn. The enduring Bentonville restaurant is known for its hickory-smoked pit barbecue meals, hand-cut steaks, smoked meats, pasta and homemade desserts. Dating to its opening in 1970, when Bentonville’s population was about 5,500, Fred’s Hickory Inn is one of the oldest sit-down restaurants in Benton County and certainly one of its most noted.

The Garretts expanded into Rogers in 2018 when they introduced their Mirabella’s Table concept, an all-day Italian restaurant featuring a gourmet market, wine bar and bakery in the Pinnacle Hills area. Earlier this year, Bella’s Table, an Italian fine dining restaurant, opened its doors on the west side of Bella Vista.

Garrett said adapting to the evolving Northwest Arkansas market and the state has been pivotal to the company’s success. Since its inception, the Table Mesa Restaurants Group has maintained robust sales, consistently achieving double-digit comp sales. Only the pandemic-influenced year of 2020 was an exception.

Garrett and his wife have growth plans for the company in Northwest Arkansas and beyond over the next five to 10 years.