I recently took my family to Branson, MO, for a quick weekend trip. My wife and son had been wanting to watch the David show at the Sight and Sounds theatre, and we also wanted to watch the Great Passion Play in Eureka Springs, AR.
Seeing as we had a free weekend, we made a “quick” trip to Branson, and while we were there, we wanted to try a new pizza place. My wife found that Panther Den Pizzeria was close to our hotel, but it lacked reviews. I did see they have a location in Forsyth, MO, so my assumption was that this must be a newer second location they opened.
We hopped in the truck and decided to give it a try, and we were not disappointed. Although I have to temper expectations with this review with one big asterisk. They were not officially open at this location. Talking to the staff, the weekend we went was a soft opening, and they didn’t even have the arcade going and were still working on parts of the restaurant.
He said sometime in the next week was going to be the official launch after they finished up a few items. So seeing as there was very little customers there at the time we went your experience may vary once they get busy. And seeing they are located right across from White Water in Branson and some other popular attractions right on the strip, I think they will have plenty of business.
Menu
The menu is small and concise. You have Pizza, Pasta, Salads, and Toasted Subs along with some Appetizers. For the area everything is priced exceptionally well. It’s hard not to get hit with touristy prices for food in the Branson MO area.
Appetizers
Let’s start with my favorite thing: appetizers. We ordered three because everyone loves their appetizers and I wanted a nice variety. We got the pretzels, mozzarella sticks, and garlic cheese bread.
The pretzels were fantastic, and the cheese was a perfect match. They didn’t look like they were homemade, but they were cooked to perfection.
The mozzarella sticks were probably my least favorite appetizer. I would call them average at best. While they were big and cheesy, they didn’t bring much to the table.
The garlic cheese bread was very flavorful, but really needed some more cheese. The taste was perfect, but the lack of cheese made me downgrade them a little.
The marinara that came with the cheese bread and mozzarella sticks was serviceable but not great.
Pizza
The pizza we ordered was a standard cheese pizza and an all-meat pizza. The younger kids love their cheese pizza, but the grown-ups needed some protein.
The cheese pizza was cooked to perfection. The amount of cheese and sauce to crust was a perfect balance. The crust was nice and soft and chewy. I examined the crust several times to see if they were premade crusts but they really looked to be fresh hand-tossed.
The meat pizza comes with your standard toppings of pepperoni, ham, sausage, beef, and bacon. The topping to cheese ratio was well balanced and the toppings all had a great flavor. Same as the cheese pizze the crust was cooked perfectly and hand tossed.
As always, I did a cold pizza taste test and had some the next day. And I have to say the pizza was even better when it was cold.
Drinks
Seeing that they were not fully there yet all the drinks were just bottled grab-and-go drinks. I think this is because they were still waiting on soft drink machines. I could see the places where those could be hooked up but they just were not there yet.
Alfredo
My son got the chicken alfredo and he was less than impressed. But they do it with penne pasta and he is very particular that all chicken alfredo should be done with fettuccine. I tasted it and thought it tasted amazing. So, unless you’re an alfredo snob like my son I would give the alfredo a big thumbs up.
Service
Service was top notch. But once again there were very few people in the restaurant. So it was really easy to have top notch service when your only serving a few tables. I will say the staff was very friendly and got things when asked.
Arcade
The arcade was not set up yet, but you could see things coming together. Below are some pictures I snapped of the in-progress arcade. You can see some of your standard skeeball and hot shot games, so nothing out of the ordinary, but another bonus if you are looking for something inside to do in Branson.
Summary
I really enjoyed the pizza and the appetizers were good but not great. I did love the price. For all we got we spent around $100, and we purposely bought extra appetizers so you could easily eat here for around $15 a person. Service was exceptional but expected since there wasn’t anyone else really eating there. If we make a trip back we will have to frequent again and give an update once they have it up and running at full capacity.
Panther Den Pizzeria is located at 3460 W 76 Country Blvd, Branson, MO 65616. You can find their website here for more information.
