Fred & Red's

Out of towner here. Got a tip on this place. Simple diner atmosphere. The tamale spread is fantastic as is the spaghetti red. Basically tamales or spaghetti smothered in all-meat chili. Such friendly attentive servers. Great prices. Highly recommend!

How much fun is Fred and Red's?! What a great spot. We were passing through town and stopped here for the first time. It's counter seating only, so it was easy to cozy up and get recommendations from the regulars. The waitresses were also more than happy to walk us through the menu. It seemed to be two main dishes that involve chili: tamales with chili or spaghetti with chili. No beans in the chili (that's important for me)! They also had a burger. The service, taste, and prices were all great.

Walking in this true diner is like a step back in time (sorta like watching Stranger Things). Famous for their Spaghetti Red…like very famous. Ambience is next level retro. Even the radio was playing “Maneater”. You sit around a counter, the menu is simple and the service is friendly. It’s definitely an experience…and also the best spaghetti red.

Open since the 1920s, this is a dinner, counter stools only. Most peculiar is there are many dishes with chili. I had tamales with chili and beans. Most people order the spaghetti spread with chili. Each less than $10. Slice of pie with ice cream is $5. This is good and affordable. I like the 3 condiments, Cayenne pepper shaker, Vinegar, and hot sauce. Crakers included as well as optional, free, raw onions and dill pickle side plate.

Finally made it to this restaurant. Usually in Joplin on Sunday when they’re closed. It was fantastic! Food and atmosphere were excellent. Had the best of both worlds…tamales and spaghetti with chili and beans. My wife is allergic to onions…it was great their chili had no onions. We’ll be back many many times

Being new to the area, we like to explore new places and being Joplins oldest restaurant, we had to check it out! Fred & Reds has a long history that is well published and entering, you definately get the feeling of bygone days. Sure, the place could use some updates but you cannot beat the service, prices, potions and food! No wonder after all these years, it's still thriving! They were having a 1/2 & 1/2 special so we tried that. A 1/2 & 1/2 is a platter filled (and I mean FILLED) with 1/2 spaghetti and 1/2 tamales, all covered with their famous chili and topped with your choice of onions, cheese and pickles. There was no way I could even come close to finishing (and I'm no salad girl) so the packaged it up for me to take home and it made for 2 additional meals! I highly recommend you visit Fred & Reds and be sure you bring a healthy appetite when you do!

Fun place! 100 years old this year! Food was great and service was fantastic. Fries were AWESOME! We had fries, a coney, cheeseburgers, and pie for dessert. Take a minute and visit the past - eat at Fred & Red's!

They were super nice, everything was at a great price and was made to order. Hot and fresh, delicious and we were so glad we got to stop by and eat. Recommend here for great food and service, as well as the historic aspect. Right on Main street in Joplin. Their chili was amazing, awesome chili cheese dogs and the burgers were the best. The tamales were so tasty. The crinkle cut fries were given 2 thumbs up by my daughter. The sweetest and friendliest employees. Definitely stop by and try them out if you want good food that won't break the bank. We loved it.

Yelp brought me here. We would be passing through Joplin on our way back to MN. The staff was really nice. The owner is a micromanager, constantly asking the staff if they checked on things. I ordered 1/2 portion of spaghetti red, their specialty. This is chili with no beans on top of spaghetti. The chili was very basic and actually bland. I added parmesan cheese and hot sauce even. The place is 102 years old, real retro like and is on the second set of owners. People seem to like it as there were takeout orders. I can totally recreate this at home and add my own spices for more depth and flavor. Review 19 in 2025.

Everything was delicious. From the tamale spread, the spaghetti and burgers, they are the best you'll find anywhere. The service was excellent as well.

We stopped on a whim. Old school diner set up, with food prepared right in front of us. Excellent service. We just had a burger (loved they toasted the bun on the grill) and fries, but if we happen by this way again we'll stop for spaghetti or chili. Both looked fabulous. Nothing fancy but good food and service.

This place may not be a dieters delight - but it's sure a delight (times 10) to eat here! And next week (09/23/2023), will be their 100th anniversary! 100 years of the tasty goodness! What is spaghetti Red?? Simple put, spaghetti with their house made chili on top. The chili has a verdin taste, that is spiced up (not hot) for flavor...that just flat out works! Hamburgers and Cheeseburgers: Cooked on the ol' flattop...these taste great too! Tamales: I've loved these for years and years. Just try and bundle of them - see what you think. Congratulations Fred & Red's on 100 years of serving others your delicious menu items. Thank you for keeping the Joplin tradition alive!

Take a trip back in time. Tastes like the 1950's. Can't miss no matter what you order. Served hot and fresh made. Waitstaff is phenomenal!

I grew up in Joplin and make it back a few times per year. When possible I eat at Fred and Reds. A limited menu I'd guess 90% of the people who come here have the Spaghetti Red. It's incredible. It's a super fun place. Service is great.

Walking in this true diner is like a step back in time (sorta like watching Stranger Things). Famous for their Spaghetti Red...like very famous. Ambience is next level retro. Even the radio was playing "Maneater". You sit around a counter, the menu is simple and the service is friendly. It's definitely an experience...and also the best spaghetti red.

Simply delicious the service was fast personal and friendly. Great prices great food. I went thru the drive thru can't wait until I have time to go inside. It's is a cash only place but so worth it.

I had a double Patty cheese burger and French fries. It was delicious! The cheeseburger was smaller than at some restaurants but because I got a double Patty it was plenty of food for my dinner! The French fries were crisp and fresh. I am not a big chili fan. That's why I had a cheeseburger. It was great! Also liked sitting up at their counter. Excellent service! Thank you!

The customer service was excellent and the drive thru ambiance was nice clean and easy to hear through the speaker no issues with the order the food was delicious, fresh homemade style not a frozen patty. Double cheese burger and tamales. Thank You Fred & Red staff I will be back soon!

I had chili fries. I just really wanted to try the chili. Well I'm sold !!! The service was great. The ambience even down to the drive-through ...is kind of old-school. This is unique. Of all the chili. I've had it's probably my favorite so far . I'll be back

Down home diner for sure!! The chili and tamales were good. The tamales were the star, Chili was bland but at they had plenty of fixin's to dress it up like you want to. Definitely worth the inexpensive prices and the friendly staff was a big plus.

Atmosphere is classy and I'm sure takes the old-timers back. The food was quite nice and nostalgic. And the service was highly hospitable.

We t yesterday on our yearly trip to buy chili bricks and have lunch. Two of us had the spaghetti, red, and one of us had Frito chili pie. All of us had garlic toast. As always the food and service did not disappoint. Huge servings plenty of leftovers. The servers are very attentive and make sure you have everything you need from onions to pickles, hot sauce, etc. The service here really know their stuff and are super friendly. One of the reasons we always come back.

Service is perfect..best spaghetti ever,drive thru is quick and very organized....my family favorite dish

I was born here, grew up just over the state line, moved away for many years and recently came back home; it looks and smells exactly as it did fifty years ago. Obviously come for the Spaghetti Red and Tamales, but everything else is equally as good. The burgers are juicy and flavorful, the fries a crispy golden brown.

You have got to try this chili!! Delicious! Great staff who calls their customers by name! If the locals eat here you know it has to be good!!

Food service is great! Ambiance Old country diner. Feels like Moms kitchen and everyone's coming over to have a bite to eat

Nice place. Decent prices. Ok food. Large portions. All in all a place I would go to but with just a few adjustments could be a super place.

100 years! I can see why. This place has the best chili in the state - with or without beans! I know this is a huge issue for folks. I get the tamale spread and cover it with Frito chips. My wife has been going here for 30 years and gets the classic Spaghetti Red. Wait staff is super helpful to newbies and great service. A must stop in Joplin!

Fred & Red's, since 1923, is always a walk down memory lane when I walk through the door. This was my mom's favorite spot in Joplin, Mo! We know we're there when we see their iconic neon sign crowning the entrance! Still a favorite with many, there was a steady stream of customers coming in and sitting around the counter-dining-only restaurant. Service, as in the past, was speedy and served with a smile. They are closed on Sunday and Monday. Our go to is always the tamales - mom's favorite. On this day I enjoyed a bundle, 3 @ $3.55, and a light splattering chili. Their tamales are more comparable to a Mississippi Delta tamale than the tamale you would eat at a Mexican restaurant. They always ask if you want dill pickles and sliced onions on the side - for an additional charge. Their griddle cooked burgers are good, too. Spaghetti Red is a signature dish that many swear by, has been on the menu forever, and is a Fred & Red's Classic. This dish is a layered plate of spaghetti noodles, topped with tamales and covered with chili. I've never been brave enough to try this favorite but make sure you're hungry! It's a plate full! They serve fries and tater tots, as well as, desserts. Also, the have frozen tamale bundles (of three), chili and other options to go! Check out their Carry Out menu!

I was anxious to taste the old-school favorite in the Joplin area. Unfortunately, I have drawn the conclusion that it must be one of those situations where you develop an acquired taste for their food. The meat was pretty greasy, which isn't completely unacceptable for chili and spaghetti red, but the flavor was not what I was hoping for either. I did get three small tamales and they were good.

Food over all is good sometimes it can be a bit to busy & a bit cramped. Mostly we love the homemade tamales. Yum yum

Fred & Red's offers a unique atmosphere to dine in with its cozy layout & decor. The hamburgers are fantastic but the spaghetti red is my favorite! You can choose to have the chili with or without beans! The staff is so friendly & quick to serve you! The price is just right! I highly encourage you to stop in and enjoy!!

This place is a total one-off. Not a chain, not the sort of place where out of towner (which I am) typically find in a world of known name brands where it's the same menu city after city after city. It is a home grown local legend. Nowhere, not even at home, do I like noodles, beanless chili, tamales, onions and pickles into one gloopy, greasy mess on a single plate, mix it all up and devour like my last meal. But I do here. And then I get that hankering sometime later only to return. It is sixty miles from my home so I usually work in another excuse to eat at Fred & Reds to justify the two hour round trip. Yeah, I'll do it again...and again.

We recently had to return to Joplin for a family funeral. One of my favorite places to eat growing up there was at Fred & Red's. I hadn't eaten there in literally 20 some years but it tasted exactly the same! Which is a good thing. Fred & Red's specializes in chili. Their signature dish is the Spaghetti Red but they also have tamales, cheeseburgers, fries, etc. The restaurant is very small with counter seating only. When it's busy, expect to wait. Anthony Bourdain visited Fred & Red's while visiting Joplin a few years back while filming "No Reservations." It's a very beloved place in Joplin that has been open since I believe the 1920's or 30's. Thankfully it was spared by the Joplin tornado in 2011. This is not the place to eat if you're counting calories and watching your weight! Food was great, the sassy waitresses and great service made for a wonderful trip down memory lane.

It's all about the Tamale Spread for me! My kids knocked out some really great smash burgers from the grill. I've been eating here for over 30 years and make it my first stop when visiting JOMO.

Forget skyline chili Cincinnati. Fred and reds takes the top spot for chili spaghetti. Spaghetti red is my favorite dish in Joplin

Fast, simple comfort diner food done right! It has limited seating at the counter. This is a place my husband's family has loved for generations. It reopened in 2016, so we come every chance we can. Our favorites are the SPAGHETTI RED (beanless chili) which is always huge enough for us to share, side of pickle n onion to top it with, and the Tamale spread (homemade beef mini tamales topped with the same chili (you can add beans if you like.) Such a greasy spoon! So yummy!!! We have never saved room for pie, but the fries are good if you prefer a cheeseburger meal.

I was passing through Joplin and was missing Spaghetti red. The server Annette, Suzzette and Owen made me the best to-go order I've ever had. Amazing food and top notch service.

Certainly not a health food! But it was good enough to go back a second day. Something my husband had years ago while traveling the old route 66 and it is just the same. Spaghetti Red is spaghetti with Chile over the top served with saltine crackers. Not fancy, small menu but they did have burgers, dogs & fries. Service was good and they were busy. No tables just a counter with stools.

Incredible!! You want to stop eating the spaghetti about half way through the plate , but you can't!! It's so good!! The pickles and onions top it off!! Definitely a must stop in Joplin!!

food was cold and wasnt co so I called they were rude and told us to just come get pint of beans to make it right. not only did the food suck it was cold and upset my family's stomachs so much grease. won't eat there again nasty

First thing you have to know about this place: You're not coming here to eat health food. You come to Fred & Red's for their decadent, endocrine-bomb dishes AND this little restaurant's atmosphere. The place has been around since the early 1920s (The sign says, "1924." The waitress told us, "1923"). Our waitress also told us, "Nothing changes around here." I'm glad for that. The last time I was here was with my family in 1976, when I was 11 years old. Though I had never had chili before and didn't like it (thought it would taste like spaghetti sauce ... kids ... I'm rolling my eyes while writing this), the experience was really fun. Everyone was laughing, joking, smiling and enjoying their meals. Fred & Red's is a small, classic diner-style restaurant. There's enough room for roughly 20 to 24 people at their U-shaped counter. People start piling in as soon as the place opens. I wonder if they have any downtime? We saw people eat entire meals, then order huge dishes to go. A couple of dishes include Spaghetti Red, possibly the healthiest item on the menu, which is a plate of beanless chili over spaghetti. And the Tamale Spread, probably the most decadent dish of miniature tamales over a large plate of spaghetti covered with chili. You can order your meals covered with cheese for additional artery-clogging enjoyment. If you really need vegetables, order a side of fresh onions and sliced pickles. I highly recommend eating here. Make sure you bring your toothbrush or strong mints post noshing.

I have visited this place a few times and never a single disappointment whatsoever. I highly recommend this restaurant for sure.

Every time we've ordered from this restaurant and we ordered Parmesan cheese or some other topping we don't get it even though we were charged. Every dime doesn't take a high school education to work at this place to follow instructions. We are done.

Great chili diner with a U shape counter surrounding the wait staff &,,, everything the cooks did not want to squeeze in the kitchen. I could not help & watch women clean dishes, dip chili & talk about their lives. The food was the good & greasy comfort food I expected. Noodles & homemade tamales covered with chili plus a side of onions & pickles. The taste was bland so I added what was on the counter before me- chili powder, tame " hot" sauce, mustard & parmesan cheese (I did not add the salt & ketchup), Overall an interesting meal, place & value.

Been here many times and it's always very consistent. Service is great. Ladies up front are friendly. We are regulars that's for sure. We need to at least once a week to keep joints lubed.

If u can call chili bland then this is it! I am sure it's a local fave but I wasn't a fan!

Always amazing! Love the chili and spaghetti. Tamales are good too! Always get extra pickles!!!

Wonderful food! My family has been going here for 25+ years, and the delicious food keeps us coming back! If it's the spaghetti, the cheeseburgers, or only the fries, it's made with love and made wonderfully. The taste is like no other. 10/10 I have recommended to multiple family members and friends. Will be coming back.

I really wanted to like this place because it's old school and fun and just nostalgic, but yeah it's just a greasy spoon and not the good kind....the literal kind. I LOVE spaghetti chili and being from KC I thought maybe it would be like Dixon's Chili, but it's not. I got an order of spaghetti chili to go and some tamales, but everything was so greasy that everyone agreed it was just not enjoyable. The best part of the experience was the kind staff that was very helpful and super fast at prepping our food and getting us out the door :) Cute little diner, but good luck finding a seat at lunch or dinner as seating is limited!

Really neat old diner! We've eaten here several times. Really great waitstaff. This is not a good place to go if you don't like grease! Chili is their main food whether served alone, over spaghetti, over tamales etc. Even if you don't like greasy food, you should go. It's a neat experience!

Came here on our continued exploration of Joplin restaurants on our on going work trip. Decided to get the Spaghetti Red since that's what everyone else recommended. I got the jumbo size and a grilled cheese sandwich and couldn't finish half. It was nice and greasy comfort food and was just what I needed after a long work day. My guy's got the overload and chili burger and liked their's as well. The ladies working here are extremely nice and were pleasant to talk to. They kept our glasses full, packed our massive amounts of leftovers, and even gave us good recommendations for other places we should eat on our trip. Once we make the rounds and I finish my leftovers, we will have to stop by again.

Do not come to Joplin unless you eat at Fred & Red's ! I was raised in this area and moved to Little Rock years ago. But when I get back here this is a must!!!

Came for lunch with another couple because he grew up in the area and remembered this place from when he was a kid. You really need nostalgia to enjoy this place - and/or a cast iron stomach! The food is actually quite tasty, it's just a heart attack on a plate. One of us ordered a chili hamburger. He thought it would be a hamburger with chili on top, but no, it was an open-faced cheeseburger on a large plate with two cups of chili poured over the top of it! One of us ordered their tamale spread. Once again three tamales with two cups of chili spread over it and some shredded cheese and onions. Truly very tasty but greasy to the max - it would be a great post drunk meal. One got just a plain hamburger and french fries and said it was all very bland and mostly tasteless. The last guy got their spaghetti red. Which was overcooked pasta covered with two cups of their chili - he loved it. So the bottom line is the food is actually good but you got to really be wanting and willing to eat something that's this bad for you. By the way the service was A+ diner service.

Spaghetti red was bland for my taste, but I only use Williams chili seasoning. Nothing else has the bite without being overly hot. IF we would have considered making a second visit, the lack of sanitary practices sealed the deal. No gloves when removing meat from cooler, no washing hands before grabbing the salt/pepper shakers to add seasoning but wipe hands on pants after. Gloves were donned to put fries in the fryer.....no thanks. I'll make mine at home. I guarantee the original owners used more common sense.

Stellar! Classic counter eatery. The girls who work here are the true rockstars. Friendly, fast and cultivate "regulars".

Try the "Half & Half." It's spaghetti and tamales, topped with chili. Don't mind the sound of your arteries hardening, and if you feel chest pain, just slow down and relax and it too should pass. But otherwise, it's a fun little hole in the wall with no tables or booths, just a lunch counter, but that's just fine (as long as it's not too busy in there). The ladies working the counter were very helpful. Service was fine. If you're in Joplin and you're trying to avoid the chain restaurants, then check this place out.