The Mississippi Half Step

this restaurant according to its webpage has closed

Great place with history, class and great food. Nice historical home in Godfrey turned into a excellent personable restaurant. Staff was just as good as the dinner. I Highly recommend them!

Dropped in for lunch and had a very pleasant meal. Mediterranean pasta was tasty and rolls were delicious. Hummingbird cake was a delicious but rich dessert

Having just returned from our annual pilgrimage to Eckherds to pick apples and over-​priced pumpkins, we found this very cute place on the main strip in Grafton… a converted house. You can eat outside, on the main floor, upstairs or in the basement.
The staff came across as cool and strained — this was a bit explained when the manager yelled at a waitress in front of the customers.
Food was meh. I had a light bean/​corn soup dejour which was served tepid, while my daughters potato/​leak soup came hot. Both tasted ok. My main course was a daily-​special bowtie pasta in oil, a few meager vegetables and was mostly tart (way too much lemon). My wife’s was similar «Mediterranean pasta» which I found much better… unfortunately so did she so… no trade. Shayna’s pasta and meatball came with a single meatball the size of my fist. It was described as tasteless and ‘mooshy on the inside’. Haley’s chicken sandwich was equally disappointing. I felt like we were eating in London.

Quick thoughts:
Excellent food — the only restaurant in Grafton that serves anything above the level of bar food. All the dishes on our table were masterfully prepared.
A wine list with super prices. Our tab was thus very reasonable.
Décor is on the sparse side inside the building, but it is pleasant and the building itself is interesting. There is a good-​sized patio in front as well. Not a lot of parking nearby — you just look for a spot on the street.
Service was friendly and at a European pace. Exactly what you need when you have a couple talkers at the table. The people who have long stories to tell, and plenty of them, need time.
Pretty patio, but loud as heck thanks to the incorrect belief among Harley riders that loud equates to better.
Let me explain that last point. MHS is in a historic building at the south end of the Grafton «strip».
Grafton, if you are unfamiliar, is a tiny river town which has somehow become a Mecca for a fairly raucous drinking crowd. Many of the guests arrive on their boats or Harleys. 100% of the Harleys having had their mufflers replaced with loud ones, or removed entirely, Grafton has a constant charm-​killing soundtrack of revving motorcycle engines. Since MHS is at the end, where riders leave Grafton and head out to Alton and thereabouts, sitting on the patio is like sitting by the starting line of a drag strip.
The bottom line: great restaurant for a town that doesn’t offer much good food, but sit inside!

Lunch was great. We started off with spring rolls, will be back just for more of those! My husband & I both had the bacon blue cheese burger, very good quality & flavor. I had the asparagus, it was prepared well & we will be back to try the dinner menu soon. No room for dessert. Service was good. ****Clean ****

Neat place. Wonderful old home, prior b&b, converted to restaurant. Beer and wine selection had some unique ones listed to make it interesting. Slightly limited menu is offset by very good food, some uniquely prepared, and the ambience of eating in smaller rooms of a prior house. Great for talking. And u gotta luv the drive up the river road with the view of the Mississippi. Our room had a large fireplace in it– if they light that up in winter the ambiance will b amazing We’ll b back.

We had a Wedding Rehearsal Dinner at MHS and it was just lovely. Jim and his staff did a wonderful job with the food, service, everything was delicious, served on time and we were all just thrilled to death with it. Very reasonable prices but more than that — GREAT FOOD and a lot of wonderful choices! Thanks, Jim!

This is a really nice place! I enjoy going when the weather is nice and we can sit outside. Inside, the building is beautiful and there is a cute little antique store upstairs with some pretty reasonable prices. We really like the food here, the service is good and we will continue to come back

What a cute little place in Grafton! It’s close to the river and right on the main drag, but there is not a view of the river. Sit on the patio and watch the foot traffic down Main street. The inside is really cute, all wood. We sat inside right by the front bay window so we could people watch. It was hot outside! Our waitress was really nice and efficient. She kept our drinks full, which we were thankful for, because we were parches from being outside at Eckerts.
I had a salad and fettucine alfredo. Both were really good. Loved the salad dressing! There are a handful of vegetarian options on the menu.
The soup that I tasted was very good too. Everything looked good and we really wanted dessert, but were too full.
We’ll be back!