Yanni's Grille — Local services in Sparta

Don’t believe the hype, we ordered Buffalo chicken strips as an appetizer which were decent for chicken strips dipped in Buffalo sauce (kinda hard to screw that up), a gyro sandwich and fries to share for a main course and also a pepperoni and pineapple pizza to share. They bring out rolls and prepackaged butter cups from land o lakes for your free appetizer and the rolls are store bought ones, we know because we buy the exact same ones ourselves and have for years so we know them very well. The gyro sandwich had approximately four slabs of what looked like frozen meat (all identical size and shape), not freshly shaved meat off the shank. It was the most unimpressive gyro I’ve probably had and I’ve had several across the country, I’ve had better out of food trucks. The fries were obviously frozen, they had no flavor at all or even salt/seasoning! Literally flash fried and dropped on a plate. Couldn’t believe it, I always finish fries and I discarded the leftovers. The pizza was even worse. It had barely any flavor at all, we both tried one slice then took the rest home to our dog and ordered papa John’s that’s how bad it was. I’ve never eaten a pizza that was so underwhelming. It even looked depressing. The crust was ok but that was literally it. Very little sauce.. It’s hard to beat world foods pizza in Cookeville, and if you’re trying to find a local pizza joint, go there and save yourself the heartache. Yannis might have the locals fooled, but for people who have had a chance to sample foods with actual flavor and fresh ingredients, it will disappoint. Not worth a second try for us. The waitress was fantastic though and very polite and attentive even though they were busy, so props to her if she reads this! You did nothing...

Service only experience, didn't get to try the food which was disappointing as I've heard good things. Went in a little after 1 on a Saturday starving, not many people in there and seated promptly. Hostess was kind and shared the specials and left us for the waitress who never came. We were ready to order when another group was seated in our area. They got their order taken, received beverages and bread and even got their starter salads while we still sat waiting for anyone to even look at our table. Another couple dining next to us got their food and were checked on by a different waitress who also didn't even look at us. If either had a passing glance towards us I would have flagged them over but they were too focused on getting away. After over 15 minutes of waiting we finally walked out and went somewhere that was more than happy to have our business! Might give another try later but this was a terrible experience that I've never had anywhere else. If it were packed I wouldn't think anything of it but the majority of tables were empty so this was...

Placed a to go order, which I could not place by phone since they take the phone off the hook when they’re busy. Placed the order in person at 6pm, there was a patron sitting awaiting to be seated. I was told 20-25 minutes, I came back in 30 minutes and the order was not ready. Two other to go orders were placed while I was waiting for mine, at 6:53 when the other two to go orders had been given theirs, mind you I asked several times for my order to be checked on, I asked for a refund! The hostess went back to let them know, at which point she came back and said it’s ready now, I could have a refund or my order. I asked for my order, while they were putting it together, cause it wasn’t “ready”, the original customer who was awaiting to be seated, was now exiting after finishing his meal! I was asked if I wanted drinks, I declined, just wanted my order. We were going to order a pizza at the same time to have for the next day, but they weren’t making pizza since they were busy??? I won’t be returning tomorrow...