Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen — Restaurant in Abilene

This place is amazing! We decided to wait until this new Cheddar's had been open for a bit before trying it out. This gives the restaurant time to "settle in" and the employees time to learn the recipes, get comfortable in the environment, and iron out any kinks that arise during the first month or two. Our waitress was definitely a pro and treated us so well! She brought us some fresh, homemade, honey-buttered croissants that were so warm and melted in our mouths. It was a nice surprise, as we hadn't ordered them. We did, however, order the spinach and cheese dip appetizer that came with homemade tortilla chips and was delicious! I ordered the Country Fried Chicken (aka chicken fried chicken). My waitress asked if I wanted the "lunch" portion OR the "dinner" portion and, since we were having dinner, I chose the dinner portion. Oh my god! I had no idea that the "dinner" portion could feed a family of 10!! (well, not really, but it was gargantuan!) The photos I have posted here do NOT do it justice, but trust me...it was spectacular! Two ENORMOUS boneless chicken breasts fried perfectly, with a crispy, flavorful, battered coating, and super juicy meat inside. The chicken was placed on top of a piece of Texas toast and smothered in the BEST gravy I've had in ages! It had so much flavor and was so creamy. It also came with a large side of homemade mashed potatoes, also covered in the magic gravy. Next to the chicken and potatoes was a generous helping of Italian green beans, so buttery and perfect. I also ordered a House salad, which was delivered before our entrées, along with the spinach dip appetizer. This salad blew me away with its size and freshness. I asked for extra hard-boiled egg to be added to it and they were extremely generous with my request. To me, hard-boiled eggs always make a salad a million times better, and this salad was no exception. It was divine in every way! I have to say that my entire meal was phenomenal. I was very pleasantly surprised! My husband felt the same way. He ordered a Monte Cristo sandwich filled with turkey, ham, two kinds of cheese, and deep-fried in a thick coating of what tasted like funnel cake batter, and then dusted with powdered sugar. On the side, for dipping the sandwich, was a little container of raspberry preserves. They were unbelievably good!! He chose a loaded baked potato instead of the French fries noted on the menu. This was the most beautiful sandwich I had ever seen and was as delicious as it looked. EVERY THING was perfect and soooooo delicious!!! We will definitely be visiting this Cheddar's often! The menu is full of scrumptious food to choose from, with a large variety of things for every kind of palette. The service on this occasion was spot on and we were treated like true guests. The prices are very affordable and the portion sizes are huge. All of our food was delivered extremely fast, which was perfect because we were starving! I recommend this awesome restaurant to everyone. If you haven't been there yet, definitely make plans to go. I give this restaurant the highest marks. It is now one of my favorite...

EDIT: 8/12/19

I went back to Cheddars, around the same time as last time, and ordered about the same meal I have to say, it was a complete 180 from the time before! My server, Nicholas, was attentive, charismatic, and very friendly. He was prompt and I didn't have to wait long for anything. I got the Honey Butter Croissants to start and just wow, they were ridiculously good! Warm, soft, and such good flavor. I got the potato soup again and it both looked better and wasnt as unpleasantly thick as before. Very good. The difference between the first fish plate and this time is rather stark. Large fillet, better seasoning(though slightly over seasoned), and the plate looked full, fresh and inviting. I did ask for no rice but still received some. Not that huge of a deal, I just don't much care for rice. The mashed potatoes were good last time but even better this time. I also got gravy on them, which didnt come on them before. I got green beans instead of macaroni as I wasn't much sure I wanted to try it again (the time before was....bad). They were tasty~ Overall, this visit to Cheddars was what I would expect of a restaurant of their caliber, and WAY better than the first experience. I would definitely come back. I hope the service continues to be as good as this time than the first time lol. Thank you for your time, and you definitely earned your stars now :)

Unfortunately I didn't have the greatest experience. I got the grilled whitefish with mashed potatoes and mac n cheese, along with some potato soup. The soup tasted good, but was incredibly thick. Like, really thick, to the point it created an uncomfortable mouth feel. Adding some water helped a ton though, and I was able to enjoy most of it. The fish was....unpleasant. It looked and tasted like it had been sitting on a counter for too long. I did not finish it. I did not eat the mac either, as it was mushy and the cheese was watery. The mash potatoes were delicious, definitely enjoyable. Service was really slow, though the waitress was very nice and had great customer service. The manager was accommodating and offered to replace my fish, but I declined, as we had already been there for a long time (2 hours) This was my first time visiting Cheddars, and maybe I just came on an off day, but I might have to think hard before...

I went to Cheddar's Sunday after church with my parents and I'll try to list everything that stood out. When I walked up to the host stand I had to wait to be greeted. The hostess was just making conversation with a coworker and after they finished their conversation she finally acknowledged me. The good thing is we were sat right away, but everything was kind of downhill from there. Our waitress was Penny, she told us they were making croissants and they'd be out soon. No big deal there except they didn't come until we were getting the food we ordered, so it was a long time. The big thing was that the family next to us was sat at the exact same time as us and while they got their croissants right when they got their drinks was another red flag. That family came, ordered, ate and left all before we got our food. Normally when you order a meal that comes with a salad, they bring the salad out before the food. This didn't happen. They brought my mom's salad after they brought her meatloaf. We had to wait for them to bring my dad's bowl of soup, the easiest of our orders and it arrived last. Same with the water my mom ordered, she got the lemon she ordered with her water way later. The other waiters and staff I could see were busy running their food, bussing tables and refilling drinks. Our waitress was rarely on the floor. I would understand if she was busy with other tables but she was in the back the majority of the time. Only when another family was sat next to us did we see her handle another table. (The first family who arrived with us that came and went from that table had a different waitress, but the second family had Penny) Anyway, the food was definitely better on other visits we've had to the restaurant. If you do go, I would avoid the burgers, meatloaf and potato soup. My burger order was wrong, not a big deal. My mom's meatloaf did not look appetizing, she said it was cold and brittle. My dad's soup was as thick as mashed potatoes that came with my mom's meatloaf. The best thing we had was the beer from the bar. In conclusion, I don't think we'll be back for a long time if we do go back. If we do go back I hope it's with one of the previous servers we had. I don't know if Penny was going through something or why she was checked out but it...