LUKE'S CAFE — Restaurant in Abingdon

We made reservations for a party of 9. Our table was ready when we arrive. Unfortunately our party became a party of 4 due to a emergency and sickness. Our waitress was very understanding and we offered to move to a smaller table. Atmosphere is interesting with memorabilia and art. Our food came promptly. However my husband and I ordered a shrimp appetizer that never arrived before our meal. Not sure what happened. But decided not to make a fuss about it. Our original server disappeared during service but our second server took care of us.

I had the crab cake sandwich and chip plate. Husband had the Kentucky brown. He thoroughly enjoyed his meal. My crab cake was ok. But I am a Maryland transplant and we have a a good understanding of a Maryland blue crab cake. Lump crab meat, Lemon, mayo, oldbay seasoning, some light breading, parsley, egg, yellow mustard salt, pepper. Our crab cakes are moist and firm inside and crisp on the outside. Sweet crab flavor with a nice spice of old bay. Luke's crab cake evidently was not made with Maryland blue crab cake standards. It was definitely large. The outside was a nice crisp golden brown breading. The inside was very soft to mushy. The flavor was very bland. It was not the worst crab cake I've ever had. I'd rate it about a 5 out of a 1 to 10 scale. The chips were not my favorite. Some were soggy others crisp, all the chips were cool touch.

The other two people with us ordered the American burger with fries and fish taco plate. The plates looked good and they seemed very pleased with their meals.

Will we be back? Sure will give them another try but will not order the crab cake...

Thought we’d try a local place. Waited to be seated, hostess pointed to table and said be right over. 10 minutes go by with no acknowledgment. In fact another couple came in, were seated and served drinks before we were even spoken to. 2 waitresses for 11 people in the whole place should have been enough. A couple tips for Luke the owner. The food was pretty good. We had the Cajun chicken fettuccini and the mahi mahi. The presentation on the mahi was lacking. Came in a bowl with gravy on top, no garnishments. My side a baked potato came 10 min later after almost done with dish. Not sure why a place that charges $40 a plate serves you foam cups for your drinks when they have china plates. Waitress offered no bread, crackers nor did she recommend any appetizers etc. during our long wait. For the prices this place is asking, you need to do much better on the service side. 1 new waitress running around apologizing to everyone and 1 old one who didn’t seem to care about anyone doesn’t cut it. This place could be a great find but not without some small changes. Greet customers, people are ok waiting for good food but not if they feel ignored. Offer some small hold over foods, bread or pita slices will keep people busy while their food is being prepped. Standardize the plate-ware. If you want to charge $40+ a plate, maybe have some glassware. Good luck in...

I am very disappointed. Last week I called to get reservations. I was told due to short staffing reservations are not accepted. Tonight I go there and the hostess/waitress at the checkout counter tells me I can have that table. Pointing with her finger. I ask which table and again she points with her finger. As my husband and I are getting ready to order, we are told they are out of ALOT of things including steaks, prime rib, salmon, and fries because everything is made fresh. We proceed to order and also order a “to go” cheeseburger. Once we are finished with our meal I ask for the cheeseburger. She proceeded to tell me they are also out of hamburger and she is just the “middle” person. As I am exiting she proceeded to apologize and hopes we will return, just don’t pick a Saturday. I told her how disappointed I was, we had been there before and no worries….we...