The Hidden Gem Cafe LLC — Restaurant in Abingdon

Ok, huge contrast. I was looking for local mom and pop. Typical first thoughts are country home cooking. If I was feminine this place would be my hangout. Here it is in a nut shell, nothing in this restaurant was bad, but nothing was great.

The good. *Chandeliers and sparkly tables. *The effort is there and I love to see effort. *Freindly family who owns it. *Nice music *Clean

The OK. Keep in mind i visited the second they opened so sometimes restaurants struggle to be prepared on time. I have worked in restaurants and it's hard. Never the less, here goes. -Mac and cheese was obviosly out of a box. Should be called Mac and soup. The Cornbread didn't even sop it all up. I grew up with box Mac, it's eatable. I have seen locations with killer Mac survive just because it's killer Mac. -Chicken and Dumplins. Should be renamed Biscuits and gravy with a dash of shredded chicken. The dumplins were fresh, it wasn't bad, obviously made fresh. Just no chicken. Came in a bowl no plate under it. Severed seperate than the sides that were on a plate.

-I never want to see the kitchen ticket severed on my plate of food. That honestly erked me. As I said iv worked in restaurants, I never want to see this again. I'm going to say anything else about this. -Honestly this is the reason I didn't give it a average 3 star. Tea is something is super easy to do and do correctly. The tea is sink water. Listen, 90% of restaurants are this way. Though I spend lots of money in places that install a filter to filter out the chlorine taste. After eating the bread dumplings I had to drink something. So I digested it.

Nothing was bad... Except for the ticket on my plate and chlorine tea. The effort is there. I loved this effort. A few adjustments and this place can go places. One other thing.... Its a big thing too. The FRIES. Holy Moly. With a dash of salt. These are the reason I can come back. I'd trade all my food for a brown bag full of those fries. They might be the best fries iv ever eaten. If I lived local, I'd drop in for "fries to go" often. Those fries are the golden ticket. Perfect, and asked they sat on the plate i gradually ate them. Often fries get cold and taste worse the longer they sit. I was forking the little nubs left over. I'd eat a bag of your cold fries any time of the day. Maybe rename the place to "The...

Ordered ahead as we were traveling in a group, had to reorder when we arrived. the chili on the hot dog was not chili, just some type of bland meat, ordered the cheeseburger plain, it arrived with everything on it; the fries are not french fries but home cut potatoes. The pecan pie was served hot and was not homemade, but store bought, the desert on the menu of the super sugar cookie with everything was no longer offered, HUGE disappointment. Restaurant is in the back of a nail salon so the place had the overtone smell of a nail salon as well. Service was hugely slow considering they asked us to pre order 2hr ahead and still had to repeat the order when we arrived. Skip this hidden gem, more like a hidden hole that should have...

I was warmly welcomed by the chef's DIL, and service was the same . . . good 'ole southern charm and hospitality. It felt like I had been invited to someone's home vs. a restaurant. The restaurant was pristine clean and nicely decorated. I had the meatloaf special with real mashed potatoes and cornbread salad . . . served by the grandmotherly chef herself who was so grateful for my patronage. Both the meatloaf and potatoes were tasty, but just a little underseasoned for me personally. However, the cornbread salad was the BEST . . . it was so good that I bought two servings to go! The portions and prices were reasonable. I definitely will try more of the obviously...