O'Charley's Restaurant & Bar — Restaurant in Alcoa

Haven't had a good experience at this O'Charley's in a couple of years. On several occasions the food has either been over salted or has arrived to the table cold. On one occasion earlier in the year, they had a section of tables closed off. The wait was going to be 20-30 mins. When we asked why they couldn't seat us at one of the open tables, we were told that section was closed & that they couldn't seat anyone there, so we left & went elsewhere. The most recent experience on Father's Day, they refused to seat our party of 8 together, which had it been explained to us when we put our name down, would not have been a big deal, as we would've just said that's not going to work for us & gone elsewhere, but we waited for close to 45 mins, only to find out they had to seat us at two different tables, which we were told due to their corporate office not allowing more than 6 at a table for social distancing measures, even though TN state guidelines clearly state that restaurants were allowed to seat parties of 10 or less together & still be in compliance with social distancing measures due to covid-19. We were told at first that it was state law and when when my husband pulled TN guidelines up & showed the Mgr, he then said oh well it's actually corporate policy & they hadn't communicated that to their location yet, so they couldn't seat 8 of us together. So when the rest of our party arrived, we decided to leave. The strange thing is, we called the O'Charley's in Farragut & asked if they were allowed to seat a party of 8 together & they said, yes that they were allowed to seat parties under 10 together & still be in compliance with TN guidelines, so it was obviously NOT corporate policy. That was the nail in the coffin for us & we won't be patronizing the Maryville/Alcoa...

4 pm on a Thursday. Savannah is my server. Alcoa, TN restaurant is completely empty. Perfect timing 😁 Try this restaurant. I think you'll like it. Excellent greeting when I walked in the door. Music isn't jarringly loud. Server came right up. Bread is very good but butter has been left out too long to soften, it has split and has a rancid taste and texture. It was replaced... same thing. Taking the extra bread home for a treat later. The sweet tea is southern perfection! Menu choices are varied but not so lengthy that the cooks have too much to remember. Ordered salmon, mashed potatoes and a salad. Why is a side salad considered premium and pay extra for it? Homemade ranch is a bit too vinegary. Dinner came out very quickly! Asked Savannah to tell them not to overcook the salmon and she said she would. It's perfect and the bourbon sauce is good. Mashed potatoes taste like crabs. Seriously. Crabs. Just so happened that someone who appears to be a manager came over at the moment I was trying to figure this flavor out. He replaced them with mashed sweet potatoes. No toppings, just right. (Put some on your bread! :) The more I eat of the salmon, the better it gets and I am just loving it. I'm only giving 4 stars on the food because I shouldn't have to ask for fixes and i can't do 4.5 to add a little for the salmon. But if I could give them a 6-star rating for service, I would, because if it's not right or you don't like it, they will fix it with a smile and a truly pleasant attitude. Savannah came by just enough. She was very pleasant but not overly talkative. I'd love to make this a place I regularly visit so i can try other dishes and experience this...

Two of our four entrees were badly burnt. However, that it not the purpose of this review. Harry Beckwith wrote regarding gauging the loyalty of customers that the true measure of loyalty isn't the the number of overall repeat customers, but the repeated business of customers who received unsatisfactory service and instead of taking their business elsewhere choose to return anyway. In this instance, the manager personally delivered the unburnt portions of the entrees with the other meals, announcing that fresh replacements were already being made - compliments of the house. The manager was well trained and didn't leave any doubt from the outset that the staff was committed to correcting the error, without prejudice to the customer. Mr Beckwith also wrote that the majority of service customers stay with a service provider not because of researching the best option, but because of fear of the unknown possibility of poor service elsewhere. As long as a provider, ex. restaurant, doesn't disappoint them, they have no motivation to risk change. However, when disappointed (without resolution) the risk disappears and the customer seeks a new provider. However, the same customer with a resolved disappointment now has the confidence that regardless of the staff's perfect or flawed performance, they will still receive good service as the final outcome. That is the true measure of customer loyalty. This manager made the...