1885 Grill — Restaurant in Chattanooga

We got to the restraunt about 8:05 on a Sunday night. Their business hours are 10am to 9pm. When we walked in their was a 4 top waiting to be seated and a group of maybe 5 or 6 waiting in the lobby. It seemed that they had been turned away but asked to look at the menu before they left and walked away shortly after we entered. We were told “it would be 10 minutes but that they close at 9 and we would need to make sure to put in our order in immediately.” I did notice an empty table, but figured they weren’t seating that table for whatever reason. While we were waiting to be acknowledged after the family ahead of us left another family walked in. I believe they were a party of 4 or 5. The hostess told them that “unfortunately they had reached capacity for the night as they close at 9 and it was 8:10.” Theyfamily looked taken aback but didn’t put up a fuss and just left as the kids asked “why are we leaving?” confused by the situation. Maybe 3 minutes later another family of 4 walked in and the hostess gave them the same spiel about reaching capacity for the night. The family let her know they had Uber’d to the restaurant. The hostess responded that “there are plenty of restaurants within walking distance, but she’d see what she could do” and walked away for a few seconds and came back to confirm they indeed were not going to be able to be seated at a table, but that the two parents and their two young kids could “sit at the bar if they wanted as it’s first come first serve.” The family opted to take that option, but it was not lost on me that the bar option wasn’t offered to the first family. Eventually, we were sat at the empty table that I saw when we first got into the restaurant. As an aside: We did find it odd that the two parties that were turned away were ethnic of sorts (appeared Hispanic and middle eastern) and the parties waiting on the bench when we arrived, the family set at the bar, and ourselves were all white.

I wish I could say that the food was worth the less than stellar customer service at the beginning - but it was not. My fried chicken was tasty, but the green beans were tragically under cooked. Looked sautéed but tasted raw with the crunch to back up the taste. They were out of the mashed potatoes that I was super excited to try so I instead got the Mac and cheese. My husband got the pork chop, French fries, and the Mac and cheese. The pork chop was not super flavorful, but was cooked well. His mac and cheese was super creamy and had a lot of sauce. My Mac and cheese somehow was dry and had almost no sauce. Looking at his made me jealous, but I don’t know how the same dish would have such different consistency at the same visit at the same table.

For the record, we left at 9:03 after being sat at 8:17, placing our food order almost immediately, waiting 25 minutes for the food, and waiting for our server to bring us the check. Seemed to be no rush other than at the hostess stand.

Over all an awful experience and truly the only bad dining experience we had while visiting Chattanooga for this last week. Definitely not a place I would recommend to my friends or family travelling this way...

Easily one of the worst experiences I've ever had in a restaurant. We sat by the kitchen and I guess the hood vented all the smoke from whatever they were burning right in to our section. We all had watery eyes and I sweat thru my shirt before dinner got there. Our waiter kept running over me every time he came to the table. He spilled every drink he brought to the table on my arms, menu, my back and somehow never noticed...or he noticed and didn't care.

When it came time for checks he set them on the table and ran because they weren't right. We wrote out who got what and handed them back asking that he fix them. He took what we wrote and wadded them up in front of us then disappeared for a while...again. He was very good about screaming "lemme know if you need anything" as he ran off. Honestly it didn't matter what we needed because he quit filling drinks when the food got there. This was great when the room was filled with smoke. He came back and wrote down who got what as he ran over me...again...then he went and hid. He drops our checks and runs...again...and they were shockingly not right. So we send them back...again.

Finally someone else brought our checks back and one of the three was correct so we sent them back...again. Fifteen minutes later our checks came back finally correct. Our server didn't have the testicular fortitude to come near the table so he sent someone else. The nice girl apologized and explained it had been a rough night and they'd had a situation. I pointed out this was entirely self inflicted. Also I don't care. I don't eat out for a server to complain about working in a busy restaurant. Go work in a slow one and see what it pays. Splitting a check isn't that hard but for this guy it was, and he was completely incompetent. So much so that everyone was picking up his slack.

Honestly the food was good. But to sit in a smoked filled heat box with a server that has to hide from you and runs you over when he comes to the table yelling at you? There is literally nothing anyone could say or do that would make me go back there and spend that kind of money. I wouldn't care if it was free, it wouldn't...

OK, so the sun is setting and your nestled in the shadow of Lookout Mountain. You probably went there to see the national park. Sit outdoors if the climate allows. This is the place with the award-winning wings. There are enough trophies to make a little league dynasty happy.

6/10 Pinot Grigio: it’s a glass of white wine

6/10 Strawberry smash: a tasty lemonade, strawberry drink.

7.9/10 Blueberry Mojito: I like a clean citrusy drink, and this is it!

Crab bisque: a savory cream base with chunks of crab. Very tasty and a bit on the salty side.

Award-winning wings: double fried and tossed in Carolina gold barbecue sauce, service, celery, and ranch for me. Blue cheese available. 10 to 10 would recommend. Savory honey, mustard barbecue sauce with a hint of tanginess crispy perfectly cooked not served overly hot.

Ribeye: medium with rosemary Pom frites, aïoli, and Caesar side salad. Ribeye is cooked fairly well cook lean on the rare side. Frites with aïoli dope, Amsterdam needs to call and get their recipe!

Mushroom Grits: tried 50-50 on the grits. One of them cheesy creamy grits, the other cooled padded flowered, and fried out of the shrimp. If you can’t afford to eat here, go steal your grandma’s TV and hockey at the local pawnshop. This dish is worth it! The citrusy creamy cheesy grits with greens and mushrooms come together as an explosion of flavor. Pecan apricot bread pudding: excellent, the chef is a sorcerer. If you try this and descend into the depths of stealing from your family so that you can get more, we are not responsible.

P.S. The staff that brought our food was not our server. She took it upon herself to bring fresh or fries. That is good service no matter what. Anytime you have servers cover in the back of other servers, You’re in...