Scotties On The River — Restaurant in Chattanooga

We sat in the outdoor seating area that was first come, first served. The wait inside was 20 minutes. The outdoor area overlooks the river. Our waiter, Mason, was excellent. He was very attentive and knowledgeable on the food. They hold a tasting for the staff of their specials, and he recommended the one I chose.

Atmosphere: The atmosphere is casual and family-friendly. The restaurant is attached to the Spring Hill Suites hotel. In the dining area, it is a large open room with high ceilings and large banks of windows overlooking the river. If you are looking for a quiet, intimate dining experience, this is not it. The outdoor patio is the same family-friendly atmosphere and is attached to the paved parking area.

Bathrooms: My husband and I both used their facilities. They were both okay, but both needed some attention. They did not smell unclean. There were bits of toilet paper in the stalls, and the trashcans were full.

Food: They bring complementary sweet and spicy cornbread and hushpuppies to the table. The cornbread was my favorite. I ordered a bowl of the She Crab soup, and both the hushpuppies and the cornbread were delicious with it. If you like seafood based soups, this one is one not to be missed! It was LOADED with crab and perfectly seasoned with an underlying brightness despite the creaminess of it. My husband is not a fan of seafood soups and really liked it as well.

My husband ordered the crab cake appetizer and added a side of brussel sprouts. Hear this. I am NOT a fan of brussel sprouts, but I would order those! The crab cake also came with a slaw made from brussel sprouts, cabbage, carrots, and kale. Dressed with a sweet vinaigrette, it was delicious!

I had the grilled cobia special. This is a mild tasting fish with a firm texture. It was delicious and perfectly seasoned. It was served over mushroom risotto with a tarragon sauce and garnished with pieces of fried lobster. The risotto was a bit al dente, which I don't mind but is not my preference for risotto. The tarragon sauce was a bit heavy-handed and overshadowed the risotto. The pieces of fried lobster were mostly unnecessary. They were over-breaded and fried too done. Overall, it was a good dish but could be elevated with some brightness of some acid from the slaw that came with crab cake, which would also add some color to the dish.

Dessert: We had the key lime pie and creme brulee. Both were very good. I'm particular about creme brulee and prefer it with an overall darker, very caramelized crunchy top. It delivered! Both desserts had a whipped topping that was real cream and seemed to be fresh, house made.

Price: Prices were very reasonable and comparable if not slightly better than what you would pay at a...

I recently had an unfortunate experience at Scotty's on the River in Chattanooga. Accompanied by several actors who had been attending the local Comic-Con, we were looking forward to enjoying a meal with a view of the water. Unfortunately, our visit was marred by the behavior of the restaurant manager.

We called ahead to get a reservation and were told we didn’t need one, implying it wouldn’t be busy. We arrived to find a half empty restaurant with no availability by the window. They also shut down the deck due to an occasional drizzle. We asked them why they told us we don’t need a reservation and they said they don’t accept reservations at all, which is not the same as “you don’t need a reservation.” “We don’t take reservations” implies that a restaurant is so busy we should anticipate a wait.

We were offered a 45 minute wait for the window for our entire party. We were starving so we forgave the bad info on the reservations and asked for an indoor, no-view table. They said we couldn’t sit at one of these many available tables until our entire party was there. We were prepared to order food for them before they arrived. No go.

We stepped aside to discuss our options. Suddenly the manager came out, demanding to know which of her staff told us we don’t need a reservation. She told us “she can’t go off he said she said” and that we’re probably the ones who are mistaken (the customer is always wrong at this place). She loudly informed us that “this is a $6M a year restaurant that everyone in town knows about” - we asked around at other popular restaurants, the locals working there never heard of it. She said she “doesn’t care who these actors are,” she’s “not making an exception and seating an incomplete party.” “We have prom, we have graduation, we have Iron Man!” Again - the restaurant was half empty. Her demeanor was unprofessional and discouraging, especially given the context of our group, which included notable guests from Comic-Con.

Our group left and went over to Overboard Bar & Grille. It was only around 8:30pm, but they were closing their kitchen because it was slow. When we told them what happened, they OPENED THEIR KITCHEN and remained open for a few hours so we could have a nice meal. The food was great and the staff were delightful. We tipped them well, took photos with staff, and recommended their establishment among convention staff.

We could not believe the lack of southern hospitality at Scottie’s. Surely they would do far better than $6M/year if their manager wasn’t yelling at potential patrons. Skip this one and head to Overboard. It’s on a boat and very comfortable inside! We’ll be dining there next time we’re at a Comic-Con in...

This is an experience for the books. We (a family of 7, 4 adults and 3 kids) arrived at the restaurant around 1815hrs. The waitress brought out a large vase of ice water with scorching hot glasses that were stacked and a few were cracked. No big deal, we brush it off, swap out glasses and order our drinks along with a draft beer and top shelf margarita. Our drinks (not the bar drinks) came out about 5 minutes after ordering and we went on to order our food, After waiting about 20 minutes, or bar drinks finally came out. The margarita was water, where the ice was and the beer was hot from sitting out. We choked the drinks down and waited another FIFTY minutes for our food to come out cold, floppy and absolutely nasty. The Brussel sprouts still frozen on one plate, the broccolini cold and watery, the burger we ordered was missing everything it showed to come with on the menu and the sweet potato fries were hard and cold. Our kids couldn’t eat their popcorn shrimp plates due to the freezer burn taste. My husband and I requested to speak with the manager, mind you the waitress was wonderful, we had no complaints and we had no issues waiting on our food; the problem was waiting for it to be atrocious. The manager comes out of the kitchen, looking like a soup sandwich, stains all over with her hair everywhere. She proceeds to tell me “it’s a busy Saturday and I don’t understand what they go through, they just had a large crowd leave and she knows that there was no food holding for fifty minutes.” Said manager had the absolute WORST attitude I had ever dealt with when it came to customer service. I get having a bad day; I answer 911 calls for a living, I wasn’t trying to belittle her and we reiterated that we didn’t mind waiting at all but if we had to wait, it would be nice to have warm food. We sat and listened for a few minutes to her loudly excuse her kitchen staff before she took our untouched plates and left.

The photos attached are what $89 worth of food looks like, if it would have come out fresh, this review would have been a good one.

Last but not LEAST, when I asked the waitress if they “tip shared,” to prevent manager “Karen” from having my money, she said they didn’t and we apologized that our cold food turned into such an issue. She then apologized to us and went on to explain that this is how this manager acts every day, for every shift. That’s sad. These employees are dealing with a horrible manager (photo of soup sandwich has been added for...