The Daily Ration — Restaurant in Chattanooga

Food was excellent, however, worst service of my life.

Myself and two friends came here today around 10 AM and The Daily Ration was understandably busy. We were told it was a 20 minute wait but it turned into 45 minutes. I'm not going to fault them for being busy but if we'd been given a more acct estimate we might not have stayed. We started by ordering two drinks during our wait from the cafe. I requested to-go cups as we were standing for a long time and I didn't want to balance the hot cups and saucers while we stood with no place to set them down. One was placed in a to-go cup and the second came in a mug and a saucer which was difficult to hold for the next 30 minutes. Not a huge deal but very inconvenient.

When we finally got seated almost an hour in, our server, Brittany, took our whole order. We'd requested more coffee as well. She disappeared for about 10 minutes. No coffee. 15, then 20 minutes. No coffee. Not a check up, no explanation for where she went. She passed us about 3 times serving another table. I saw her standing by the register them drinking her own coffee and waved and made eye contact. She turned away from me. At this point my boyfriend goes inside and gets his own coffee as we've waited 20 minutes for a simple coffee order. She comes by finally and I ask her again what happened to the drinks. She apologized and said it was busy in the cafe. She leaves again saying she'll bring it and by then my boyfriend returned with his own drink. Finally after 30 minutes we get the coffee we've waited on.

When the food came I noticed she'd never brought us silverware and we were sitting there unable to eat any of it. I politely requested silverware, she apologized and said she'd get us some. Five minutes, she's not back. Close to ten minutes now. At this point the food is starting to get cold and she's passed us several times attending to a different table. We've tried waving her over and she ignores us. Frustrated, I go inside and find another waitress to request silverware so we can eat the food we waited over an hour for. She found it in about a minute and we ate. During this time Brittany never came over to check on us, never brought silverware, or even apologized for not finding any and leaving our table unable to eat. At this point about 30 or so people have left and the restaurant wasn't even busy so no real excuse for not even stopping by. We've eaten here dozens of times and I've never had such an unprofessional experience. I hesitate to return if this is how customers...

As a lacto-ovo vegetarian I am always excited to find restaurants which are willing to go the extra mile to provide meat-free dish alternatives. The Daily Ration had a vegetarian friendly biscuit and mushroom gravy, an option I've rarely found in this area.

We ordered drip coffee, biscuit and gravy, blueberry flapjacks and the Veggin' Out. The inside presented itself well as modern-rustic with the ambiance of a coffee shop.

For me, there are 3 main factors which comprise my experience at a restaurant, the quality of the food, the service and the environment. I'm not sure if today was just an off day however out of those 3, only 1 was really met well. The appetizer of biscuits and gravy arrived well after both of our main dishes arrived. I will give credit where credit is due, an individual, who I presumed to be the owner, apologized for the inconvenience, took it off our bill and still had the order delivered.

The photos attached presented most dishes in their best light, however 2 out of the 3 flapjacks were burned on their bottom while their edges also had a defined crunch. I could have asked for another stack, I have no doubt the owner would have accommodated, however we didn't have time to wait another 20 minutes for the order to go through.

In addition, they promoted using velo, a local coffee roaster, however when their coffee was served it came with two pre-packaged creamers and one package of raw sugar, for the two of us. There were plenty of artificial sweeteners available for those who don't mind their taste. We were able to ask for fresh creamer however the request was met with a response which seemed to indicate it was unorthodox.

One of the last things, which wasn't by itself a big deal, was the time between the waitress's check-ins. When everything is going well this isn't typically noticeable. It does become noticeable when your appetizer isn't showing up, you have an accommodation request, or need the check to leave on time.

I do believe we must have visited on a day where they were off their rhythm. I will say that due to our experience it isn't on our immediate bucket-list of restaurants...

Wish I read more reviews first. Interestingly enough, I had a similar experience to what reviewer DJ_M posted a year ago, as well as similar recurring complaints. I don't think they know what Benedict is because they serve cold hard sourdough toast with a teaspoon of spread (supposedly pimento cheese, but I've never seen any this thin and watery) and a "Sunnyside up" egg (less sunny, mostly uncooked whites). The greens are soaked with so much dressing and plopped on top of everything so that you can't avoid your supposed Benedict getting drenched it whatever is dripping off it. No hollandaise sauce, which even though not explicitly stated in the description is essentianlly a key definition of Benedict dishes and implied in the name. While the beignets were an enjoyable treat, they were the only thing that came out even remotely warm. Multiple menu items are quite misleading and extremely overpriced for what you get: cold, unimpressive plates. Good luck finding or getting a menu before you get to the counter, which is half the reason for a long line. You'll never see a server after your cold mediocre food it dropped off, so hope it comes out exactly as you ordered it and that you don't want a drink refill (despite the signs plastered everywhere that say "skip the line, ask your server") or you won't actually get what you need/start eating until the rest of your table is done. Since everything comes out barely warm, eat fast or you'll end up with rubbery, unpalatable portions of your meal. The Location and atmosphere are quite nice, but I would recommend sticking to First Watch if you're looking for quality food and service, and keeping the Daily Ration on the short list for a draft beer or beignets (go early though because they don't change their oil enough and go from a golden brown to a questionable burned hue). This was not at all worth the $70. I'd pay $14 for the brunch sampler and the drinks are pretty standard for market pricing, but would be very skeptical of trying anything else and would DEFINITELY think twice before tipping 20% at what essentially is a...