Strawberry Alley Ale Works — Restaurant in Clarksville

Really couldn’t believe the experience I had here after so many years of being blown away. I brought my partner here because he’s never had fried green tomatoes before and hyped this spot up for weeks because when I lived in Clarksville, this was my go to. It use to be a great place to take my family and friends visiting from out of town. From the moment we were sat (there was no wait) the experience had already been tarnished. It took 12 minutes for our waiter to come and greet us. Just as we were about to get up and leave, he came to get us started. He first took our drink orders and we put in the tomato’s and egg rolls for the appetizers. Our drinks came out fairly quickly but our appetizers took another 20 minutes. The waiter never came to apologize for the wait or ask us if we were going to order dinner as well. When the appetizers came, I requested regular ranch for the southwest egg rolls and the server never brought it back. Another young man finally came around to take care of the table behind us so we were able to flag him down and ask for the condiment. By the time it came the egg rolls were cold and chewy. The tomatoes were lukewarm as soon as they hit the table and for as long as a wait that we had, it was super disappointing. When we finally got to order our entrees, i asked the waiter if it was going to take 30 minutes for our food to come and he actually said “it might” lol. Thanks for the transparency. My man ordered the steak frites and I ordered the chicken burrito bowl as it’s always been one of my favorites. When the entrees finally came, my burrito bowl was skimpy and had NO CHIPS. When I asked the waiter where the chips were, he then let me know they were out and that I could get something else if I wanted to. Of course I was upset because I had just waited an almost an hour to get to this point and I could’ve ordered something else when I first had the chance had the communication been trickled down from the kitchen to the patrons, but there was no way I could enjoy the pile of mixture that was presented to me even lacking the potato chips. So I opted for the chicken piccata instead. I asked my partner how he felt about his dish as I encouraged him to go ahead and eat without me so his food doesn’t get colder. He said it was fine and the fries were good. The steak looked liked it was cooked exactly how he asked for it but the presentation was lacking imo. My chicken piccata came in about 10 minutes after switching it out and it was perfect. Chicken hot and crispy. Seasoned to perfection. No complaints there. Just sucked everything sucked leading up to that. Also want to mention house keeping. There was several Cobb/spider webs with dead flies trapped in them along the window seals. 🤮🤢 this family restaurant started off strong and I hate to see it decline in this manner. Let’s get...

So I debated on 4 or 5 stars and just went with the 5, here's why: overall great first time experience and hardly a wait (although it was a Tuesday night, there was a 20-30 minutes wait for 2) and the food was pretty good overall. Anyway, we sat at the bar and were promptly served. I debated on only 4 stars because it took just under 25 minutes for us to get our appetizers. They didn't seem that terribly busy and other food was coming out before ours...but man, it was worth it! We had the fried chicken sliders and southwest egg rolls. Y'all, there is something about housemade pickles. They're thick, crunchy, and have a right balance of pickling and flavor. They were really good. In the middle we had a beer flight; full sample glasses, 5 beers and only $6.50. Pints are only $5!! (Highly recommend the hefeweizen). Moving on to entreés: I had the local burger and my brother had the fish tacos. While my burger was seasoned perfectly with s&p (that's all it really needs for good beef), my brother's fish tacos were a little disappointing. The black beans and rice looked and tasted very dry. As if they rehydrated the beans at one point, then forgot about them under the warming lights. There was no sauce of any kind surrounding the beans. The tacos were blue corn hard shell then wrapped in a soft tortilla. Too much if you ask me. Offer the blue corn OR tortilla only (and maybe put the tortilla on the flat top for a slight char and little crisp, but still malleable). The handcut fries were my absolute favorite! Perfectly seasoned and fried! I also think the ranch/dip for the egg rolls would be perfect on the chicken sliders. Welp, there's my opinion, hope you have a good...

NOT SAFE FOR FOOD ALLERGIES - Not willing to check ingredients

Unfortunately, I've developed a serious food allergy that is out of my control.

During my visit after a long day working out of town, I decided to try Strawberry Alley as it was ranked one of the top restaurants in Clarksville.

I let my server know about the allergy from the start. She left to check with the kitchen. When she returned, she said that the kitchen said they couldn't guarantee my safety and weren't able to check any ingredients for me.

For a restaurant in downtown Clarksville with the rating and number of reviews, I was shocked. I asked if I could speak with someone to ensure there wasn't a misunderstanding.

Sarina was the manager that came to the table. She appeared to have been working the Expo on the line prior to coming out. She was bluntly direct to the point of being short and rude. She said they weren't willing to check ingredients and couldn't guarantee my safety. There was no concern or compassion in the conversation.

I have only experienced this at lesser quality restaurants and fast food chains previously. I didn't expect this from a restaurant that claims to make much of their menu in house. I picked them because I thought they would know what went into their food without much effort because of that.

I couldn't ensure my safety, so I had no choice but to leave. Fortunately I had been to Dock 17 the night before and they were incredible! I made the drive there instead and had a...