Crawdaddy's — Restaurant in Cookeville

The food was all good but not spectacular. Appetizer: Pesto goat cheese dip! The cheese was the star! Just the right proportion of pesto to goat cheese. We all loved it. The bread gets a zero. Tasted and felt like a cheap grocery store baguette, no substance. We only ate it because we needed a vehicle for the cheese! I had the Louisiana hot garlic shrimp with sides of brussel sprouts and red potatoes. The shrimp was perfectly cooked and the seasoning was good. The description said prepared with loads of garlic (true) and white wine (false). You could definitely taste the garlic but not any white wine. The seasoning also wasn’t “hot”. It was good but not as described. Also, there was a pool of red grease under my food which wasn’t necessary or appetizing. The brussel sprouts were on point and delicious. The roasted red potatoes were also ok and well seasoned but I somehow expected more of those based on waiters description of “pan roasted baby red potatoes with herbs”. They just looked standard. A + for everything being seasoned well. Another guest had the gator bites and he said they were good. Someone else the scallops and she said they were very good. Another got crab cakes and she said they were ok. I took a bite and agreed. They were seasoned well and pretty good but missing something to make them great. Someone else got the surf and turf and he said it was all good except they didn’t cook the meat to desired temp. It was undercooked in the center. All in all the food was good and we would go back but it wasn’t 5 star. A note on the ambiance. It’s a bustling restaurant which I love with an upstairs and downstairs and a patio! The only issue is the amount of tables. They have so many tables packed in that it’s difficult to move through the place and while seated people are constantly bumping into you. I understand as a business they want to maximize their space but they are sacrificing their customers personal space while eating. Service was good! Nothing to complain about or...

Fantastic experience all around except the host/hostess stand. Doesn't match the rest of the place and staff. It's really simple to do this job well, but although there were 4 people standing at the host stand when we arrived, they all stared at us like they weren't sure why we were there. It was so weird, no greeting or anything. My family and I looked around at each other like, "Are we doing something wrong?". After the staring contest for a solid minute, my husband asked if we could get a table. The body language of the girl who stepped up was pure annoyance. Without a word, she grabbed menus, walked us upstairs, and put the menus on a table directly next to the kitchen and left. I'm more accustomed to, well, pleasant people in the service and hospitality industry, but at least the customary "is this table okay?" The table was NOT okay, and we stopped a wait staff member who was extremely accommodating and offered us a table which wasn't in the direct path to the kitchen doorway.

That being said, our remainder of dinner this evening overcame the ridiculous start. I would personally fire every host staff member and seat people myself if I were the manager, at least until I found a person(s) who could do it right. Furthermore, I feel bad for the waitstaff. Not only having to overcome people's bad first impressions of what I continued to observe was typical derelict behavior from the host staff, but actually having to share tips with these incompetent people. I'm assuming the customary tipping traditions because I'm not sure what Crawdaddys restaurant actually does.

The food was amazing, the wait staff was amazing, the place was clean and beautiful. I'd like to visit again without having to endure the same start to...

Crawdaddy's is decent. I'd honestly give it a 3.5 out of 5. My wife has eaten at this location a few times. She mentioned that they had a fire back in 2020, so this was her first visit since they reopened. I've never been here before but was excited to try their menu.

We met our niece for lunch here. I had a sweet tea and my wife ordered a water. She took a sip of the water. Something didn't taste right. She asked me to taste it...I shouldn't have. We had a fantastic server, Delaney. She brought my wife a lemonade, and she was much happier.

Appetizers were BBQ wings and fried calamari. Wings were pretty good, and my niece loved the calamari. Our niece ordered shrimp and scallops creole. My wife had the shrimp and grits with fried okra, I had the French cut pork chop with red potatoes and creamed spinach.

When the food arrived, it was absolutely stunning on the plate. Everything looked amazing. First thing I tried was the spinach, it was a bit too salty. My wife tasted it and was surprised by how salty it was. The pork chop was absolutely gorgeous on a plate. It was a fantastic cut. It was cooked perfectly. Nice seasoning on it as well but I will say the flavor didn't quite penetrate the meat. It was soft and juicy, but once you got into it, the flavor didn't quite hit me. My wife thought her shrimp and grits was a bit too oily. She ate the meat and left it. She enjoyed her okra. Our niece said her meal was perfect.

The location is beautiful. They had upstairs and downstairs dining and a nice outdoor dining area. Bathrooms were clean and the service was top notch. I'd like to try a few more items on their menu. At the end of the day when I finish a meal, it comes down to whether or not I'd dine there...