irrationale kitchen+taps — Restaurant in Cookeville

A friend took me here Thursday night before a concert recital. I was skeptical and as we approached from outside I was kinda expecting...a thrown down trash bar. BUT...

Let me explain. My wife and I have been looking for a higher end contemporary restaurant in the area, but never have found. I was tired of O'Charlies and Chedders pre-packaged industrial food. Olive Garden went to dirt after Covid. All the good places went high price, low service and dirty restaurants after Covid.

Finding this place was a treat.

First the decorum. I read reviews of ones who did not like the look of the place, yet they stayed and left a bad review....why?

So it is a New York industrial contemporary look and feel. Open brick walls, exposed wood, industrial ceiling, large windows. it was a nice look. It was also CLEAN. Go to iHop, or some other place on restaurant row, this place was very clean. I really enjoyed the atmosphere.

I ordered the fish & chips, but since I don't like fries I asked for onion rings, did not have. Ask if they would add. So I got the mashed potatoes and mac/cheese.

Let's take these items 1x1.

The mashed potatoes. I had NEVER tasted anything like them, very exotic and very good. A 5 star dish without question and real potatoes. Then the fish, the pieces were small, but the batter was good.

The mac/cheese tasted like a blend of cheeses, not sure but as a very poor child growing up mac/cheese was a normal meal, theirs was very good.

I asked for cockatiel sauce and it was apparent they made it there. Too heavy on the horse reddish but it was unforgettable good.

I told my wife and a couple friend of ours, we are all going back Wednesday evening about 5pm 9-27th. I have told them all to please order off your regular safe choices.

Some reviews complain about the prices. People the prices are on the menu. To be honest, if I was in a dirty place like iHop, or Golden Share Bar, yeah I would be upset at the price. But this was a clean restaurant.

So many dishes are over $16. But your paying for the atmosphere, the experience and the clean eating environment. When I take all that into consideration, the prices are very reasonable.

The service was very good as well. Our waiter was quick with refills and checking on us.

So the drawbacks, only 2. It WAS too dark. I did not feel comfortable because it was too dark. I'm not suggesting put in bright lights. We have those outdoor LED Edison bulb type string garden lights outside, they cast an ambient soft gentle yellow light. Adding a few of those in some areas would give just enough glow to balance it out. The second is IT WAS COLD. I had a light winter jacket on and it was still uncomfortable cold.

Aside from those two adjustable things it might just become my wife and Is new date night place.

I have been telling many about it and will continue to. Thank you for providing an upscale decent place to take a date...

My best friend and I had heard very mixed reviews about Irrationale and so as we were out and about and driving by we decided to stop for lunch. We arrived on a Thursday afternoon around 1 PM. First, the signage outside is confusing. We didn’t see any clear way to get in and ended up entering behind the bar which has a sign for catering or delivery orders or something like that. Oh well, we got in and it didn’t seem to bother anyone. The bartender explained how to enter properly next time. This seems like an easily fixable issue. They have a ton of blank wall space to put up signage. We were seated in the main large dining area. I liked the ambiance but it seemed a little “bare” some more decor would really warm the place up a little. That being said it was a nice space with plenty of room for groups large or small. For lunchtime the place was pretty quiet, five tables with guests total. We were greeted warmly and seated promptly. Our server who’s name I regrettably neglected to get was great. It looked like she was the bartender, hostess and server and she pulled it all off without neglecting any of us. She deserves 5 stars. A lot of the iffy reviews have revolved around service and wait times. Our service was on point. Seated and order taken in short order. We both ordered the wedge salad for $7 (great price) and it took 23 minutes to come to the table. That’s a loooong wait for a salad. The salad itself was ok. A wedge salad depends on the wedge to really be good. My wedge was slightly chewy and lacked the crisp/crunch of a great iceberg wedge. The toppings were on point and delicious. My best friend’s wedge was exactly the same as mine!

On the could do better notes: Best friend ordered chicken as an add on to her salad and it was slapped on an unattractive too large plate on the side. She said the chicken wasn’t really good and impossible to add to the salad as the bowl the salad was served in was to small to really cut anything. The chicken was served in long strips. She doesn’t generally complain about anything so I took her for her word. I wanted an impossible burger but Irrationale is completely irrational and charges you a crazy $4 replacement fee to give you a frozen veggie burger that costs no more than ground beef. What the holy heck Irrationale? Way to alienate plant based eaters! This really made me mad enough that I won’t go back. Another pet peeve is serving sides in bowls on a plate. It’s a tacky way to make it look like there’s more on a plate. I saw that on several diners’s plates and just rolled my eyes.

In response to owners comments: It was beyond burger not impossible burger. Sorry about that. I still challenge you to make homemade veggie burgers for super cheap and put them in the freezer and not alienate plant based eaters. Casey was AMAZING! I’ll be on the lookout for your plant based options in the future. Thanks for...

Overall everything was just really overpriced for the quality of food, service, and atmosphere. The place is very clean and spacious as a positive, but it is a bit dark, cold, too modern to really feel comfortable. The food was a huge letdown as far as flavor. I ordered blackened chicken breast with duck fat tots and Mac and cheese. I believe mine was around $14-$15? The chicken was actually really good, not a steroid chicken breast, well cooked and seasoned. The tots were fantastic. The Mac and cheese was really bland and made me wish I had just gone for some broccoli instead honestly. My husband got the Caesar salad with chicken and he said it was good, but again for a $12 salad it was just so bland. His chicken also wasn't as well seasoned or cooked as mine was. Which was a shame since it was like an extra $4. We both shared beer cheese and pretzels as an appetizer and that was also $12 and we're both pretty positive they're just reheated frozen pretzels. The cheese was the best part and I'm glad I saved it because I put it on the Mac and cheese and it actually made it taste good so that's how I was able to finish it. When we paid we were confused as to why it cost so much because it just didn't seem to add up? $50+ for what we got during lunch? We think they either charged us extra for our separate waters or they tacked on gratuity to a 2 person table? We still tipped generously because that's just who we are. Again though nothing was done well enough to make you want to come back. Service was just alright, food was okay, way too pricey. Truly a bummer because we love finding local eats but this place...