Spankies — Restaurant in Cookeville

First, the set up of this place is absurd. Restaurants have a flow for a reason. The hostess stand being directly by the bar/ordering stand is ridiculous and honestly a bit much.... especially on a busy night. Secondly, I know as a former server/bartender/ manager that Friday nights are extremely busy, but at no point does that make for a good reason to at least not smile/acknowledge you have patrons in the building for nearly 20 minutes. Next the water honestly tastes like dirt. My daughter ordered tea... it was disgusting, I originally ordered water then I thought I’ll change to Dr Pepper since it had to be better then the water that must have been handed to me straight out of the toilet. Not more then 3 sips were taken of both, but our waitress seemed to be so full of herself that she couldn’t bother to notice. Last, if you are going to have a terrible set-up with rude employees then AT least have good food and make the wait/lack of customer service worth the while. Nope, my daughter received what looked like kraft Macaroni, my husband got a “steak” sandwich that was made from meat that I would have put on an au jus sandwich at best. Definitely not steak! My chicken was awful, it was spongy and did not even taste real, the mushrooms/sauce was disgusting, and my baked potato was not cooked all of the way. I never complain at a restaurant because of the many positions and time I’ve spent on the other side of this; however, after my visit I would be doing this restaurant as well as future customers a disservice for not being...

The food is alright, but honestly it is way too expensive for the quality of food, drink, and service. I have always had problems with Kat/Cat, a server who is very rude, inattentive, and spends more of her time chatting with coworkers than checking on customers. You have to flag her down or else she won't check in other than to give you your bill, which gets annoying to have to do over and over and is always met with an eye roll, blank face, or annoyed sigh. Have never once had a good experience with her and every time my friends and I go and we are served by her, we go into an uncomfortable silence because her catty attitude (go figure) puts a damper on our mood. I honestly don't know how she still works there

Additionally, if you like cocktails don't go here. Too expensive and mediocre, their "open bar" I suspect is mostly utilized by guys wanting a beer after work, wine drinkers, and college students who want to get hammered on shots. There have been three occasions where I have ordered a COMMON cocktail and gotten the wrong thing when I have never had this problem at any other bar. I ordered a Paloma once on a Tuesday or Wednesday (so not busy) and it took the bartender a good 20 minutes after the waitress told him my order and he out loud went "uh what's a Paloma?" I mean seriously? You're better off going somewhere else or mixing...

Small restaurant and bar near Tennessee Tech that's been around for a long time. It has a nice, laid back feel and there's a tent covered outdoor area where you can eat if you wish. The menu has changed over time but the food remains good. We had a couple of the OG dishes; I had the 'Chicken Stix' which is grilled chicken on skewers with a baked potato. Both were cooked well and very tasty, but to me the chicken was a touch on the plain side. It was still cooked very well, being moist and not dry at all; I just felt it could've used some sort of marinade or sauce. The waitress was happy to bring me a cup of one of the many sauces they have, which did help. My sister had the 'Lemon Chicken Pasta' which she loves and orders often. I just wanted to point out that it's not what you might imagine when thinking of lemon chicken. It has a tomato based sauce with vegetables and has a slightly spiced tang to it. It's not my taste but lots of people do seem to enjoy it. Spankies is known for its bread which is a sort of yeasty bread with a soft, fluffy middle and a moist, cheesy topping. I was a bit disappointed that it was rather stale/dry on this visit, but it's probably the first time it's ever been this way on any of my visits. We were there right during lunch rush so that might have been why. Even though they were busy, our waitress was...