Epicurean Restaurant — Restaurant in East Ridge

I've driven by this restaurant for 25 years, today was the day to try it. Party of two, ordering things off the menu which are highly recognizable and fairly standard. There were probably a dozen or so seated customers.

The restaurant has a dated, classic feel. There are lots of reviews from extremely loyal customers who love the food, service and have nostalgic love for this place. I like to support local businesses, especially restaurants which have survived so much just to stay afloat and keep serving the public.

It does come down to what's on the plate, and frankly both our meals were genuinely frightful. And that's a shame.

The "Chicken and Dressing" was comically questionable. The chicken was rubbery and dreadfully tasteless, dressing was oddly sweet (?) and the neon gravy seemingly right out of a foodservice can. The side items of pinto beans and yams did not taste as though they received any more seasoning or attention than how they came off the truck. This was on par with entry level hospital food, and even hospital chicken and dressing would scowl at the comparison. I was really surprised. Sweet dressing? Is this somehow Greek?

But the spaghetti. Wow, was this a plate of hot trouble. The entree was a vast noodle mountain with a dollop of meaty mystery plopped atop the pile. Out of curiosity we tasted each other's dishes, mostly to find out why both of us were so visibly perplexed. The spaghetti meat sauce tasted like a quasi yet less appealing Manwich type mixture with not a hint of Italian seasoning and very little "sauce". There wasn't much of it, so the dish was plate of large, dry noodles. Just noodles absent the sparse meaty enimga of a sauce would have been an improvement. I do not like typing this, this meal was foul.

The garlic bread had no garlic, it was grilled toast. It was fine, but it was not garlic bread. Tell me it's a buttered roll, not garlic bread.

I wanted to leave a review from a new customer not infused with nostalgia or attachment from years of patronage.

Epicuran is an institution many love. I respect that, as they have earned it.

We were served barely edible meals today, ones we would have never remotely considered serving in our own homes to anyone.

And that... is a problem I hope Epicurean takes to heart.

Reading the reviews it is easy to see we are not alone.

Spaghetti and Chicken & Dressing are not complicated meals to serve in a broadly satisfactory manner.

If a restaurant fails to serve the most straightforward dishes in a manner new customers recognize and consume absent alarm, that's 100% a house problem.

On the positive side, I assume Epicuran can live nicely off its decades-long fan base family and our thoughts are inconsequential.

What they may wish to consider is the number of one-and-done customers they attract and never see again. Whatever number that is, it's worthy of consideration when recipes...

My girlfriend and I went recently. They had tons of options that sounded very good. She decided on the baked crab stuffed flounder with rice (without the gravy) and a salad. I had the 7oz bacon wrapped sirloin with a baked potato (told her with everything you have) and a salad. The salad wasn't bad, but was what was to be expected, as other reviewers have said, as just plain shredded lettuce with a lot of shredded carrot. Now to the main course: she said her fish was pretty much cut in half, a serving of "crab" placed on the bottom, then the top put back on and baked. The seasoned/lemon juiced crust wasn't bad, but for the most part the fish was mushy and flavorless. She said her rice wasn't that good either. When I first cut into my steak, I thought they had accidentally given me a cube steak. It looked EXACTLY like ground beef. When i got to the middle it was solid like a real steak, but both upper and lower sides of it looked exactly like they had found a way to compress ground beef into a steak form. It didn't really taste bad, but I've seen better quality steak from places like Waffle House. The baked potato was tiny and not actually a baking potato. It was a small potato like you would quickly boil to make mashed potatoes with. It didn't taste all that great and only came with a flavorless fairly solid cup of "sour cream" with chives that was in no way actual sour cream with fresh chives.

As others have said, they were the youngest people there by 30 years. That's true, and while it's great the seniors have a restaurant they like and can see their friends, I have a feeling that's why the Epicurean is still in business; the seniors all eat there. They think it's good food and a good atmosphere and there aren't a bunch of young people. When a restaurant offers stewed prunes as a side, you know they're catering to who keeps them in business.

I'd dare say that very few, or no one in their kitchen has any formal cooking schooling. Just a bunch of people following what's written on a piece of paper, likely written by people without much training. That, or they just purchase cheap bland ingredients and cash in on the old folks that haven't eaten anywhere else with...

I have eaten here or gotten meals to go a couple of times each week for 2 or 3 years. The description as southern food and Greek specialties is good if you understand that they don't drown the food in grease and salt and they have many other good thing on the menu, which is on their website.

The vegetables vary by the day of the week, so Monday will have the same ones each week, etc.

Some of my favorites are: candied yams (the best I have had, plenty of spice, not too much sugar, not overcooked), pinto beans and white beans (the bowl is full of beans and they aren't overcooked), sweet potatoes with marshmallows or without the marshmallows on top, grilled chicken with pineapple, charbroiled skinless chicken breast marinated in Italian dressing, fresh grilled minute steak, filet mignon, spanacopita, tiropetakia, homemade corn bread and rolls, onoin rings and french fries (not greasy), and homemade egg custard.

The only item I hear more than a few people say they don't enjoy is the spaghetti. Others go there for the spaghetti. I like it, and it comes with a larger than usual salad.

After 4pm you get a free tiropetakia (Greek cheese roll) with the meal.

It can be loud when packed full. Friday is the busiest evening.

They usually take about 15-20 minutes to prepare the meals, but it isn't typical fast food and I think it tastes great. Also, the service is almost...