Spear Ridge Café — Restaurant in Florence

I’m as much of an architectural nut as I am a foodie so when I saw this place being built, I couldn’t wait to see what was going into it. I was surprised to see it was going to be a restaurant and happy to see it wasn’t another chain. I reviewed the menu before going and it left me scratching my head as I guess I was expecting something closer to “scratch home cooking” vs sandwiches and “baskets”. Regardless, I’m always up for an adventure so I rounded up my wife and son and headed their way with enthusiasm and anticipation.

The flow of the restaurant was a bit confusing with three different places to enter, 2 of which require you to snake thru the dining area to get to the ordering station but hey, they’re new so I trust they’ll work it out for future newbies. We ordered three of their signature items: the Cowboy Killer smash burger with tater tots, the Classic Cuban with onion rings, and the Catfish Basket with fries. I also order a side salad with blue cheese dressing.

The winner by unanimous consensus was the smash burger which could have used a bit more sauce but was delicious none the less. The tater tots were a bit cold and lacked salt.

The Cuban was pretty classic but I felt like the yellow mustard and pickle hid the flavor of the pork and ham on the sandwich and half of my sandwich had a good deal of meat on it while the other half felt like it got short-changed. I’m guessing this had to do with how the sandwich was pressed. The onion rings were good but also lacked salt.

The catfish breading caught me by surprise as I’m used to seeing a traditional cornmeal breading on our catfish - the less the better because I want to taste the fish and not have the breading be the star. I’m really not sure what type of breading this was but my wife wound up pulling it off and eating the fish which she agreed was good. Her fries were good but lacked salt.

My side salad was served in a to-go container and the blue cheese dressing tasted like a combo of Tatar sauce and blue cheese - different but not offensive.

I wanted to say we loved the food as much as we loved the building but I unfortunately couldn’t. We’ll cut them some slack and definitely will go back to try another smash burger but we’d really like to see some other options...

The food quality is exceptional. The atmosphere is dope. The service is terrific.

I've been three times: Cowboy Killer: the burger was cooked and prepped to perfection. Flavor-wise, I prefer more of a kick. I'd want more sauce and kick the heat up. But even though it wasn't exactly to my taste, it was so high quality that I'm still comfortable saying it's the best burger I've had in many many years. Buff Sandwich: 10/10. It's the perfect buff chicken sandwich. It's simple. They aren't trying to be overly unique with different flavored sauces. It's just an incredible chicken breast with quintessential sauce. I got a side of their Blue Cheese dressing. Knocked it out of the park. Biscuits and gravy: I was underwhelmed when the food arrived because the gravy is in a styrofoam bowl next to two large biscuits. Then I ate it. 10/10. Best B&G I've had in many many years. Again, incredibly high quality food.

When the food is of such high quality, even if it's not exactly to your taste, it leaves you daydreaming about the next thing your going to try.

It's a very clever business. Fast food style ordering and help yourself beverages keep the line moving and likely keep their costs down. This lets them focus on the extremely high quality atmosphere and food... This is going to be a gem around here. I'm truly impressed.

HOWEVER! It's called a Cafe'... But all they have is drip coffee. I wish they, at the very least, they offered espresso. Their drip coffee was their own brew (I think) and it was very good.... But when you say Cafe' my expectations is espresso at the least.

Now I find myself dreaming of a larger Spear Ridge Bar & Cafe. If they had a bar.... It'd be game over. They'd instantly compete with trendy bar/restaurants a la Blind Squirrel. Plus, if they had a bar they could put an espresso machine back there ;)

9.9/10 - I docked a 10th of a point for...

Frustrating experience, went in for the first time on Saturday afternoon about 130-200 ish. Never having been there, I was confused about whether to sit and order or what to do. Finally, I approached a worker and asked, and they informed me to order and sit where I wanted. After selecting what appeared to be a somewhat clean table, I waited for my food and watched the staff do next to nothing. It was not busy but every table was dirty. I stopped the manager and told him he should get the tables cleaned. He said thanks and went back into the kitchen. A few minutes later, I watched the cashier come out and start cleaning tables in the secondary area, extremely slowly. A few minutes later, the cashier stopped cleaning before finishing, I was still surrounded by dirty tables. Now the manager comes out and starts cleaning the same tables the cashier wiped down. He asked the food runner to sweep. I finished eating and waited another 10 minutes to see if anyone would ever clean the main dining area. The table next to me even had a tip on it. I went to my car to leave and came back in to talk to the manager again. By this time, there were some patrons sitting at the dirty table with the tip on it. I found the manager and told him about this. He said thanks and walked in the opposite direction as I was leaving. I told the food runner she should clean the table where those people are sitting at, deer in head lights. FYI, maybe three or four groups came in the entire time...