Gracious Plates on Main — Restaurant in Franklin

Took my three daughters on a Friday night and had a great time. We enjoyed the atmosphere and the casual fancy setting. The entire staff was very polite and formal to an extent. We were seated at the very front table near the hostess station, so I was able to hear them greet every customer that came in. It caught me off guard when she seated us and asked how our weekend was going, whether we had plans, etc. It was a nice change from the typical "please follow me", hand us menus and scurry away.

Our waiter was very professional and polite. He knew the menu and the specials. My only "complaint" would be that he kept us there a bit longer than we would've liked, but I knew business was picking up and he was doing everything to keep up with his tables. No points off for that. He'll find his groove as time goes by and get better at timing.

The food was good. It's all farm-to-table and they try to make as much of their products as possible. For instance, my daughter ordered lemonade and said it tasted "funny" because the poor girl apparently has never had fresh squeezed lemonade. I thought it tasted great. The pricing is a bit inconsistent and I was surprised at the overall total. For example, we ordered the fried green tomatoes as an appetizer. It was absolutely delicious, but it was literally one tomato in 4-5 slices for $12. My pork tenderloin entre with vegetables and mashed potatoes was around $27. Either add more to the appetizer to make it worth the money or reduce the cost to remain consistent with the rest of the menu. The other inconsistency was a salad my daughter ordered. It was $9 on the menu, but I was surprised to see that adding chicken added another $8. It was a large enough portion, but the chicken was a little on the dry side and didn't quite provide the flavor I expected for double the price. The kids menu is severely lacking. It consists of chicken nuggets, grilled cheese and a fruit cup. Fries come with both the nuggets and the grilled cheese. I'd love to see restaurants adopt the idea of allowing kids to just order smaller portions of items off the main menu. My pork tenderloin (pictured) was good, but also just a little dry. The mashed potatoes were delicious and sauteed squash & zucchini were decent. Overall, the food was good and I look forward to trying different menu items.

The reason I'm not giving five stars is because I can tell this place is trying to cater to a more upscale customer base. That's fine, but they have work to do and I truly hope they can rise to the challenge and earn that fifth star. The food didn't quite meet the challenge or the price for me. Franklin is in dire need of restaurants like this, but to make the cut, they need to hone in on flavor.

Overall good experience. Perfect date night restaurant or...

I am giving this a 3 review only although a few short months ago I would and should have given a 5* . This time much less so evening it out. On my first visit was at night and had small plates and desserts. Tempura shrimp, Shrimp (something like egg rolls) Brie cheese served with toast points. EVERYTHING WAS delicious!! Then dessert of a lemon layer cake and coconut cannolis. Two of us for this. I raved about it two my husband so when we had occasion to be in Franklin again I talked him into stopping for a meal there. Three of us this time and I have to admit here that part of the blame lies with me reading ir just glancing and ordering not paying as much attention as I should. The shrimp Tempura was good but not as fabulous as remembered, the toast points and brie ( was a fondue ) with assorted vegetables that were not fresh and crisp , toast points were overcooked almost teeth crunching. Mistake i made was remembering a nice wedge of cheese and plenty of perfect toast rather than what tasted more like a queso dip better with chips. The others had another shrimp tempura again good but not as excellent as recalled. My husband had the small plate of flatbread he described as Okay. He also had fried pickles again okay, tasty and crisp so a positive. Also ordered was a burger but that ended up as takeout because we were ready to go. On the positive side the hostess was friendly, helpful and welcoming. There was an older woman that wasn’t our waitress also very cheery and friendly and another that waited on the table next to us engaging and conversational with her customers. We actually wondered what in the world we did to our waitress as she didn’t welcome us, did not tell us about specials acted as though she just really didn’t want to be there much less wait on us. Perhaps a bad day, we all have those but I have had servers tell me that up front and with a bit of back and forth we made it through and possibly even better. The restaurant is impeccably clean and fresh. The food is presented nicely and it is entirely possible that today’s experience was a one off or a combination of things going wrong on a weekend. We probably will give it another try in future and hopefully return it to a better rating as we love having independent...

We were passing through the small town of Franklin, North Carolina on our way back home from vacation and came across Gracious Plates on Main and decided to stop in for dinner while passing through. The restaurant was clean with an inviting atmosphere that was perfect for the small-town setting.

The restaurant staff made us feel welcomed from the moment we arrived. They took great care of us, taking the time to explain some menu items along with keeping our drinks filled and continuing to check in on us periodically to see if we needed anything.

We were pleasantly surprised at the extensive menu as it was filled with an variety of spectacular dishes. Everything sounded delicious and we eventually settled on a variety of wonderful appetizers followed up with the Brasstown Ribeye Steak which was cooked to perfection and absolutely delicious. The steak was so tender and full of flavor making it one of the best steaks that I've ever eaten, ever. The sides that came with the ribeye complimented it well, included were garlic blue cheese mashed potatoes along with sautéed brussel sprouts. The sides were delicious as well and were presented nicely on the plate.

The only downside of Gracious Plates on Main is the fact that it's located nearly eight (8) hours from our home in Virginia Beach which sadly will limit how often we can actually dine there. Moving forward I will plan our future trips to Tennessee with a route that goes through Franklin, NC so we can stop in and grab a great meal at this establishment.

The next time you're in the small town of Franklin, NC I urge you to stop in and experience this wonderful little restaurant. They have something special going on at Gracious Plates on Main and it's definitely worth taking a detour off of your route to experience it, you won't be sorry...