Hill Country Cupboard — Restaurant in Johnson City

THE WORST PLACE I HAVE EVER EATEN AT!!!!! One star was given ONLY because google wouldn't let me give it less than that and still write a review. My experience with the Hill Country Cupboard in Johnson City, Texas was so awful that I do not know where to begin. My mother and I had passed this place countless times and finally decided to stop in and try their "World Famous Chicken Fried Steak". Upon entering the establishment we were not greeted and finally after standing up by the "please wait to be seated" sign for a few minutes a VERY unprofessional, gruff, off-putting looking woman came over and told us to follow her to a table. We sat down at extremely uncomfortable, worn out booth, but still being positive thought that maybe these worn seats were just part of the "vibe". From then on the experience just continued rolling full speed ahead down hill.... I used the bathroom and upon entering the room the front door was only hanging on by ONE hinge (the bottom one) and nearly fell over on top of me upon me trying to open the door enough to get inside the ladies' bathroom. The restroom was CREEPY. I am not by any means a scaredy cat or anything, but I felt like I was watching dateline where they tell you about the creepy men hiding cameras in the bathrooms to sneak peaks of women. The bathroom ceilings were not one piece and there were holes in the ceiling as well as in the paneling between the two bathroom stalls. It was so bad that I just walked out of the bathroom without actually going. And I am from the country so a bathroom has to be REALLY REALLY REALLY bad before I hastily walk out of it. After that, now hungry and still needing to go to the bathroom, our waitress (who was extremely rude and made it very obvious that we were a nuisance to her) brought us our food. I ordered the chicken fried steak with fries and black eyed peas, my mom ordered the chicken fried steak with fries and green beans. The fries were straight out of the packaged frozen fries... they were just the knock off crinkle cut fries that anyone can buy at the grocery store, and they weren't even cooked all the way through. The chicken fried steak was the MOST DISGUSTING CHICKEN FRIED STEAK THAT I HAVE HAD IN MY ENTIRE LIFE. It was absolutely flat in flavor and I had to spit out every other bite because it was so full of gristle. My mothers chicken fried steak was equally as disappointing. The gravy, which I attempted to eat with my frozen crinkle cut fries, was flavorless...I had to dump salt and pepper onto each bite of french fry and gravy that I took just so that it would have some sort of flavor. And the final straw, the black eyed peas. I legitimately took a bite, attempted to chew, and had to fight hacking up my bite of peas onto the plate in front of me. They were straight out of the can, and not even a good straight out of the can. My mother's experience with her green beans was a very equal experience. Her green beans texture was all wrong and you could taste that the green beans were straight out of a metal can that had probably been sitting in that restaurant for quite a while. I left this place still hungry because I was not going to eat the food. It was absolutely horrendous. And the waitress was so rude towards us that I was not about to ask to speak to someone about it. I WILL NOT EVER be returning to this establishment and hope that this review will save other people from the same horrific experience. I do not know if this place used to be good and maybe switched owners or something, but whatever they're doing right now, they need to change it quick and in a hurry. Then again, I should've seen that on a Sunday at 12:30 in the afternoon they did not have a "church crowd" for lunch so obviously any locals have recognized to STAY AWAY from this place. I hope that this review can save some of you from the awful experience that I had to endure by going there. Absolutely the worst food that I have ever put in my mouth and a treacherous experience costing me $30... Hopefully no one else will make the same...

My husband and I decided to have breakfast with a close friend we haven’t seen in awhile. We ate, my husband picked up the tab and we left. As we began to pull out of the parking lot the person that apparently served us claimed to be the MANAGER of the place flagged us down. I rolled down my window to see what was wrong. She angrily said, “Was their something wrong with the meal or service because you didn’t leave a tip?!” My husband tried to apologize and did not walk into this business with the intent on being rude or purposely not leave a tip. He tried to pull his money out and tried to explain as she proceeded angrily, “Our waitresses rely on these tips and if your going to come to this business and not leave a tip then don’t come back!” And walked away without allowing us a word.

Life lesson: I use to work at a winery and served many people. I can’t tell you how many occasions I never got tipped no matter how hard I tried. Did I chase them down in the parking lot with anger? NO. Did I feel a sense of entitlement to a tip? NO. People disappoint. Sometimes you don’t always know why people do what they do or why they didn’t leave a tip but, to go around in anger over it tells me you have a lot going on internally to behave the way you did.

My husband and I don’t intentionally go around trying to cause grief or upset with anyone. It was an accident that we did not leave you a tip we weren’t trying to rude. He tried to make It right and you refused.

In all sincerity I pray for you “manager.” I don’t know what storm god has asked you to walk through and what is going on with you personally but I do wish the best for you.

“Know this , my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.”...

We stopped here on a Sunday around 3:00pm. The lady sitting us asked if we wanted a table or booth, we opted for a booth, she says “ok here’s a good table for you”...this set the course for the rest of our experience. Waitress comes to take our drink order, when she brings our iced tea’s, there was almost no ice, no straw or lemon. Taking our order I seemed to stump her by asking for gravy “on the side” of my chicken fried steak but was ok to put it on my mashed potatoes. After explaining twice she seemed to get it and wrote it down. I asked for lemon when she had a chance. There was one other table already eating and no one else in the restaurant. She comes back with a straw, so I ask for lemon again. She brings our food. No lemon. No gravy on mashed taters and a small cup about half full of very thin tasteless gravy for the cf steak which thankfully was not bad. Very thin meat with endless crispy crust. Needed salt and pepper but overall good country diner type food. I had given up on my lemon and we asked for more tea “with lemon” as we were getting close to finishing our food. No tea ever arrived. No lemon either. Asked if we wanted desert, we chose not to order any pie to take home since she couldn’t remember to bring anything else we asked for and never acknowledged such. I almost laughed out loud when she brings the check (we had to ask for) and says “can I get y’all two tea’s to go?” Not kidding you. Thanks, but...no thanks! She had to be high or possibly had a head injury, the possibility of the latter being the only reason why we left her a tip. Possibly the worst service I’ve ever experienced. In addition, restaurant is not very clean and no a/c in the...