Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen — Restaurant in Kingsport

Update 6/2025: After avoiding Cheddar's after my last negative review, I finally revisited hoping the service, quality and experience had improved. Unfortunately it has not. The food was good although my chicken in the Key West chicken & shrimp was overcooked and dry. The drinks we ordered were expensive but I couldn't detect any tequila (if they did add it in there) in my Grand Margarita, an expensive disappointment to say the least. Our server was unattentive and gone for long periods. We had to ask 5 times to receive extra napkins. This was a Saturday visit 12:30-1:30pm which should be a busy time however the restaurant and parking lot were mostly empty. Unfortunately this Kingsport location will remain on my list of places to avoid. Sad because this use to be one of our favorite locations for our weekly date night.

Old Review 2023 : I really don't understand what has happened to this location. Pre-pandemic it was one of me and my wife's favorite spots for date night. They use to offer different food choices and excellent food preparation. We have tried this location for the 3rd time since they have reopened post pandemic and we have been disappointed each time with this last visit being by far the worst. As soon as we were seated the waiter mentioned how it was almost time for him to leave. This did not instill the utmost confidence that we were going to get the best service that we had expected. I ordered grilled white fish, steamed broccoli and mashed potatoes with a cup of potato soup as an appetizer. My wife had shrimp and chicken with a salad for her appetizer. All appetizers and main courses came out together. My potato soup was not great and I left 1/2 of it and who hasn't ever been able to finish a cup of soup appetizer? The main course was sadly disappointing. The steamed broccoli and grilled white fish had been so overcooked they both turned to mush in your mouth. I ended up having to send the meal away and had them remove it from our check. My wife had a slighly better meal experience but we had issues getting refills of water and we were not checked in on but once during our meal. I don't know if the issues are with management or training but the company really needs to address these issues at this location. It seems like the old seasoned managers are wait staff are no longer there and it is affecting this restaurants quality as a whole. Sadly, after this 3rd post pandemic visit we will not be back for a 4th. When one goes out for a meal at a restaurant, even if the service is lacking, correctly prepared and quality food is why you are there. Cheddars hasn't gotten this right on our...

A new friend & I went for late lunch when I went to drop my car for repair nearby. I selected the restaurant - I made a huge mistake!! I was beyond embarrassed when she commented, "I will never go to another Cheddar's after this experience today." The hostess appeared scatterbrained even though we were the only ones there at the time. She kept looking at something on the desk, then at the menus, then back to the desk & then grabbed a couple menus & took us to a table in the bar area. I don't think she said 10 words from start to finish. Our server was the bartender also so we ended up having to wait for her a couple times while she made drinks for the dining room tables. She did make a tasty cocktail though. We ordered the cheese bites & the chips with queso to start. Both dishes looked like the food had been thrown on the plates rather than plated to appear appetizing. The cheese bites were not good! They were just warm, not piping hot. The cheese inside was firm, not soft or with any pull. The breading had so much seasoning that I couldn't taste the cheese at all. They were so crunchy, one actually scratched the roof of my mouth. The chips & queso were not good either. The tortilla chips were mostly broken. The cheese was not white queso - it was the fake orange color stuff & it appeared to have been microwaved in the bowl it was served in because there was a thick smudge in the bowl above the level of the cheese that had formed a brown 'skin' over it. The cheese was very thick & clumpy in addition to tasting awful. Neither of us said anything, but we gingerly picked at the dishes. We flagged down our server & put in an order for the Monte Cristo sandwich which we decided to split. The sandwich arrived cut into quarters. I took a quarter & took a bite. I could feel grease/oil coat the inside of my mouth, cover my lips & running down my fingers. I wrapped the quarter in a napkin & took another bite. The grease had soaked through the napkin before I took a second bite. My friend pushed on the outside of one of her quarters of the sandwich & grease pooled around her finger on the surface of the sandwich. She stated that she couldn't eat it. I had already come to that determination as well. We stopped our server & showed her the grease. She actually commented that it was "gross" & asked if we wanted something else. At that point, neither of us were interested in another dish like the ones we'd been served. The sandwich was removed from our bill, but no manager came to speak to us - our server told us. I am in total agreement with my friend regarding Cheddar's......

‼️‼️im fuming!!! We went to cheddars scratch kitchen on Eastman road in Kingsport Tennessee and the treatment we received was ridiculous. I don’t even have words😡😡😡 so anyone who knows us knows we eat cheddars ALOT every time me and Derek go on a date that’s normally where we go you can look through my pictures and find atleast 20 pictures of just me and him there if not more there. we also eat there with the kids alot to because they love the spinach dip and we eat there with family as well. Derek and his family has ate there long before we met in 2015. Well as everyone knows Will our son 4 and is handicapped and can not walk. So he is in a stroller until we receive his wheel chair to be able to get around cause he’s heavy for us to carry long distances. I told them that he is not mobile and that we needed a high chair as well. So if you are familiar with cheddars right behind check in is a wall and behind that’s is small seating square seating area. They took us back there and mind you it’s completely full besides two tables. She said is this okay I said we won’t fit there with his stroller and high chair it will be super cramped against the other people. So she shows another table in the same location and it’s clearly no better. I said that won’t do either. She said well that’s all I have. Derek was so mad and said let’s just go. There were NUMEROUS empty tables that were clean that she could have sat us at but refused to. I hope that you all don’t treat all special needs family’s with a handicapped child or adult this way because this is just not acceptable in any manner! Shame on you! families with handicapped family members should be able to go out and eat like everyone else. So we went over to Olive Garden across the road and they have treated us so well! Derek didn’t eat he was so angry. ‼️‼️ DO BETTER CHEDDARS. You’ve lost our business for good! I shared this publicly to my fb. I also wouldn’t even leave a star if I didn’t have to. And yes I understand that Dardens owns you all and Olive Garden as well and I will be calling them tomorrow! You all are not handicapped friendly so you can mark off wheelchair accessible! Also not...