Aubrey's Powell — Restaurant in Knoxville

Aubrey's would have received 4 stars if not for Jaden (or sunshine as we began to call him for his bubbly "oh so happy" demeanor). I'm sure I misspelled his name, so I will go ahead and apologize right now. He was our server. The first sign should have been when we asked about the beer selections he said "we have all the normal stuff". So I ordered a Samuel Adams...."We don't have that". Guess that's not normal enough. He wasn't offering any suggestions, so we had to play the guessing game. I finally hit bingo when I asked about Yuengling, which they had. Good, I'll take it. My friend hit the jackpot on his 3rd selection. Alright, we had beers. My friend's son ordered a tea. Beers come, tea doesn't. Jaden comes back about 10 min later to ask my friend's son if he had ordered a tea, which he confirmed and received. Apps went well and beer kept flowing, no complaint there. We all ordered food. My food was great, crab cakes and sweet potato fries. Excellent, I'd highly recommend. My buddy's burger came out perfect, no complaints. His wife's dish however came out with no asparagus, which was one of the listed ingredients..and one of her favorites. So she asked if she could have some asparagus so she could add it to the dish. Good old Jaden went and got her some asparagus alright.....a nice small dish of cold, raw asparagus. He dropped it on the table, and knuckle dragged off before she could realize what he had done. Game well played sir. That gave us great comedic relief for the rest of the night. It was now time for the checks. I needed to split out the alcohol from my check as I was paying partially on a business expense, so I asked him to run a certain portion on my business card, and the rest on my personal card. He brought me back 1 receipt, with only the personal amount on it for me to sign. I asked him if I could have the receipt for the other amount, and he just said "I can't get it, that's just the way it prints." I asked him to please find a way to get it, because it is a business expense and I need the receipt. He just shrugs his shoulders and walks off. It was then that the people beside us look over and say "That's Jaden for you.....Whenever we come here we request NOT to be put in his section." They then went on to tell us of the wonderful experiences they have had with him, and explain that he is a manager favorite and thus keeps his job. God help them all if he is ever promoted! This information would have been more useful prior to us being seated in his section. There appeared to be many other capable waiters and waitresses in the place, so I wouldn't give up hope of good service here. All in all, I'd eat here again if I'm back in Knoxville, but definitely will ask to be in whatever section...

First off, I was a regular here. Usually with a group of 3-7 people. This had been my go to place on Fridays for their prime rib special. Unfortunately, the service tonight was so bad, I will be finding a new place. This evening, there was a wait, which isn’t unexpected as it was the typical Friday level of busy. However, once I was finally seated, it took 10-15 minutes for the waiter to wander by to take my drink order. I asked for my usual martini and a water. Instead of putting those in, he goes ahead and takes my food order, which was the last time I saw the man. Before my water even arrived, one of the other staff plopped down my entree and even stopped for a second and asked if I’d gotten my salad or drink (the answer was no), said he’d let my waiter know and went back to the kitchen. 10 minutes later I finally flagged down another member of the wait staff and asked for a water, which she gave me out of the glasses she was taking to her table. After about another 15 minutes a salad does arrive, and I asked for a box since my meal was cold by then, and I had been there for over an hour (counting my wait at the door). I’m assuming one of the staff finally alerted a manager, because one finally came by with my original waiter with some platitudes about my food getting piled up on me. After waiting for another 15 minutes for my to go order (Salmon for my son) he finally comes back and offers to comp my food (not the to go) and makes some excuses about how the prime rib comes out really quickly (which I would assume most staff should know). Not sure what I’m supposed to do with that information (maybe explain to the next waiter if I ever go back?). Finally, after another god knows how long I get my check and a to go container for my untouched meal (which barely fit in the box), get home, and see that the salmon and rice was salmon sans rice. I really hate having to change up my places, but this was a huge disappointment, especially for the price of the food. This was bad McDonalds level service, and considering the amount of money I’ve spent with them over the years, is completely unacceptable. One of the most infuriating parts of this was watching the waiter I had spend more time chatting with management and colleagues rather than seeing to his customers. Finally, I realize this sounds melodramatic, but this is a couple of hours that I look forward to each week. It has always been a place to relax after dealing with 5 days of work with friends and family, and until today, I’ve always felt valued as a customer. I feel like that social contract has been violated, and won’t be returning for a long while at least. To sum everything up, I’d say, I’m not mad, just very...

My boyfriend and I visited this Aubrey's shortly after the football game ended, around 7:40pm or so, and were seated quickly. Although the food was tasty, the service was extremely disappointing. Our waitress (unsure of her name, as she did not introduce herself) got us our water/bread. After bringing us the bread/water, she gave us maybe 2-3 minutes to look at the menu before asking us what we wanted for our appetizer and entrees. She wasn't unfriendly, but it was clear that there was some sense of "hurry" for us to order the entrees even before we could look at the menu for five minutes. We did need a few more minutes, so she came back shortly after and took our order. While waiting for our order, her and another waitress complained about how long the customers behind us had been in the restaurant before leaving. It was a bit unprofessional.

A different server brought out our appetizer. My water glass was empty for almost 10 minutes before another server (not our waitress) brought our entrees out and I could request more. Our waitress made an appearance right as we were finishing our entrees and graciously gave me another refill of water - as we were paying the check.

I would have been more understanding had it been busy, or if she was friendly or obviously trying. However, our side of the restaurant was mostly empty. We almost never saw her throughout the entire meal (not once after we finished our appetizer and when we started eating our entrees), and she didn't even take our menus or plates from the appetizer/bread until we were paying the check (leading to us stacking them up at the end of the table so we had space).

We usually love Aubrey's and have had great service here in the past. When you are spending ~$70 on a meal for 2 people you expect better service than the drive through at a McDonald's. Luckily, the other servers who brought out our appetizer/entrees and refilled my water...