Cafe 4 — Restaurant in Knoxville

Ok - much needed update. Still a lovely location, lovely cocktails, lovely food and all in all a great time... BUT... WE FINALLY MADE IT TO BRUNCH! It did not disappoint. Oh my!

They have something called THE ultimate breakfast sandwich that has a souffled egg in it and honestly it was the most Delicious, perfect, and yes - date I say it? ULTIMATE breakfast sandwich. It came with an interesting cheese grits that was a bit sweet and a bit savory. But all around yum!

My mom got the two eggs, grits, bacon and toast and it was also amazing. She fell in love with the flavors.

I needed to try a couple of the shareable plates - warning you now - they are definitely for sharing! The ooey gooey cinnamon roll was quite ooey and gooey and well as crispy and also yum. We also got the toast trio. Savory and sweet selections of toasted goodness and well, we couldn't even try all of them at the restaurant because it was just too much. Never fear, they went home with us.

All in all brunch was a winner! And after a bit of a wait at the start (seems our original waiter disappeared) we ended up with a wonderful server Thol. Can't say enough nice things about him. As soon as he was on it, our food came out incredibly fast and incredibly wonderful.

Topped off with a glass of the house prosecco and I was more than content. Good job Cafe4. We will be back for brunch again soon! .....

I brought my mom here and missed brunch by 15 minutes, but we still had a good time and really good food and drinks. I'm definitely coming back for brunch next time!

My mom had the pecan salmon with crispy Brussels and soft and semi-sweet tasty carrots. It was a great dish. The fish was cooked perfectly. The sprouts were semi-crispy and soft and the carrots were spot on. A great choice at $26. Well worth being one of the more expensive items on the menu.

I tried the pom mimosa which was a perfect brunch cocktail (or anytime tbf), and the fish tacos. I liked the fish tacos, but it was more like cheese, cabbage tacos and not so much 'fish'. I saw the fish... A tiny piece way at the bottom of the taco, but it was very overwhelmed by the rest of the taco filling. Still tasty. Still liked it, but won't get it again.

We also got the whipped potatoes and homemade chips as sides and both were really good. The potatoes were smooth with a great flavor and the chips were crispy and seasoned, although came with a very generic remoulade sauce.

Lastly I decided to get crazy and order a Briar Patch cocktail (honestly, I saw how cool it looked coming to a table next to us, so had to try it) and was not disappointed, from the presentation to the flavor... Nicely done.

We wanted the butterscotch bread pudding, but they were out, so we ended up with apple pie, which was delish and MASSIVE! I MEAN MASSIVE! and at only $5.50 a hella amazing deal! Omg, covered in vanilla ice cream, this has to be at least a quarter of a whole pie!

A lot to take home, and well worth traveling downtown for. We will be back to try other things and have no doubt all...

After dining out for the 3rd time in downtown Knoxville/Marketplace Square- specifically Cafe 4- I had to give my feedback/warning on dining in the outdoor patio area. If you are going to spend big bucks on a meal there, you will be dealing with the homeless population among you. I've come to the conclusion that dining outdoors there is off the table for us. There just doesn't seem to be a workaround it to enjoy dining outside without being bombarded by homeless people.

We have experienced the following: someone screaming at the top of their lungs trying to "sing" for 10 solid minutes until they ran out of energy and moved on. Many people passed out everywhere from drugs/alcohol on the public benches and stage area, a woman in a wheelchair playing Dixie and the Stars and Stripes on an endless loop on her kazoo, panhandlers taking free advertising newspapers from the stands and asking for "donations", panhandlers coming up to us at our table and asking for money while we were chewing our food trying to eat, some guy with an electric guitar, (thank God he wasn't using an amplifier) no shirt and shoes strolls right into Cafe 4 and walks up and down the aisles and asking for money, various people peeing in the corridors and alleyways of Marketplace Square. The final straw was a man sitting right outside Cafe 4 was sitting on the curb playing with himself (there were two small kids sitting not 50' from this.) It was at that point, I just had enough. There really needs to be a police presence (which I've seen off an on) in downtown Knoxville to prevent the area from being over run with homeless people before it starts driving people away.

Now I understand that homelessness is a big issue in this country and there is a delicate balance between the public and the homeless population. Everyone deserves respect, however, because of the actions of homeless people who may be mentally ill or on drugs or alcohol, sadly dining outside is no longer an option for us. If we go downtown to eat, it...

Underwhelmed and undersatisfied. We went for Sunday Brunch.

There's a lot of room for improvement starting as soon as you walk in the door.

Host/hostess stand. The placement should allow folks to get in and out of the restaurant without feeling like you're in line at Disneyland. The staff are forced to carry trays of food THROUGH the line. They have no way to get around (or they don't use it). Once you get the text that your table is ready, there's no way to easily get back to the hostess stand, so you're back in line waiting again. Customers trying to leave have to weave through the line. Terrible. Recommendation: Put the hostess stand outside.

Host/hostess. This person is important and should be thrilled to meet every customer. Ours clearly hates his job and has no desire to speak with other humans. Recommendation: smile and at least pretend like we matter.

Waitstaff. Ugh. Wearing Crocs? No judgment, but also... gross. Why not just wear flip-flops to serve people? Appropriate dress should be considered for the person who spends the most time with customers. Yes, let's keep Knoxville Scruffy, but can we avoid hobo? Recommendation: Set a minimum standard for dress and appearance or improve on what you have.

Food. Over seasoned or bland. You're trying WAY too hard to be unique and missing in the process. Biscuits are the consistency of cornbread. The waffles taste like straight butter. The fried chicken tasted like straight salt. The gravy was bland and boring. Recommendation: if you're going to serve good 'ol down-home cookin... do that. Nobody wants "woke" country breakfast.

Tips. The recommended tip at check out STARTS at 20%. You sent a hobo to wait on me, poorly, didn't treat me like I'm important to your business, then act like a 20% tip is the bare minimum. No part of my experience merited any tip at all.

Atmosphere: This is the only star you have. Good thing you scored a spot down town to...