Chesapeake's Seafood Restaurant — Restaurant in Knoxville

We've eaten here as well as the Gatlinburg location many times. Every time has been amazing, the food, service and ambiance. This time was NOT GOOD AT ALL -VERY DISAPPOINTED. My husband and I went for our 1 year Anniversary 1st we had oysters as an appetizer. They were amazing! We split a wedge salad, again amazing! I ordered grilled scallops with a crab cake addition, and my husband had the baked seafood ( fish, shrimp, scallops & crab cake). THE SCALLOPS TASTED LIKE STRAIGHT AMMONIA! I could smell it when they set our plates down, I assumed it was the cleaner they used or something... I tasted my crab cake it was great, tasted my potatoes and those were good as well... then the Scallops, which are my favorite, and I eat often, BAD BAD BAD! THET TASTED LIKE THEY WERE SOAKED IN AMMONIA! I asked my husband if he tasted any chemicals, and he said no at that point because he had only tried his fish and crab cake at that moment. So he picked up a shrimp, which are wrapped around the Scallops on his plate and when he took a big bite, from the look on his face, I knew immediately that he tasted the same thing I did. I picked up his scallop and smelled it...OH MY! Let me tell you, his were like opening a warm bottle of ammonia and taking a huge whiff and since his shrimp were wrapped around the Scallops, they were just as bad! We both stopped eating and laid down our forks. Our waiter came back to our table to ask if everything was OK, he could tell from the look on our faces something was definitely off. We told him the problem, he took our plates. The manager proceeded to come to our table and as I was letting her know our experience, she tried to brush it off saying sometimes this happens, that it's the Scallops diet or where they're from can cause them to taste this way...I almost burst out in uncontrollable laughter, but was able to contain it to a big smile and a look to my husband who was in awe at this point. Is she that ignorant or think that I am? If I didn't already know better and wasn't educated on the subject, would she really tell this BS to people as an excuse? At first, i thought she had to be kidding. But she was not and she had a terrible disposition from the time she approached our table, body language says alot! I asked her if they were fresh, where they came from, if the kitchen used ammonia to clean with or his was it possible they were chemically contaminated? She talked to me with such denial and objecting that they could not have come in contact with any chemicals, especially ammonia, and stated its just the way they are sometimes. All I could think was, "Lady, have you lost your mind? This is a seafood restaurant, there's obviously cleaners and disinfectants used when cleaning." You know it's a good seafood place when you go in, because it does not smell of seafood. She said they were replacing our plates, didn't ask if we wanted to choose something else, but did offer each of us a cup of gumbo or bisque, which we partook. Anyway, she walked away from our table at that point, didn't apologize, didn't reassure us that this wasn't normal, I mean she had obviously cooked up a story in her head when she approached us. So we eat the cup of bisque and gumbo. Then our plates came out....SAME EXACT THING - AMMONIA!!!! WHY?! Is every person in that kitchen lacking a sense of smell? Especially the chef! So once again and even more disappointed, we lay our forks down and out comes the (GM) General Manager this time. We let him know our new plates were exactly as the first, smelled strongly of ammonia. Of course, I tried a bite of a scallop just to check, then...

Update 11.6.2023 - This was the first time I’ve been back in awhile and it was not the same. Normally I give them 5 stars and love everything I eat. Not so much today.

I met friends there and one was stuck in traffic since it was about 5 o’clock when we got there so we waited for her to order. It did take longer than we thought it would otherwise we would have waited longer outside but there were tons of empty tables at 5 so we figured it would be ok.

We got some bread and it was a little crunchier /drier than usual but with some butter it was fine. I was hungry because I had worked long and late and just had a snack for lunch so I can take out some bread. We got 1 croissant, 1 roll and a muffin in our first basket. Since we were waiting I asked for more bread and we got a croissant and a roll in the next basket. Our other friend had arrived so she ate the roll and some of the croissant but there were 3 of us and we had been given 5 pieces of bread total. Eating 1-2 pieces of bread is not unheard of right? Am I crazy? Other restaurants will give you a whole little loaf and I can eat the whole thing and then some plus my meal.

I asked politely for more bread and the server said we couldn’t get anymore unless we ordered… maybe she’s gotten burned before by people just ordering water and getting bread and leaving? We are about to drop $40+ dollars each on dinner just for one entree plus tip and you can’t give me some more bread?

I guess not. We didn’t realize traffic would be so bad (it was terrible today) and our friend would take so long (I estimate it was about 40 min from when we sat)… so she got there and the server brought her a water when she sat down without even asking and that was nice. She wasn’t ready to order when she sat down so we said just give us a minute and then the server didn’t come back for a while.

So we decided to order even though she wasn’t ready so we could at least get our food in. There were still at least 6-7 empty tables (probably more) around us before we got our order in which took a while because our server was gone and no one passed by our table that would look our way to ask for her.

Then we finally got our food and I thought fresh tomatoes would be more than two slices… otherwise I would have ordered something else. Apparently that’s all you get. Two slices of tomato. That’s a $5 side friends. They weren’t even that great. My tomatoes from the garden taste better and would be worth more. They were just average store bought tomatoes that weren’t quite ripe. They looked all right on the plate but for $5 at least slice the whole tomato up for me.

Overall we were underwhelmed. The crab cakes I got were still good but the sides were all just okay.

The service was subpar. Ambiance was fine, seemed normal with the big open wear house. I will not be requesting to go back anytime soon. Maybe in a couple years after the service is back to what it used to be. For the price it was not worth it.

Previously I have given them five stars but apparently it’s gone downhill since my...

My wife and I had the opportunity to have a rare date night, and I wanted some seafood. The weather was nice, so we got out of the motorcycle and headed for Chesapeake's. They had a lot of open reservations, which surprised me, but it worked out well.

We arrived, and the parking lot was full. A charming gentleman decided to cut me off and take the parking space I had been waiting for - he was a real gem. Anyway, after finding a parking space, we checked in with the hostess; it took about 10 minutes, and we were seated.

The waitress arrived quickly, took our drink order, and left menus. I love grilled oysters, but I have never paid $4 an oyster for them, and that reminded me why we don't come here often. Knoxville isn't close to the ocean, but that just seems a little steep. Back to the order...

We had a couple of options but ultimately tried the Seafood Tower. Here's the mistake. Our waitress was very friendly but had a strong accent, so we didn't understand a critical piece of information and missed a small part, but I'll get to those details. It comes with lobster tails, oysters, muscles shrimp & crab. We ordered the Tower, but I made one change - I asked that the oysters be grilled. There was an upcharge, but I agreed.

First, the oysters showed up separately. A dozen grilled oysters on a bed of salt - they were delicious. I mean delicious. Honestly, I could have stopped right there and been completely satisfied. I ate all 12 before the Tower arrived. As I ate the last one, the Tower came, looking fantastic. Here was the minor key point we missed and one that my wife wasn't expecting, the crab was crab legs. She was expecting crab but not crab legs. She's not crazy about cracking crab legs. Honestly, the menu should say crab legs, not just crab. Then we realized the big thing we missed; it was cold as I reached for a lobster tail. Everything on the Tower was ice cold. The menu doesn't say cold seafood served on a bed of ice. This should be noted somewhere. I have never had a cold lobster tail or muscles, and I bet the oysters would have been cold if I hadn't made the change. Honestly, this changed the entire mood. We got most of it boxed up and heated it when we got home.

Overall, my wife and I had a great date night. We were a little disappointed in the temperature of the food but the taste was fine. My recommendation to the restaurant - clarify the menu - this...