Kern's Bakery — Restaurant in Knoxville

First time here. I didn't really like the threatening signs all over the parking lot about paying for parking. It's not at all inviting. The process to pay for said parking is extremely confusing. You actually get 2 hours free...but it says that nowhere...you just have to figure it out by signing up for the parking app. A food hall is already a failed concept in Knoxville. Any opportunity for this iteration being a success seem greatly diminished when the customer's first impression is wondering if their credit will be ruined if they don't pay the convoluted parking bill. If they MUST charge for parking, just use a good old fashioned ticket system. If I were a vendor there, I would not be happy with this approach. For what it's worth-- the parking lot was mostly empty at lunch time...so....

My food (Cuban) was at best average, and overpriced...and of course you get the prompt to tip for 100% self service...so I get the opportunity to subsidize the business owner's payroll, instead of them just paying the employee right in the first place. I wouldn't mind tipping if they brought the food, cleared the table, brought a drink, made a cocktail...anything...but it's literally like going to fast food. Everything is self service.

It's probably also not a good idea to have saws, hammering, and active construction working going on right in the middle of lunch. I get progress must happen...but this should be done after hours, or at night. Not only is it a safety concern, but extremely annoying to try and talk over.

Anyway-- even with all this negative...I hope the place makes it. They did a good job with the building and grounds....and I'm glad someone refurbished Kern's instead of tearing it down and building some awful apartment building like the ones that are popping up all over K-town. Unfortunately, I think they are gonna have to learn some lessons the hard way instead of paying attention to the cautionary tale of...

Went to Kern's Food Hall this afternoon for the first time. It's a really cool space with a lot of free parking. Old and modern with indoor and outdoor spaces. We walked around and the selections right now are limited. All high end ethnic selections which I dig but nothing a 5 year old and 2 year old would eat accept ice cream and donuts. We chose Ava and I got a cheese pizza that was wood fired. It had burnt spots on the crust that blistered and imparted that burnt taste. It was edible but not that great. We also had a meatball sandwich that was equally underwhelming. The bread and sauce were decent but the meatballs seemed like they were turkey or something. Odd color and texture with a odd taste. Both of these were close to $30.00. We also got an empanada from Hemingway's that was the size of a ravioli for $5.00. It was very dry and had no flavor at all even with the sauce. After not being impressed with the food we decided against dessert. This place needs more selections and kid friendly food. Another incredibly annoying thing is the place is cashless which I absolutely hate. I also feel like it's a bit of a scam because every place asks for a tip on already overpriced food. Tipping someone for taking my order when I have to come back and get my food and utensils is not warranted. I'm not cheap but tips are for service. The one highlight was the beer and drink selections although a bit pricey as well. They have some good beer. This place has a lot of potential and should improve. It seems like a place to go before or after a UT game. That type of crowd would dig this place. Although we aren't impressed now we may check back when more places open. We just aren't in a hurry to do so. I wouldn't discourage anyone from going just wouldn't be an enthusiastic...

We tried three vendors today.

Starting with a 12" Prosciutto pizza at "Ava". The ingredients were fresh and overall the pizza was a 7.5 however the service here leaves a lot to be desired. The pizza cost $22.94 before gratuity.

Second was "Hemingway's" serving Cuban food. We tried a chicken empanada, steak empanada, and a Hemingway Cuban sandwich with rice and black beans. The steak empanadas were the best thing in the entire place, the chicken empanada was ok, and the Cuban sandwich ultimately lacked flavor but wasn't bad. We spent $29.49 here before gratuity.

Last was "Ooh Lala" an Indian vendor where we tried their Samosas, medium chicken curry, spicy lamb tikka masala, and garlic naan. My wife was most excited about the samosas and unfortunately after one bite we threw them away. The chicken curry was pretty good for a vendor, the spicy lamb tikka masala was delicious but I'll be ordering medium from now on because I feel like medium allows you to explore the flavors further. The garlic naan was on the ok side. We spent $45.77 before gratuity.

None of the vendors asked if we wanted a drink so I had to go back to Hemingway's and get two canned sodas and a guava lemonade that totaled out at $12.02

Sevice was mostly terrible everywhere. I'm easy to please when it comes to service and the only reason I can merit 2 stars is Ooh Lala was friendly after finishing their somewhat lengthy conversation and provided recommendations. I wouldn't go back to Ava based on the service alone and we almost didn't try Hemingway's because we waited so long to order with no line.

Bottom line The atmosphere is great, the food is a 7.2 out of 10, but the prices were high. Price to food/service ratio doesn't match so we most likely won't be back...