Redbud Kitchen — Restaurant in Knoxville

Thought we'd give this place a try for bunch this morning and were very happy we did! Parking was a bit difficult as we ended up in a paid parking lot around the corner. We were sat immediately, and overall the service was great! Our waitress was very pleasant and personable. We ordered out drinks, which they were out of the juice for the drink my son requested, but they made it with another juice and he absolutely loved it! Their RK Cafe was perfectly blended and I highly recommend having it hot. We ordered one hot and one iced and the iced waters down quickly and it loses the flavor. As for food, my son ordered Sunnyside Burrito and we ordered the Backwoods and California Benny's. OMG, all of these were crazy good! The burrito had so much going on, but at the same time nothing got lost. The chorizo did hold a slight dominance of flavoring, as it should. The Benny's were on beautifully soft and freshly baked biscuits. But not too soft as they were able to stand up to the flavor and sauces without absorbing them. I could tell the pimento cheese was also made from scratch and was one of the best I've had around. Loved the slight kick it gave and enjoyed the texture of the shreds of cheese in it. The bacon on the California Benny was perfectly cooked and just loaded with flavor. There wasnot anything about either of the Benny's that we didn't like. We also ordered the potato casserole as our sides and it was very creamy and almost addicting! Can say that I highly recommend a trip here and we have already confirmed we will be back!

5/9 update...so I'm not sure how to add an update other than edit my initial review, so here goes. My son came here for a 1st date about a week ago. When it came time to say the check he gave the waitress his credit card. After his card was run,he signed the receipt she came back and told him she gave him the wrong check. The 2nd check was for about 1/2 the amount of the check he already paid. While confused because the 1st check looked correct he gave her the card back so she could run the 2nd check. The waitress told him that the 1st check would be canceled so he would not be charged for that check. Tonight, while we were out not only did my son notice that he was charged for both checks but there is now a fraudulent charge that is showing on his card for something locally, that occurred 2 days after his visit to the restaurant. We know this is fraudulent because he resides with us and only left the house that day to take a walk and go to dinner, which was one my credit card, not his.

It is sad to say, becuase of this, we will not consider going back. I highly caution you with providing your credit card to staff here. We really enjoyed our 1st visit here. The food and the staff were great, but on my son's 2nd visit, his card information was stolen. I can honestly say it was from here because he works from home. Since we are not originally from the area, he doesn't have any "local friends" and no reason to really leave the house. The majority of the time, we go out together I usually end up paying for food and/or beverages when we go anywhere.

Based on this, I changed my review from a perfect 5 star to a 1 star due to the service issue, being the waitress who stole my sons credit card...

I had a good experience at Red Bud. Not a great experience but a good one. I had a little trouble with my order. I has ordered a dish with gluten-free bread and they brought me wheat bread by accident. I did try it and I was disappointed at eat some wheat but they were nice enough to correct the problem. However it took a long time to get my food. My person I was with had already finished eating by the time I got my meal. The food was pretty good although I had a stomach ache from the pork later on that evening. The dish tasted delicious though it was pork on top of grits with this really good maple syrup/bacon sauce. I think that my experience might have been an anomaly and next time I'll probably have a better experience. The person who helped us was really nice about things but I could tell she knew that the weight was way too long. It was almost as if they made me wait in line behind all of the other meals just to make mine fresh. They should probably figure out how to treat a person when they've done their order wrong like that. When I worked in kitchens we would drop everything and make sure that that person got their meal first. I'm sure that this place has some growing pains and eventually it'll settle down and be the business that it needs to be. They seem eager to succeed and there's lots of reasons for them to be successful. One of the other biggest things I would recommend this business to do is to put a sign on their parking lot that tells people where to park. It's very confusing to figure out where to park at this place. But inside is comfortable and quaint and the people are nice so that's a plus. The best two things there? I liked the sweet tea and the grits with the sauce on it...

The smash burgers are not smash burgers. It almost takes and looks like premade patties. They don't have the typical smashed shape of a smash burger, nor do they have the taste. The taste is very off. They aren't juicy and are kind of dry, but not overdone. The fries are long potato wedges and not steak fries. The seasoning on them is not right and the custom ketchup glaze is horrible.

The service was good and the inside is nice, but don't get the burger and fries. Almost forgot, $3.50 for a fountain drink?? And the taste of the Pepsi was also weird. I would give it two stars but, to be fair, my table only had the burgers so I can't judge the rest of their food.

Edit to respond to the business's response: My friend eating with me had the EXACT same thoughts as I did. I got the to-go pepsi because if I had to spend 3.50 on a drink, I'm going to get another. I have an hour lunch, so if the food isn't great by the time it gets to me, I have little choice. I gave the food two stars, not one. I would have sent it back if I thought it was completely inedible. A "small family-owned business" isn't an excuse for an entire table's bad food. It's interesting I'm getting a response now after such a long time and that you remember me. If you had responded with, "We're sorry your experience isn't what we wanted it to be, we hope you'll come back and try again." Then I would have given your business a second try and maybe changed my review if it was better. But now I'm definitely never going to try...