The Oak Room — Restaurant in Knoxville

Let me start by saying that The Oak Room is a wonderful place to eat and drink. However, I am providing this one star review for a service-related issue that we had while there, in hopes that appropriate attention will be drawn to it. On 1/20, I was at a table toward the front right of the restaurant, the corner nearest the 'Open' sign. We were seated, followed by several other tables in this section. We had dinner and a drink, but then sat unattended for some time. During that lengthy duration, my friend and I decided that we would love their pie along with a drink pairing. Our server finally came back to our table and asked us if we would like anything else. Upon requesting the pie and cocktail pairing, we were informed that the kitchen was closed. The kitchen closed at 9PM. The server came by exactly at 9PM, after clearly and obviously waiting all this time at the bar. We had literally missed our opportunity by seconds, and only because of a conscious decision made by the server. She was extremely firm on repeating over and over again that the kitchen was closed when we attempted to make a friendly request for lenience since we simply wanted dessert. There was no courtesy 'last call' for food. No warning that the kitchen would close soon. It appeared and felt extremely intentional. However, not only did this cost us our pie (and the restaurant nearly another $50 in sales for minimal effort), all the other tables near us got it even worse. Having arrived just slightly later than us, those tables were only served their initial drinks and then also informed -- exactly at 9PM -- that they would be unable to order the meals that they had also been diligently waiting to order. We felt super bad for them. I understand that this was likely done in order for the serve and kitchen staff to get out and enjoy their Friday night, but it felt unprofessional and borderline vindictive as a result. Additionally, after we were very clear that we did not want anything else if we could not order our food, the server still left and made us wait another non-trivial duration before we were finally offered the option to pay and leave. During that time we just sat with literally nothing, basking in our general dismay of the situation. This has been our only experience of this type at this location and, as such, we felt it warranted...

Highly highly recommend. A small intimate sit down bar with laid back music, highly professional and informative waiters/bartenders. Sit down is first come first serve and service is then immediate as is water w/ decanter left with the table. Orders are quick to be taken and food is made to order but quick and well made. The flatbread and sandwiches are fantastic and all ingredients, as is the Abridged way, are locally sourced. The sours are all incredible and they even have their own backstory told via a leather bound book found on the table. The book also has the various bottles of sours available for purchase. Will be back again for sure as a regular. Great place for a first date or an easy get together of close family and friends. Hours are short Fri:...

Knoxville is fortunate to have so many breweries, and I've been to all of them but 1. Two other breweries have solid kitchens, but the Oak Room just blows everything away. I throw together some funky, fantastic flavors in my kitchen, but the Lime Chicken Chorizo Sandwich is the best thing I've had since....hell, I don't even know. The chicken was so good that a piece tried to escape out of my sandwich and onto the bar - didn't matter. And I never eat anything that touches a restaurant table, but I ate that stuff off the bar! And the roasted garlic cilantro aioli on it? Genius. Paired with the Waikiki bourbon barrel imperial stout...absolute beer heaven for me. Five stars just doesn't do...