Uncle Sam's Restaurant — Restaurant in Knoxville

Uncle Sam’s gave me a totally unexpected “Hallelujah” culinary moment.

We got delivery from Uncle Sam’s on Saturday and it was so amazing that we ordered and got delivery again Sunday. We were told that it would take about 30 minutes to arrive, and Grubhub delivered it to us in 25! Kudos to Grubhub, by the way.

SO—-The Eggplant Parmesan Pasta, Lobster Ravioli with Alfredo sauce, and Twisted Bread Sticks were so fresh, they were too hot to eat. It was worth waiting a minute! All the food was eye rolling and mmm-mmm delicious-like something I would expect in New York City at a “secret” Mom and Pop place that only residents know.

For the second day, my husband ordered Pasta Alfredo and a I ordered a Capri “wedge” sandwich with extra veggies (despite not knowing what a wedge sandwich was). I am glad I did! The sandwich creator deserved applause! It was a freshly baked, lightly cheesy pizza crust folded and filled like a taco with tender grilled chicken breast, mushrooms, green pepper, onions, spinach, and melted mozzarella. It also had a subtle fresh basil and dill finish.

AND- the price, even with Grubhub fee and tips, was extremely reasonable. My husband asked me why we had never been there, and I asked him the same thing. We figured out that we hadn’t tried it because parking is usually difficult around UT campus.

Monday we went to the actual restaurant and found a simple unassuming building next to a coin laundry on 17th street in Fort Sanders, 3 blocks from UT campus, with an empty, mildly treacherous parking lot (about 10 spaces) that backs out directly to 17th street, on a hill. Alas! It was closed!

My new favorite Italian food in Knoxville is created in a magical little neighborhood place off my particular beaten path. It could be in a movie-but it’s not!

We will definitely order from them again. If I venture out (not on a Monday or a game day), I plan to park on a side street. If I were still a poor starving vegetarian UT student, I could afford it. Now that I am not (poor, starving, vegetarian, or a student), I am joyful a place like this exists. Uncle Sam’s is a place where food memories are made....

For starters, there’s limited amount of parking. A tiny parking lot surrounded by apartments so you know what happens if you park in numbered spots. We ordered a Large Chicken Parm pizza and the chicken tender basket for the kids. It was so hot inside due to the AC Being broken which is fine. The very generous man working did give us free, cold bottles of water. We went to get seats outside since it was a little cooler but every outside table was dirty even though we were the only customers in sight. We went back inside to seat ourselves and wait on our food. As we were waiting, my very young son wiped the back of his neck and his hand was soaked in sweat, we were all burning up. Not a long wait, our food comes out also extremely hot, along with Great Value paper plates to eat on. I prepped the chicken tender basket for the kids to eat. The chicken and fries are the typical, gas station like, pre frozen tenders. We’ve all had them. Fries too, no big deal. Upon inspection of the pizza, we noticed the same type of chicken tenders were also fried and cut up for the toppings on our chicken parm pizza. Slightly offended at this point lol. Pizza has no taste, dough is heavy duty, almost no sauce and gas station chicken tenders. $32 meal… I could only eat one slice of the pizza. Second time in my life I can recall only eating one slice and becoming uninterested in the rest of it. (3.6/10) I’d compare it to a light/ no sauced Little Ceasars pizza. Anyways, not a “bad”experience, but an unexpected let down for sure. I’ll never forget the Great Value plates lol.

I will say the staff was friendly and he did give us free water so...

Food came out extremely hot and fresh. We got chicken parm pizza, which had cut up pieces of chicken tenders on it, but overall lacked any significant flavor. It was nice and hot, and perfectly crispy on the bottom though, cheese was nice and melty, and chicken was ok. Kids got chicken strips, which came with fries, in a styrofoam to-go box. The pizza came in a pizza box, served with paper plates. They did give us free Great Value bottled water due to the AC being out… 86 degrees outside and 86 degrees inside. There was one fan inside, so after seeing that the outside tables were all dirty, we chose an inside table in the path of the fan, although we were all sweating profusely.

There was a slight language barrier with the one taking our order when we asked for chicken strips instead of chicken tenders as listed on the menu.

Overall, atmosphere was affected by the lack of AC, which I’ve read they are working on, food was mediocre, pizza was not quite Papa John’s level, ranch was Ken’s which is worse than Kraft in my opinion.

Recommendations: AC has to be priority in the summer. Add some Italian spices to the pizza - basil, oregano, maybe even some garlic salt. Make some good ranch on site. Interior wall art is lacking in cohesiveness but that’s lowest priority. Parking is also terrible, but don’t know how to help you with that.

I wanted to love it but felt misled by the 4.7 star...