Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen — Restaurant in Memphis

My latest visit with a group of 5 friends for dinner started with a 30 minute wait because this restaurant unlike every other sit down restaurant in Memphis, doesn't take reservations. It would be in the restaurant's best interest to change that policy and offer reservations. I even tried to call a week in advance and was told to call the day of, which also didn't pan out. We waited in the bar area with no bartender on duty. When we got to our table there were several used sugar packets in the crevasses of the booth and scraps of food under the table because it hadn't been swept. The table top however, had been wiped. Our server finally greeted us while sitting there with no water after about 7-10 minutes. She was a sweet girl named Taylor, but had no sense of urgency as we were trying to make it to The Singing Christmas Tree at Bellevue. My friend ordered a bottle of Mark West Pinot Noir to which the server asked if it was a clear or red wine. Clear? We ordered everything at once in hopes it would all come at the same time. A wilted Buffalo shrimp salad and room temperature queso and stale chips came to the table, and 20 minutes later the wine got there. My friends fries were cold and stale like they'd been sitting out for a while, not fresh. Her chicken tenders were that way too. She declined to pay for them and I don't blame her. My Monte Cristo sandwich was really good as it always is along with the broccoli casserole. My other friend's chicken fried steak and gravy was also good, so he said. We never had our waters refilled nor were we checked on or asked how our meal was. I felt bad for the server because she's been done a disservice by the restaurant chain and management having not properly trained her for her position. I suppose that's not her fault. She was pleasant and soft spoken. As we made our way to the restrooms before leaving, we noticed all kinds of trash on the floors, spilled food and drinks that hadn't been cleaned up, crumpled napkins and debris all over the floors and tables. It was repulsive. The bathrooms didn't have any toilet paper, door knobs on the stalls were loose, dirty toilets, dirty floors again. I was so disappointed with what once was a favorite lunch spot for me and my family. It's a shame that some people who work in food and beverage, the service industry, and at this particular establishment do not care about customer service, the way the food looks or tastes or the cleanliness of their restaurant, nor the proper training of their staff. It all starts with owners and management. If they don't care and display a negative attitude then that rubs off onto the staff. And this saddens me because I LOVE the Monte Cristo Sandwich and Cheddar's is one of the few restaurants in my city that has it. I'll not be returning for dinner at Cheddar's as it seemed they were at a disadvantage for that particular service. I'll give lunch another try as I've always had a good experience at that time of day. I'm hoping things will be brought up to standard for their dinner guests expeditiously. Because that can be a restaurants downfall. The restaurant needs an intervention to bring it up to what it used to be. I also understand that it's hard to find dedicated employees and it's also a known fact that customers impact the attitudes and quality of service in my city. We all need to be more caring about the restaurants and people who work in them. Praying for you...

Man o man, talk about a big disappointment after a long day of driving and Mem zoo visiting... afterwards, we were in the cordova/bartlett area killing time and getting hungry....the saddest part is, we drove by like 30 amazing restaurants b4 my girl was like, "Ooou, I wanna try Cheddars!"

I myself have only been to this Cheddars or any Cheddars just once and it was in my mid 20s....im 37 now. So naturally, I was down to eat something I've only had once.

Moving along.....it took at least 12-15 minutes b4 we were even greeted by our waitress. Then it took her another 8-10 minutes to bring the drinks and free croissants. My girlfriend orders grilled salmon over rice, a salad, and some mashed potatoes. I order the chicken fried chicken with brown gravy, mashed potatoes, and red beans and rice. Our youngest had the typical little kids choice, chicken tendys w/fries.

We also got a spinach dip app bc we loooove this appetizer every where else......................................... ...........but here! It was terrible. I honestly wanted to return it after 1 bite!....it was spoiled tasting and waaay too creamy. Tasted old and terrible and bland...absolutely terrible.

So we're pretty upset right off the bat....

The food comes....by sight, it looks ok...but tasting it all? What the hell?! How is this place busy?! HOW IS THIS CRAP this expensive?! EVERYTHING WAS BLAAAAND....LIKE NO FLAVOR AT ALL. Like no love? No seasoning?! Kroger's deli food is 2 times better than this....Kroger!!!! My chicken fried chicken had some funky tasting brown gravy and 2 big bland ass pieces of fried breasts.... they give you a small dollop sized portion of mashed potatoes.....which were bland. No salt, no pepper....blaaaand! Like some 10 year olds cook better than this yall!

My girlfriends salmon tasted funny af, mid at best...she disliked the bland potatoes as well. It's sad when you get grilled salmon and the best part is the rice!(also a small portion). My favorite part of my meal was the red beans and rice....a side item. However, I had a sour feeling in my stomach the whole meal from the spinach app. The little one drowned his tenders in ketchup and had a good time eating the tortilla chips from our app. Yall, I had 2 taste one of his tenders! Surely not all the food is bland?! Like noo way?! The tender was terrible! I'd literally rather have a Sonic or gas station old heat lamp tender. This tender was a 3.8 at besssst!

The waitress meant well, but wasn't award winning either....12-15 minutes is waaay too long to be greeted. Folks, I've waited tables, I've cooked, managed, and literally done everything in the restaurant business....so no excuse can be given.

Entree items= terrible, a joke

Side items=sadly the best part?

*Expensive and not worth it....factoring it alllll in, I'd give Cheddars a 3.9 overall out of 10. Or 2 out of 5 stars. We won't be back. $54 meal, b4 the tip

*We 100% should have got a refund today....I rarely ever leave a restaurant feeling that way *

Place was...

Unsanitary, do not eat here. Called in advance to make sure they were capable of seating a party of 15, was told they could, easily. Arrived at 6p only to still be forced to wait for an hour despite calling to make sure they could accommodate us. Clearly staff blatantly lied to us. Staff tried to sit us in separate booths despite being told two hours earlier we were arriving as a group. They could have told us they were full, and chose to lie to get our money. The hour delay caused half our party to leave.

Still took another 30 minutes of waiting to be served when seated after the original hour long wait. Food when served had clearly been sitting under a heat lamp for hours, despite there being plenty of time for it to have been cooked fresh "from scratch" as Cheddar's advertises. Shrimp had the consistency of a burnt rubber bouncy ball. Pasta was so over cooked it was more like mashed potatoes when it arrived. Beverages were long gone by the time food arrived with only a single refill. I had stomach problems the day after from the bad food.

Bathrooms were atrocious. Floor and toilet seats covered in urine, soap and paper towel dispensers half hanging off the walls as if someone had attacked them. Bathroom floor dangerously slippery from all the urine, stray toilet paper in the hallway outside. Yes, there was a noticeable smell.

To top it all off, an employee was openly doing drugs in front of the mirror, high as a kite and dancing around in the urine and trash. This is not hyperbole; I had to abandon my bathroom trip and hold it until I got home, which was not easy after 2 and a half hours of being there.

Despite all this, I still tipped 20% because unlike the staff, I don't waste people's time without compensation. I was never rude or pushy with staff, despite staff clearly showing my party they weren't interested in serving us. Conditions were bad enough I was concerned about my food being adulterated if I spoke up, though in retrospect with the stomach problems I had this morning it might have been anyways. It would be different if we'd arrived at 8 pm expecting good service right before closing. We arrived at 6pm after calling at 5p and were treated like we were utterly unwelcome.

I couldn't be dragged back to a cheddar's with a meathook after...