Demos' Restaurant — Restaurant in Murfreesboro

I am a little conflicted on this rating and review. We have been in and out of the area for several years, so we had not visited this location in a bit. We have visited all the Demos locations and this was always consistently the best in the past.

Tonight my husband was looking forward to visiting on his birthday to get a flavorful steak dinner, and a relaxing dinner, so we went a bit later, around 7:30 on Monday night.

They were relatively busy, but we were sat immediately... unfortunately it was the center booth by the men's restroom. So, there was a constant flow of people in and out, bumping into servers, trying to squeeze by while bumping into our table. So, the relaxing part of our dinner was a no-go.

Our server came and and we asked for the cocktail and wine menu, thinking she would have it readily available at the bussing station, just past our table. Unfortunately she did not and had to go to the bar in front. We asked for water while we waited. Unfortunately, my husband's water glass had something floating in it. She was not back with the bar menu for about 10 min, so we had to share one glass of water. When she returned, I asked the difference in the two Chardonnay offerings. Her response was, it is just a different price...she had no idea.

She apologized for the water and replaced it. We ordered our steaks and drinks at the same time. The soup, salad and bread came out in a few minutes, but no drinks from the bar. Unfortunately, I had taken 1 bite of soup and my husband was in the process of putting the dressing on his salad when here she was...Oh, the Kitchen is fast tonight she said as she placed our steaks and baked potato on the edge of the table as we had the soup and salad in front of us.

If there is one thing that we HATE is having all the food dumped on the table at once. If you try to eat one, then the other is getting cold! So, you are forced to just not eat your first course, try to quickly gobble up your food or have COLD STEAK and BAKED POTATO. Again, nothing relaxing about this dining experience. Our Drinks arrive as we are trying to eat a few bites of soup and salad. Hubby never even tried the bread, which he always enjoys.

We move to steak and potatoes, he dumps on the cheese to his baker and there was a problem. No server around. Other servers in the section were readily available, unlike ours. My husband finally realized that she apparently had tables on both sides of the restaurant, only 2 on the bathroom side, so we felt sorry for her. As a manager was walking by, we pulled him aside to show the issue with shredded cheese. He offered to replace potato, but my husband was already eating it. He did apologize and offered him a free desert.

The server then came to bring us a dessert. We had now eaten a few bites of soup, salad and a couple of bites of steak and potato. We told her that we appreciated it and would order something after we had eaten more of our meal.

For the taste and presentation...The Chicken Rice Soup seemed very bland with no chicken. Not the soup that was always a go-to. The shredded parmesan cheese is still available, but only if you know to ask. The salad was watery and so plain. I did try the cheese bread. It was still very good, but apparently two people are now served 1 roll sliced into 3 pieces. The Food was served hot and the steak was very tender and flavorful. The baked potato was cooked well other than the problem that mgmt was alerted to. Now for presentation of the entree...Ridiculous small plate for a steak and baked potato. One Baker was obviously too large, so smashed to fit, pieces of potato was on the other end of the tiny plate and even under the steak and on top of the steak mixed with the upcharge of sauteed mushrooms. My mushrooms were atop my steak, my husband's were thrown to the side.Try cutting steak on a tiny plate with no room to use your knife...Yep, mushrooms shooting off the plate, baked potato falling apart and now even less room as now steak falling off the plate.

Definitely not the experience we were looking...

November 2021: Decided to give Demos a try for dinner…been over 4 years since I gave up on them due to substandard food and service. The bar is now open for dining…I hate taking up a table for 4 when I am by myself. Kaitlin was behind the bar and got me started with a beer and water while I looked over the menu. I ordered the K.C. Strip Steak (medium rare) along with chili spaghetti and opted for the “deluxe salad toppings” on the side salad. The Demos bread was also provided with the requested butter, but not the same “chunk” of real butter, some kind of butter spread.

The salad was chilled and crisp, but the $1.39 upcharge for “deluxe” toppings really wasn’t worth it IMHO. The steak was a good size, nice and thick, with good marbling. It was prepared as requested and the flavor was really good…so good there were no leftovers! Love the chili spaghetti…same flavors I remembered and a good side to the steak. Overall the meal was good and Kaitlin took excellent care of me. Guess I will have to come back and put Demos back on my dining list.

2017: Having dined here (and the other locations in Tennessee) more times than I can count since I moved to Middle Tennessee in 1992, I am normally quite satisfied with the quality of the food/service here. Honestly...the past year or so at Demos Murfreesboro has been "less than stellar" and I have found myself going there less and less…enjoying better food and service at other establishments in Murfreesboro.

In times past you could get a good steak (I normally order the KC Strip – medium rare to medium) for a decent price…not so much anymore. This will make the third steak I have had to send back to the kitchen this year…raw in the middle with a crisping on the outside. What really made things annoying is my server was more intent on cleaning behind the bar with a chemical that smelled less than appetizing, versus taking care of the customers at the bar. When I got her attention, I showed her my steak had a well done strip on the top/bottom and was sushi grade raw for the other 75% of the steak. I told her I wanted a new steak because throwing this one back on the grill was not going to work in this case. My previous two visits…tossing it back on the grill for a minute was sufficient. She returned after going into the kitchen and told me the kitchen would put the steak back on the grill for me. I reminded her that I told her putting that steak back on the grill was not acceptable and I wanted a new steak. After a pretty long wait the second steak was delivered and cooked correctly. Having had to wait so long killed my appetite, so I took over half the meal home.

IMHO…this is not the Demos of old where great service and food was the norm. Fortunately there are other new venues in Murfreesboro and Middle Tennessee whose food and service are far better and even superior for the same or...

I've tried so many times to find something here that I'm just okay with. The people of this town sincerely love this restaurant, and I'm so glad that they have the amount of support they do. Obviously, there are tons of people who love them, and I hope that support continues.

I just can't do it. Other people ask us to go and every single time I go I am thoroughly disappointed. Don't get me wrong: the servers are great. This has nothing to do with the service.

The food is just boring, lackluster, overly salted at best. Each time I go, I try to get something else that maybe will be the thing I can get every time someone wants to go. I have yet to find that thing. Today I finally decided that it's probably just not going to happen. I've had the pastas, the salads, the steak, and even a sandwich and a burger many years ago. I almost ordered a salad with chicken or steak today, but then I remembered the time I ordered a steak and it was so salty I couldn't finish it. That day many years ago, they brought me a second one and it was also incredibly salty, so I didn't say anything again. Today I chose the baked potato and a salad, hoping this would be simple enough. I ordered a loaded baked potato and a salad with Italian dressing. Imagine my surprise when I get a boring salad (complete with chunk of salad core) with the whitest Italian dressing I've ever seen in my life and a plain baked potato with barely any butter or sour cream and a little cup of cheese. That's right! A loaded baked potato comes with just butter, sour cream, and cheese. Definitely not loaded. Hilariously, the server and food runner agreed that it's not really loaded. Additionally, I don't understand how they have all of those sandwiches and no french fries. My partner was incredibly disappointed by the hash browns or baked potato option. He also ordered a baked potato and tried to take mine because neither of us believed mine was actually loaded.

For those of you who love it, keep on loving it. I commend you for your loyalty and commitment...