Whiskey Cake Kitchen & Bar — Restaurant in Oak Ridge North

First thing’s first, the wait was absolutely atrocious. My partner and I came out for date night Saturday (Feb 1) with a reservation at 7. We arrived around 6:50 and waited 50 minutes to get sat. As someone that has endured the service industry, let me take you on this ride with us. There is nothing you can control about people who dine and sit for 2-3 hours, it’s Saturday night, they’re happy, and they’re chatting. The hostesses were absolute ALL STARS. They were so courteous, completely honest with us, and AMONG OTHER GUESTS YELLING AT THEM they somehow found a way to smile with us. There were three of them, and we absolutely adored their hard work and transparency. When we were sat, we were so lucky to get Preston. She was an absolute delight that wasted NO time getting our drink orders, appetizers, and getting them out to us asap. She was hustling through the weeds that was the entire restaurant: checking on all her tables, our first bites, she was on top of our waters all the way through our to-go boxes. I praised her at the end of it, listening to other guests that hadn’t gotten their food after almost AN HOUR of waiting, and watching the entire restaurant on fire. Not to mention the bartenders, flipping out orders as quickly as they could (we ordered drinks while we were waiting for our table). I had only seen what seemed like the manager once, but he did apologize to some other guests for the wait. All I can say is when a restaurant is on fire, the guest can either be 100% aware and take the brunt of it, or can be left completely oblivious because the entire establishment worked as a team to make our experience as great as they could despite drowning in flames. Preston and the hostesses did an incredible job, and huge praise to everyone we couldn’t see too: the kitchen staff and bussers too. Given the absolutely terrible circumstances, they did a PHENOMENAL job of keeping their heads above water and taking care of us and our experience. Our date night, rare, had an opportunity to be really really bad and it was the polar opposite. Big love to the Saturday night staff that night and huge shout out to Preston and the hostesses....

Seen this place while stuck in traffic Saturday afternoon 9/14/24. My wife and I decided to give it a try so I circled back around to dine in. Plenty of parking at the time we arrived. Upon entering you are greeted with a pleasant aroma, which were candles they sell. The aesthetic and layout is very nice. Didn't look busy and there was two parties in front of us in line so we waited about 8 minutes to be seated. Tables were set nicely. Waitress attended us quickly, she was very kind and friendly and took our drink orders while we looked over the menu. I ordered the lentils shepherd pie which was priced at $20 with no sides. My wife ordered the chicken and waffles. We also ordered the candied bacon. Waitress brought out the candied bacon, appearance of the appetizer was nice. The taste was good but I didn't quite enjoy it because the bacon was very chewy, just wasn't enjoyable to eat. I was expecting it to be tender. The wait for our main entrée wasn't too long. When the Waitress brought our entrée I was shocked at the portion size of my order. The lentils shepherd pie is made in a small cast iron skillet/pan that's about 5-6" round. For the price I was expecting a bigger portion lol. To give you an idea of the portion I would say it had about half a can (16oz can) of lentils or a bit more, topped with about a 1/2 to 3/4 cup of mashed potatoes. The dish was good, lentils were tender and not overcooked to where they would be mushy, the mashed potatoes had a good flavor as well. For the price of this dish I wouldn't recommend ordering, in my opinion $20 is very steep. On the other hand my wife enjoyed what she ordered. Waitress asked if we would like to order a dessert and recommended we try the whisky cake. Presentation of dessert was nice, decent portion for two. The cake was dry but paired with the toppings it had made it a bit more enjoyable, not a dessert I would order again. Overall we were happy with the hospitality and the atmosphere of this place, not so happy about the price for portion size and appetizer ordered. Even though I was disappointed with app and the lentils shepherd pie, I would visit again to try...

⭐️ 1 out of 5 stars

I visited Whiskey Cake today after craving it for the past three months — unfortunately, the experience was extremely underwhelming and disappointing.

From the start, the food quality was noticeably off. We ordered a salad and the onion burger with fries. The salad was drenched in an overly heavy mayo-based dressing that was honestly nauseating — it upset our stomachs so badly we had to use the restroom immediately after leaving. Worst Salad ever. They changed the portion sizes for the bacon and egg and chicken. It’s chopped so fine you can’t taste it. The burger was bland at best, and the fries were limp and lacked any crispness or flavor.

The service didn’t help. It was average at best, and when we asked for the check, it came without a check presenter. We sat for over eight minutes waiting for the manager to come over and check in — when he finally did, he was polite and did comp the salad, which I appreciated. But by that point, the damage was already done.

What’s especially frustrating is that I’m a regular at the Stafford location, and it’s consistently great. But this visit felt like a completely different restaurant — even the same salad came out entirely different, as if there was no standard across locations.

The ambiance didn’t help either. The restaurant was uncomfortably cold and made the dining experience even less enjoyable. I had really looked forward to this outing — a Sunday date that was supposed to be relaxing and fun — and instead, it left a bad taste in every way.

Sadly, I won’t be returning to this location. For a concept that usually prides itself on consistency and quality, today’s visit missed the mark in every way.

Also this place is cashless and that sucks as I would have brought a cocktail and dessert. But I didn’t bring my...