Civil Provisions and Bar — Restaurant in Signal Mountain

Food was a 6/10, ambience was an 9/10, and service was a 6/10. I'll break it down.

My husband and I have both been in the food service industry in major metropolitan areas, and we're food snobs, so please take that into consideration when reading this.

Ambience: It's a beautiful space. They've really worked with what they've got. There wasn't any music going on so that was a little weird. Just the din of restaurant goings on. And a few little things (like blue painters tape in areas) that could be addressed.

Food: The appetizers didn't excite us, but we went with whipped feta. The dish it came in wasn't optimal for serving or eating the whipped feta (it just formed a big puddle at the bottom of the bowl and there was nothing to scoop it with), and we actually wondered how it differed from the hummus plate, since they both came with flatbread. I would recommend a different appetizer.

I asked for the salmon to be medium done, and it was well done. The flavor was good, but nothing new. The coucous with the salmon was good, but a little salty. I'd order the salmon again, especially if they've changed it up with the seasons. The beef was ok, but the rice it came with was subpar. I wouldn't order this dish again.

The brown butter cake was AMAZING and this deserves a standing ovation. Well done!

The wine list was really good, and the cocktail menu seemed intriguing, but we didn't order off that this time.

Service: There comes a point when a server is just too much. Ours kept saying "we" and "us." Such as, "was that wine good for us?" and "Would we like dessert?" Unless you plan on paying a portion of the bill, don't use first-person nomenclature to this extent. When we asked him for recommendations, he always said the most expensive thing in that category. Maybe that was a coincidence, but it doesn't build trust. He knew his wine though, and that was great.

We also indicated that it was our anniversary on the reservation. Nothing was mentioned about that. Usually a server wishes you well or offers congratulations when this is indicated.

Overall, this restaurant has so much promise and I think with some fine-tuning, it could be a real gem. We'll return in a few months and see how...

I accidentally reviewed another place at first, but here is a correction since I've also eaten at Civil Provisions (CP) a few times... CP was eagerly anticipated ever since Hummingbird closed at that location. The remodel was extensive, and while choices are not always to my taste it's a really nice space regardless. The patio is particularly nice in good weather. The food.... well... Still on the fence about the food. During pre-opening early-look meals, their chicken was pure blah-ness, factory farmed and not worth eating. Similarly their pizza...

Their pizza has improved a whole lot. It's now ok, and will do if you really want pizza. I don't think you can get better pizza without driving down the mountain, so there is that.

I have not dared to try the chicken again, and won't until/unless there is a note about using local pastured chicken or Springer chicken.

Their burgers are also ok. Nothing special, but will do if you don't want to drive down the mountain. I keep hoping CP will upgrade their burger game to add Bison options, or at least local pastured beef.

Their salmon is fairly typical restaurant fare. It's about as good as many other off-mountain places. It serves its purpose, and is about what you'd expect for an inland city/location.

Their catfish has hints of being quite good. I definitely recommend giving that a try. Their hushpuppies that come with the "fish fry" catfish dinner, are decent. Their are better hushpuppies to be found around here, but these are just fine and no complaints.

Their fries... Sigh.... why??? Why not have better fries? PLEASE get better fries!!! It seems a no-brainer.

And if CP gets local pastured chicken and beef, I promise to at least double my number of...

We tried Civil Provisions tonight and it was an alright experience. We made reservations ahead of time to sit inside but when we got there we were told that there wasn’t any seating inside and that we could sit outside with the heaters. Since it’s in the 40s right now, we asked how long the wait would be for a table inside like we were hoping for and they said it would likely be more than 25 minutes so we went ahead and sat outside. We were bummed because based off the photos we’ve seen, the atmosphere inside looks lovely.

It was super loud and difficult to hear our server throughout the evening. We ordered a mocktail. The flavor was really harsh and unfortunately made us not want to finish our drinks ($7 a piece, reasonable for a mocktail). We ordered the steak and scallops for dinner. While the scallops and steak were good, the fries that came with our steak were cold (but flavorful). We ended the night with the white chocolate raspberry cheesecake and we really enjoyed that! As we walked to our car, some older guests were making out in the parking lot and were blocking our car and wouldn’t move, which made for a very odd ending to the evening. We ended up spending $100+ so bummed we didn’t love our experience. Overall, while the food was fine we likely won’t be going out of our...