The Kennedy — Restaurant in Spartanburg

I'm a personal chef and a baker by trade and therefore admittedly very judgey when it comes to food. I often find food I enjoy but rarely food that I love. Tonight I fell head over heel with everything, the food, the atmosphere and the people producing it all.

The gentleman that sat us was warm and friendly, he even came to check on us during our meal, something hosts never do.

Our server Kaulin was informative, friendly, a joy to chat with and checked on us a few times to make sure all was well.

While looking the menu over we were brought out a plate with cornbread, pimento cheese and house made pickles. I'm not a born southerner so pimento cheese just looks weird to me and after having made it in local restaurants I swore I would NEVER touch it after seeing what went into it. This had a different appearance to what I'd made before so I decided I would give it a chance. Everything on the menu was simple ingredients so I thought maybe this would be too. I was correct, it wasn't mushy like the others I had made or those I had seen. While I am still not going to eat other pimento cheese, I will definitely have theirs. I even brought the leftover home.

I was stuck between the Duck Confit and the Grouper. Kaulin, who's admittedly not a fish person, said the Grouper was outstanding so I went with it. I couldn't have been more pleased. The vegetables still had all their crunch, the grape tomato halves were still slightly firm and had all of their flavor and their juice. The lemon sauce added to instead of covering up as sauces sometimes do. The grouper was fork tender but didn't fall apart everywhere. Everything was done to absolute perfection.

My partner had the Ribeye which was made to his exact specifications. His potatoes were tender yet firm and full of flavor. The house made marrow butter was superb and added to the flavor of the steak. His asparagus wasn't extra soft as often happens with this particular vegetable, there was still snap to it.

For dessert I couldn't choose and let Kaulin have carte Blanche with what came out to me. He brought the banana pudding explaining how it was house made just 25min prior and what aspects of it were made in house. When he mentioned peanut butter my insides froze, I LOATHE peanut butter and have every last day of my life. My fault I thought, too late. OMG I am still in shock that I didn't hate this dessert!!!!! The peanut butter was well hidden amongst the bananas, the pudding and the topping, there was just the lightest hint of its flavor. When Kaulin checked in I told him of my quandary and looked down at the empty ramekin saying you can see I totally hated it haha. My partner got the "burnt" chocolate spoon bread which was heavenly to put it mildly. It was rich but not heavy, chocolate to the max but not overly sweet.

We were lucky enough to meet the chef, Jamie. We complimented him on the most amazing meal I've had in nearly a year. This Chef has an extremely bright future ahead, though for my tastebuds I hope he never leaves The Kennedy.

I've lived in 8 states, have eaten at some of the best restaurants around the country and The Kennedy ranks above many of the best known out there. I haven't been this excited over a meal in YEARS!!! I'll be visiting...

So incredibly disappointed. This was my second trip here after the first one being amazing. I talked it up so much and was so excited to take my mom and daughter out. While the atmosphere is decent at best, too hipster and definitely reaching, the food was absolutely disgusting. It was so salty my mother actually felt nauseous. We couldn’t finish anything we ordered. It all looked great but the only thing you could taste was SALT. I tried talking to our sever, who looked kinda put off and sent over a manager I guess. I wasn’t rude, but definitely had to let them know how disappointing it was. She apologized and gave me some free appetizers for next time, like I’m going to come back after basically wasting over $100. I can’t imagine if this would have been a business dinner. It would of been that much more embarrassing. The manager said they were “making some changes to the menu” but that simply does not excuse letting something come out of the kitchen that way. It was a terrible experience and we had been looking forward to it for weeks. 3 free appetizers I’m never going to get hardly makes up for a total flop of a night. We all left feeling nauseous and disappointed. I would never go back again. Had they taken the time to taste what they were bringing out this wouldn’t have happened, but it seems they are more concerned with looks and talking up extremely mediocre food. When you have items on your menu that are $69 you can’t drop the ball like this. Just another hipster place reaching way too far. Worst experience in a long time. Pork belly was so sweet it made you wanna gag, and it was served on what the boast to be “the best grits you ever put in your mouth”. They were dry and not even close to being good. Octopus was salty as well and the texture was like eating playdoh. Everything else was salt. Didn’t even bother with dessert. When I found out the people that own Cribbs are involved it made a little more sense....

The saddest part of my experience at The Kennedy is that if I had ordered something different, this would have been a 5 star review. Nearly everything was perfect, the decor was beautiful, the atmosphere was unique, the service was astounding, the cocktails were on point and the food (well, most of it) was amazing. We ordered the Yellow Fellow, a Bloody Mary spin made with yellow tomatoes, and the Sol Shine, a tequila based rendition of a Moscow Mule. They were clever and refreshing for a brunch date. My wife had the sweet potato hoe cakes with biscuit and gravy on the side and I (here comes the travesty) ordered The Burger with home fries. The hoe cakes were light and slightly sweet with fresh blueberries and a spiced syrup. The gravy on the biscuit didn't taste like your traditional greasy spoon fare. Up to this point, The Kennedy had been remarkable and my expectations were high. Enter: The Burger. There was literally nothing exceptional about it. The bun was EXTREMELY greasy. So much so, I regretted my decision to pick it up with my hands. The flavor was fine, but it was reminiscent of a large Krystal or Wendy's burger. Their "special sauce" was not distinguishable behind the overpowering flavor of the mustard. It was incredibly over-valued at $11 + $3 for the home fries. The overall experience was overwhelmingly disappointing, but it was all due to my own expectations. With so much else they nailed flawlessly, I am incapable of giving The Kennedy less...