River Drifters — Restaurant in Tennessee

Don't waste your time going to this place.

My husband and I were in the area and decided to stop in and try River Drifters as we just moved to the area and like to explore the restaurant options. We were brought our beverage order in a timely manner but after waiting 32 minutes for food (with no checking in by the waitstaff) I was about to approach someone and ask about it when the waitress finally came over to ask if we wanted another beverage since our food had not yet arrived. I asked our waitress (Emma) what the hold up was, I said to her "they're sandwiches, what's the hold up?" (we ordered a Rueben and a Hot Italian). I expected an apology for the delay and some type of explanation on them being backed up, instead I was met with an immediate somewhat hostile defensive response.

Emma stated they were not a fast food restaurant and that the kitchen was very small, in fact she went on to say that the kitchen was basically the size of our table and that they are a small restaurant. I found this alarming since the restaurant itself is not small in the least, in fact they have so much seating that they even seat people outside. Emma also went on to state that the kitchen is fulfilling to go orders and that the kitchen is very good in what they do.

I'm sure the kitchen is good, but she looked all of 22 years old so I'm not sure what her worldly experience would be in stating they are really good.

I was so completely taken aback by her defensive nature and lack of accommodating the customer that I just wanted her to be vanished for another 32 minutes or until the food came. That's right, not only did she not check in during our time at the table to let us know why the kitchen was delayed, she was heated in her defense by letting us know that we should lower our expectations in expecting timely food as sit...

Update: I just realized that the owner not only responded to this review, but tracked me down and sent me a message on facebook months ago. When I finally responded just a couple days ago, he called me the next morning. It was clear from that convo that the employee's attitude isn't shared with the owner and the employee is no longer there anyway, so we look forward to giving this place another shot. The food really did look rad and the atmosphere even radder. So if you're only gluten sensitive, there are some food options on the menu, and plenty of booze and river views for the hungry and thirsty adventurer. We just moved to chattanooga last year and were coming back from a hike at Prentice Cooper. We pass this place a lot and were hungry, so decided to grab some takeout. The bartender was really nice and the food looked good. All I asked was if they had a gluten free bread option for the sandwiches, which isn't a deal-breaker if they didn't as I saw other things we could eat. The bartender stepped away to ask someone, then came back and politely said no, but then some other dude came out of the back and very aggressively said DEFINITELY NOT, as though I insultingly asked if they put rat poison in their food. I was still about to drop $50 on apps and salad and I'm even a 30 percent tipper when I do carryout since I was a server for 15 years. We also likely would have made stopping there a regular thing after our trips up there to climb, boat, and hike. I never leave reviews, but I just wanted to warn anyone else with dietary restrictions that this place will DEFINITELY NOT be friendly to you. For anyone else, the place looked cool and the food looked good, so you should definitely go. I'm sure all the staff is friendly, too, when some of them aren't...

We were driving through and liked the way the menu looked and the reviews. It was not worth the trip.

First the bathroom. The men’s room had a busted pipe and the bucket they had under the sink was overflowing. It soaked my husbands shoes.

Second, the sweet tea is gross and the non alcoholic drinks are cans. I asked if they were free refills (the cans) she said they were not but were only like 50 cents each. Okay. No problem. We order appetizers (which were really good) and get our second round of drinks. The waitress then comes back and says she made a mistake and the drinks are actually $1.50 but not to worry she will only charge us once. Okay. Thank you.

Then we get to ordering. 4 people got burgers. The burgers DO NOT come with any side. So we ordered two plates of fries for the table (6 ppl) I asked about the crab cakes. She said that two came with an order. I got the shrimp po’boy AND the crab cakes to split with my son.

The order comes, my husbands burger is BURNT, like, black. There is only one crab cake. The waitress said she made a mistake again and took off 25% for the inconvenience. The fries didn’t make it to the table and even then only one plate until we were half done with our meal so we cancelled the second order.

Then the last straw. I take a bite of my shrimp po’boy and got a bite of shell. A hard bite. We were done.

They took off my husband meal, but I still feel like we paid over $100 for a waitress who didn’t know her menu (although to her credit, she did try to make up for her mistakes, but it just all snow balled) and food that was not prepared well at all.

Maybe it was an off day. But we will not be back. I almost want a refund since we had to stop at a fast food restaurant to actually...