Dovie's — Restaurant in Tompkinsville

Drove 4 hours to try this restaurant after watching TrueSouth. Arrived at the restaurant and a hand written note on the door that said, “Closed. Will be open in a little bit”. I met some very nice local folks as we all chatted while we waited for them to reopen. We were let inside after about 45 minutes of waiting. Unfortunately, the day I got there the restaurant was short staffed so my experience wasn’t the best. Talking with the locals and receiving advice from them about what to order definitely made the experience more pleasant. We found out the employees needed to temporarily close to pat more burgers for us before they could open again. I ordered my burgers and watched the man and woman flip the burgers thru the various pans while the wait staff prepared buns and condiments for the orders. The burger was decent but not an absolute destination burger. Because the restaurant was busy, didn’t have patties prepared, and short staffed I didn’t get anywhere near the experience that I watched on tv or read about in other reviews. I went on a Tuesday right before noon so I didn’t think I would hit peak hours. Overall the food was good and very reasonably priced, staff was nice even though understaffed, locals were absolutely awesome! I will stop here again to give it another try - but only if I’m in the area. I wouldn’t consider this a...

This place was very strange and sketchy as what looked like 2 crack heads sitting in the parking lot when we got there. The lady was somewhat nice but sniffling sick with what sounded like a sore throat and had no gloves on touching her face and hair when making our so called burgers (hence health issue). Not exactly the type of service expected from a so called restaurant and I have never had anyone ask me if we wanted our hamburgers squeezed as they were floating in a pan of grease. I wanted to leave instantly but didn't want to be rude so we got our food and then threw it away in a garbage can down the street. This place seems to be a real health hazard and very unhealthy for your own health as for cholesterol and nasty slimy grease (with extras hanging from the burger when being squeezed) looks so old that it has started to gel over. There is really no where to sit either. No tables just small counter and the building is not...

Frankly, it's not a five-star place, but I want to encourage you to go. Just getting to Tompkinsville is hard enough. I orchestrated a solo trip and arrived within an hour of opening, so my burgers were a breakfast sandwich. I'm so glad I went. Dovie's is unique. It's set up in a way that you will naturally interact with all the patrons. The burgers are clearly hand-made, but a little flavorless. The buns are pedestrian. They come with onion slices and a handful of pickles. The house sauce (ask for "dressed") is recommended, but just so-so. I had my first with mayo. I could not leave without trying a fully dressed burger with an egg. For this old man, 2 we're too much. If/when I go again (it's hours away for me), I'll have the $2 egg sandwich and an unsqueezed burger. They currently open at 8:30. Unsqueezed, by the way, is dripping with grease. They recommend squeezed with the...