Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen — Restaurant in Virginia

We arrived about 9:10 which was less than an hour before closing. They brought an amazing soft, tender, delicious croissant drizzled with honey butter with our drinks. We ordered the Trio Sampler with beef appetizer because we had just got in town and I felt like I was starving. It was $12.49. It had corn tortilla chips, 4 good sized chicken tenders, a thick and delicious cheesy dip with beef, spinach dip, and salsa. It was all delicious. My husband ate half and I ate half. I was already getting plenty full at that point, but unfortunately/fortunately I had already ordered the Cornmeal white fish meal for $13.49. I got the Broccoli Casserole and loaded baked potato for my sides. I worried that the baked potato might not taste fresh since we got to Cheddar's less than an hour before closing, but the baked potato tasted fresh, moist and delicious. The cheesy broccoli casserole was not as hot as I would have liked, but it tasted good and I was too full to eat much of it at that point anyway. I ate the middle out of my potato and since I was quickly approaching "full as a tick" or "beached whale status", I put my Broccoli Casserole in the potato to eat tomorrow. The whitefish was a very generous portion that was so piping hot and freshly fried that when I dropped it on my blouse it burned my chest through the shirt. By the time we got back to the hotel, the fish was still hotter than most take out food. I could have easily shared with someone and still had plenty even without the appetizer before. In fact, I will share it with myself 😋 and maybe my husband tomorrow because I brought back a packed full To Go plate. My husband got the herb roasted chicken with broccoli and sweet baby carrots for $13.99. He had to put some of his in a TO GO Box too. He thought the carrots were too sweet. They tasted like they might have had a little brown sugar in them. We also ordered the Carrot cake To Go when we ordered our other food because I had a birthday coupon and we knew we would be cutting it close to closing time. It looks delicious, but I haven't tasted it yet. I could not have eaten it if I'd wanted to at the restaurant because I am still recovering from beached whale status an hour and a half later. Service was great too and it had a quiet and calm atmosphere which I love since everywhere else seems so noisy. This is my first visit ever to a Cheddar's restaurant so I don't know if it is noisy during busier times. We finished up and left 5 minutes before closing. Hopefully that didn't make any employees have to get off later than usual. If this Cheddar's is representative of other Cheddar's locations, I would very much enjoy eating at one closer to home too. If you are in the Bristol area, you won't be disappointed if you eat at this Cheddar's. Edit: I ate some of my leftovers for breakfast. The fish was still moist inside and the cornmeal breading was still crispy after microwaving. I tried the fish cold with the tartar sauce and it was still delicious that way too. The broccoli casserole and baked potato were great after heating up too (and I usually don't care for reheated baked potatoes), although I did add some salt. The carrot cake was pretty good too. My favorite part was the pecans on top. I usually make homemade cream cheese frosting when I bake a carrot cake. The frosting on this cake tasted more like canned cream cheese flavored frosting. I still have a couple of good sized pieces of fish, a chicken tender, half a baked potato with cheesy broccoli casserole and almost half the cake...

We were a group travelling through the area and decided to eat at Cheddar's because their online menu looked like it was diverse and everyone could find something they liked. We had 11 people, which is often a problem for restaurants, and Cheddar's was no exception. We arrived at 8pm on a Sunday night and were seated at 8:15pm. They accomodated our large group by splitting us into two tables, 3 at a booth next to a large table for 8. Our waiter greated us and took our drink order for both tables (and two app orders that came pretty quickly). Some folks ordered water, some soda, some drinks from the bar. 15 minutes later we got our drinks and he started to take our order. By the time he had gone around to everyone, most of us were ready for drink refills. I said to him that he might want to ask another waiter fro help or alert the manager that he had a large group and we needed attention. A young lady appeared, a waitress, and she seemed to be more seasoned, asking about refills and getting them pronto. A man appeared in an apron and spoke briefly to the 3 people at the booth. No one was sure what his capacity was. We kept waiting for food to arrive. Some of the party had ordered salads and soup, but these never came. The waitress was very attentive, she refilled drinks and offered to bring chips and salsa to the tables. Over an hour after we ordered our meals, around 9:35, our dinners arrived. Some salads and soups appeared at the same time. The food was very good. The man in the apron re-appeared and asked if we needed anything else? Not if we were happy or if everything was OK, just if we needed anything else. Heck of a time to ask, after our dinners arrived! Again, he never said what his capacity was. When we finished eating, the waitress (our original waiter never reappered) had to ask everyone what they got so she could enter our orders and prepare our bills. OK. One of our group said that maybe the manager would take her app off the bill for waiting so long, I chimed in that maybe he should buy us all dessert. the waitress said, "They hate to give food away here" to which I replied, "but they love to give dinners out an hour after you order?". I had mentioned dessert because we all had our eyes on the chocolate cake we had seen online. She returned with our bills and distributed them. So, not only did the manager not do anything for our inconvenience, we didn't even get asked if we wanted coffee or dessert, even after my prompting about dessert! We paid and left. It was 10:10pm. The food was great, the waitress was great, we were never rude or noisy. We had plenty to complain about but no one ever identified themselves as a manager or apologized. They had every opportunity to make this terrible situation better and they didn't. maybe going as a small group would be better as far as getting your food from the kitchen, but the lack of good customer service would effect you no matter how many were in your party if a problem arose...

I have been wanting to try Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen for what seems like forever but unfortunately we don't have any near where we live so I was so excited to discover this one right up the street from the hotel we were staying in. I joined the E-Club as we were driving over for dinner and got our free queso and chips - love queso but have never had it with the seasoned ground beef but I can't ever imagine having it without it from now on. Hubby and I both went with the Half Rack of Ribs and Shrimp Combo - me with grilled shrimp, him with fried. I also loved the Italian green beans and loaded baked potato - most places upcharge for that but not Cheddars. Our server timed everything perfectly with our entrees arriving just as we were finishing up the queso. I loved the sauce that they basted the grilled shrimp with, I love the combination of sweet and savory and this sauce was sheer perfection. The portion of ribs was very generous and the meat fell right off the bone, absolutely delicious. Our server was Jennifer and she was spot on, always right there when we needed anything, often anticipating what we were about to ask before the words came out of our mouths - awesome service. The only issue I had at all was that we were sat at a table in the bar right beside the door to the patio and employees went in and out that door at least a dozen times for smoke breaks while we were sitting there and the cold, damp (it was raining that evening) blew in every couple of minutes along with the awful smell of cigarette smoke. The restaurant and bar area was not very full at all so perhaps keep that in mind when seating...