Old fashioned space, but happy I got to check it before they switched to new owners. The space inside isn't super small, there's a bar, and several tables, but I can see how it could get crowded. Parking outside is a little tight too. Only one other table when I went, so my food and all was ready pretty fast. Crispy chicken with a crunchy batter. Fried okra with a delicious ranch sauce. The mac and cheese was good, not my favorite, but still good. The cornbread was super fluffy and light! Rich caramel frosted yellow cake for dessert was a great option (even though I really needed a nap afterwards). read more

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Hidden gem. Why it's a hidden gem , best home cooking food like mom's. Service checked on me often while waiting on a friend. Cottage Inn is a home now a restaurant which made me feel at home. Please don't miss out. Note daily specials do sellout because they are so good. read more

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We were surprised to find easy parking and were able to walk in and get a table immediately. In a beautiful Saturday morning at prime brunch time. Yay! Friendly service, a menu with several breakfast options available until 11 a.m. We arrived just in time. Catchy titles for each breakfast menu item and we got a table overlooking the outdoor koi pond. We both ordered the menu item that was 2 biscuits and sausage gravy, two eggs, and either bacon or sausage. Our waitress apologized upon delivering our orders, saying we had their last biscuits and they only had one for each of us vs the two so she offered us 25% off our meal. The food was really good, bacon extra crispy, and we both really enjoyed the sausage gravy. $12 each, another $3 if a non water beverage. We will definitely return again, & hope to try their famous fried chicken on the lunch/dinner menu options sometime. Glad to have a new spot to add to our breakfast/brunch rotation! read more

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This is a popular spot that didn't quite live up to my expectation. Ordered fried chicken and chicken tenders, and seasoned fries online. It was tricky to find and had to circle the area a few times until I spotted it accross the street. My food was ready when I arrived to this packed place. The chickens had good flavor and were moist and fresh. The sides didn't do it for me, lacked any taste. The service was professional and quick, too bad the food was a hit and miss. I may try the pork chops next time. read more

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Decent food at a great price, good (but slow) service, and a nice ma and pop restaurant with a low key vibe. I enjoyed the fried chicken, the mashed potatoes were incredible, and the spinach was not great - very watery. Next to me, they ordered the Kentucky hot brown and were not pleased - so avoid that. We also each ordered a little different cake and tried them all. The carrot cake (if it's your thing) was the best, strawberry was also very good, and Carmel cake was fairly dry, and chocolate was not impressive. My biggest complaint is that the food took about 40 minutes after ordering to get to our table, and it was not overly busy. The severs were fantastic and friendly. I would consider returning, especially for the price and portions. read more

Cottage Inn - 1/4 Dark Cottage Inn Fried Chicken - American Near Me - Louisville, Kentucky

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I placed an online order, I ordered a hot brown on a hamburger bun with okra and ended with toasted white bread and no okra. I also ordered a sweet tea and got no tea which wasn't the driver's fault because it wasn't showing on her receipt so I had to get refunded on that. The strawberry cake wasn't that great, kind of dry and lacking in flavor, it also looked like they used the same knife to cut into a chocolate cake before cutting my slice because there were little black bits on the outside. The fried green tomatoes weren't bad but they tasted like pickles (they were def tomatoes though). It was my first time getting a hot brown and I think this is likely very different than the brown hotel version, overall I'd rather eat a BLT elsewhere as I'm not likely to come here again as this feels like a place that soul food came to die. read more

I was hungry for some fried pork chops so o searched on Yelp and found this place. Once I glanced at the menu though I decided to go with the smothered chicken instead. It was delish. I'll get the pork chops next time I go back. I also want to try the dessert next time I go back. I didn't have room this time. read more

Cottage Inn - Smothered Chicken Fried Chicken with Homemade Mashed Potatoes & Gravy and Spinach - American Near Me - Louisville, Kentucky

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The service and food was wonderful Had the chicken livers with white gravy The best I have had in years read more

Cottage Inn - chicken fried steak - American Near Me - Louisville, Kentucky

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We came to Kentucky for vacation. We've hiked with our dog. We've spelunked with our dog. We swam in waterfalls with our dog. And she has been with us for every meal. Tonight my wife wanted the best white meat fried chicken in Louisville so we came to Cottage Inn where we knew we couldn't eat outside. The plan was for us parents to split the dog care duties and just switch halfway through the meal. But instead the manager Rick insisted on sitting outside with our dog while I went inside to enjoy the best pork chops I ever had, hot out of the frier. The fried chicken lived up to expectations, and the country fried steak my daughter had was demolished. Fried green tomatoes, green beans, spinach, mashed potatoes were all fantastic. And we got six desserts to-go that I can't wait to try. Our server told us the only reason Rick sat with our dog was that he beat her to it. They were all so wonderful, I don't have the words. Don't miss this place. Drive the hour if you need to. Great southern cooking, good prices, and the nicest people around. read more

Cottage Inn - On the outside, looking in. :( - American Near Me - Louisville, Kentucky

Cottage Inn is back!!! Fried chicken, chicken livers, hot brown, fried green tomatoes- yum! So excited it's reopened with the same menu, home cooked food and generous portions. Today we had the livers, hot brown and fried green tomatoes but will be back for the daily specials. read more

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When Christmas and New Year's leftovers are tiresome we decided to have a no frills dinner at the Cottage Inn. We both chose the country fried steak with mashed potatoes and green beans. The only thing we chose differently was she had a dinner roll and I went with the cornbread. We then shared a peach cobbler with ice cream. Good service and down home cooked dinner with reasonable prices. The one thing that could be an issue is the small parking lot. There is only one handicap parking spot and somebody who didn't have a handicap parking permit decided to park their Lexi's there. Thanks a lot. read more

Cottage Inn - Country fried steak and meatloaf. - American Near Me - Louisville, Kentucky

This place was terrible. The fried pickles were sad, the sweet tea tasted like watered down Milo's, the greens came straight out of a can, the Mac and cheese was disappointing, the fried chicken was ok, and they messed up the cornbread so they tried to bring us Hawaiian rolls instead and not say anything lmao. We waited a good 30 minutes or more for our food and watched people get seated and get their food before us. Overall I'm highly disappointed because I heard a lot about this place the only good thing we got was our server she was great. I didn't even finish my plate I left hungry and now we're at home cooking dinner read more

Of Louisville tradition for over 50 years good home cooking. In a quaint old style setting.

I have lived in Louisville my whole life and always wanted to stop and eat at this adorable cottage. I was not disappointed. It is now under new ownership and I stopped by for lunch. It has been redecorated in a diner type atmosphere- very inviting. The fish sandwich is the best one I have had in a LONG time. The staff were friendly and attentive. Plan to go back read more

Love this place! Good old fashioned country cooking right. Feels like eating at my grandmas house: chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes, greens...yum! Setting is a small house and the staff makes you feel lukewarm you've been invited over for dinner. Comfort food w an emphasis on comfort:) read more

We have been here before when in Kentucky and it was excellent then. They must have had an off night everything was cold and super slow service! read more

The Cottage Inn originally opened in 1929, closed briefly in 2021, and reopened earlier this year under new ownership. When I heard through the grapevine that the new owners intended to try to keep the same menu and ambiance, I know I wasn't the only one looking forward to going back. The Cottage Inn was the first place I ever shared a meal with family after moving off Eastern Parkway. Tonight, I had the nightly special. Meatloaf, brown gravy, mashed potatoes, green beans, and a roll. It was $11.49. If you're looking for a restaurant that serves southern home-cooking, if you like to taste the lumps in your mashed potatoes, this place is worth checking out. read more

Cottage Inn - Meatloaf with choice of two sides and a roll. - American Near Me - Louisville, Kentucky

Our family of 4 stopped here for dinner after the light show at the caverns and we were not impressed. We ordered fried pickles and fried tomatoes for appetizers- the pickles were nice with a crunch breading. The tomatoes, however, were mush. My husband ordered the cheeseburger and it came without cheese. The waitress brought out 2 cold pieces though after we asked for cheese. I ordered the catfish and it was barely breaded and cooked. Our son ordered chicken tenders and mac and cheese - chicken was moist and breaded while the mac and cheese was lackluster. Each of us had "seasoned fries" as well and they were floppy and bland. My daughter in law ordered the fried chicken salad and thought the tomatoes were ruined and tainted the other toppings. Our bill was nearly $80 - we will not be returning unfortunately. read more

I have been coming to this restaurant for more than 20 years and at least 3 different owners. I have recommended it to friends and strangers. Last night my wife and I went and I had my first bad meal. the pork chops were not only over cooked they weren't moist. The portion of mashed potatoes on each of our plates was very small as well as the gravy. My wife's fried chicken batter seemed different and she didn't care for it. We told our thoughts to our waitress. We each left half our food and they still charged us $22. It makes me sad. read more

From the fried chicken, greens, cornbread, meatloaf, cake, chili and more, the food is amazing. It's real food made with love. The service is above and beyond. You can tell they love where they are working and what they are doing. As a native Louisvillian, I love the Inn from inside to the outside....it's a true local restaurant. There is no doubt we will be back! read more

Great prices Chicken livers +2 sides- sides were sweet yams and salad. The yams were swimming in sauce. Picked the yams out of the sauce because the sauce was way too sweetand syrupy. Glazing the yams would have been sufficient, syrup was just too too much. The side salad was basically a bagged iceberg lettuce mix. The chicken livers were yummy and nicely fried. The grilled onions on top of the chicken livers were not caramelized. They needed to be cooked longer. Corn muffin - moist and tasty. Dessert- carrot cake. Their desserts are not housemade, but do come from a local bakery. The cake was dry, stale and lacked flavor. Too much cream cheese frosting. And I was served a large spoon for eating the cake. Since when do you eat cake with a spoon? Service was inconsistent. I was seated promptly, but then waited quite a bit of time for a waitress to approach the table and ask about beverages. I ordered lemon for my unsweetened tea and water and it came to the table without it. I had to ask for it again. My salad did not arrive before the entrée. My entrée and yams arrived and I still had not received the salad. I had to ask for the salad. The waitress was apologetic, but in general seemed to be unfocused. In general, there seemed to be a lot of chitchat amongst the wait staff and less attention to dining patrons. The four stars is for the chicken livers. I was able to get my liver fix!! read more

Cottage Inn - Carrot cake - American Near Me - Louisville, Kentucky

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Haven't been to the Cottage Inn in a number of years and I'm proud to say the new owners are keeping the traditions of great food at a reasonable price alive and well. Had the meatloaf which is served daily and it came out hot and absolutely fantastic. Reasonable pricing for a sit-down restaurant and the service was attentive and the food came out quick read more

Cottage Inn - The menu - American Near Me - Louisville, Kentucky

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Very good authentic Southern food and hospitality. Covered pork chops and fried green tomatoes can't be missed here. Some of the locals on the way out recommended the chicken gizzards. We can't walk out, we were so well fed. Thank you Rick and Pookie for the excellent experience. read more

So yummy. Highly recommend. Fried chicken was delicious. Corn bread and green beans were perfect. Staff was very friendly We will be back. Does not disappoint. read more

Cottage Inn - American Near Me - Louisville, Kentucky

First time here. Food was delicious. Molly our server was great. She was all alone, taking care of 5 other tables efficiently. I had the chicken fried steak- gravy was great! read more

I have heard terrible rumors regarding the removal of Salisbury Steak from the menu. I will share a picture 7 years ago of the Salisbury Steak, awesome mashed potatoes with delicious light brown (real) gravy and green beans made by your grandmother..... I wish I could go back in time. Those were the best days at Cottage Inn read more

Cottage Inn - American Near Me - Louisville, Kentucky

Just average plate lunch food. I had chicken Livers with grilled onions, mashed potatoes with white gravy, collard greens, and a corn muffin. Livers were moist and piping hot. Not bad, but only had about 6 livers on the plate. Wife had meatloaf, mashed potatoes, both with brown gravy, collard greens, and a yeast roll. The meat loaf was just dense hamburger meat with maybe a piece of green pepper mixed in. No flavor or seasonings. Bot of our sides were cold. Mashed potatoes were very dry and no flavor. Greens were not bad, but again cold. Both gravies were cold and tasted like out of a can. Serve was fast, but the waitress was very busy and didn't return to fill drinks and had to walk up to bar to get her attention to pay bill, which came to $41.11, 15% tip included. Parking was tough due to busy lunch crowd. Small inside. read more

A family dinner here was the best! The best fried chicken I have ever had. Delicious breading and so moist. My companion had a BLT, loaded with crispy bacon. Other choices at the table included meatloaf and chicken tenders, all served piping hot and fresh. The best waitstaff of any restaurant around further enhanced our evening. Can't miss when you stop by here for dinner. read more

I am slow to get to this famous, long time Louisville staple, but I am about to become a regular! I am excited to write this review. The new owner, Kevin, is doing an outstanding job of keeping the old ambiance and familiarity. The food is best described as normal, familiar, down home, southern, comfortable. My company is in town for Bourbon and Beyond as a media rep and we really needed non festival food after 3 days... so we went "beyond" and couldn't have been happier. The staff was welcoming and friendly. Prompt service brought us smothered chicken that was juicy, flavorful and tender. Not breaded too heavily. Peaches and cottage cheese- where can you find that on a menu these days? I had a grilled chicken sandwich that was also tender and juicy (most places it's over cooked and fry, but not here!) The coleslaw was great with raisins in it. Something else I haven't seen in forever! Strawberry cake was just right... definitely not a box mix or food service icing. I am quick to be a critic, so 5 stars out of me is a big deal- y'all earned it. If you want to get all dressed up and eat fancy, go somewhere else- if you want a slice of home, this is your place! Lunch and dinner specials. Be sure and look for the baby fish in the goldfish pond out front! read more

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The atmosphere was good. My date ordered the collar greens, then our server said don't get the greens (quote) they are nasty. My date ask why what's wrong with them she stated they taste like fishy to me. I thought she could have frased that different. She could have said the greens are not good today. read more

I'm glad I finally tried this place. It's right down the street from me, and I've always wanted to try it. The restaurant is pretty small maybe 15 tables in the whole restaurant. At one point, every table was full. A lot of people came in to order carry out. Our servers were friendly and the service was quick. I ordered the fried chicken with mashed potatoes, corn, and a dinner roll. The chicken was so crispy and delicious. The corn and potatoes were both really good. The dinner roll wasn't much of a roll, but it was decent. I liked the cornbread better. My dad really enjoyed his salmon patties. My only complaint was with the derby pie. I expected all their desserts to be homemade, but it wasn't. The slice was very small and it was $5. It wasn't that good. I'll definitely come back here. read more

Cottage Inn - Fried chicken - American Near Me - Louisville, Kentucky

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I have always wanted to go to the Cottage Inn and finally did! I had the fried chicken which was delicious. My husband had the meatloaf and sister the fried pork chops. Everything was good! Our service was good. He was very knowledgeable of the menu and that was helpful. All the staff were very nice and friendly. Restaurant is very quaint with an old time feel. We will definitely be back! read more

We've been here maybe four times since they reopened and really want to see them succeed. The previous times were fairly good but this one wasn't. I think management failed. Our wait person was overwhelmed, with no help or management on her third day. We went for the Saturday special, Turkey and dressing, which would have been much better if it had been heated properly. The chicken fingers were tasty and enormous but the sides were tiny. This opinion is advice for the owner. read more

Country cooking as I remember it. Cozy spot on Eastern Parkway. Service and food are good. It is a welcome change from chain or trendy restaurants. I can't wait to go back. read more

They opened again after closing due to covid a new couple have resurrected them with the same menu and recipes a great choice it was not poor food that closed them but poor luck. I gave the hot brown a try and found it improved over my last visit. I'm looking forward to returning for the pork chops that my friend had. Others at the table tried chicken livers and smothered chicken when the waitress returned to retrieve our empty plates obviously a sign of good home cooking I made room for a slice of carrot cake there were multiple cakes to choose from my choice was quite satisfying. I'll return soon so glad to see they're back. read more

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The service was fine, but many of the food items were just kind of botched. This was the worst hot brown I've ever had. The turkey is dry and I understand they use cheese instead of real, which is a cardinal sin but there isn't nearly enough cheese to make that worthwhile and there's some little ham bits that are kind of small and dry and not very flavorful Toast is extremely dry without the mornay. guess I'll take it home put some more sauce or something on it. The mashed potatoes are decent taste real not lumpy salad was fresh but lacked an onion. The blue cheese was good. The dinner roll was under pressure and kind of dry, but at least they did bring me out some real butter. The drinks are Pepsi, but they do have big red to redeem them a little bit. She did not like her chicken livers. They tasted pre-cooked and she did not like the batter. She says the coleslaw was good and pretty well balanced, but it was strange because it had raisins and poppy seeds in it. Overall, this meal just wasn't worth it and the place is very noisy. read more

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In all of my years as a student and employee at UofL, I had never been to Cottage Inn. Now that they are back open, I decided to remedy that. I came with 4 family members for lunch on a Friday around 11:15 and the place was already hoppin'! We were seated quickly and ordered almost immediately - I had the salmon pattie special with mac and cheese and a side salad. My mom had a turkey sandwich and the rest of the table had the fried pork chops. The service was OK but very scattered and the food took absolutely forever to come out. When it did, I was very disappointed. Although it had great flavor, my food was cold (I had a feeling it would be) and some of my party had wrong/missing side dishes. My mom's sandwich was pedestrian but the porkchops were a HUGE hit! The prices are great for the amount of food so I'm sure we'll return. I will definitely order something else next time. read more

Before I begin, there were 3 other tables, THATS IT!!! Practically empty! We just left Cottage Inn after being repeatedly ignored by THREE different waitresses standing behind the bar chatting as well as REPEATEDLY walking by our table without so much as eye contact much less a word at all. WE FINALLY LEFT. As we did one of the THREE WAITRESSES said "THANKS!" Insult to injury. That was some of the rudest sh*t I've experienced in a restaurant, but especially Cottage Inn. TERRIBLE. read more

Where do we start ? From the begiining to the end it was a disaster. It was a chilly day and we went for brunch. We sat down in the second room by the window to see the Goldfish pond. Big mistake. The room was so painfully cold we had to leave our coats on. We were ignored by the waitress until finally another one walked over from behind the bar that is by the entrance door to the resturant in the other room. After ordering Hot Brown's we waited over 30 minutes to receive our food. The first waitress brought us coffee we asked for. We had ordered Decaf. The food was cold when it arrived. The Hot Brown served to us was nothing more than a couple pieces of regular white sandwhch bread, not sour dough bread for which Hot Brown's are famous. Small pieces of some mystery meat , lots of grease and some tomatoes. Truly a God awful meal, awful. Couldn't eat it. The waitress that ignored us came to refill the coffee. And literally said "here's your regular coffee". We explained that we had asked for Decaf and come to find out she had served us regular coffee. No apology or anything for the screw up. Then proceeded to say "don't forget the tip". NEVER AGAIN. read more

I'm SO GLAD this place reopened. There are new owners and I'm happy to say the menu is the same but the food was even better than before and it was really good before! Service was excellent too. Everything we had was top notch. I had the meatloaf and my BF had the chicken fried steak and we had caramel cake. It was all super good. read more