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SOUTHERN GRIT ATMOSPHERE
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We were in Knoxville to watch a performance and decided to give Southern Grit a try for dinner. We shared a platter of fried green tomatoes with a side of pimento cheese with a side of ranch sauce. The appetizer was delicious but very hot. Have a glass of ice water ready. For the emerald my spouse had the Jambalaya meal which contained shrimp and andouille sausage. What was different about this meal was it contained red tomatoes which my spouse has never seen before. It was delicious and he would order it again. I got the fried chicken with white meat (wing and breast) with a side salad, mashed potatoes with gravy and a biscuit that came with honey butter. What I thought was unusual is they charged .50 cents for adding a biscuit. It was all very tasty. What was convenient was parking only a few blocks and near the Jackson Event center. I would definitely return for another meal.
Great location in the old city with industrial vibes. Bar has a DEEP bourbon selection which was awesome! We sat at the bar as the place was hopping. The bartenders (Riley and Jacquline) were a great pair that worked really well together. Tenders were great! Amazing scald while still juicy.
Unbelievable. This is one of the best meals I've had in a long time. Coming from Utah I wanted a good southern soul food type of meal. So being here on business for one day I thought I'd search something out. And I found this place. And literally every single freaking thing I tried was incredible. Start off with the pimento cheese, appetizer dip. Hot pimento cheese with some pepper jelly and crackers. The combination of the spicy kick for the pepper jelly and the savory cheese dip was amazing. Then I moved on to the fried chicken. Look I have watched a ton of Instagram videos of people making fried chicken and every time I do I think myself "damn I wish I could try that". Well, I can't imagine a single piece of fried chicken that I've seen on the Internet could compare to this chicken here. Crispy crunchy crust tons of spices and juicy chicken. Juicy as your mama on her wedding night. Sides were amazing too. Brussels sprouts with southern spice cheesy grits and a really dense moist biscuit. Truly, I felt like I died and went to plantation heaven, and I was being served by the kindest southern folk eastern Mississippi.
Superb all-arounder. Fantastic, wide selection of drinks. Food is so good too. The burger was cooked perfectly, the toppings complemented it well. The sweet potato fries are probably the best I've ever had. They are topped with sugar instead of salt; genius!! And the bartenders were super friendly and knowledgeable about the menu but also the area. Highly recommend this place!
Wonderful experience! Such a cute restaurant, and the server was very nice and helpful. We came in and ordered the fried pickles and Okra, which were well seasoned and cooked well. The two changes we would make is the serving size was a little large (we would have taken half that size for the three of us) and the pickles were sliced so thin that you only got a hint of the pickle. and a few beers. They had a good selection that were chilled nicely and paired well with the fried food. The shrimp po boy was amazing! The shrimp was crispy and perfectly done with the aioli pairing perfectly. I wish the bread was a little more robust on that sandwich, but the fries were awesome. They were thin and crispy and perfectly seasoned. I will have dreams about the Southern Mess sandwich. The chicken paired with the maple syrup and pimiento cheese was blissful. The sweet potato fries are crispy on the outside, soft on the inside and the perfect balance of sweetness. We had a fantastic experience, and will be back!
The place is super cute and the staff were great! It was our first time here and the food didn't disappoint! Started with some hush puppies with a honey butter which was good! Ended up with a burger which was very good and the sweet potato fries are where it's at! Definitely recommend!
Brooks was the best! He was super friendly and had great recommendations for our food. If you are looking for an unknown southern experience this is the way to go. The atmosphere is very casual and very southern. Get the Bag o Shrimp and the Fried Green Tomatoes.
So I ordered the medium chicken and it was hotter than a Hattie-B's hot. Told the sever that this was not a medium level hot and I ordered a regular breast to replace the piece I couldn't eat. When I asked him why I'm paying for the replacement piece he showed me the menu that says "no refunds on medium or hot chicken". He's a manager who can do something about it and he didn't....because that's what the menu says? He also shared that others have told him that it was a hotter medium than normal tonight. Frustrating experience.
A foodie's southern comfort food dream! A beautiful restaurant with good vibes in downtown Knox. The food is exceptional. From the freshly made biscuits to the fried chicken to the mouthwatering sides, you cannot go wrong with anything on this menu! The fried chicken is still something I'm thinking about and the Brussels sprouts are hands down one of the best I've ever had. We came in for brunch and the $5 Bloody Mary's were on point. Our waitress, Jade, did an amazing job of keeping them coming. She was attentive and you could tell she was intimately familiar with the menu. She was genuinely excited about our food picks! An all around excellent experience - don't miss this spot!
what an amazing restaurant. Enjoy the food super delicious, salad was on point and so was the shrimp platter. Heart break loss from Tennessee playing Georgia, but we'll get them next time. and our waitress was super nice.
I liked this place. Went with my niece on an earlyish Saturday. Very nice and knowledgeable people. Very good food. We ate biscuit fritter balls with chocolate sauce , a slider with okra, and biscuit French toast. It was all fantastic.
Been here a couple times now to get a full experience and variety of menu - based on this I'm right at a 4.5 out 5. +1 - Food and drink +1 - Parking and location +1 - Venue and look +1 - cleanliness inside and restroom +0.5 - staff and service We're brunch fans, and this place is definitely in our top 5 brunches in Knoxville. I am a particular fan of the biscuits and gravy there; not so much the Mac and cheese, but hey, not everyone likes the same things, right? We've ran into a couple instances of not the best of greetings at the door for getting in and getting on a waitlist. One of the times our waiter was stellar; the other time we had a lot of delays due to what i think was asking the bartender to take on a few tables + the bar on a busy Sunday brunch day. Will definitely be back - if you're a biscuit fan, GET. HERE.
17 days ago
1 month ago
Stopped in for lunch. We were seated quickly. We had sweet tea and my wife had an Arnold Palmer. Best she's ever had. I ordered the shrimp and grits and OMG. It was spicy and delicious. My wife had southern fried chicken with homemade fries and collard greens. It was all amazing. We're definitely be coming back. read more
We were in Knoxville to watch a performance and decided to give Southern Grit a try for dinner. We shared a platter of fried green tomatoes with a side of pimento cheese with a side of ranch sauce. The appetizer was delicious but very hot. Have a glass of ice water ready. For the emerald my spouse had the Jambalaya meal which contained shrimp and andouille sausage. What was different about this meal was it contained red tomatoes which my spouse has never seen before. It was delicious and he would order it again. I got the fried chicken with white meat (wing and breast) with a side salad, mashed potatoes with gravy and a biscuit that came with honey butter. What I thought was unusual is they charged .50 cents for adding a biscuit. It was all very tasty. What was convenient was parking only a few blocks and near the Jackson Event center. I would definitely return for another meal. read more
Great location in the old city with industrial vibes. Bar has a DEEP bourbon selection which was awesome! We sat at the bar as the place was hopping. The bartenders (Riley and Jacquline) were a great pair that worked really well together. Tenders were great! Amazing scald while still juicy. read more
1 year ago
Unbelievable. This is one of the best meals I've had in a long time. Coming from Utah I wanted a good southern soul food type of meal. So being here on business for one day I thought I'd search something out. And I found this place. And literally every single freaking thing I tried was incredible. Start off with the pimento cheese, appetizer dip. Hot pimento cheese with some pepper jelly and crackers. The combination of the spicy kick for the pepper jelly and the savory cheese dip was amazing. Then I moved on to the fried chicken. Look I have watched a ton of Instagram videos of people making fried chicken and every time I do I think myself "damn I wish I could try that". Well, I can't imagine a single piece of fried chicken that I've seen on the Internet could compare to this chicken here. Crispy crunchy crust tons of spices and juicy chicken. Juicy as your mama on her wedding night. Sides were amazing too. Brussels sprouts with southern spice cheesy grits and a really dense moist biscuit. Truly, I felt like I died and went to plantation heaven, and I was being served by the kindest southern folk eastern Mississippi. read more
1 year ago
Superb all-arounder. Fantastic, wide selection of drinks. Food is so good too. The burger was cooked perfectly, the toppings complemented it well. The sweet potato fries are probably the best I've ever had. They are topped with sugar instead of salt; genius!! And the bartenders were super friendly and knowledgeable about the menu but also the area. Highly recommend this place! read more
3 months ago
Great service and authentic southern food. Stopped for a quick lunch and wanted southern, homemade food and Southern Grit didn't disappoint. Highly recommend. read more
9 months ago
Wonderful experience! Such a cute restaurant, and the server was very nice and helpful. We came in and ordered the fried pickles and Okra, which were well seasoned and cooked well. The two changes we would make is the serving size was a little large (we would have taken half that size for the three of us) and the pickles were sliced so thin that you only got a hint of the pickle. and a few beers. They had a good selection that were chilled nicely and paired well with the fried food. The shrimp po boy was amazing! The shrimp was crispy and perfectly done with the aioli pairing perfectly. I wish the bread was a little more robust on that sandwich, but the fries were awesome. They were thin and crispy and perfectly seasoned. I will have dreams about the Southern Mess sandwich. The chicken paired with the maple syrup and pimiento cheese was blissful. The sweet potato fries are crispy on the outside, soft on the inside and the perfect balance of sweetness. We had a fantastic experience, and will be back! read more
8 months ago
The place is super cute and the staff were great! It was our first time here and the food didn't disappoint! Started with some hush puppies with a honey butter which was good! Ended up with a burger which was very good and the sweet potato fries are where it's at! Definitely recommend! read more
10 months ago
Brooks was the best! He was super friendly and had great recommendations for our food. If you are looking for an unknown southern experience this is the way to go. The atmosphere is very casual and very southern. Get the Bag o Shrimp and the Fried Green Tomatoes. read more
3 months ago
11 months ago
7 months ago
So I ordered the medium chicken and it was hotter than a Hattie-B's hot. Told the sever that this was not a medium level hot and I ordered a regular breast to replace the piece I couldn't eat. When I asked him why I'm paying for the replacement piece he showed me the menu that says "no refunds on medium or hot chicken". He's a manager who can do something about it and he didn't....because that's what the menu says? He also shared that others have told him that it was a hotter medium than normal tonight. Frustrating experience. read more
2 years ago
A foodie's southern comfort food dream! A beautiful restaurant with good vibes in downtown Knox. The food is exceptional. From the freshly made biscuits to the fried chicken to the mouthwatering sides, you cannot go wrong with anything on this menu! The fried chicken is still something I'm thinking about and the Brussels sprouts are hands down one of the best I've ever had. We came in for brunch and the $5 Bloody Mary's were on point. Our waitress, Jade, did an amazing job of keeping them coming. She was attentive and you could tell she was intimately familiar with the menu. She was genuinely excited about our food picks! An all around excellent experience - don't miss this spot! read more
8 months ago
1 year ago
what an amazing restaurant. Enjoy the food super delicious, salad was on point and so was the shrimp platter. Heart break loss from Tennessee playing Georgia, but we'll get them next time. and our waitress was super nice. read more
1 year ago
I liked this place. Went with my niece on an earlyish Saturday. Very nice and knowledgeable people. Very good food. We ate biscuit fritter balls with chocolate sauce , a slider with okra, and biscuit French toast. It was all fantastic. read more
8 months ago
1 year ago
Been here a couple times now to get a full experience and variety of menu - based on this I'm right at a 4.5 out 5. +1 - Food and drink +1 - Parking and location +1 - Venue and look +1 - cleanliness inside and restroom +0.5 - staff and service We're brunch fans, and this place is definitely in our top 5 brunches in Knoxville. I am a particular fan of the biscuits and gravy there; not so much the Mac and cheese, but hey, not everyone likes the same things, right? We've ran into a couple instances of not the best of greetings at the door for getting in and getting on a waitlist. One of the times our waiter was stellar; the other time we had a lot of delays due to what i think was asking the bartender to take on a few tables + the bar on a busy Sunday brunch day. Will definitely be back - if you're a biscuit fan, GET. HERE. read more
10 months ago
Had a wonderful brunch at Southern Grit this past Sunday. Though you can't make reservations for brunch, we walked in at 11:15am and immediately got seated. Great ambiance with lots of natural lighting which I love. Our server was welcoming and attentive, sharing his favorites off the menu and modified our orders as needed. I ordered the Homer Stokes biscuit with medium level heat chicken and a side of the fried brussels. The homemade biscuit was incredible (and much bigger than I expected) though I thought the chicken could've had some more spice. Luckily, I got some hot sauce to dip it in. Brussels were cooked perfectly, and i'm glad they weren't soaked in some kind of sauce like lots of restaurants do these days. My mom got a side of the hash brown casserole which didn't sell me- I've had better, but it was still good. My parents loved their biscuits too (the penny mcgill with chicken tenders and the everett.) I'll definitely come back for another brunch, as well as I would like to try dinner! read more
We went on a Saturday night at 530 and were able to be seated in the last available table right away. I'm guessing they take reservations because we were told that was all that was available and lots of tables were open. I didn't see reservations on their website though. Our server took a few minutes to greet us and once he got us water he was gone for what seemed like forever. We were ready to order for at least 5-7 minutes before we even saw him to flag him down. (I noticed he wasn't like this with his other tables??) Anyways. We placed our order and it came out in pretty good time. My hubby had the shrimp and grits which he enjoyed and I got 4 tenders with 2 sides and we both added biscuits. Food was pretty good. Chicken was abnormally tender inside for such a tough exterior. Grits were ok and okra was pretty good. We had a hard time getting beverage refills. Overall a pretty good experience but service was a little lacking. read more
2 years ago
We went tonight for our Anniversary. Brooks was a good server and attentive to my pepper allergy. Sadly several of the things I wanted to eat all had some form of red/chili peppers etc in them. (That was very disappointing) I ended up getting the Mahi Mahi it was grilled to perfection, and my two sides (cheddar grits & Brussels sprouts) were very tasty indeed. HH had The Mitchell Burger (bacon , blue cheese & beer battered jalapeños) he was in heaven! We both enjoyed the Blackberry cider by Gypsy Circus, and HH also had a gin & tonic. It was "happy hour" drinks were $5, however I was surprised that there was NO WINE choice for Happy hour. Except... 1/2 a BOTTLE of wine. I really wanted a glass but $9 for a glass vs $5 for the cider I went with the cider. We finished off our dinner with a shared serving of the Fudge Cookie Brownie and a scoop of ice cream. The creation arrived HOT and yummy. We will be back sometime soon. read more
We were hosting four out of state guests and wanted to start our night of entertaining with some good ol' southern comfort food. Southern Grit came highly recommended and after dining here, it's obvious why. This dinner was for New Year's Eve so, I called several days in advance to make a reservation for a party of six. The friendliness and ease of doing this was a cinch. So helpful and inviting. We showed up right on time NYE and I was greeted by name. Warm and welcoming and immediately shown to our table. The restaurant and vibe was cool. Our server was awesome. Like, really awesome. He was great with drinks, the menu, specials, suggestions, even that special whisky menu that got the attention of our guests. The food: Awesome. I'm trying to come up with clever ways to say delicious, perfect, hit the spot... every dish was just, well... delicious, perfect and hit the spot. I loved my shrimp & grits. I also got a bite of the meatloaf and the grouper. Oh... the fried green tomatoes were the bomb. I could go on and on, but I'll save it for my next visit and follow up review. I'll be back. All six of us loved Southern Grit and I think you will too. Give it a shot. Until next time... read more
3 years ago
Service was really good and fast... Got seated as soon as we walked in... Food was really good, big portions and hot.. The Buffalo chicken dip was good, the shrimp and grits had a lot of flavor and big portion as well.. This was my first time eating at this establishment and i was very impressed. I will come back again asap!! It wasn't crowded at all, nice vibe and ambiance.. read more
2 years ago
I'm so HAPPY! My bestfriend is so HAPPY!! We haven't had amazing food in over a year because we live in a small town in Arkansas but are out here to possibly move. The food here SOLD US on the move haha! If we keep eating like this I'm gonna be on "my 600lbs life" with some dood feeding me lol! The fried green tomato's LORD is so good!! The pimento cheese so good the crab cakes SO GOOD!! A must come and visit!! If I could give them 10 stars I would!! read more
6 months ago
1 year ago
One of my besties really wanted to eat downtown on a Sunday afternoon so we decided to give this place a try. We are already planning to return next weekend. The food and service were outstanding. We both got the same sandwich, but different sides, and shared them. A gentleman at the next table let me snap a picture of his shrimp and grits and he said it was delicious. What is not pictured is the bowl of brussels sprouts slaw; an unusual, but super yummy, crunchy, fresh dish, that I plan to re-create at home. You owe it to yourself to eat here, at least once. Their regular dinner menu is completely different from the weekend brunch menu, according to our server, Grecia, who was knowledgeable and personable. Plan to eat here soon - and thank me later! read more
We happened upon this place after a few afternoon beers in the Old City. We didn't have much of a wait so that was nice. The place was trying pretty hard to appear rustic. It's a southern comfort food menu with brunchy options. The majority of offerings were fried or biscuit centric. We settled on the fried pickles/ okra appetizer. This was a mountain of an appetizer but was just frozen veggies thrown in a fryer and served with ranch. We decided to try the penny Mcgill, a homemade biscuit with fried chicken, gravy and hash brown casserole topped with a sunny side up egg. We tried to enjoy it, but the fried chicken was over seasoned and lacked actual breading and was not a chicken breast but rather tenderloins. (Picture for evidence). My wife found the ensemble overly salty. It was a fairly loud venue and we aren't old. The vibe ranged from shabby chic to rave which is neither here nor there. The service was decent but nothing special. We decided to just box up the salt filled lunch and chess out. It wasn't overly expensive or fail worthy. There are just better options in the area so 3 stars is doing them a favor. Maybe it was a an off shift and it could workout better for others. read more
1 year ago
2 years ago
Souther Grit was delicious! The portions are very solid and price wise a good fit. We had the shrimp in the bag, hush puppies with honey butter, crab cakes, and the country fried chicken. The gravy was just perfect. All the sauces were well seasoned and just enough. The biscuits were nice and warm and the honey butter was just the right spreadable texture. Perhaps they were short staffed but they had the bartender taking orders which resulted in everyone waiting from when they were first seated to when their order was finally taken. Used dishes accumulated on the table as well after our appetizers were finished which left little room on our table. Solid meal for Knoxville! read more
1 year ago
1 year ago
9 months ago
Wanted to go to the sushi place next door but they weren't open yet so we decided to come here after looking at the menu online. When you walk in there's a hostess stand to the right, I feel like it's awkwardly placed but moving on. Got sat right away, we were brought menus and drinks fairly quickly. I ordered their tenders plate which came with two sides, I ended up getting their mac and cheese and fries and the waitress asked me if I wanted to add a biscuit which I agreed to. My aunt got their hamburger with cheese and fresh fruit. I got the tenders medium hot which I thought were the perfect level of spiciness wish they were a little crispier, the fries were really good but kinda of lukewarm and the mac and cheese was trash, no taste to it at all definitely needed salt, tasted like they made it the day before and heated it up in the microwave, ended up only taking one bite of it. My aunt was disappointed in her cheese burger, said it tasted like there was no seasoning to it at all, she ended up only eating half. I will say their biscuit with honey butter and spicy jam was top notch. Our waitress was nice and friendly in the beginning and then we never saw her again until the end which at that point we asked for boxes and when she came she didn't bring the check. We sat and waited another 10-15 minutes and noticed she was also bartending so I went up there to pay the bill and I felt an attitude from her and she said she will bring it by in a minute. All in all will we be back. Probably not. Prices aren't too bad but food and service was definitely lacking. read more
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More info about Southern Grit
126 S Central St
Knoxville, TN 37902
Directions
(865) 240-4275
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https://thesoutherngrit.com
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