Taste Of Dandridge - Étlap

To start, there were no kid-friendly drink options available—no lemonade, juice, or even milk. When we asked our server for her favorite dish, she mentioned that the meats are smoked in-house, which sounded promising. We decided to order a cowboy steak cooked rare for $35 and a 6 oz sirloin cooked medium rare for $17. Unfortunately, the cowboy steak was extremely unevenly cooked, with a good portion being overdone and closer to well-done than rare. My sirloin was disappointingly flavorless; it was by far the blandest and toughest steak I’ve ever encountered. Overall, it was an easy decision for us to skip returning.

We decided to stop by this restaurant and it definitely exceeded our expectations! The place was extremely clean and the staff was incredibly friendly. The menu offered a great variety of dishes, including daily specials. I found the chicken salad to be absolutely delicious, and the pulled pork was equally impressive. Our waitress, Vicky, was thoughtful enough to offer me a taste of the chicken salad before I placed my order—thank you, Vicky! I also noticed how attentive she was with another customer, making sure he got exactly what he wanted on his salad. Even the hostess greeted us warmly when we arrived at noon. Overall, this is an excellent place to visit!

Upon arrival, the restaurant was clean and decorated nicely, and they were prepared for us. I contacted DeeDee several times that day to update her on our estimated time of arrival, as we were running almost an hour late. When we finally arrived, the restaurant was starting to fill up with Friday night customers. The staff was generally pleasant, but they and some patrons appeared taken aback by the sight of 26 African Americans entering the establishment. It felt as though they were shocked—if looks could kill, I would say it was that kind of reaction. It was hard to tell if their surprise was due to the size of our group or our race, as it certainly felt uncomfortable. No one made any rude...