City Cafe Diner
Back in June, we went to Chattanooga for JoeCon 2018. It was hosted at the Chattanooga Convention Center at the Marriott Downtown. I did some research on surrounding restaurants since we would be there during lunch hours for a few of the days. One of the restaurants I read about was the City Cafe Diner. Most of the reviews I read online were fairly positive. So I wrote it down as a possibility if we found ourselves looking for somewhere to eat.
Our first full day at the Con, we found ourselves with a couple of hours to spare, so we decided to go and give it a try. It was a fairly short walk from the convention center, maybe only 2-3 blocks. We didn't notice it immediately, but apparently it is part of the Days Inn. We found it by basically following other convention goers. When we arrived through the front door of the restaurant, we were sent to the lobby of the Days Inn to wait for an available table. The host/manager looking person was quite rude about it. I don't think they were prepared for the crowds that day.
We waited about 30 minutes or so before a table became available. While it was a long wait, the walk to find something else wouldn't have shortened it. We were seated at a booth immediately by the door. It wasn't the best location, but thankfully it was a booth.
Our waitress came shortly after we were seated and took our drink orders. As soon as she brought us our drinks, we went ahead and placed our orders. There were so many things that looked great on the menu, so I had a hard time deciding what to get.
We didn't have to wait too terribly long before our food came. Melody had chicken fingers and fries. They were awful. The chicken fingers looked like the ones you get from Walmart in the freezer section, but worse. I actually like the ones from Walmart, ha! The fries were edible, but undercooked and they didn't taste near as good as I expected from a diner.
I ordered the cheese nachos, and boy where they the weakest nachos ever. They were FAR from the description from the menu. Normally I might have questioned the waitress after receiving them, but I thought maybe I was wrong and read the menu incorrectly. I worked in the food business at one time, and I hate to make a stink over something when I am the one wrong. But looking back, I wasn't. The description said that all nachos came with salsa, sour cream, guacamole, jalapeños, shredded cheddar cheese, and pico de gallo. Well as you can see below, my nachos had chips and melted cheese. And not even good melted cheese like your get at a football game. These were pitiful!
Brad ordered the cheeseburger with french fries. That seemed easy enough. Well his burger was burnt. I mean look at the picture below! I like my burgers well done, but man that is extra well done. The cheese was like shredded cheese they placed under a burner to melt. And his fries were also undercooked and not so great.
Looking back, maybe we should have complained. But I really, really hate to be those people that complain. Luckily none of us were starving and we made the most of the meal. I would never, ever, ever, go back. And I would never recommend it. The most disappointing part of our experience was that so many people around us had really nice looking meals. Like their burgers looked amazing, and their nachos were HUGE! Maybe it was just our order that was lacking. Who really knows? But I do know it was in no way worth $30!
