Cool Cafe - Franklin

Loved the Cool Cafe. So sad that it was the last day they would be open. Lots of loyal customers paying their last respects to a Franklin institution. Another victim of COVID and the inability to get reliable help.

Fully booked with 80% of their tables open, went out of my way to come here and a meat and three is allegedly fully booked.... surely didn 't look like it to me.

We first visited Cool Cafe in June of 2021 and LOVED it. I was excited to share the restaurant with family as we passed through Tennessee again this year, unfortunately it was a complete disappointment. I called ahead to see if we could be accommodated, we were told 30-45 mins, which was fine! We showed up, were ushered to the back hallway, again, fine. The manager said, “this is the best I could do with the short notice.” (Exactly why we called ahead) We ordered our meals, were never informed of entrees missing items. Two of us ordered the steak wedge salads for our dinners. They came out at least 20 minutes before everyone else’s dinner. The menu stated a deviled egg would be served with the salad, it was not. I questioned this and the server said, “we don’t serve them anymore because the eggs are too expensive.” Would have appreciated being told this ahead of time. The salad price was not reduced even though a listed item was not available or substituted. When the rest of the parties entrees arrived it was just more disappointment. The catfish dinner was supposed to be served with hush puppies, a main reason why this dish was ordered, they were missing, when questioned the server said they were out, again, she did not tell us that when the order was initially placed. My husband ordered a 14oz ribeye to be cooked medium, it was very well done. There is nothing worse than paying top dollar for a mediocre dinner and a poor dining experience. Hoping things turn back around because we did enjoy it and were looking forward to coming again. Sadly, we would not give this place another stop.

My wife and I have been a few Sundays for lunch and it’s pretty good. The banana pudding is 5 stars. The other food is good. So we decided to try the steak night. It took a long time to get out food and my steak was very very tough. Worst steak I ever had actually. I won’t go back to steak night. Service was good it just took a very long time to get our food. Wife said about an hour.

Great food but the one thing that keeps me from going more often may sound simple but when I go a restaurant I would appreciate metal utensils. Plastic utensils are ok for a picnic but wrong business decision for a sit down restaurant. Many friends have said the same thing. That change would not dramatically increase your business cost and would do tons for your reputation.