This Could be a Good Location for a Restaurant!

Laurie and I are always hopeful whenever any new restaurants open anywhere within 30 minutes of our home in East Tennessee. 

Recently, Good Eats Café took over a spot in the center of downtown Loudon Tennessee, after the latest in a series of diner style restaurants in this location deservedly went out of business.  This is Good Eats Café’s 2^nd location, the other being in nearby Lenoir City.  We’d eaten at the Lenoir City location a couple of times…and it was OK.  But it had been quite a while since our last visit to Good Eats so we decided to give this new location a try.

Note: Good Eats Café is located right next to the Tic Toc Ice Cream Parlor, in our opinion, the best ice cream parlor in the greater Knoxville area.  I reviewed the Tic Toc Ice Cream Parlor on Trip Advisor back in 2011.  To check it out go to https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g55167-d834598-r106988751-Tic_TOC_Ice_Cream_Parlor-Loudon_Tennessee.html.

The inside of Good Eats has only undergone minimal changes since it operated as Shane’s.  Like most small town diners, the décor is simple and straightforward…

We arrived in time to order a late breakfast.  Laurie decided to forgo her normal bacon and eggs, instead going for the French Toast.  Unfortunately, it was not hot when served.  Not even warm! Note the 2 strips of bacon in the upper right hand corner of the photo.  Have you ever seen bacon that is practically transparent?  It didn’t have any flavor either…  Laurie’s breakfast was not a winner!

I ordered 2 eggs over easy with sausage, crispy hash browns and toast.  Apparently the grill cook doesn’t know how to make crispy hash browns and trust me, no butter or much else was used in cooking them either.  So I ended up with a mix of burnt hash browns in with the rest… The eggs were fine and the sausage patties were OK too.  The single slice of unbuttered toast came to the table with no butter on the table…

I had to ask for butter and the waitress forgot to bring ketchup and hot sauce as requested.  After 3 trips I had everything that I’d asked for.  FYI, the coffee was good… Nothing seemed to flow smoothly despite the fact that the restaurant wasn’t busy.

This view of downtown Loudon is looking up Grove Street toward the old Railroad Depot.  An art gallery, a clothing store an upscale liquor store and a special events theatre line the street.  The county courthouse facilities are right across the street in the other direction and there is a large furniture store across the street to the left of Tic Toc.  Two other antique stores are located within a block of the location…

Just across the square (actually a triangle with US Hwy. 11, the Lee Highway, on one side, sits this old home that has now been transformed into an antique store.

Right alongside that converted home sits Annabell’s Emporium, an antique shop, gift shop and café.  We haven’t eaten at Annabell’s yet but we will give it a try soon.  We have noted some positive local feedback…

So to revisit the title of this posting…   The location that is currently occupied by Good Eats Café could be a great place for a quality local diner!  It’s too bad that one hasn’t come along yet to take over the space…

Good Eats Café in Loudon TN had been open for a few weeks when we visited.  Perhaps it will improve.  The prices are very reasonable but I’d be willing to pay a dollar or two more per person for quality!

The Lenoir City location of Good Eats Cafe (for breakfast) is at least average.  The Loudon location has to improve just to get to average.  They are open for breakfast and lunch.  Perhaps lunch is better… The Loudon restaurant is located at 502 Grove Street.  Phone: 865-657-6368.  Website: http://ourrestaurantmenu.com/goodeatsLoudon/.   

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thank for stopping by to see what’s for breakfast!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave