A Local ‘Diner Style’ Restaurant…

For some time we and many residents in the area had been waiting for a replacement dining option in downtown Loudon Tennessee, next to the Tic Toc Ice Cream Parlor.  The location was right and all we needed was the right restaurant operator! 

Fat Hats Grill is the ‘new’ diner style restaurant in the center of town.  The operation it replaced was, to put it bluntly, a dining disaster in a terrific location… This had to be an improvement!

This is the third location for this restaurant operator.  Another small place named "Fat Hats" is in Sweetwater Tennessee and then "Fat Stacks" is located  on TN Hwy. 68 in Madisonville Tennessee.

The dining room at Fat Hats Grill is bright and spacious.  In this instance we’d stopped by for dinner.  The restaurant had been open for several weeks and, as you can see, business is good!

Rather than wait for a table, we actually sat at the counter.  There was plenty of action with the wait staff and others moving fast in an effort to handle the volume.  Adding to the action, there were quite a few takeout orders being assembled.

I had a salad as my side item with dinner.  It was fresh and large.  

Service was harried but decent given the crowd size.  A line formed shortly after we sat down.  People stood inside the front door waiting for their turn to be seated.

Laurie ordered the Flounder Filet strips with potato salad as her side. ($9.00) She enjoyed her meal…

“Big O’ Platters” are served with customer’s choice of two sides.  They include French fries, coleslaw, a salad, pinto beans or okra accompanied by a slice of Texas toast.

I chose the Fried Chicken Dinner. ($9.00) The flavor was decent but the smallish pieces of chicken were a bit too dry/overcooked for my taste.  

The lunch and dinner menu also includes a few appetizers, burgers, hot dogs, a wide selection of sandwiches, desserts and dinner salads.  In addition, there is a Fat Hats Kids menu.  Monday through Friday, the restaurant features a Blue Plate Lunch Special. (Meat and two sides with choice of bread for $7.25)

Time passed and we returned to Fat Hats Grill to try their breakfast offerings… FYI, we really love the breakfasts served at Fat Stacks in Madisonville.  The Madisonville location serves breakfast any time whereas Fat Hats Grill stops serving it ca. 10:30 AM or 11:00 Am depending on the day.  We love having breakfast for dinner…so we were quite disappointed that Fat Hats Grill doesn’t serve it all day.

FYI…I failed to take photos until it was too late!

We were not enamored with breakfast at Fat Hats Grill.  It was just OK.  The bacon wasn’t crisp, my over-easy eggs were under cooked with totally runny whites and our hash browns didn’t come out crispy as requested.  Perhaps the difference in breakfast between Fat Hats Grill and Fat Stacks comes down to a short order cook’s skill set… In our opinion, Fat Hats Grill is just average…i.e. a human ‘fuel stop’. It is definitely better than its predecessor at this location.  The good news is that the restaurant continues to draw large crowds from the community.

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave