Elemental

The atmosphere is great, but I wasn’t overly impressed with the food. It’s a great concept that I do support for farm to table food, but the first three things we picked out on the menu were out for the evening.

Enjoy the best messy BLT w/​egg and cheese. You’ll need to use a fork to eat it all. The dish taste fantastic, but ask for extra napkins.

I loved the look of this place inside, it is beautiful and very bright with all the windows. The wooden tables were great to sit at, but the stool at the high tables were pretty wobbly. I got the vegetable platter and it was delicious! The vegetables were very fresh and rich tasting, and the cheese grits were awesome. Exactly what I wanted and expected. One warning is that the menu posted online is not updated so don’t get your heart set on something because it may not be there when you go!

You are ele-«mental» if you think this is a good place to eat. 7 Bloody Mary’s ordered and only one came with a straw. The salmon on the salmon Benedict was so small I almost didn’t see it. The poached egg on the regular Benedict was more like a hard boiled egg. Grits were bland. All and all the food was very underwhelming. Only good items were the steak and eggs, biscuits, and the maple pecan butter. We were part of a big party so we had about three servers helping us and they still couldn’t get the job done. Would not recommend or return.

I had the chefs burger and my wife had the porkchop. Both excellent. Healthy portions. Worth the price. Good stuff.

We had Sunday breakfast here and it did not disappoint. Everything was fresh and delicious. Plenty of parking and easy to find.

I’d been by Elemental after yet another visit to the Whole Foods in the North Shore shopping complex, but seemingly it was always closed. Apparently, I’d only been by on Monday — the only day it is NOT open for lunch and dinner!
So yesterday was perfect for a lunch (of course, after I’d stocked up on groceries and got hungry before I got home with them, per usual for me) at this farm-​to-​table, sustainable restaurant. You all know that drill and they do take that concept seriously here. They also have an extremely inviting décor with the plank wood table tops in a lovely honey-​ish brown color, complementary fixtures and an open space design that flows well, between the dining area, the open air kitchen and the long bar.
Super NPWH. Tim helped me at the bar and did a great job of explaining the things I asked about — there are a number of things I want to go back and try like the chicken flatbread and their BLT — and I settled on the burger, which is one of my litmus test items when I go someplace where they sound (and should be) really good, such as Elemental.
It was delicious. Note– they also make a daily special burger (yesterdays had Benton’s bacon and a local cheddar) but I started simple. I will go from there, for sure! It was just big enough that I ate it all and didn’t end up taking half home like I often do when the burgers are ginormous. Fresh tomato, lots of field green lettuce (yay! no damn iceberg!) a perfectly toasted bun and the nice dressing of house made aioli (they also make their own ketchup). Perfect filling lunch on a grey-​ish, still winter-​ish day.
Definitely check them out when you are in the North Shore part of town.

Horrible service and served food prepared the day before. I asked if my meal was prepared today or yesterday and the server said sometimes the prepare food in advance. This was our second time trying this place out bcs we had hopes they would fix the problems from the first week opened. Truthfully, there were too many examples of bad service and food to write out on my phone. Just stay away!

The service for Sunday brunch was laughable. When our group finally got our food, we were ready for refills on our drinks which never came. And the price. The only thing that this eatery has going for it is the location. Save your money and go to Sluggo’s.

Found this place on a recent visit to Chattanooga to visit family. We hadn’t been to this new shopping center north of the river. The location is cool, and the menu looked promising, so we went here for Sunday brunch before heading home.
We especially try to patronize places that make heavy use of locally sourced ingredients, and on that front, it appears that Elemental does a pretty good job.
On the other hand, brunch was pretty mediocre. My trout and red potato hash was OK, but just OK at best. The fish was cooked about right, but the whole dish could’ve used some more seasoning, and the red potato hash seemed less than fresh. The potatoes were kind of greasy and soggy.
I had a bite of my wife’s wild mushroom omelet, which was a bit better. Her grits seemed to suffer from the same made-​a-​couple-​hours-​ago taste, texture, and temperature as my food did.
The biggest letdown, by far though, were the biscuits. Just awful. Cold, flat, dense rock-​like objects of really no redeeming value. We thought for sure the ones that came out with the food were just old, so we sent them back, but the replacements were honestly indistinguishable from the first ones. The waitress apologized when we sent the first ones back, but she didn’t seem to care or offer to take them off the bill when we let her know that the supposedly «fresh» ones were no better.
Like I said, the menu is appealing, but the execution is lacking and uninspired. At least on this visit, service was equally indifferent, too. We might give lunch or dinner a try sometime if we have a chance sometime in the future when we’re in town, but it won’t be a priority.

Quick great service and the best food dining out I’ve had in a long time. Little pricey but sooo worth it!

it was slow, but pretty, really, quite good. remarkably affordable. the whole «farm to table sustainable» thing. the physical restaurant is made up of a ton of great windows so i found the fact that they had 4.8 million light bulbs blazing in the middle of a sunny day very energy efficient and totally in the vain of sustainability, but they put pimento cheese on a blt and that renders my snark invalid.
you should go.

I’ve eaten here 3 – 4 times since it opened and with one exception had a great experience each time. I would give them benefit of the doubt and say it was opening issues. Otherwie great food, great décor, love the open kitchen you can watch the chefs at work.

We ended up here by accident! What a happy accident! We planned to go to Aretha Frankenstein, but when we pulled up it was crowded, not kid-​friendly and no parking.
We pulled into Elemental, easy parking, bright and open décor. We had Sunday brunch. The food is locally and regionally sourced. Farm to fork and yummy.
I had the veggie hash. My son had scrambled eggs and my husband had the wild mushroom omelet. We were all happy with our food. The coffee was so good we got the brand (Blue smoke, a North Carolina coffee). The service was great and very accommodating.)

Seated in the gorgeous, and new-​to-​me, downtown area of Chattanooga, Elemental was a fabulous place for a nice dinner out without too much pomp and circumstance. The atmosphere was different — good different. It is wide open with little space between tables which can make for a crowded seat but we didn’t have any issues.
The pimento flatbread was awesomely good, and very unexpected. The «boiled peanut» hummus was just okay… no taste of peanut, just a lot of pepper.
I ordered the trout entrée. Two large pieces of trout came out stacked on a plate with some green beans, yellow carrots, and other veggies to compliment the fish. The fish was really good and had good flavor but was quite salty. The veggies on top and surrounding were fresh, crisp and flavorful and nicely complimented the trout. We also go a side of my fave — mac n’cheese. It was super cheesy, creamy and the pasta was cooked perfectly — all in all some beautiful mac!
We also shared the Salted Caramel Apple Tart which was legit but would have been better with a scoop of ice cream.
If/​when we make it back to Chattanooga we may try to visit again, though there is so much to try I don’t know…

Over priced mediocre food and the absolute worst piece of meat I have ever been served.
Stay far away from this place.

Located in Chattanooga’s thriving Manufacturer’s road area, Elemental is another establishment in the region’s growing localvore, farm-​to-​table movement. Their mission statement, prominently displayed on the menu and on the chalkboard states, «locally sustainable products and improving community well being.»
Elemental’s intentions are well placed and it’s fantastic every time a local restaurant can win with diners while at the same time, promoting the local farmers at the same time.
The ambiance is wide open modern South, where windows let in the daytime light and a full sized tractor near the rear of the restaurant serves as the physical icon of the link from Element’s hip environment to its local, sustainable mission. If this were the Bluebird Café of new new style Southern dishes, then the list of local growers and purveyors are the emerging country stars.
Food was fine but seasoning, temperature and presentation were counterpoint to the otherwise high-​spirited environment. So while great food is definitely bottom line for any restaurant, convincing diners to return to your specific great food offerings when several similar style restaurants are also in the area is part of any restaurant’s customer strategy.
The Bibb salad looked like it fell out of a chain restaurant salad bar. Plating is generally overcrowded — either the portions are too large or the plates too small. For my (delicious) roasted chicken leg, I had to cut it delicately for fear of shoveling my grits off the side of the edge of the plate. The chicken, while definitely fresh, was still slightly too bloody at the bone to be served the way that it had been. The collard greens were very salty – which means either (1) the kitchen just added too much salt or (2) some other flavor or freshness dimension is being compensated for – although nothing that I could detect. Being from the South originally myself, I know collard greens aren’t exactly the model of low-​sodium foods when prepared in their Southern style incarnations, yet still tasted a bit too heavy for me personally – to the extent that the saltiness overwhelmed the rest of the otherwise great flavors and textures on the plate.
The chicken, collard greens and grits lunch entrée were ~$ 9.50
Afterwards, you can walk off your Elemental experience by exploring other wonderful locally owned businesses like local outdoor gear landmark Rock Creek Outfitters, or end with a cup of organic coffee from Whole Foods.

Ate here last week before heading to the airport.
Service: Great! Everyone from the hostess, to the bartender, to the server, to the food runner was very pleasant. Water glass was always full.
Food: I had the onion soup and the BLT with sweet potato wedges. Onion soup was GREAT. So savory and really hit the spot. I was NOT a fan of the BLT or sweet potato wedges. However, it was very fresh and the homemade aioli and ketchup were yummy.
Décor: Very clean and modern/​loft-​y.
Would I come back? Yes. That onion soup!

I love how the menu will keep evolving with the seasons. I went with a friend last night and the food was great. One problem we had though was since the menu kept changing, the waitress wasn’t as knowledgeable of the menu as she should have been. We had questions and while she could answer most, she had to check in on a few things. We were also told that it came with a «vegetable sauce» and no side. So. we ordered sides. The dish came with a ton of spring veggies! They were great so I’m happy it had them, but I wouldn’t have ordered more sides.
While the food was good, it’s about $ 8 overpriced per dish. The dishes should come with another side or a salad for the cost. There also wasn’t a very good happy hour. Having one bottled beer on sale for $ 4.50 isn’t a happy hour.
The décor was fun, the food was good, it was just a little over priced. Also, I wish they’d put their full menu online! That’s a must for me, weird I know, but I like to look at menus before I go out.

Tried out Elemental on our visit to Chattanooga for UTC graduation this past weekend. Definitely an interesting concept. Farm to kitchen cooking with an infusion of vegetarian and rustic elements. We came in around 3pm which is that awkward moment between Lunch and Dinner where the crew are winding down from lunch and amping up for dinner.
We had a pretty large party of over 12 people. Overall the feedback from our group was average. The location is rather small in a new building. The décor inside is very neat and combines exposed wood and industrial elements. There’s a neat antique Ford tractor in the middle that you can take pictures on.
Their lunch menu was pretty sparse with only about 7 – 8 entrees available. I was pretty surprised by this as nothing on the menu spoke to me. I asked our waiter if they made pizzas as I noticed they had a brick oven. He had to check with his manager. He came back in a few minutes and informed me that they did have flatbreads on the dinner menu that they’d be willing to make but nothing else on the dinner menu was available. I ordered the Sorghum Braised Beef Flatbread which also had red peppers, buttercream sauce and cheese. It was new and pretty good! I also ordered their red potatoes as a side dish which was equally pleasing.
So why the 3 stars you ask? I didn’t like the limited options on the lunch menu and the inability to order off the dinner menu this close to dinner time. Also, they made several errors on our table including keeping one member of our party waiting for 10 – 15 minutes after our food made it to the table. Maybe this was an error on the server who seemed new and rather anxious.
My food was good but the portions were small. I would be willing to try this place again next time I’m in Chatt, but it will most likely be for dinner as that menu looked slightly more appealing.