The Cooke House

I came here for brunch (which apparently is on Saturday). I ordered the Applewood Bacon plate, mimosa, and the Croissant French Toast! On the Applewood Bacon plate, it was fantastic! Came with eggs, and even skillet potatoes (which are amazing because they add bell peppers, onions, and I had a bit of mushroom). The mimosa wasn’t bad, definitely more champagne than orange juice, but I’m not complaining! The Croissant French Toast (I ended up ordering another plate afterwards) tasted divine! If you eat the French toast alone (without the strawberry in the same bite) it taste pretty good, but with the strawberry some how you can taste the cinnamon & a bit more brown sugar! It was all too delicious! Not too many people show up around brunch (Saturday’s from open-​2), but I think it’s all worth waking up early for!
I also came here for dinner with a few friends, I ordered the Duck Tacos, and some pasta that reminded me more of Pad Thai. The pasta was a bit spicy for my liking & I wished it would have been specific on it, but no worries. The Duck Tacos were phenomenal for a small plate.

Visiting home, I wanted to try something different. This little place definitely made a wonderful impression on me. The décor was awesome and our server was very friendly and accommodating. I had the Korean BBQ shanks and they did not disappoint! I also had a taste of the Seared Scallops and they are next on my visit there! I can’t wait to go back!!!

Moving from Greenvile, South Carolina, to Cookeville, we knew we were going to miss the gastro pubs, the fusion restaurants, the mixology bars, and we were right. However, Cooke House has made this a little easier to take. The changing seasional menu paired with certain standby dishes and a good bartender makes Cooke House a favorite for us. The staff is pleasent, there’s live music occasionally, and the food is spot on.
Get the duck tacos. It’s a signature dish and worth the choice. I know everyone does tots now, but the duck fat makes them yummy; the only thing that would makes them better would be to drizzle them with truffle oil. The smashed tatoes are done right; creamy and chunky all at once.
Oh, the Braised brisket with white truffle grits; yes please. I mean, after the tacos, this is my favorite dish. Actually, for me, it might edge out the tacos. The grits are creamy and smooth, while still made enough like grits that you know you’re in the South.
The only complaint is the seating for large groups is non existant.

J. Henry Hot chicken With blue cheese Crumbles and pickled onions and toasts is my favorite, next, Strawberry Rocket goat cheese Salad with added Scallops. All of the desserts here are great especially the Chocolate and Vanilla Crème Brûlé. The nitrogen carbonated iced coffee was awesome too! I like some of the modern art, which seems to change when paintings are sold, see pic I took labeled awesome art. I really like the sculptural hanging heart.

I ate there on new years eve. They weren’t serving small plates but had a $ 35 fixed price menu. This included three small plates/​appetizers (no choice, you got the only three offered) an entrée (three options) and a «dessert». The small plates were buttermilk soup, pork egg rolls, and raw scallops. The entrees were steak with blue cheese, chicken cordon bleu, and root vegetable fluke bouillabaisse. The dessert was macaroons.
buttermilk soup with cornbread and pepper jelly– the best thing I had all night, but it had so much cayenne (or some other hot pepper) in it that my nose was running, and I like Nashville style hot chicken! I can take a lot of heat, but this was too much heat for something served to everyone.
pork egg rolls — meh. they were good I suppose, but not great.
raw scallops — these were gross. I really tried to like them, but the first one tasted quite fishy and was slimy, the others were less fishy. They had an olive oil and basil (? maybe) and hibiscus reduction to dip in. I didn’t think that really went with the scallops.
Chicken Cordon Bleu — Where is my prosciutto? It’s supposed to be wrapped in prosciutto. I got half way through the meal before finding any. I felt like I was just eating a dry breaded chicken breast. The bites with the prosciutto were better, but there was only 2 square inches of it hiding in there.
Bouillabaisse — I didn’t have any but I was told it wasn’t very good. It had root vegetables and fluke. It was salty, none of the vegetables had much flavor. They all tasted the same It was hard to tell what they actually were.
Steak — I can’t comment on the steak, I didn’t try it.
Macaroons — They should be embarrassed to serve these. They were nothing like a real macaroon. They were chewy, horribly sweet and looked awful. Macaroons need to look good, these just didn’t.
I really like the Cook House. They do a great job on their standard small plates. Tonight, was awful and I feel a bit overcharged. I get it, they were busy but I don’t think they should have charged so much. I would have rather stayed at home. I will go back, but only because Cookeville has such a small selection of local restaurants.

Went there tonite, and the service was horrible. Spent half the evening waiting for my drink order to arrive… which it never did. At least the server tried to make it right by not charging for my husband’s glass of wine.

nice downtown bistro with excellent small plates and specials
worth the extra five minutes from I40

I ordered a New York Strip and it was more like a brisket. Our group also had other problems the least of which was the poor service.

One of my favorite restaurants in Cookeville! You MUST come here for their happy hour from 2−6pm! The specials are awesome with $ 3 martinis and BOGO small plates. If you are a «social eater» and like to share the small plates, this is the ideal restaurant for you! It’s comfortable and friendly and the food is yummy and creative. My favorites are the sliders, duck tacos, and flatbreads!

This place is much better in my opinion than their sister restaurant char! We had the Tatar tots (they were ok) but the shrimp n grits I was licking the bowl!!! My boyfriend had the pot roast and he wasn’t licking the bowl but he didn’t leave any for me to taste. We were in town visiting friends and were so glad we had lunch here! I’m a certified chef and my pallet is on point as was this place!

Shared the small bites in a group and it was nice to taste a variety of dishes. The standouts are the duck fat fries, Korean BBQ shanks, j. hot chicken, and the Tennessee highball was all great.

Lovely décor, friendly staff and excellent, interesting and tasty food. Beautiful presentation– great selection. I’m never disappointed here.

Great food… super great food. My biggest hang up was getting a $ 2 up charge to substitute grits for fries on an entrée. I can see if the grits cost more but on the menu for side items the fries are same price as the grits and there was no note about an up charge for substitution on an entrée. Why it costs $ 2 to put a side dish that’s already made on a plate instead of fries beats me.

The food is lackadaisical at best. They over sauce the scallops to the point where all you taste is the heavy hand with the lime juice, where the duck in the duck tacos should be warm, it was still cold, they used enough salt on the roasted vegetable platter to restock the dead sea, and worst of all, got the order wrong. Overly pretentious, with the kind of bad art on the walls to make one feel like you’re stuck in bad Fellini movie… avoid this place at all costs.

We were driving to Knoxville from the Nashville airport and wanted a place to stop for dinner. After seeing the reviews we tried the Cooke House. Our food was excellent! We shared the calamari, fish tacos, tenderloin sliders & Mac & cheese. Refined flavors, creative dishes, fresh preparation and good service. Those living in Cookeville are lucky to have this gem nearby. We’d be willing to drive the distance for another meal here.

Nice place, excellent food, nice portions, very reasonable prices, nice décor and ambiance, excellent service and very clean.

Very pleasantly surprised with the quality of the food here. Vegetable wrap, calamari, tuna, spicy chicken, were all very good. Only complaint is there is no information about where the food is sourced.

I love the duck tacos, lamb lollies, heck, I loved it all. Shared plates so you can sample different dishes. A little pricey but worth it. Service has been very pleasant both times we have visited. Being from out of town this has been a great place to meet for dinner when in area

Get away from same olé same olé restaurant row and go where the locals go. Cooke House is a really fun concept and sets itself apart from the other Cookeville offerings. Quality food, unique social dining experience, and top notch service. Dishes are meant to be shared so order a variety and pass ‘em around with a group of friends. Try the duck tacos, scallops, and crème brûlée. De-​lish.

It is only shared, family style dining in the dinner menu…
We went at lunch and despite the sign on the outside window indicating social dining it found out that wasn’t the case for lunch.
On the upside, the bruschetta was amazing, they were very accommodating of our dietary restrictions!