Dave’s Modern Tavern

Awesome find. I got through mounteagle 3 or 4 times a yeah and just found this place. It will be on me list of places to stop when I travel. .the hamburger is amazing but the fried green tomato goat cheese was to die for…

For this area, food was good. Diverse menu. Lots of creative options that go beyond the simple tavern food. Burgers aren’t cooked to order – mine was super-​well done, which is a shame because the accompaniments (roasted green chiles and queso) seemed so promising. Service was fine – better than most other reviews. Quicker than I thought. Good beer selection. I’d come here again if I were in the area, but I wouldn’t pull off the interstate just for this.

I had the shrimp and grits and they were very delicious!!! Wanted a side salad but I thought 5 $ was a little much. Service was also a little slow.

This is a great mix-​way stop between Nashville and Chatanooga. We highly recommend the fried tomatoes appetizer-it’s a must try! We also ordered a salad and a fried tomato and goat cheese «dilla» both of which were pretty tasty. Our server was really friendly and we got our food quickly! I would recommend this spot.

Five stars in Monteagle Tennessee?! Yes! Who would have thought? This place has great character and absolutely wonderful food. I had the Pulled Pork and Grits. Wonderful BBQ pulled pork with large bits of bacon, and onions on a bed of smooth, creamy, grits. My wife had the Shrimp Tacos — also outstanding. The place has a full bar, and about 60 bottled and canned beers from around the world, including my favorite, Dragon’s Milk. This place is an absolute gem! If you are traveling through Tennessee and find yourself near Monteagle during meal-​time — eat here!

Wonderful little gem. From soup, tortilla, to salads, Ed loved his wedge, to the spinach ravioli the meal was spot on. Service was good, friendly and knew his menu. Loved my red wine, but beer people will be excited over the choices for them. Did not go into the bar area, but will do that next time we are there.
Thanks for a lovely dining experience.

Leaves a little to be desired. Service a little on the slow side. Food a bit high priced for what you get. But if you can afford it the food is good. The wine menu is terrible.

Pleasantly surprised by the food we had here! We wanted a place to grab a beer, watch the game, and chow down — we got what we came for! Fairly large beer selection. Great serivce. Would highly recommend the bacon grits!

We enjoy «Dave’s» every time we eat there. Clean, appropriate and fun atmosphere, what you would expect from a «tavern». And you can have a café style, bar style, or outdoor patio style experience all in one restaurant. The service is awesome and incredibly accommodating and their food is excellent. I had the pulled pork plate and my husband had the burger. Both amazing and we had absolutely no complaints! Lovely place to stop by if you’re in Monteagle.

Poorly operated to not maximize a profit. My wife and I arrived promptly for our reservation to a scantily attended dining room. We were there about an hour. Reserved tables stood unattended the whole time we were there. (About ¾ of the tables in the place). Meanwhile patrons walking in were shunted to the bar area or just left a bit disgusted seeing so many tables open. They could have EASILY seated many of them, and turned more profit.
Our waitress was green but sweet. She was poorly trained I think. Didn’t know enough about a limited menu, and she didn’t share the appetizer specials which annoyed me a bit. I missed an opportunity to get a scallop dish that sounded great. That aside I got the bam bam shrimp which was moderately good. Not traditional bam bam though. The lobster bisque was average. My wife’s Caesar salad was good, but (come ON GUYS) came out in a warm salad bowl. Chill the bowls guys!
Food prep was lackluster. Cook didn’t know what medium well meant. My wife’s steak was supposed to be such, and it came out medium rare. I ordered the rainbow trout. The trout was cooked well but had no real accompanying flavor to it. No «hints of this or that» to go with this rich fish. I had better at Cracker Barrel 3 weeks prior. (I paid CB much less too.) I also asked to hold the indescribably faddish side of cheesy grits but to no avail.
I skipped dessert, because I didn’t want to continue an average meal at a luxury price.
Short story is this. Skip it, and save yourself a $ 90 disappointment on a couple’s dining out.

Delicious! Unexpected find. Went hiking and stopped for a snack. The Brie and tomato sandwich was amazing. The soup of the day (butternut squash) was the best of I’ve had. My boyfriend really enjoyed the French onion soup. Great ambience and great beer selection:)

This place is not a place to eat if your a passer-​by or on the road trip. As soon as my group walked in there was nobody to greet us besides the funny looks by the locals. Which is understandable because waiters and waitresses do get busy but, since we’ve never been there before none of us knew that we had to be waited to be seated. So I suggest you put a sign up for people who are experiencing their first time. Also our waiter was terrible… it wasn’t packed not busy yet it took 30 minutes to get us menus… and an hour for our food. The food was partially cold when we received it. Pretty much we were there for 2 hours but out of the 2 we ate for 20 minutes. He also got our checks wrong… he was told from the beginning that we would be on separate checks yet it was all wrong. He charged me, underaged, a alcoholic beverage. Obviously if he carded one of us girls he should know which girl had the drink.

When restaurant owners are rude to their customers, they don’t deserve them.
What kind of restaurant takes reservations and then closes the kitchen mid-​afternoon? (at approximately the time of the reservation… «We’ll hold your table». They say on the phone. Apparently not.). Perhaps it’s bad communication among the staff about the reservation, but it’s still pretty stupid to be rude to those who are about to drop some money in your establishment.

Went in here for a quick appetizer before heading to dinner elsewhere, and were quickly disappointed we had to leave. The bartender was very informed and the beer selection is phenomenal. The seafood quesadilla had much more seafood in it that expected, and was delicious. Will definitely be coming back soon.

I’ve eaten at Dave’s a number of times and my overall impression is that the food is quite good and the service is good as well. The last time I was there, I sat in a booth on the screened porch in the back of the bar, which was very pleasant. The burger I had was good, and I thoroughly enjoyed the kettle chips that came with it (and another reviewer was disparaging). The were thin and crispy and just salty enough. I’ve had the pork and grits she deemed «interesting» in the past as well and found them to be very good. (And this from a girl who had never liked grits). Overall, Dave’s is a solid choice.

Very pricey. Called ahead and was told that they have children’s menu, but don’t expect anything healthy for children. They serve all children’s items with side of homemade kettle chips which were terrible. Neither myself nor my children would eat them. Asked to substitute a fruit cup, but they said it would be an upcharge. He said that some children’s items were served with fries, but he could not find a children’s menu. I would have to pay for side order of fries. I was already paying $ 6 for bowl of macaroni and cheese which was not very special. We had a $ 6 cheese quesadilla which they served on a bed of wet lettuce. So my 6 year old would not eat b/​c it smelled of lettuce. My brie and bacon sandwich $ 12 also served with homemade terrible kettle chips. May have been worth it if there was a choice of side items or small salad served with sandwich. They could have taken that lettuce for the cheese quesadilla and made a salad for me. I did not think that they offered anything that I could not have made at home, and it was not as nutritious as what I would have offered my children. If they had been more flexible about substituting a fruit cup/​fries, or responding when I said that we were not fans of kettle chips, then I would have been a satisified customer. They just wanted to charge me even more. My husband had the pork and grits which he said was «interesting.»

My wife were visiting Monteagle with another couple for a getaway weekend. I always try to find a local place to try. This had mixed reviews but I had seen pictures of the food in our hotel’s local guide. When we drove by, the place was crowded enough where we thought others must like it. We had a lovely dinner experience. We started with an appetizer of nacho chips with guacamole, salsa, and queso with goat cheese. It was good although I did suspect the cheese base was nacho cheese. It was not like the queso dip we get normally for home. The beer selection was awesome.
One person had a burger with BBQ pork on it with homemade chips. Another had stuffed mushroom and a salad. My wife had a crawfish sandwich with the homemade chips. I had the dinner special which was flounder stuffed with a crab and shrimp stuffing on a bed of rice with grilled squash and green beans. My dinner was large enough that I shared it with the others. All of the food was very good.
I saw a review that mentioned the burgers were pre-​pattied. If so, based on the comments, they are selecting good pre-​pattied burgers and not lower grade. Without knowing the pre-​pattied review, the person eating it commented that the meat was very tasty. The BBQ was smoked there.
Our service was really good until a crowd came in after the Christmas parade. We could see the entire room from our table and he was hustling and the place was packed. It didn’t degenerate to terrible but I did have to get his attention a couple of times.
Overall a really good experience. We had a nice romantic booth and really enjoyed our dinner together. The lovely ladies we took out certainly added a sparkle to the dinner. ;)

Great bloody Mary. Great beer selection.
The food is more upscale than expected.
Try this place out for great food and service.