Rib City - Cookeville

We recently visited Rib City. The restaurant was clean, and our waitress was friendly, which made for a nice atmosphere. They had cute decor and clean restrooms.

We ordered a rack of baby back ribs with fries, green beans, and mac and cheese. The food wasn’t terrible, but we’ve definitely had better. The ribs were overcooked and tough in some parts, and they lacked the smoky flavor we were hoping for. Honestly, they reminded me of the preseasoned ribs you can buy at the grocery store in a vacuum-sealed pouch. On the bright side, the BBQ sauce itself was really good.

The fries were a bit dry and overcooked, the green beans didn’t have much seasoning, and the mac and cheese was mushy and bland. However, the garlic bread was excellent—perfectly crisp with great flavor.

Overall, it wasn’t the worst meal, but it also wasn’t memorable. Rib City was decent, but there’s room for improvement in the food itself.

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 2

Service: 4

Love this place! Only reason for not 5 stars is they switched from amazing battered fries to dry soggy bland French fries that nobody actually likes or asked for. Maybe they will switch back one day? Turkey is amazing if you don’t get the dried out dark slices. Burger is 100% also best homemade ranch/spicy ranch and blue cheese dressing in town! Best part is you can get ice cold draft pitchers give them a try!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 4

Service: 5

Mid tier restaurant at best. Our server disappeared for like a the entire 4th quarter of the football game on tv, Holly maybe was her name. Then we were told the bartender was our server, hard to do that when she had a full bar of patrons. The food was ok. Ribs were decent. The sliced beef was dry. We literally stopped in on our way back to Nashville and we probably will just do Cracker Barrel if we drive thru again.

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 3

Service: 1

This is my wife's pick. She likes the ribs and shrimp. I usually do a salad or fried okra. Portions good be better. The service is ok, depending on when you go.

Atmosphere: 2

Food: 3

Service: 3

Best baby back ribs I have had across the country. They are so good I had to have some shipped to St. Louis.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

It was Labor Day weekend and every other straunt was closed. All we wanted was a cherry pie. We stumbled upon of what we thought was hope. Finally, a meal in cookesville. We were greeted by Kayla’s pleasant smile. We decided on course of a lifetime. Starting off strong we had a great fried okra with spicy ranch app, and it was pretty good. Unfortunately, the remainder of our meal was whatever is lower that subpar. Rib City is home to the most smallest, the most dry, and OLD (jerkey level dry), and the brisket (limited avail btw) had a grayish undertone as if it had been dry aged (and not in a good way) for the last two weeks. Unfortunately we also were recommended the green beans and they truly were foul. We almost threw up upon first tastebud. The table was too big for a date night spot. We were five to six feet away from each other. Too far for traumas such as this one. Please take this with a grain of water. Y’all need all the moisture you can get.

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 1

Service: 4

Food and service was good.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

We're going back👍

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Great food!! Excellent staff!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Awesome twice a week

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Husband and I stopped while driving through to NC and it was a great find! The ribs were delicious, tender, and full of flavor. The sides were tasty, though the baked beans were lacking. The key lime pie was absolutely fantastic and worth saving room for! Our service was excellent and the casual atmosphere made it an enjoyable stop.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 4

Service: 5

The food was absolutely delicious.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Good food, good service and good price 👍

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Its okay
I had the brisket sandwich and it tasted really good but it was cold.

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 3

Service: 5

One of favorite places in Cookeville. The chicken and mac and cheese and fries are all awesome

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5