Big River Grille & Brewing Works

this is my one of my OFFICIAL spots. great food — i usually go for fish-​n-​chips with remoulade — great drink, and great servers. Lee is the best. He’s super-​friendly and casual, and makes eating out an awesome experience. Ask for him, and tip him well. I promise I don’t know the guy lol — i just like eating food and drinking drink, and he seems to appreciate that.

I was seated quickly but it took a few minutes for my server to greet me. I ordered my beverage, an appetizer and a salad. The drink arrived quickly and was refilled just as quickly. My wedge salad and buffalo wing appetizer showed up together. The salad was fresh and crisp. The buffalo wing appetizer was hot but not too spicy, both were very good. I would come here again.

On a recent Saturday afternoon I needed to meet a client to drop off some graduation announcements. She lives in Ooltewah and I live in Soddy Daisy, so I suggested we meet at Big River Grille at Hamilton Place around 5:30. I am the master at combining business with pleasure. When we arrived at 5:30, even though the weather was gorgeous, we were early enough to snatch up a prime outside table. Our waitress arrived before I even sat my purse down. My husband ordered the maibock and I ordered a water.
Even though we like to try to order two different things, we both wanted the cajun fish tacos. When the waitress came back to take our food order, I had already tasted my husband’s maibock and ordered one. It felt like the perfect accompaniment to my fish tacos.
The food came out quickly. The tacos had just the right amount of fish and garnishes, not too much to get sloppy. The blue corn tortillas were wrapped in a soft flour tortilla. I never understood this until I realized that it totally holds your taco together. You get all the benefits of a crunchy taco and a soft taco. The fish was not too spicy. The rice was mildly flavored. While the tacos and rice were good, I fell in love with the beans. These are not dressed up canned beans (though if they are, they totally fooled me). They have the taste of long, slow simmered beans. I wanted to ask the chef the secret to these beans. These are the beans I want to make. Perfectly seasoned, full of flavor.
All in all in was a perfect dinner. Perfect weather and perfect location.

After receiving many recommendations to eat here, we left wondering if we had gone to the correct restaurant. The service was inattentive on a day that wasn’t particularly busy or short-​staffed, and the food was incredibly salty, (meatloaf with sides and grilled salmon) and didn’t taste any better than a lower end chain (think Applebee’s or Friday’s). We might try it again in hopes that visit was a fluke.

Burger was amazing! Ate outside and inside smell was weird. The bison burger with fries was perfect. This burger really changed my view on the pablano pepper. The waitress was hott and helpful.

Pretty good local place to eat. For someone who doesn’t drink I still like this place for atmosphere and food. Enjoy many of their apps including nachos (which are huge) and southwest egg rolls. Their pizzas are good, sandwiches, and others things as well. They used to have a breakfast pizza they would make during brunch but they discontinued it. I absolutely loved it! Sometimes you need to use the open table app to get a seat and waits can be longish… But usually it’s very fast to be seated. Also outdoor seating is great and plentiful.

AWESOME PLACE. This place really knows how to rock.
Staff: Fabulous. Polite, friendly, courteous, fun, efficient. My server was Melanie & she is a Rock Star.
The 2 gals at the Hostess station were very nice also.
I went yesterday at 6:30 pm so seriously busy. I should’ve known better but I went anyway & jumped on a table in the bar area. Someone came immediately & biased the tables & wiped down the table.
I ordered a Bar fly (vodka ice tea, lemonade & soda water. It was delivered lickety split in a tall glass & was perfect. I was thirsty & I wanted something adult but refreshing. This was perfect. There drink menu is large, & varied & has some great looking concoctions. The beer & wine menu was great. They have some microbrewery flights that looked fab. I asked Melanie & she recommended the Bar Fly. I ended up having 2! Lol. There is a great selection of beers also
I ordered the jalapeño pretzel sticks. It’s a LARGE order. so be forewarned! And they come in the size of those dog rawhide roll ups so you better have a party of 6 with ya. There must’ve been at least at least 6 of those babies to an order. They were delicious! Stuffed with cheese & came with a queso dip that was temp hot & sublime. I ate 3! Yummy!
I ended up not ordering anything else bc the portions in this place are extremely generous & I thought it best to just go with an appetizer.
This place is rocking. Has great dark paneled wood décor but lots of full length doors & windows to the patio. Lots of booth seating too. The Patio is large & they have tables with umbrellas. It was a fun mixed crowd too. A lot of 30 – 40 forty, families & there were even some kids going to their HS formals.
It’s very clean too. Bathroom, Bar & Dining areas!
DEFINITELY recommend this place. I WILL BE BACK!
GO! And ENJOY! :)
SALUT!

What we go to Big River for:
Bison Burger: grilled to perfection (which means medium)! Best bison burger in Chattanooga.
Strawberry Lemonade: each new glass is custom-​made by your server – so there is some variation in quality – but the overwhelming majority of the time, absolutely wonderful!
Chicken Fried Chicken: smothered with sawmill gravy, this dish gives Cracker Barrel a run for their money. Delicious.
The only menu item I’m not thrilled with is the coleslaw. It’s usually rather dry and lackluster – and a tiny portion. So if the Garlic Green Beans are available, that’s what I usually substitute. Yum!

Such a popping atmosphere. Very alive here! If your on vacation or from out of town you wanna stop here. I will definitely be back next vacation server was very professional and informative about selections of food. A must is try there Brewery nacho’s with chicken wow they don’t skimp on there chicken or nacho’s you won’t be disappointed. Top it off with there root beer wow is all I got to say fabulous!

Sat at bar & got good service from Sean. Wedge salad was crisp, fresh & had just the right amount of blue cheese dressing. Really enjoyed the shrimp & grits (although it needed salt & pepper). It had a nice spice to it & the shrimp was really cooked well. Would definitely come back

We went here for dinner tonight after going to some sightseeing places. We are from the north so ALL food down South here is excellent. We enjoyed our food. Our waitress could have had more energy, she looked like she didn’t enjoy her job (maybe just tired?) The prices are about the same as where we come from, but the food is way better and the portions are better. Great atmosphere, would recommend!

Definitely one to go to if you are visiting, but not as good as all the hype. Very good burgers and draft beers. Service is typically very good.

The wife and I had several friends recommend Big River so we went there for date night. Came away satisfied enough but not terribly impressed…
Biggest complaint was slooooow service. Granted, it was very busy. We were told to expect a 30 minute wait for seating, it took a little longer than that. We had a very friendly waitress who tried hard to please (props for her great attitude), took our drink and food orders pretty quickly. But then had to wait a painfully long time for the food. The waitress checked our drinks 3 or 4 times and the last time apologized that it was taking so long. I laughingly said we’d be REALLY hungry when our got there, so she offered to bring us some bread (curiously it wasn’t offered until I voiced our growing impatience, despite the fact that she initiated the apology for the slow prep time). Nibbled on the bread and waited… and waited…
When the food finally arrived, it was pretty good. My wife loved her bacon cheddar burger and onions rings. I sampled and agreed — the burger was juicy and flavorful, and the rings were hearty but not overly greasy. I had the shrimp and grits and it was pretty good — the grits were a little bland but the shrimp and bacon mix was really tasty.
Overall Big River was ok. Chalk it up to a bad night, but the service was slow enough that we will probably think twice before returning (for dinner at least). Next time we’ll probably opt across the street for Cheddars where the food is as good or better and the prices are definitely better. We’ll probably have to wait to get in there too, but have never had nearly as long a wait once seated.

Something great about this place is that they will split an entrée for you — neatly plated on two plates — for free. They also split our wedge salad.
We got a concoction of mac and cheese, tomatoes, chicken, scallions, parmesan crumb crust as entrée. Pretty good. Could have been hotter.
The wedge salad was not good because it had no tomatoes and the worst blue cheese dressing I’ve ever had. I don’t know where they got that stuff. Awful.
You have to request bread here and it was good.
Service from Caroline in bar was great as always.

Your average go to American restaurant that has a wide variety of food to choose from. Had the pizza for a brunch type meal, which was very good. Had the el Diablo and pepperoni as well as a jalapeño burger at our table, none of us had any complaints. Quick and friendly service.

If you’re a beer drinker like me, I think you’ll really like the flight of beers. I think I’ll be getting this each time I go back.
I got the chicken nachos for my entrée and they were pretty good but not great.
My kids each got a bowl of the loaded baked potato soup and acted like it was the best thing ever. The complimentary bread was great as well as the service.

Came here while in town — food was decent but the service was super slow. The restaurant wasn’t busy, I just think our waitress was a little disorganized/​frazzled. Good place for burgers!

This is one of those places where everything on the menu tastes great. I honestly did not expect good food from a «grille» but this place was just what we needed after a long hot day of exploring Chattanooga. The staff are exceptionally sweet, the beer selection is extensive, and the menu is diverse.
If you’re into craft beer, you’re going to love the beer sampler. It includes seven 4ounce beers for under $ 7 and they are all pretty good. There’s everything on the menu from shrimp and grits to enchiladas. I went with the shrimp and lobster enchiladas because the description made my mouth water. They were SCRUMPTIOUS! The dish consists of blue corn tortillas filled with shrimp, peppers and lobster. The enchiladas are topped with even more shrimp and lobster, and served with cilantro-​lime rice, alongside black beans and a trio of sauces that are sure to blow you away!
For dessert I went with the salted caramel toffee mason jar selection & it was everything that I hoped for: easy to eat, tasty and the perfect amount of sweet.
Without a doubt I will be dining at Big River Grill each and every time I visit Chattanooga.

Let me make it easy for you, your sitting at the Hampton Inn and need to socialize, grab dinner and toss back a couple of draft beers.
Go down the hill, make a right into this place… tons of craft beers-​all excellent, I tried most of them, and the fish tacos are banging. Not to heavy, just enough to get you full and have room for another draft.
Cool people here too, be one of them

Rave reviews for this establishment–
1. The bartender was great, talkative, helpful and funny! He suggested a great IPA, that I drank all dinner.
2. The jalapeño pretzel sticks were AMAZING. Warning: the portions are huge.
I thought the atmosphere of this place was casual, friendly and fun. They have a nice outdoor dining area and even have a bar with access on the inside and outside.
I stayed at the Hampton Inn next door and will be staying there and eating here for my next trip to Chattanooga!