Poorly cooked food, shrimp not fresh and over cooked. Picatta flavorless. Staff was nice and tried to help. The comped dessert was gross. Not a place we'd return to to or recommend read more

Would give 15 of 5 if possible. Consistent Excellence is an understatement for the food, coupled with amazing service, the occasional live Jazz. Date night, family in town, even simple brunch. Prices are very appropriate for the ambiance, portions, service etc. If you have not been I assure you 1000% you are missing out. Stop reading go now! read more

Excellent good, great drinks and live jazz on Sunday afternoon. Recommend the Midnight Mounds and the Desi (Cuban).

A fairly new spot on the edge of Jackson Square in OR. My family was visiting town and we attended the farmer's market across the street and a festival in Jackson Square near the fountain. Wanting a bite to eat, we were excited to see that 201 was open and with no wait. It was around 1 pm on a Saturday and they were serving food from their brunch menu. There were some savory lunch-esque selections (like shrimp and grits and burgers), for those who prefer lunch food over breakfast. It was a bit of a bummer that the brunch menu is limited, somewhat pricey, and does not have a kids menu (which is what we saw online and why we came with 3 kids). We were seated right away and the staff was very kind. It definitely seemed like they were ironing out some new-biz kinks with service. There were long waits for drinks, and we asked three times for a wine/drink list. The mimosas we ordered were good but the sangria was not something any of us enjoyed (not served with any fruit or fruit flavor). We would stick to mimosas or try wine next time. Now for the food! For the kids, we ended up ordering french toast to split between them and added bacon and egg sides. They really enjoyed this! Also enjoyed was the juicy burger, and the cheesy grits. The shrimp was a bit overcooked and tail-on, which is so dang messy to pick off in a gooey sauce and grits mixture. My Dad liked his benedict but wished it was served on a muffin instead of biscuit, as the biscuit was soaked through and soggy instead of a "vessel" to hold the meat and egg. Really yummy sauce and perfectly cooked egg, though! We all enjoyed the diced potatoes, too. Looking forward to coming back for live music and for either the lunch or dinner menu! There is also a small outdoor seating area for when the weather is nice. read more

See all

Mimosa flight was very good. Live jazz. Good service from the waitress. We had a brunch Frank Sinatra - 2 eggs and sides "Your way" and a pork BBQ Sandwich. (Note - grits are cheesy!) good food overall. A pleasant lunch surprise! read more

The food is excellent (top 5 of Oak Ridge, TN). Service is wonderful. I really loved the live band, and being able to dance. This place is a hidden gem. Love trivia on Wed nights. And the positive vibe the team provides when serving their customers. read more

201 Cafe and Wine Bar - The Mahi Mahi Tacos, with grilled asparagus as a side. Delicious! - Music Venues Near Me - Oak Ridge, Tennessee

Quality service and atmosphere. Food was tasty but serving size on the small end for price. Only reason for 4 stars instead of 5.

Had an excellent breakfast bowl on Sunday! If you haven't had brunch at 201, you need to give it a try.

Great addition to Jackson Square. Sorry to see Ferrell Shop close but happy that music and food are still thriving. Wish there were a coffee shop/book shop in area, though. read more

Great spot to enjoy good food and good ambience. We had a first time server that did a good job. read more

201 Cafe and Wine Bar - Shrimp and grits are spot on - Music Venues Near Me - Oak Ridge, Tennessee

I really wanted to be able to say more nice things about 201 Cafe and Wine Bar. For all of its highly touted educated populace, OR is a veritable dining wasteland. 201 is trying to rectify that situation -- trying is the operative word. Wanted to order a steak but they were all out, all out of the ribeye too. So I ordered the ahi tuna chili, my partner ordered the ahi tuna salad, my guest ordered the Wildcat pasta. Sadly all 3 missed the mark. The tuna chili was hit or miss, the tuna was great, the rice it was served on was so salty that it was inedible. Both Wildcat pasta and the veggie salad were mediocre to poor until we asked for more sauce/salad dressing -- THEN they were tasty. But they should have been served with the salad dressing and or sauce....pasta without the sauce, what the heck? Lastly we came out a night where there was live music. Would have been enjoyable if it was about 20 dB less. We couldn't hear ourselves think; conversation was out of the question. It was actually PAINFUL to sit there. We asked the sound guy to turn it down. All in all 201 Cafe has potential. Dial in the meals, turn down the volume on the live entertainment, tweak the drink menu, and maybe we can get there. I hope they succeed. read more

Amazing brunch menu!! Good food and good service :) Patio seating is very nice for when the weather is cool. read more

Ambiance- great; drinks- good; meal- pathetic. Very poor excuse for a steak. I honestly can not think of any scenario where a chef/manager/owner would look at this meal and think "this is going to bring people back to my business". You need to evaluate your business model and try again. read more

201 Cafe and Wine Bar - Music Venues Near Me - Oak Ridge, Tennessee

See all

We met another couple for a late evening meal, hoping to have good food and pleasant conversation. It didn't happen. The table service was fast and pleasant. They get good marks for that. Ordering off the menu was a challenge because of low lighting and poor menu design. The other couple ordered a charcuterie tray to share. We ordered individual meals. The overall opinions were that the food was OK. My spicy pasta dish looked and tasted somewhat hastily prepared, without much attention to detail. The spices were not well mixed, and the meal as presented looked less than professional. There is a lot of emphasis on live music. There was a large group which was clearly there enjoying the music. For us the music was loud enough so that conversation was nearly impossible. The other three non-hearing impaired people were had to shout and repeat often. Being reliant on hearing aids, it was painful for me. We confirmed that the music was to stop at 8:30. It did not stop then, and the musician, CJ the Piano Man, seemed compelled to talk at length about what he could offer musically. All of this was amplified. After he finally quit, the large group left, leaving our table of four the only customers. Recorded music was played with amplification. We asked if it could be turned off or the volume lowered. The volume was lowered and the person who seemed in charge of that came to ask if it was better. I said yes, but requested that it be turned off. He said they couldn't do that. Then he came back and said he would turn it off. At that point we could have a pleasant conversation. Our group of four ranged in age from mid 20's to upper 60's, and the opinions were similar among all of us. We would like to support locally owned non-chain restaurants, but they need to offer a quality experience. It didn't happen for us. read more

Food was good and the service was great. Enjoyed a Mother's Day meal with my beautiful spouse and no kids. I like setting but I'm an Oak Ridger and enjoy the history the place exudes. read more

201 Cafe and Wine Bar - Lamb with mashed potatoes and asparagus. Shrimp and grits. Lamb was tender but could have used a glaze. - Music Venues Near Me - Oak Ridge, Tennessee

We had a great time at the 201! Great entertainment too by CJ the Piano Man!! The lemon pie was excellent!

Incredible salsa with the tacos on special this week. And an equally awesome bloody Mary. Not to mention the stunning patio.

Great food and ambiance. Sat at the bar and had an amazing charcuterie board and drink. Also enjoyed a lunch here a few days later. The live music is great and the service was fantastic! read more

Wine was decent, music ok, liquor pretty good, but the food was not even close...go for an appetizer and a glass of wine and dont go any further read more

Not sure what I expected but it is a very different restaurant for our city. The 201 is new to Oak Ridge. (Growing pains or honeymoon period?) We made a reservation because we had tickets to the OR Playhouse the same night. To complicate matters, our party of 3 turned into a party of 6. The hostess (one of the owners) took our increased number of customers gracefully and seated us within 15 minutes of our arrival. We let our server know we had theater tickets but the restaurant was full and she tried hard to get us out in a timely manner. She was very attentive and generous with her advice about the menu choices. We asked lots of questions and she had all the answers. Cutting 201 some slack. It was a Saturday night, the place was full and we had doubled the number of people in our reservation. With all of these in mind, It still took a long, long time to get our food. The time factor surprised us because this former ice cream parlor is not a huge restaurant. Other tables came and went but we were having great conversations so we hardly noticed. We asked if bread came with the meal. Answer no, but our server did get us some flat bread and garlic toast out of pity for our delayed food. Eventually, our dinners did arrive, piping hot and smelling delicious. All of the food was, for the most part, okay. Our 2 teenagers love the french fries. The grown-up food was nothing spectacular but in a cozy setting with good friends and an impressive beer and wine list, we made due. We had two orders of alfredo - one chicken, one steak. My chicken was excellent with juicy chicken and plenty of alfredo sauce. Pasta was well cooked but with no bread on the menu and a tiny side at an extra cost, I didn't feel the meal was spectacular. No one else at the table was complaining and one of us ordered the tuna which she said was truly exceptional. She said she would definitely order it again along with the cauliflower fries which were a very nice addition to her meal. To compliment my dinner, I decided to order a beer. Our server to the rescue again as she expertly advised the best one for the alfredo pasta. She was right. We ran out of time so there was no desert for us. The Playhouse shares the same parking lot as the 201 but even at that we were hurried. We got our bills and hot-footed it over to The Sound of Music. The play was great, the 201 experience was okay to good. The live music at the 201 was wildly distracting. It probably would have been wonderful entertainment if the band had not decided to tune their instruments in the middle of our dinner conversations. Which is okay if you don't like engrossing conversations with your fellow guests. And, if you like jazz - which I don't . The bill for my meal with the side tiny side salad and the awesome beer came to just over $35. Not terribly pricey and not terribly cheap. Excellent service, not great food, annoying musical performances, and with lots of time to ponder when the food will arrive. Note: the menu is very limited but has choices in several categories. Better to do a few things well then a lot of things mediocre. I heard that 201's deserts are spectacular but because of the time crunch, I can't testify to yeah or nay. Maybe next time? Maybe. read more

Would totally take a pass on this place. First off, it still has the musty smell of the creepy establishment that was previously in the space. I also had some misgivings when we walked in and saw that there would be live music, but figured OK, it'll be quiet background music. Wrong! The guy bellowed out every song and never took a break. Impossible to speak to my husband, who sat adjacent, not across from me. When we arrived, the place was busy, but there were at least 3 servers, possibly a runner or two as well. Took forever to get one bottled beverage to the table. Finally took our order--one sandwich and one appetizer. ONE HOUR LATER we still had no food. Only a second bottled drink had belatedly been brought to the table. The waitress had promised 10 minutes earlier that it would be "5 more minutes" for our food as she came and went repeatedly from the kitchen without our order. Table beside us had wine, full plate meals, dessert, and she checked them out while we sat with nothing but a drink. As we had theater tickets, we threw some cash on the table, tapped her on the shoulder as she waited on another table, and told her we were leaving. Not sure what the issue was, but it was not our night. read more

food was AWFUL! orange juice (clearly from a jug) was lukewarm-- food poisoning?? Sausage was disgusting French toast was just depressing. The steak was tough and almost uncutabl, NO SAUCE! No flavor! Nothing! The quiche was CLEARLY microwaved, or it the crust was store bought and the rest was out of a carton. ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTING. WOULDN'T RECOMMEND!!!!! read more

Phenomenal! Had Cuban Sandwich, Burger Special of the evening, cauliflower fries with spicy seasoning and side of ranch, and lemoncello cake and tiramisu. Everything DELISH! RUN don't walk to 201 Cafe & Wine Bar! read more

Best Veggie Reuben! Draft Local IPA Beer! Clayton, Warren & Josh work hard to make sure everyone is happy. Outside dining too. Excellent all around experience. read more

I made a reservation for 5:30pm, I made sure to ask if I could bring balloons because me and my friends were celebrating a 40th birthday. The gentleman who took my reservation was super nice and said of course. Well we went and we're having a great time, appetizers, drinking, eating, having dessert and everything was perfect. UnTIL the hostess came and said we had to move to the chairs because the table was reserved. WHAT?! This table was reserved by me. People it was only 7:15pm. She was super rude, glaring eyes and folded hand's across her chest. We were polite and left but I did have some words after the birthday girl went out to put her balloons in the car. We spent a lot of money and was treated like children. I have never been asked to leave a table at a restaurant, especially one I reserved for a birthday! It's not our fault you over reserved. Please be warned! You may be kicked out!!! read more