The Kennedy is an upscale cocktail bar that serves elevated bar food. The atmosphere is sophisticated,
modern and clean with black tones, gold décor and wood trim. Live music can be heard every night to enhance your experience. There is an upstairs, which seems to be a little quieter. This is a place you can come dressed up or down, but I highly recommend a visit when in downtown Knoxville.

The cocktail menu is one that has something for everyone. I tried a few on the menu and wasn’t disappointed with any of my choices. First, I was tempted with the Milk and Honey, as my server explained that it was served in a mini bathtub, along with “foam” bubbles and a rubber duck that I could take home. The concept behind this cocktail comes from the prohibition era when people would make gin in their bathtub. This is a great cocktail, definitely creamy from the “foam”, with a touch of lemon and honey.

One of my favorites here is the Britt Splits. This is a two-for-one cocktail or a “side by side” cocktail. There is a Maracas Beach that is sweet and fruity with a rum that they call a “fruity pebble milk punch”. With it, you also get a Lil Lychee, which is a little more on the tart,
refreshing side with a tequila base. These are both on the small side, but it allows you to try more than one cocktail, and if you like one more than the other, you can always just order the one cocktail.

There is also the Prickly Pear Affair, which is a tequila-based cocktail and has a great eye appeal. This drink is made with dragon fruit tequila provides the dark purple color. It is topped off with some bubbles and a piece of dried dragon fruit as well as mint leaves. This one is tasty and quite popular. If you like sweet, fruity cocktails, the Only “Fans” Martini is your drink! This is made with vanilla vodka, guava, passion fruit and fresh pineapple and it has a tropical taste with a hint of vanilla. One cocktail that I wasn’t a big fan of is the Margarita Al Pastor. This is a different tasting margarita, and one that has put the Kennedy in competition for the best margarita. However, it just wasn’t something I enjoyed and will not get again. They do have an extensive list of beer on tap, as well as wines; but the cocktails are delicious here.

On to the appetizers… a couple you cannot pass up at the Kennedy are the Devils On Horseback
and the Blue Crab Crispy Rice. Both are unique, but delicious! The Devils On Horseback may not look the most appealing when it first comes out but trust me, when you taste the creaminess of the goat cheese along with the sweet and salty bacon-wrapped dates, and then the spice from the Calabrian chili-tomato sauce, this appetizer explodes with flavors. If you like sushi, you will love the Blue Crab Crispy Rice! These used to be made of the King Crab, but it changes depending on what is in season. The crab is served atop some rice cubes that are a little crispy on the outside, avocado on the top, and drizzled with sweet soy. These things are divine! I only wish there were more.

For the handhelds, my favorite here is the Italian Club. This thing is not only huge, but the sandwich is bursting with Italian flavor, from the pepperoni, salami, mortadella, provolone and topped with chopped giardiniera and served on slightly toasted focaccia bread. You just have to try it for yourself, or split with someone, because again this thing is huge. One I wasn’t overly
impressed with here was The Kennedy Wagyu Burger. This can be ordered with bacon onion jam, crispy onions, cheddar and American cheese along with garlic aioli, or you can keep it a classic burger with LTOP. I’ve had several burgers all over, but to me, this one was lacking in flavor. It wasn’t juicy. It was just bland with a lot of bun, which didn’t help either. Definitely not one that I will get again because there are too many good burgers elsewhere. Each handheld is served with hand-cut fries and fry sauce, or you can upgrade to another side for an additional charge. I had to try the onion rings served with fry sauce. These are thick-cut onions. There were only 4 or 5 to the order. They were tasty but a bit too greasy for my liking, and since they are quite thick, they weren’t as crunchy as I prefer.

Moving onto the neo-New York style pizza… I’ve sampled several on this menu, and all of them have had a delicious crust, which is a sourdough crust, house-made and fermented for 48 hours and cooked on a brick top oven. Each one is about 12 inches, so it’s pretty easy for one person to eat most of it with some possible leftovers to take. My favorite is the BBQ Chicken. There is something about the regular BBQ sauce for the base and then being topped with Alabama white BBQ sauce on top. In between the sauce is roasted chicken, bacon, red onion, jalapeno, and cilantro. Next in line is the Wild Mushroom. This one is a little different, and you definitely need to like mushrooms because you can taste them with each bite. The base on the pizza is a garlic cream sauce. It is topped with an exotic blend of mushrooms, fresh arugula, and a sunny-side-up egg. The truffle oil did seem to make it a little greasy for me, so I may opt to get it on the light side next time. My two least favorites have been the Pepperoni Hot Honey and the Double Sausage. The pepperoni is served with Calabrian hot honey, which I loved, but it didn’t have much of that flavor coming through. To me it didn’t taste much different than a pepperoni pizza. The sausage pizza wasn’t one I would order again. You definitely need to enjoy the sliced sausage, as the chunks on this pizza are a little larger than what I like. It does have some crumbled sausage atop the pink vodka sauce, but I didn’t get much of that flavor coming through all the sausage. This pizza was a little on the greasy side as well. But again, the crust on any of these pizzas have been outstanding.

I did have a couple servers recommend the Miso Glazed Salmon, so I had to try it. This is a new favorite! The salmon was cooked perfectly and served over a bed of creamy mashed potatoes (that were out of this world!), sweet heat brussels sprouts that were a little crispy, charred and had a delicious spicy-but-sweet sauce on them, and all of this was drizzled with chili crisp that added a little spice to the whole plate. The portion on this was rather large as well, especially after eating appetizers, so plan on taking some home or just eat the main dish.

If you have any room left, the dessert to go for here is the Salty Malty Ice Cream Pie. But make sure you have a friend to share it with, it’s huge! This is a made with Cruze ice cream, pretzel crumble, cookie butter spread served with whipped cream and drizzled with caramel. This is delicious if you like sweet and a little salty. It is creamy, but completely frozen, so I would recommend having your server melt a little prior to receiving it. If you do order this, make sure you still have plenty of room, because you can’t take it with you, and it is a monster to take down by yourself! The Chocolate Truffle Cake is decent, but not as good as it sounded on the description. It is definitely cakier than it is chocolatey. It is a chocolate cake served with truffle ganache and a scoop of Cruze sweet cream ice cream on top. This one didn’t impress me as much. Maybe if it had some more of the ganache or some kind of chocolate brownie flavor.

The Kennedy is definitely going to be around for a while with the many great choices on the menu. With most of them, you cannot go wrong. They are open from 11 a.m. – 12 a.m. Monday through Thursday, and 11 a.m. – 11 p.m. on Sunday, 11 a.m. – 2:30 a.m. Friday and Saturday with a scaled down late-night menu for those night owls looking for a bite to eat.

-Tennessee Taster

For another great downtown Knoxville Restaurant review, click here!