Kleer-Vu Lunchroom

I called 30 minutes before they closed and asked if I could place an order to go and the man said yes, I arrived as they were locking the doors and they unlocked them, let me in and served me! That’s rare these days! I appreciate their hospitality!

Soul food. Yum! Fish, turnip greens, fried okra, black eyed peas, and hot water cornbread. I couldn’t finish it all, but it all tasted so good! Definitely will be back.

I love soul food and meat and three restaurants, so I was excited to try Kleer-​Vu for the first time after hearing such good things about it from my co-​workers. We all agreed to take our lunch there, and we all left feeling underwhelmed. I think they may have had an «off day» when we visited. The food was bland, and my co-​workers agreed it was better the last time they visited.
To make things worse, our group’s table was directly under a filthy ceiling fan with 5 inch tendrils of clumpy grey dust hanging off of the blades. I began screaming internally when one of the staff members started to complain about being hot and went to turn on the fans. Thankfully, we were done eating as the fine powder of an eon’s worth of dust slowly sprinkled onto our plates and into our cups like snow. I will stick to Jeff’s Restaurant down the street.

It had been at least 2 – 3 years since I last seen 2 of my cousins so I decided to spend some time with them in Murfreesboro, TN since I was planning on staying a few days before my cruise to the Bahamas. When my cousins invited me to lunch, they only gave me 2 choices: Italian and Soul Food and guess which one I chose? Yes, Soul Food because good Soul Food is difficult to find.
I wasn’t sure what to expect since in the Unilocal description it said that it was a lunch counter setting. I didn’t have a chance to look at the pictures beforehand so I took my chances based on the good reviews. When we walked in, there were people seated at the tables and people waiting in a line to be served at the lunch counter. While we waited, there was a menu on the wall on the left side towards the front of the line. Come to find out that their menu items change daily.
I’m a very picky eater so there are some things that I will not try if there are too many ways for a person to prepare the item. In other words, I try to stay with the safe food items, which are items that no matter how people prepare them, they will usually still taste good. Also, once I see the item, if it doesn’t look delicious by the way that it’s prepared, I probably won’t eat it either.
With that being said, I chose Fried Chicken, Green Beans, Pinto Beans, Mac and Cheese, Chess Pie, and Sweet Tea.
Fried Chicken: This was probably the best tasting meat on the menu. It was perfect! Fried very crispy where there was not a single blob of fat, not greasy, and was seasoned very well. It was so delicious that I didn’t even have to add hot sauce for it to taste good. You know what I mean lol.
Green Beans: They tasted okay. They didn’t have much seasoning, but weren’t too bland. I like my green beans to either have a little salty taste or seasoned with bacon or fried meat grease.
Mac and Cheese: It was okay. It was kind of bland and wasn’t as cheesy as I would have liked.
Pinto Beans: They were tasty and not too dry.
Chess Pie: I didn’t get a chance to taste it because I was too full to eat it with my meal. I added it here so that you knew that it was an option.
Hot Water Cornbread: Now this was very different than any other cornbread that I’ve tasted! It was very delicious! It was crispy, but not greasy on the outside. It was very moist on the inside. It wasn’t too sweet (I don’t really care for very sweet cornbread).
Sweet Tea: It wasn’t as sweet as I usually like my sweet tea. I like my tea very sweet. Like a diabetic coma sweet.
So overall, I enjoyed my food and am excited to try some of the other dishes.
Now, I can’t finish without mentioning some of the food that my cousins ordered.
Meatloaf: This looked and tasted like imitation meat that was put into a meatloaf. This looked and tasted disgusting.
Banana Pudding: When I think of banana pudding I think of crisp vanilla wafers, creamy vanilla pudding, and at least two layers or so. This banana pudding was not it. The consistency was very mushy since it tasted like every single ingredient was mashed together. And I’m not sure what the other ingredient was that they added. Maybe custard? Anyways, it seemed like they prepared the banana pudding and then baked it in the oven. I’m all for a different way to prepare dishes, but this was not a good idea.

I want to like this place… It has a very cool atmosphere. However, I got food poisoning after eating here without a doubt. I had the fried chicken, mac n cheese, and turnip greens.

First time here with a friend who has been here a couple of times. The food was incredibly bland as if no salt had been used. My friend agreed that this meal was bland and it usually is better.
I had the fried chicken, mac and cheese, green beans, and corn bread. The total was $ 7.67. Everything was bland and needed more salt. The corn bread especially tasted like fried flavorless mush.

Best Mac and cheese ever. Best baked chicken ever. Great atmosphere. Quick (if it isn’t a super busy time) and cheap cheap cheap. Fried okra oh ma god.

If you are looking for food your grandmother used to make this is the place. The fried chicken is yummy! Love the atmosphere and the staff is great!

I have been here many time with friends that wish to eat here, after my first time coming I was not sold. The food was a typical meat and three, which is delicious if you have never been to one, but here in the south there is better. «Jeff’s is better» and right down the street!
Meat and threes should have a warm family atmosphere, this place has a grumpy old lady shoveling slop out of a can on your plate!
Recommendation-​try it there is no harm in this, but I warn you the service is terrible!

I really enjoy Kleer-​Vu. It can sometimes be hit and miss, but more than often it’s a hit. Meat & 3’s are scattered through out Murfreesboro, but for my money this is the best.
It has more of the soul food feel to it than others. Fried Chicken is very good, vegetables are usually well cooked and not over cooked. The Hot Water Cornbread is always a subject of conversation for those who have never heard of it or had it. One warning. The sweet tea is, SWEET! We’re talking diabetic coma sweet so, be warned. Lunch is always a great time to go and you could see anyone there from politicians, to famous people to the locals.

Anything here is amazing… but have the cobbler!

First came in and appreciated the family owned atmosphere. I got some Baby back ribs, fried chicken, mash potatoes, and nice pinto beans. First the ribs were the best I have ever tasted! They fall right off the bone and the BBQ sauce on them is heaven. The fried chicken tasted good, not great, but good. The mash potatoes are real and freshly made, no out of a tin can mash potatoes. Lastly the beans were nice and heartwarming for me, great beans indeed. This little place is a great history-​piece of the Boro, as it’s been here since the 80’s maybe even longer than that. If you want real southern soul food, then this is a place to try!
Note– they change what they serve depending on the day of the week. I came in on a Friday.

Meat and three. Hot water cornbread was a good accompaniment with pintos and greens. Fried chicken wasn’t too shabby and the lemon icebox and chocolate icebox pie were a great way to finish it all off. I would go back.

Oh how I want to give a great review but I just can’t.
Let me first say that the food is awesome. The hot water cornbread is soooooo great!
Sadly we will not be returning to enjoy this super delicious soul food. :-(
The problem is the location and the owner. It is off of E Main St but is smack dab in the ghetto. Last time I was there, across the street were 2 groups of young guys yelling at each other from the opposite street corners. I don’t know if they were gangs or what, but I was afraid somebody was going to get shot or stabbed or something. This was lunchtime in broad daylight! It was extremely unnerving and while the food is good, it’s not worth a bullet wound.
Also the owner apparently inherited the business from her mother and sadly lacks the «personal touch.» I don’t know if she just doesn’t like white people or what but I saw her be condescending and extremely rude to every single white person including myself that was in line. It’s setup cafeteria style and she is the person that was running the cash register and everytime I’ve seen her there she was always like this but I just wanted to chalk it up to her having a bad day or something, but finally I realized, this is how I’ve seen her be for years so I just had to accept that if she doesn’t value us as customers, then we won’t be her customers. Money is green, not white or black, so when you run a business you need to get over any issues you have with people and focus on being glad you have customers who appreciate your product.
It’s too bad really. Alot of people I know absolutely LOVE the food there but refuse to go because of these 2 issues.

Love the food sad I am on a diet!!! I want all the carbs, Dressing and hot-​water cornbread plz! Make sure you have plenty of time, they move at their own rate, and do Not expect them to smile or be curtius, unless your someones cousins aunts brothers uncle. Peace!

Maybe my expectations were too high but I’d have to rate it as okay. I was really looking forward to becoming a regular but I’m still on a mission for soul food in m-​boro.
I had whiting (too many bones/​fishy) greens, white beans, and mac and cheese.

No chitterlings (chitlins?) when I came in for lunch, but they did have pig feet! And Precious, I was hungry.
I got the meat and two, and when I picked out pig feet, the ladies behind the counter all offered to have me taste some before I committed. Apparently the stereotypes about Chinese people eating everything under the sun (wasn’t there recently an article about soaking chicken eggs in virginal boy urine as a local delicacy?) has not hit the South yet.
The two feet were piping hot and served with hot sauce/​vinegar. It might not look like the most appetizing thing, but if you love oxtail or phở with tendon, you will be a fan of this stuff. Nuggets of luscious meat sandwiched between plenty of tendon and skin, mm. I was definitely not as good at finishing off the pig feet as my co-​worker, but it was a solid meal that strangely enough tasted healthier than the fried chicken.
If you don’t want to opt for the more traditional soul food elements, there was also white fish, saucy ribs, mysterious «chicken and sauce.»
For sides, I went with mac n’ cheese and turnip greens, both of which were NOT on the salty side, which I appreciated. Corn bread is a white corn meal fried up in little dollops. I prefer the sweeter and more grainy ones that can be fried up, but these were good with a splash of sauce. Washed it all down with some unsweet tea and definitely no room for their dessert spread.
Comes out to about $ 10 after tax and whatnot.

I am so mad that I didn’t know of this place when I lived in the boro! Now that I’m living in the land of «What’s a meat and 3??» I love coming here when I’m in town! I always eat way too much tho and am so full I’m miserable when I leave but it’s totally worth it. I love love love their sweet tea and peach cobbler!

Kleervu is one of the best meat and three’s in Middle Tennessee; it is certainly the best in Murfreesboro. It’s been there since 1940something, serving up soul food and Southern favorites to everyone from college kids to white collar and blue collar workers alike.
Nearly 15 years elapsed between my previous visit and my most recent one, but not a thing had changed. Even at 1:30 on a Wednesday the lunch crowd was respectable. I had no trouble getting my food and a table, but even if they had been busy, I’d imagine I would’ve been moved along with the efficiency you would expect from people who have been working there for decades. The hot water cornbread is some of my favorite cornbread; the texture and flavor are unique. Served in portions about the size of a deck of cards, the outside has a wonderful crisp and the inside is soft, light and just a hint of sweet. It doesn’t taste like the butter and salt you expect from southern cornbread –it’s just different, and very very good.
Today I had the fried chicken. The chicken, even though sitting on the steam table, was moist and the skin was coated with just the right amount of breading and fried in fresh cooking oil; I could taste the seasonings in the breading instead of the other fried foods that had been cooked in the oil. I selected turnip greens (my all-​time fave) and macaroni and cheese for my sides. They were each Southern as can be: the mac and cheese was creamy and soft and the greens were rich with bacon fat and quite tender. In somewhat unrelated news, I don’t recommend this place if you’re on a diet.
Actually, I guess there is one thing that has changed in between my visits; the prices have gone up. I don’t think they’ve outpaced inflation, but with a drink, my meat and two came to $ 10.42, not quite the deal I remember, but still a price I’d be willing to pay the next time I find myself in the area.

This is as old school lunchroom as you can get. The place is converted into a restaurant from a house it seems and you really get the feeling you are eating in someones living room.
They rotate the menu and the BBQ Ribs sell out fast, so get early if you want to get them here. I went with the BBQ pork shoulder which came with creamed corn /​macaroni and cheese.
Everything was great and if I make it back to Murfreesboro, Ill be back to get some catfish next time!