Mindy R.
Google
I have talked about coming to this restaurant literally for years, because I wanted to try Chef Sara Bradley’s cuisine. We drove 1 1/2 hours when we were visiting Tennessee to try this restaurant.
For our anniversary, my husband purchased a tasting menu experience for us. When you walk in, for the tasting experience, you are literally right next to the hostess table, near the kitchen staff at a long high table with tall chairs, the kind that you have to jump up to sit down. If you’re overlooking the restaurant like I was, you can see more relaxing booth/bench seating towards the other side of the restaurant with better more relaxed lighting. They looked more comfortable than we were. I expected a higher level of service and ambience since the tasting menu was significantly more expensive than regular dining.
At the tasting menu table you also sit directly next to other tasting menu diners who are receiving the same courses. If the other diners at the table started earlier, they will be a course or two ahead of you so the fun of being surprised or delighted by a new dish coming out is lost. You know what they’re bringing out and the waiter responsible for serving the table parrots the same script to you that you just heard 30 minutes ago. So, sitting at one long table is not ideal because you and your partner have no privacy. You’re hearing your neighbor’s conversation and they’re hearing yours. We were literally shoulder to shoulder. Bunching all the tasting menu diners together, needs to be redesigned and reconsidered.
The food was good, but not great. I was expecting a lot more. The tasting menu had coconut throughout the entire meal, and notes of sweetness when it didn’t need to be there. The cauliflower dish was delicious, but the PB&J rib was greasy, overly sweet overcooked rib with cornflakes and peanut butter was not good. It made no sense being on the tasting menu. Very disappointing. The experience ended with a chocolate mayonnaise cake with no real flare other than Marshmallow fluff that had been torched. It felt as though the menu selections were based upon the ease of the staff being able to get food out to the diner versus showcasing some of the best things the restaurant had to offer.
The waiter dedicated to the tasting menu table, should be replaced. He is not representing the restaurant very well. In between courses we waited about 15 -20 minutes after dishes were cleared for the next course which made for a long dining experience with 6 courses. The couple near us also commented how slow the service was. In addition, you’re hearing the exact same course description again and again. It felt very transactional and felt disingenuous. There was minimal to no personal interaction with the waiter, as it was a drop and pick up process. All of us were looking for a higher quality experience since we were there to celebrate a special occasion. I think building a mandatory tip into the tasting menu fee, results in the wait staff not being motivated to provide good service because they were getting a good tip regardless. Our waiter was often fluttering throughout the restaurant and too busy to check back on the table. For instance, we wanted to order unique bourbon from their amazing list. Our waiter never came back, so I had to flag someone else down to place our order. They screwed it up and we had to order again. We waited 30 minutes just to get one bourbon order.
All in all, the ambience and the food was ok, again not great. The tasting menu choices toggled from being artfully prepared (Cauliflower dish) to being slop on a plate (PB&J rib). I expected higher quality service/food for what we paid for since it was a Top Chef Finalist and James Beard Award Nominee restauranteur. Fun evening with my husband, but overall disappointing.