Comment Archives: Locations: Restaurants: French
Re: “Table 3”
One of my favorites in Nashville. Everything I've had here has been incredible. The service has also been excellent each time I have gone.
Re: “Sperry's Restaurant”
I will never go back to Sperry's. I ordered lamb chops cooked med rare for my entree. When they arrived at my table, you could tell they were way overcooked just by looking at them. The bones were completely charred and when I cut into one, the meat was tough and completely grey. I sent them back and asked if they would make them rare to be sure they weren't overcooked. They brought brought back a terrible second attempt. They were pretty much just a little less cooked than the first. Also, there were about 10 extremely thin lamb chops completely covered in bread crumbs that seemed like an attempt to hide the terrible meat underneath, rather than 3-4 nice thick cuts that could be cooked perfectly.
I really hoped this was a fluke and that something was just off that night, but then for dessert we ordered a sunday (impossible to mess up a sunday, right?). The ice cream sunday was pre-made and had to have been sitting in the freezer for days. My girlfriend couldn't even shove a fork through the ice cream.
Easily the worst dining experience I have had since I have lived in Nashville, and probably the biggest waste of money i have spent while dining anywhere.
Re: “Miel”
With its decor as dull and comfortless as a disused bus station, its dining room placed inches from the non-foyered entry door and fronting the half-walled kitchen from which crashes and bangs thunder regularly every few seconds, and its vistas of a suburban strip-mall, Miel's ambiance rates lower that of than many chain restaurants, much less what one would expect for haute cuisine. The service, too, is shockingly bad; non-existent much of the time (no offer to refill wine or coffee -- actually, no initial offer to SERVE wine or coffee!; although we were only one of three couples in his section, our waiter left our entrees dallying on the counter so long, the hostess finally served them; our bottle of wine arrived ten minutes AFTER the entrees), punctuated by disruptive bouts of rudeness (interrupting a romantic toast; offering to let the escorted married lady taste the wine her husband had ordered, not the gentleman, as is proper; commenting derisively on the gentleman's request for additional service). The food is divine, although portions may be somewhat meager. IF this boit had someone as devoted to ensuring its good service and ambiance as the chef evidently devotes himself to its cuisine, Miel would be a sweet treat indeed. As it stands now, however, the experience is simply too bitter to endure.
Re: “Miel”
I go to Miel on a regular basis. I have had only good experiences there. The patrons around me always look like they are having a good experience also. The menu changes from time to time for variety and seasonality. In my memory, there is alway at least one fish item and one vegetarian item for dinner. There is a bistro menu during the week only that has smaller portions and prices that allow more frequent dining out so that it need not be a special occasion to visit Miel. The restaurant makes a strong effort to buy directly from a limited number of trusted suppliers (farmers and ranchers). They source locally when possible. If something is out of season, you are not likely to see it on the menu. It would be a real challenge to find another restaurant in Nashville with food that is fresher or tastier.
Clyde
Re: “Miel”
Very poor experience, when we arrived at 7 for our reservation we were ignored by the receptonist who kept her back to us while on the phone, finally an different empolyee asked to show us to a table right next to the only other people there. When we asked to be seated at a different table she kept repeating, "what does that mean?". After requesting four times in the most polite fashion, we never were able to communicate our request, somehow we never got the right answer to "what does that mean?".
However, she did note one of our party had a styrofoam cup with a tablespoon of Constant Comment tea left in it and took great offense even after it was thrown away.
We found an alternative restaurant in short order where we were well received.
Meil Resturant..suprising poor quality and worse communication skills, their rude behavior kept us from ever tasting their food. It may well expalin why the resturant was mainly empty at 7 on a Saturday night
Re: “Sperry's Restaurant”
Just did Sperry's again for about the 10 time, all the while hoping I would somehow find the love my spouse has for this place. Sadly, no. While being legend in Nashville it's all smoke and mirrors (er, "grease and dust" would be more appropriate). Decor strait out of "Jolly Ox" era of steakhouses circa 1972. Menu is very standard AARP fare, beef, chicken, pork chop, salmon and one other fish/shell food. Grim salad bar, dungeon like interior, and average age of customer = 70. Reasonable wine list, good bar service, food is high quality and tasty but, heavily salted and bathed in butter and or cheap cheese. Nothing close to "light and natural" here with perhaps the exception of the crab cakes (exceptional). If you long for the feel of a chain midscale steakhouse from the 1970's complete with the accumulated filth of the past 40 years coupled with reasonably good but, heavy food at a price close to double what it should be then, Sperry's is for you.
Re: “Miro District Food & Drink [Closed]”
are you talking about fish & co? or miro district? miro closed at the end of july. never got to try it but heard good things about chef joe.
Re: “Miro District Food & Drink [Closed]”
The food might be good but I'll never go back. I took my husband there for his 50th birthday along with several friends. They made some cocktails that were not tasty and they wouldn't take them back! We even talked to the mgr and he refused!
Re: “Miel”
Absolutely Delicious. If you haven't eaten here yet, then you are missing out. True, it can be a little pricey by Nashville standards, but you have to pay for quality. I have dined here two times, and can say that I have not yet had a miss! In fact, everything was wonderful. Both times the meal started with an amuse bouche from the kitchen and wonderfully warm rolls. We have had starters including a cheese platter with five artisan cheese, oysters (very fresh!), heirloom tomato salad with ricotta salata, pork belly, and a house salad with lots of fresh veggies and a delicious salad dressing. Entress have included a flat iron steak cooked perfectly with a yummy sauce, their house risotto, and a fish special with braised short ribs (an interesting combo that totally works, trust me you have to try it) My mom loved the roast chicken, and you know you can always judge a restaurant by their roast chicken! Dessert was also delicious. I have no complaints about this restaurant. I have eaten at many of the well respected restaurants in Nashville (Watermark, Flyte, F. Scotts, Red Pony, and Miro) and I have to say without a doubt this was the best!
Re: “Sperry's Restaurant”
This is another one of those “first class” establishments in Nashville that no longer deserves its reputation, if it ever did. I have lived in Nashville for a number of years and whenever I heard of this restaurant, it was always in tones of hushed, almost whispered worship, like a prayer or wishing upon a star.
My Italian friend, born and raised in Italy, and I ended up at this restaurant on Christmas. We had had a perfectly glorious mini repast at 1 808’s earlier (check out the reviews of this place. Genuinely superb!) earlier in the day but decided to see if all we’d heard about Sperry’s was true.
The bread, assembled in a glue factory, stuffed with soggy cotton balls and then zapped in the microwave arrived within seconds of our being seated; the soft, cottony, gluey center scalding hot while the colorless crust remained tepid as road kill. It instantly became ballast in the mouth and created a choking hazard. I cannot fathom why my fellow Southerners, who in many ways invented American cooking, cling to this soulless incarnation of wheat and water. It’s everywhere. They should stick with cornbread.
The French Onion soup, arrived like the Escargot, within mere seconds after placing our order, which should have been a tip off that no actual cooking was being done. It was so salty I was concerned I would need a blood pressure pill to get through it. The onions looked and tasted like strips of soaked cardboard, while a piece of the glue factory bread sogged, untoasted, over the salt mine below, and then the bland, blubbery cheese had been applied as one would apply mortar.
The escargot, little black blood clots, entombed far longer in a tin can than living in a shell had the same musty dead scent of a mausoleum. They were dredged in bread crumbs in the vain hope of masking their flavor and then greased in cheap, tasteless margarine, or was it mineral oil? I’m convinced it wasn’t butter. Greenish, black flakes floated over the top of each cup in the pillivuyt The flakes, at one time in their history before being mixed into the can in which the escargot was embalmed, had been parsley. Or so it was presumed. We deduced that the bread crumbs were intended to pass for stuffing.
The usual buttery earthiness of actual escargot was so badly deformed, the spirit of blue blood excess and culinary elitism signaled by its consumption so insulted and debased by this glop, that its only charming feature was that it was not served cold. We did not feel elevated up the social ladder afterward. We felt abused, lashed by the food chain.
The salad. Salad bar. Even the vinaigrette was creamy, made with the same machine oil that was in the escargot. The greens were wet. Enough said.
By the time the first bite of smoked salmon dip was dipped into, it was surprising that the Nashville Fire Department had not shown up following the scent of liquid smoke wafting through West Meade. It took my Italian companion three cups of canarino to remove the odor from her taste buds. The only thing that exceeded the liquid smoke in ratio to the canned salmon it had been poured over was the mayonnaise the whole concoction had been bathed in to make it spreadable. The bread, sliced Pepperidge Farm White Bread, cleverly cut on the diagonal, had some heft and tooth feel for sure, unfortunately, because it was stale. The reason for its outer crunch being it had been setting open on the kitchen counter since last night’s dinner. Staring at the dish, I kept thinking: Super Bowl, maybe it’s palatable with a keg of beer.
Salmon Florentine with creamed spinach and, uhh, and, hmmm….mayonnaise hollandaise? The waiter, who was excellent in every way, had told me that the, cook, or did he say chef?, whatever, the cook liked to cook the Salmon medium well. My first inclination was to ask for just barely medium and boy was I glad I hadn’t! Frozen, with the mustiness of old salmon, the “well done” part saved the dish from perdition. The creamed spinach, was actually spinach (frozen) and gravy (from breakfast) mixed together into a mound over which the perfectly broiled filet reposed. I’m not certain what was in the ramekin that arrived on the plate. Was it mayonnaise or hollandaise? Lumpy, oily, the only part of the lemon it had seen was maybe the outside of one and butter had been nowhere near it. It resembled congealed pus more than buttery, lemony, silky hollandaise.
The place was dirty. The dishes were dirty. I sent one bread plate back and the waitress brought me another dirty one. The silver is dull, scared and bent, the walls and ledges dusty, the salad bar kiosk looked like a health hazard. I can see why they keep the lights turned down. The place is stuffy, claustrophobic, with an old world club décor which to the regulars no doubt feels like a pair of comfortable shoes. As a newbie I had the sense of traipsing across over-worn, dank, sticky theatre carpet.
We had no liquor and no dessert. I had a hot tea and my companion had only water. Our bill was almost $60. This is too shameful to endure. Caveat emptor.
Rating Detail:
Food: 1
Service: 5
Atmosphere: 1
Value: 1
Overall: 1
Re: “Miro District Food & Drink [Closed]”
bland food and atmosphere. would not return despite the reasonably priced bottles.
Rating Detail:
Food: 2
Service: 4
Atmosphere: 3
Value: 4
Overall: 3
Re: “Miel”
I am glad there is a restaurant in Nashville that I can dine at that has food that doesn't feel like Nashville. We started with the mussels and Foie Gras, which were both outstanding. Also, they had a Sauterne by the glass for the Foi Gras, which I really appreciated. Our main courses were the Wild Boar, which was cooked suvee, it was as good as anything I have ever had. My guest had the Venison, which was a little dry, Jimmie agreed and was working to keep it moist in spite of the low fat content. To finish, a deconstructed Creme Brulee was outstanding. I would recommend to anyone. It is the Wild Boar found without the pomp and circumstance, which fits me to a tee. I will definitely go back soon. Almost forgot the yummy rolls and also an excellent amuse bouche. See you again soon.
Rating Detail:
Food: 4
Service: 5
Atmosphere: 4
Value: 2
Overall: 4
Re: “Miro District Food & Drink [Closed]”
I went with a small group of friends for dinner recently. The food was fantastic, but it took over 40 minutes to arrive. Even the salad didn't come out for 20-30 minutes, which makes me think our server forgot to put in our order. We only got apologies from other servers who brought out our food, and no offer to compensate for such a ridiculously long wait. Also, the drink prices are far too high.
Rating Detail:
Food: 5
Service: 2
Atmosphere: 2
Value: 3
Overall: 3
Re: “Sperry's Restaurant”
Sperry's is a celebrated Nashville landmark, which after 24 years of living in Nashville, I visited for the first time Saturday evening. We were celebrating a birthday, so we made reservations for 6:15. We were not shown to a table until nearly 7pm, and we watched as several other lare parties (we had 6) were seated before us. Perhaps we didn't reak of aged green Benjamins like the regulars.
When we did inquire, the manager acted as if nothing were wrong. When we finally sat down, it was at a table slam up against the bar. We couldn't hear each other for the Burberry and Louis Vuitton laiden coquettes cackling enough to get attention from across Harding! We were constantly bumped into, once by (I kid you not) a lady with short sleeves and a mink stole! This may be outside of the restaurant's control, but still killed the experience.
We hiked across the obstacle course of tables, chairs, and rude servers in a rush to get to the salad bar. Once there we found unkept, not-so-fresh fare. Brown lettuce was not a good start.
Between us we ordered a couple filets, a strip, a ribeye, and two fish plates. The Salmon and Trout were great, so props! The steaks, however...one actually looked up at us to say "Mooo" (once it came out 20 minutes after the other entrees). The others were too charred to talk. The filets were poorly trimmed and had balls of dense fat still attached. The twice-baked potato was fantastic, but then, how hard is that?
The savior of the whole thing was that all the entrees were half off in February. We would not have paid $30 for those filets-EVER. For $15,-fine, but Texas Roadhouse does it better and cheaper. I frankly, don't see the draw of the regulars. It will be at least another 24 years before I return.
Rating Detail:
Food: 3
Service: 2
Atmosphere: 1
Value: 2
Overall: 2
Re: “Riviera Provincial Grill”
My new favorite restaurant in Nashville. We had dinner at Riviera Grill tonight. It was truly wonderful; not just very good, but excellent. I've lived in Washington, DC and San Francisco, and I enjoy excellent French cuisine. We had steamed mussels in a white wine, cream and parsely sauce that was delicious. I had monkfish (my favorite and very hard to find) with bacon, roasted potatoes and balsamic reduction. My boyfriend had salmon, pappardelle pasta and a dill cream sauce. The chocolate mouse was perfect - light and airy like few know how to make. I haven't had chocolate mouse that enjoyable in years. I highly recommend it for lunch or dinner. Best of all it is reasonably priced - appetizers are $8 or less and entrees are $12-$20.
FYI - There is plenty of parking in back; so don't let the limited street parking deter you.