Comment Archives: Locations: Restaurants: Steakhouse: 2 Stars
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: “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.