Comment Archives: Locations: Spaces & Places: 5 Stars
Re: “Ri'Chard's Louisiana Cafe”
This is my favorite restaurant in all of the Nashville area. The food is delicious and well-priced. The atmosphere is warm, friendly and relaxed. I've been to Ri'chard's several times and I've never been disappointed in the food or the service. This is one place you need to go!
Re: “Rippy's Smokin' Bar & Grill”
The absolute BEST barbecue and BEST service on music row. The musical talent featured is remarkable as well. HIGHLY recommended!
Re: “FooBar”
ALMOST FORGOT... FOOBAR gets 5 Stars. Nashvillescene.com owes me one. Actually two for disapointing my girlfriend.
Re: “Chase's Sports Bar & Grill”
This 10,000 sq. ft. Music and Sports Venue is only 15 minutes north of Nashville right off the 65 FWY at exit 97 located in the Music City Shopping Center! Over 12 TVs for sports, 20 x 40 Sound Stage with full Sound and Lights for the best live bands ever. Big dance floor and great Food... Altho you pay $8 cover for Friday & Saturday Night you receive FREE Domestic longneck beer for 7pm to 12 midnight.. Parking is Free and Safe. Karaoke on Thursday Nights at 8:30 with no cover. Wedneday Nights is FREE Texas Hold-em Poker games and Live Band Jam that you can sing with! Chase's is clean and fun for you 21 and up! Try it, you'll see!
Re: “3 Crow Bar”
My favorite neighborhood bar and one of the best places to meet friends and new people. Beers selection is great, although not a HUGE variety, but just what you need. Sundays are great for the 2 for 1 drink specials and watching sports (or not...depends on where you sit). When the weather is nice, sit by the opened front windows to people watch. Stays open late and staff is super friendly (although frequently busy, so give them a break). And... can't forget... free wi-fi!!
Re: “Parthenon”
Is my favorite place to clear my mind and be at peace.
Re: “FooBar”
Great funky atmosphere, cheap drinks, fun staff, awesome music!
Re: “Ri'Chard's Louisiana Cafe”
Boy oh man do I love me some Ri'Chard's! What a great place to dine. I have tried a bunch of the items from the menu and loved them all. My favorite is the Red Beans and Rice. .... and the Jambalaya and the Fried Pickles and the Fried Mushrooms and the Shrimp Creole and the Muffalettas and the funky snosage and the po boys and the ... well you get the point. The wait staff is not only beautiful but friendly and fun. The cooks know what dey doin too! The music is always a delight. Home grown singer songwriters. All original music, which is refreshing. The owner, Richard Trest is a good good man and loves to entertain the crowd throughout the day and evening. R'Chard's = one of the bright spots of Nashville.
Re: “Sambuca”
I've dined at Sambuca many a night and have never had anything less than a great experience. The service is always exceptional, the food is better than phenomenal, and there's something fun happening onstage nightly. Mike Reynolds is one of Nashville's best bartenders and Chefs James Reesor and Mitchell Spivey are a great culinary duo. I'm always impressed and love to introduce friends to the Sambuca Scene. It's been one of the best things to hit the Gulch!
Re: “Park Cafe”
I had driven to where a short lineup of restaurants reside in a ‘residential-feeling’ neighborhood of Sylvan Park. Located in an area where it is common to park on someone’s lawn on a busy night. I ended up wedging my car between a few barrels of fryer oil and a medium-sized dumpster behind the restaurant.
Amidst an upstanding taco joint, a homely Italian restaurant, and your average bread and cheese pub, was Park Cafe. Park Cafe was open Monday, and respectably slow. Eagerly, their staff welcomed me into their home-converted restaurant. Put in the most exaggerative way, the interior felt like the backstage of a strange theater set; a maze of rooms and hallways, each with a quirk of their own. I was seated in a reduced-capacity renovation, of what looked to be the original dining room; now, an inoperable water fountain adorned with plastic plants centered itself in the space. This hub led to several other dimensions of reality; a dark, empty room flaunting bold artwork was to my south. I felt the twisted romance of dining alone.
Park’s semi-cohesive menu has reasonable pricing. Main course dishes are in a modernized French style and appetizers tend toward Italian. An underlying southern flare peaks through in many dishes including the shrimp ratatouille and roasted chicken with crispy okra and cornbread croutons. The menu features entrees composed of the usual suspects; crustaceans, red meat, fowl, fish, and vegetables all done in a bold preparation. Chef does not skimp on the flavor, but maintains definition among the components in the dish. Bold sauces like Béarnaise, aioli, fruit reductions, cheeses, creamy risotto, and even an Asian-inspired plum sauce accompany main course dishes. The menu is definitely playful and mostly cohesive, but I deduct one point for their inclusion of an Asian-inspired salmon dish (Menu cohesion -1). This just doesn’t play well with the others, and it’s all too common to dress salmon up this way (Flavor pairing originality -1). I skip right to dessert.
'Lemon Icebox Cake' carmel & lemon creme topped with meringue, graham cracker crust, blueberry compote, carmel sauce $7
The description seemed a bit ambiguous, almost misleading; was the graham cracker crust to be on top? I received my icebox cake; a chilled tower of custardy lemon, creamy creaminess, rich caramel, and graham cracker crust... on the bottom. On top, sat what I thought was whipped cream, not a meringue, but I may be wrong... corrections? On top of THAT was the blueberry compote, and unfortunately perched here, was my only qualm. The compote was made from frozen blueberries, which had a terribly flat, chewy texture, and lacked their inherent ‘blue’ flavor (Texture profile -1, Flavor pairing fundamentals -1). The rest of the cake had luscious layers of creamy lemon and caramel. The graham cracker was a crusty vessel for all that sweet fattiness. What else is there to say? it was decadent, sweet, fatty, and mostly executed with precision.
REVAMPED. 'Lemon Icebox Cake' graham cracker crust topped with lemon and caramel cream, meringue, blueberry compote, and caramel sauce $7
My only suggestions would have been to reword the menu description and improve the texture and flavor of the blueberry compote by using fresh berries.
Overall I really liked Park Cafe. Their staff was marvelous, the food was big and bold, the atmosphere was bizarrely romantic, and prices were reasonable. But in the food category, this review only touched upon dessert, so they inevitably scored high. Another one and a half dinners, and this study will be concluded.
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1. Menu cohesion -1
2. Pricing 0
3. Beverage pairings 0
4. Atmosphere for romance 0
5. Cleanliness 0
6. Waitstaff competence 0
7. Waitstaff enthusiasm 0
8. Overall management 0
9. Flavor pairing fundamentals -1
10. Flavor pairing originality -1
11. Texture Profile -1
12. Use of "easy-pleasers" 0
13. Use of salt 0
14. Doneness precision 0
15. Dish sin factor 0
16. Dish sex factor 0
17. Presentation 0
18. Dish practicality 0
19. Healthful dish execution 0
20. Kitchen speed 0
1st visit (100-4 = 96)
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Re: “Ovvio Arte”
this creative space is something nashville has needed for along time...
it's a place where the crowd does not judge, they dance.
a place where the owner greets you at the door and wishes you to have a good time.
a place that invites the cooky, the weird, and the normal.
and everyone is having the time of their life.
the cover was $10, and i would have gladly paid $20.
i can't wait to see what's store at ovvio arte next time.
Re: “Park Cafe”
Extremely Romantic and great personal service from the servers.
Re: “The Stage on Broadway”
The best damn bar in Nashville!!! Thnx The Stage for being my first hang out in Nashville and my only hang out haha! I'm a true fan....
Re: “Ri'Chard's Louisiana Cafe”
I was in Nashville and visited Richard's. As a Louisiana Native I know good cajun food, and they have it! The atmosphere and service was great also. A must visit for anyone who wants to Lassaiz les bons temps rouler
Re: “House of Kabob”
THE best Middle Eastern/Kurdish restaurant in Nashville. My favorite dish is lamb shank (braised in a tomato sauce) with yellow rice (basmati rice with barberries). Get a bowl of the braising liquid on the side and some yogurt and you will have one of the best meals of your life.
Other good dishes are the joojeh (whole skewered cornish hen), kubideh (ground beef kabob), and teka (beef sirloin kabob). Also, the traditional dish is the shabzi (spinach stew with dried lime).
After you finish, have a glass of hot tea and relax - you'll be full.
Vivek
http://viveksurti.wordpress.com
Re: “Ri'Chard's Louisiana Cafe”
Okay - I admit - I have a long-standing love affair with Jambalaya. When I go to New Orleans I usually study the menu carefully and then order it at every restaurant that offers it. And I usually end up thinking, "Nice, but not as good as Ri'Chard's."
My other favorite thing about the place is that it's only 15 minutes from my house in Hillsboro Village, but it's like going to a different world out there in the green countryside. And when you get there, they greet you like family. It's a great example of why locally-owned places have it all over the corporate chains.
Re: “Ri'Chard's Louisiana Cafe”
The food is authentic, and very well prepared, and I agree the atmosphere is fun, but the music is the feature at Richard's. Being a pretty fair songwriter himself, Richard has attracted pretty high level talent, to play in this intimate atmosphere. You never know who will see there, from touring acts, to hit songwriters, and a very interesting selection of up and coming writers as well. We get in there as often as we can.
Re: “Loveless Cafe”
I love this place, the food, the atmosphere, the history, the wait staff and the prices. If you go on the weekend for breakfast be prepared for a long but well worth wait. This is a place I ALWAYS take friends from out-of-town.