We live locally in Franklin, and are so excited for what Bestia Mare offers. Fresh, and I mean fresh seafood, prepared beautifully and on point. We ordered two craft cocktail's, with oysters, appetizers and entrees. All of our food was prepared to perfection. I'm very picky when it comes to quality verses quantity. This is quality at its best. Good luck, we hope you thrive in our beautiful community, we will come back, again and again... read more

Culamar - Crab agnolotti is a must...Potato leek, crab, local corn, tomato fonduta, fine herbs, pecorino - Italian Near Me - Franklin, Tennessee

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Culamar was amazing!!!! Highly recommend!! The waitress also told us that the food is all locally sourced. Excellent tasting food with phenomenal ambience!! Service was excellent!! I can't wait to go back :) read more

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Another disappointing restaurant added to our beautiful historic Franklin Tennessee. Thought it was going to be good after seeing all the positive reviews on Resy. Over priced, not flavorful, industrial feel. I guess this is a good spot if you are single and trying to go pick up a cougar or older man. But to come as a date night thinking it's a high-end restaurant like Nashville, you'll be sadly disappointed. What a waste of $200 !!! read more

Awkward service with amazing food. The serving staff asked innumerable times about removing our bread, our utensils vanished and the overall cacophony makes for a chaotic experience. The food however is phenomenal and fresh. Prices are reasonable considering the food quality. Get a nautical cocktail and sit outside to avoid the interior fuss. read more

The service was good. It was our first time here and our server went over the highlights of the menu, with recommendations in each section. We had STRACCIATELLA, FAROE ISLAND SALMON, and the BERKSHIRE PORK RIB CHOP. Personally, I had the salmon and the greens were very good, the salmon was pretty good and the potatoes were good as well. My friend had the pork chop and said it was very good. My wife had the salad and said it was okay. We ate in the raw bar area and the seating was good. It was kind of loud and made it difficult to have a conversation at the table and to hear the server as well. read more

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Badly overpriced. I know food prices are up because we eat out a lot. But, this is ridiculous. I won't go into specifics, but the food was only average, with prices that led one to expect something special. read more

We celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary yesterday and decided to try this restaurant. Poor choice. Ordered the tomahawk steak for two, several appetizers and sides, a bottle of wine. The steak was rare at best and we ordered medium. The roasted vegetables it was served with were charred but raw. The sides were flavorless. The desserts tasted like they just came out of a freezer. Good ambience for a glass of wine. If you are looking for an excellent meal, go elsewhere. read more

Been 3 times. First time we sat at the bar & had apps. Small portions & expensive but good. Two out of the three times they made a mistake on our order. Most recently I had the red snapper, presentation was nice but fish was very bland with no flavor. Downtown Franklin needs a nice seafood place but this ain't it read more

Had the oysters. Amazing and fresh. Service was great and personable. Can't wait for the rooftop

My girlfriend and I had dinner with our friends last night and the place looks great and it has an awesome vibe. To quickly sum it up...Great food, great service! Best Cioppino in Middle TN! read more

We had a very good meal at Culamar last week. One of our party is a native Italian living in Nashville area and he rated the restaurant as very authentic. All of our dishes were verily tasty and visually attractive. I wish the wine list had some more moderately priced offerings. read more

Just don't go. Not if you don't want the food you're eating taken from you as you're eating it. They cared more about turning the table than they did about us ordering apps, dinner and dessert. Also there was a hair in my husbands food. We spent nearly 500 to be rushed through a celebration dinner and treated like we were taking a table from them. Sad part - the food is good. But hope you can eat fast. read more

Such a charming Franklin spot! We had the STRACCIATELLA salad and the Hanger steak - both were delish. And, the LA BIONDA drink (a cucumber type drink) was absolutely perfect! We will be back! read more

Culamar - Italian Near Me - Franklin, Tennessee

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My husband and I decided to give this a try after a recommendation from a friend. I was surprised to see such mixed reviews but we decided to give it a try and I'm so glad we did! I love how modern and clean it felt. We sat in the room closer to the bar and even on a Saturday night we were able to have an intimate dinner at a table for 2. The bread/ butter was great, we loved our appetizer, and the salmon and trout were delicious and came out hot! Our waiter was very attentive- can't complain about the service. For what we were looking for it's perfect! Can't wait to try the rooftop during the spring/ summer. read more

Absolutely horrible service. Bad food bad drinks 45 minutes to even get our check. Will not be back

What a wonderful restaurant! So the dining room has amazing ambience inside with large glass windows offering a view of downtown Franklin. But truly the beautiful interior is even superseded by the food. On that... We dined for lunch, and there seems to be a compromise (workable in my opinion) between full-on foodie and approachable classic menu choices, at least at lunch. This works for me because it makes for a nice blend of adventure and comfort. On the foodie side, oh my, the cauliflower soup is a work of art. So much flavor and perfect texture! The color palette of this item is beautiful, especially since you can be forgiven for expecting it to come out white. Try the mussels, too. They add chili peppers to the broth for some well-balanced heat. On the comfort side, the tuna salad is quite good, but would benefit from a sweet ingredient, like craisins or pecans perhaps. The fries are perfect every time. One more telling compliment from us: The kids menu is awesome. Any restaurant that goes to lengths to ensure my kids eat as good as me deserves major kudos. The kids fish is a good as any adult fish & chips in town, and the Mac & cheese is just perfect al dente. I stole many bites from my daughter. Well done, Sea Beast! Can't wait to come back very hungry for dinner. read more

We made reservations and decided to dine at the bar. The atmosphere in that part of the restaurant was a little more intimate. Our Old Fashioned cocktails were amazing. If it wasn't for our bartender, I would give this review a 1. Unfortunately, the food was nothing special. Our appetizers and vegetables were over cooked/ charred. Sorry, but we expected so much more from this restaurant. There are other restaurant options in Franklin that offer a wonderful dining experience. read more

Culamar - Italian Near Me - Franklin, Tennessee

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This place is great. For some reason people in town like to be really critical of it, but it's light years better than 95% of the restaurants in Franklin--and this place is TRYING so let's be supportive and honest. The food is great, a little ambitious, a little (little) overpriced but once again, this is FRESH seafood flown in and sustainably farmed meats--stop complaining people. We need to champion places like this or they won't stay around, and then it's the Olive Garden for us all. The wait staff is super friendly, also. They were more than happy to accommodate a chilly child and an exhausted parent. Cheers to you all at Bestia. read more

On Friday, March 8th, I was invited by friends to go to Bestia Mare, which I had been anxiously awaiting to experience for my first time. I had heard nothing but positive comments about the new restaurant. The Ambience is modern and beautiful; The Greeting was warm; The Server and Service was superb; The Bread service was excellent; The Cauliflower Soup was surprisingly disappointing; The Snapper was deplorable, along with the accompanying vegetables. read more

I can't really understand how our experience here could have gone so differently from those of other reviewers, but here we are. We shared the arancini and tuna tartar. The tartar was very subtle, fresh and of good quality, but incredibly bland. The arancini was what seemed to be a black rice ball, very dense and dry, with some peas on the inside, finished with a concentrated red sauce(delicious) and shaved hard cheese. The confusion is that i'd swear the menu said it was arancini with rock shrimp and scallops, but without the menu on hand i let it go. Super bland except for the delicious tomato sauce. When we were home I looked up the dish and it did say it had seafood in it, so I'm not sure what happened. Husband had the pork shank, loved it. I ordered the scallops and can say this: they were so mishandled, the dish was so bad, that they should just remove them from the menu. They were very small, no major offensive, terribly overcooked and rubbery. They were simultaneously tasteless AND left a charred and oily, bitter taste in my mouth. Not ok at any price point, but $48, absolutely not. Sweet potato puree was good, mushrooms were fine, none of it was cohesive. Server Nick and entire staff very friendly and welcoming, beautiful and relaxing space. read more

This was, without a doubt, excellent. Lee was our waiter and he was so attentive, polite and knowledgeable. We recommend Bestia Mare... read more

Great service, perfect portions, delicious food and drinks. Love the ambiance here. Pasta w sausage & mussels, and salads were amazing.

Restaurant has been open 9 days. The ambiance of the place is sort of industrial to me. It's small, noisy and in my opinion lacks a real touch of decor. They certainly aren't lacking in staff as there were multiple bus boys, wait staff and a sommelier. Meal began with cocktails which were well prepared. A large variety of raw oysters are available and we selected a mix from Canada and the US. They were outstanding with a mix of sauces and for me the best part of the meal. Entrees chosen were flank steak, salmon, scallops and cavatelli. Everyone enjoyed their entrees, however, my scallop entree was very salty and three medium size scallops for $45 very overpriced. The restaurant is small, loud and somewhat pricey. Food quality is average, the presentation was done with style. Could expand their seafood choices. Worth a look if you're in Franklin, not sure if I would return though. read more

The restaurant was beautiful and the service was excellent. Unfortunately, the food was a big disappointment. Our cauliflower soup was in desperate need of seasoning, our entrees (we both ordered scallops) were room temperature and lacked flavor and the brussel sprouts were soaked in oil and lukewarm. Hopefully they can improve the quality of the food to match the beautiful atmosphere. read more

Absolutely loved this restaurant! The service was wonderful, everything our server Sarah recommended was spectacular! We had muscles which were so good, I could have drank the broth, the eggs on the Benedict was cooked perfectly, I loved the combination of spinach and prosciutto, tuna melt with goat cheese( outstanding), And the deep watermelon cocktail superb! read more

Reasonably priced seafood, portionable pasta dishes that are full of flavor. Very fast and friendly service. Clean, professional. I expect big things for the owners of both Culamar and their sister restaurant Culaccino. read more

First visit to Culamar did not disappoint. The salad was a bit on the small side. Chicken thigh entree very tasty. We had two desserts....both were next level for sure. Service was a 10. Ambiance lovely. Can't wait to go again. read more

Great experience. Took my son for his 16th birthday. He loved it! Great seafood cooked perfectly.

Everything from spectacular food to attentive service was perfect for our special anniversary celebration! For Antipasti, we enjoyed the Aracini / Sea scallops, rock shrimp, cuttlefish, fontina, tomato conserve, fried parsley & Ceviche / Citrus, avocado, heirloom tomato, clementine, jalapeno, cilantro, grilled piadana. Both starters were well balanced in flavors. The Sea Scallops had the perfect sear and served with forbidden black rice, an incredibly smooth celery root crema, charred scallion, n'duja, butter sauce, marcona. The Linguini with Clams, pancetta, garlic, chili, pecorino, parsley was beautifully plated with perfectly fresh components. For dessert, we raved over the Cream Catalana with nice flavors of cinnamon, citrus, vanilla, blackberry, pistachio biscotti and a homemade Limoncello. We had such a great experience that we've already booked a reservation for a group of "foodie friends" to return to Bestia Mare next week! read more

It's a nice restaurant but for the price, I'd like a tablecloth, felt like a loud diner. We had people very close to us which again, for the price should be better. The food itself is not bad, we had oysters and they were excellent. The salads and other items are just fine, nothing overly impressive, the plates are small. Our bill for 2 people was over 250.00, we had 2 glasses of wine each so not like we had a fancy bottle. All this is just meant as a heads up, try it once and see what you think. read more

The food is AMAZING but the entrees are surprisingly only appetizer size. Very disappointing for the spend.

Very good seafood! Love pretty ambiance. Happy to have more local spots in downtown Franklin

This was our second time having dinner here and it was amazing again. Food was great, ambiance was very nice, and staff was very knowledgeable with the menu. We'll definitely be back again! read more

We have been going since it opened and always sat at the bar. My husband and I eat light and share. Everything has been pricey but good. Went out with a third person last night and sat in the dining room. Lighting was weirdly dark. First table we sat at moved when you touched so we were moved. Ambiance does not match the price of the food. Oysters were just ok. Carrot cake and apple special was not good. On a high note the service is always good. read more

cute inside. complete rip off. $13 to replace prosciutto with shrimp on a salad. Charged over $30 for a tiny salad. Sloooowwww service. Took forever to get our food. Took even longer to get our bill. The place wasn't even crowded. No thanks. read more

Found the food to be delicious and interesting. Possibly too many ingredients...I like my food a little simpler. Let the fish or sauce or whatever speak for itself if you know what I mean. Ambiance and service were good. Will try it again. read more

I absolutely loved the ambiance, food, and martinis at this place! The risotto was incredibly delicious. My husband and I will definitely be coming back! read more

I was excited to try a new upscale restaurant in Downtown Franklin. My excitement waned as we progressed through our meal. It started with delicious, hearty bread and butter. Then, fantastic oysters. The cauliflower soup was wonderful, but somewhat under seasoned, and my Bucksnort Trout was completely bland. It was served with mashed potatoes AND fingerling potatoes. How odd. The mashed were very good, but the fingerings had no flavor. It was such a promising dish, but devoid of flavor. The roasted vegetables as a side were ho-hum. We had to ask for salt and pepper, because it was not on the table. Adding salt really helped both dishes. The server had to grind the pepper and only offered it to my dining partner. My water glass was not refilled consistently. No one asked if we were enjoying our meals. No manager visited the table. These are grave sins for a new restaurant. It's important to get guest feedback so issues can be addressed early. Since they didn't care to ask me there, I'm sharing my thoughts here. Finally, at the price point for this restaurant, I expected more. For what I spent, I could have had a much better meal in dozens or restaurants in Franklin and Brentwood. I don't know that I'd go back here. read more

amazing seafood and pastas. the cioppino is my favorite and the tuna tartare appetizer is so flavorful. only didn't give it 5 stars because all three times i've visited, they've messed up or forgotten part of our order read more

amazing! food is the absolute best, atmosphere is beautiful, staff is wonderful! can't wait for the roof top to open!