I went back and forth on whether to review the new Ocean Prime in Nashville Yards. While the manager ultimately did something to address the situation, we felt as though getting to that resolution was far more difficult than it should have been. I don't want others visiting this restaurant expecting the elevated dining experience we anticipated and feel we did not receive.
The reservation process was easy, and we were seated promptly at 7:05 PM for our 7:15 PM reservation (we arrived at 6:53 PM). It was a special occasion with family from out of town, so I was taking photos throughout the evening and have a good sense of the timeline.
Within 30 seconds of being seated, our waiter greeted us, poured water, and took our order. We ordered one appetizer, which arrived promptly.
The experience then went downhill.
Around 7:50 PM, another waiter approached our table and informed us he would be taking over our service. He asked, "Are we still waiting on something? Entrees?" We told him yes and that it had already been nearly 45 minutes. He said he would check on the order...but then didn't come back.
Instead, after another delay, a woman arrived carrying a Sea Bass entrée that nobody at our table had ordered. After telling her no one ordered the Sea Bass, she left. Later, she returned and asked us to repeat our orders. She explained there had been a mix-up and said she would be bringing some meals out before others. We were shocked..and told her we really preferred to all eat at the same time...
At that point we asked to speak to the manager.
We didn't mention anything in the moment because it was irrelevant to the food issue, but the entire time we were seated we were looking around the dining room at the apparel of the other guests that were clearly in extreme violation of the restaurant's dress code. One individual in front of us was wearing a cotton/hanes undershirt. After he left, another individual sat in his place with a tshirt cut sleeveless and we could see his long armpit hair sticking out from under his arms.
Regardless of the distasteful atmosphere that reminded me of an auto zone waiting room, we proceeded to ask the manager (Katie) what was going on and how all of this was happening? She told us that the waiter must have just misunderstood my order. She apologized, and offered to give us a coupon or her card...whichever we preferred.
We told her we did not prefer either of those options and were never met with any type of consolation or resolution to improve the current experience.
In our fine dining experiences, even the smallest faux pas is met with a complimentary dessert drink (Iike a carajillo or limoncello) or a dessert - even if you didn't ask for it...they bring it out and they say "Please accept our apology for this inconvenience, and enjoy this limoncello on the house" Nothing like that was being proposed or done for us. The manager, Katie, just continued to ask us if we wanted her card and kept saying she'd be "Happy to give us her card".
After a back and forth with Katie that gave us no satisfaction, the entrees finally came out around 8PM. Almost a full hour later - and they were cold. The food was cold, and the water was warm! (forgot to mention this earlier, but the water had no ice in it and was not cold water to drink).
She came back and asked how the food was and we were honest with her in telling her it wasn't warm food. They offered to heat it up again, but we were already a quarter of the way into eating and at that point were absolutely starving.
Katie kept saying "I'm going to do right by you." And "I'm going to take care of you" but having her specify what that meant was like pulling teeth, it was so painful. Finally at the end she specified her resolution and, honestly, we still left the restaurant unhappy.
First, I'd implore the new Ocean Prime location to begin enforcing the dress code. Even in the slightest manner. It is also our experience in fine dining establishments that if a man shows up without a jacket, they have a room of jackets for him to borrow for the meal. Ocean Prime doesn't have a jacket policy, specifically, but they specify "Business Casual" or "Smart Casual" and aren't even meeting the bare minimum of a shirt that is not an undershirt and a shirt with sleeves for the men.
Second, I'd like to give my condolences to the chef. You can tell he is very talented and I felt it to be such a sad, disservice to his skills to have his perfectly curated meals treated this way. I truly believe, had the food orders been correct, and served hot, with chilled/cold water, it all would have tasted very good and it could have been one of our best meals in Nashville.
Very unsure if we will ever give Ocean Prime another chance at any of their locations, but I did just want to warn others that if you are going to this restaurant to pay for a meal that is over $1,000 in some cases, there is a chance you may get the same experience we did. read more