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    Present Tense

    4.3 (71 reviews)
    Open • 2:00 pm - 9:00 PM

    Order Present Tense Takeout or Delivery

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    PRESENT TENSE ATMOSPHERE

    What's the vibe?
    Romantic
    Outdoor seating
    Happy hour specials

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    Recommended Reviews - Present Tense

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    Reviews With Photos

    Wagyu burger
    Ashley M.

    Such a unique and delicious restaurant!!! The service was amazing and we loved sitting at the counter to watch them prepare the food in front of us. Cool vibe too with the vinyl record DJ playing. The squid ink pasta was our fave - will be dreaming of that sauce!!

    Lush Meadow
    Megan Y.

    Went here for a late evening dinner on Friday night with my friend and her fiancé. She had made reservations and the restaurant was flexible when we adjusted our time to later. It is challenging to find parking, but we got lucky with a parallel spot on the street. It's located in a building with other venues, including one for weddings! The vibe is super urban & fancy, and I enjoyed the live DJ but the music was too loud. I'm never a fan of restaurants that drown out conversations I want to have, especially when we were seated at the bar. I ordered the lush meadow cocktail, which reminded me of a mojito - my favorite! For food: we shared everything pictured except the tuna toast, and a non-pictured peanut miso soft serve. Technically, I had also ordered a separate soft serve but I think the server got confused because of our group's approach to ordering. I loved every small plate, but here's my ranking: 1) squid ink pasta, 2) crispy tofu, 3) japanese sweet potato, 4) bread, and 5) tuna toast. I had high hopes for the toast, but the bread tasted so burnt & the tuna had a texture I didn't like - but it did taste fresh, thankfully. The squid ink pasta reminded me of Chinese style noodles, which are always Ws. I could have had 10 of the crispy tofus and sweet potatoes.

    Seaweed Gnocchi
    Jenny S.

    Came here for a date night dinner and was blown away! It was dimly lit with a live DJ creating a great atmosphere. The food was all so beautifully and precisely cooked and plated. Their shareable plates allow you try multiple dishes-- and trust me-- you'll want to! Our waitress was super knowledgeable and all of our food and drinks came out in a perfect timely manner. I can't wait to go back! What I ordered: Drinks: Greenery & Lush Meadows Plates: Bluefin tuna toast, karaage fried chicken, pork belly, seaweed gnocchi, lamb shoulder skewer & Japanese chocolate mousse

    Shane S.

    Cool spot with a neighborhood bar feel, but definitely a nice atmosphere for date night as well. Great drink options with competent bar staff for off menu items. Interesting and delicious food options as well. Enjoyable time!

    Yellowtail Hand Roll, A5 Wagyu Strip Skewer, Karaage Fried Chicken, Squid Ink Pasta, Chichen Thigh Yakitori
    Shauna C.

    I went to Present Tense with a friend for the first time a couple of weeks ago and I was blown away at the quality and presentation of everything we ordered as well as the service! We enjoyed: Karaage Fried Chicken, Yellowtail Hand Roll, Chicken Thigh Yakitori, A5 Wagyu Strip Skewer, Squid Ink Pasta, Orchid Mist (cocktail), Habanero Gold (cocktail), Blood Orange Soft Serve and Japanese Chocolate Mousse. Plus, they greet you with complimentary popcorn which I thought was so fun! I'm not exaggerating when I say I absolutely loved everything we tried, but if I had to narrow it down to "must-try" items, I would choose the Karaage Fried Chicken & Japanese Chocolate Mousse. I think about those dishes often haha! Thanks for a lovely experience Present Tense team, I can't wait to come back!

    Lizzy B.

    Went here for drinks, and definitely want to go back again for more! Atmosphere is super cool and service is excellent and fun! A cool little hidden gem in the Wedgewood-Houston neighborhood.

    Interior
    John M.

    Dimly lit upscale restaurant on the edge of greatness. Service at the bar fell off as the restaurant filled, bartenders spending more time lining up shaker or literally scratching their heads. The BCF Pork Belly is thick cut, melt in your mouth with lots of flavors. The Yellowtail is good, but thick cut, and doesn't melt. There is a full bar, and a well curated European based wine list.

    The delicious oyster app. 2 to an order.
    Jeff T.

    We visited Present Tense on a Friday evening with friends not really knowing what to expect. We were seated at a nice table outside where we could easily visit with our friends. The menu is a bit fancy and intimidating, so be sure to ask the staff any questions you may have, even with the drink menu. I tried the Andorra cocktail (bourbon, rye, & vermouth) and was quite pleased. It was a delicious way to start the meal. My wife had the one rose choice on the menu, it she was happy with it. The food here is meant to be shared. It's that simple. But, it everything can easily be shared among four people. Some items come with two pieces, others with five. So please ask your server how each dish is served. We ordered the oyster app (2 pieces) and it was delicious. It definitely left you wanting more. We also sampled the sashimi (5 pieces). It was briny and flavorful, but with the skin still on the fish, it was a bit hard to chew. Everyone loved the pork belly (wait, isn't that always true?). There were 4 pieces of deliciously caramelized and glazed pork belly. This was one of our favorite dishes of the night. The diver scallop dish was super tasty, but very small for $23. Only 2 small scallops. We ordered two entrees to share, and both were delicious. The Squid Ink Pasta was the star of the night. A spicy but super flavorful sauce with tiny squid coated perfectly cooked black bucatini pasta. Everyone loved this dish. The Iberico Pork Katsu was a juicy piece of pork pounded flat and fried, topped with spicy mustard and miso sauces. It was cut into eight pieces and was easy to share. We all enjoyed this dish. The food is special here, but you don't get much of it for the price. Present Tense is a nice place to visit once a year, and we really enjoyed our night.

    Hiramasa sashimi $23
    Ann R.

    This place was recommended to us, tried it on a Saturday evening. The menu consists of small plates tapas style. Two to three plates per person was recommended l. Pretty busy, jazzy and modern music playing. Dim lights. Parking is hard to come by

    Fried Chicken
    Tori S.

    Disclaimer: I came here when they had recently opened on May 24th, 2023 so it's a late review, but I did want to write one just to just give some feedback. My friend and I came here on a whim because it had been promoted on Where to Eat in Nashville, which usually we trust. Unfortunately, as much as I wanted to like it walking in it just fell short in so many ways that maybe eventually they would be able to rectify with some menu changes. ( fyi: just now I did look on their site for the menu and see it's been updated a bit as well!) It just seemed like they missed the mark on food. The up side and reason for the 2 stars is that the service was decent, and it's a cute little place. Unfortunately food wise, it was just mediocre. I feel like they attempt to offer a little bit of what you're familiar with and build on that, but it just comes off as it not being cohesive. The fried chicken was pretty greasy and the sauce just didn't add anything to it. The sweet potato seemed to have no flavor at all really. And my shrimp fried rice (which I no longer see on the menu) seemed almost like it was from a frozen bag. The one thing that I actually really enjoyed was the aged tuna toast. It was good, simple, tasty, and fresh but it didn't save the meal. The prices also just seemed a little high for what we were getting, but considering we didn't really enjoy our experience I do feel that it's normal to feel that way. With such competitive prices around Nashville it hurts when you go out to eat and don't enjoy your meal. So, though overall we left pretty disappointed, I can see the vision. I hope they can maybe tweak some things, add some things and nothing but good experiences follow! Good luck!

    Food coloring fun aka ube
    Steph H.

    2.5 stars. We were really excited to try this place as locals as we are always looking to try new restaurants around town. Unfortunately we didn't enjoy our experience here. As another reviewer mentioned, we too were seated inside but by the outdoor area where everything is open to the outside on a nearly 90 degree day. I felt no AC on whatsoever. This isn't SoCal, it's Nashville. It was insanely unpleasant to dine and eat with that level of heat. I also had the pleasure of sitting next to the tiny walkway smashed by a plant so I was touched every single time anyone went in or out. The drink menu looked cool but we ordered 4 different ones and only thought one was delicious. For the food, some hits, some misses. We loved the pork bao buns and the fish but everything else we found to be mediocre. Even the sweet potato which I was thrilled to try was not great, and not cooked enough. The "ube" soft serve here was downright offensive though. I've been to the Philippines and had legit ube many times over and just love the flavor so much. They put this down and it was neon purple and I was scared already. We tasted it and not only did it not taste like ube but it had the most insane ink-like aftertaste. The amount of food coloring that must be in it.. absolutely crazy. We took two bites each and left it, with our entire mouths dyed purple the rest of the night. The service is what we had the hardest time with though. They have a lot of young kids running the food and nearly every time one of our items was brought out they either couldn't explain what it was or it was missing an ingredient. We waited insane times in between courses. Had to hunt someone down for a refill of water or to order another drink. We got the super expensive bill after asking for it twice, paid and left- hot and bothered. Literally. Not somewhere we'd want to come again.

    Viva Magenta cocktail

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    Ask the Community - Present Tense

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