440 Main — Restaurant in Bowling Green

I am going to go with all the positives first, as my only negative experience could be easily fixed with one change and would make this a 5 star experience.

Appearance - The dining area it setup very simple but elegant. My favorite part is the tables are not crowed at all, you have plenty of room to yourself. Not sure why some of the reviews are saying it was too cold or dark, lighting was fine and even with it being 38F outside I was comfortable enough to take my jacket off.

Staff / Waiter - Dude was on point all night. Not over your shoulder all the time but extremely attentive. Knew all the specials, menu items, wines, beers, and drinks off the top of his head and had no need to look at a menu. Very pleasing to talk to, very professional, waiter was one of the main highlights of the night.

Menu - Vast wine, cocktail, and beer menu with great choices. I don't get the hate for people saying draft beers are ~$5, you're coming to a restaurant where the cheapest entree is $17, what do you expect? Drink prices are comparable to somewhere like Mellow Mushroom. The menu is one page and does not have a ton of items wish I LOVE! Quality over quantity! I've never worked in a kitchen but I feel like the few dishes you have the less room for chef error and they can crank out more consistent dishes. I see a few review talking about being unable to modify dishes, I'm fine with this. Chefs take a lot of time and effort to find combinations that work well together, almost engineering a dish, and the dish is a package deal.

Food - Bruh. First off let me say the oysters were hands down the best inland oysters I've ever had in my life. I was tempted to order another half dozen but didn't want to get full before my entree. As for the entrees where do I even begin? I am not exaggerating at all, I had an emotional connection with the grits. So smooth and buttery but still able to feel every piece of grit flow over your tongue. The black truffle got lost in the flavor of the grits sometimes, but every few bites you'd get a decent sized piece of truffle and it worked so well with the grits. My only suggestion here would be to ensure your pieces of truffle are a bit larger. The scallops; let me get the negative out of the way first. The flavor was awesome but a bit underwhelming. Take whatever seasoning/flavor profile you have on the scallops and bump it up about 15% and you've got a masterpiece. The positive; I'm sure whichever chef cooked my scallops is not human because they have found the absolute apex of cooking a scallop perfectly without it being chewy or overcooked. Do they have a freaking microscope so they can see when the last piece of bacteria is killed and the last fiber of flesh is cooked and take it off the grill? That's the only explanation for how well these scallops were cooked. I only had a couple bites of my girlfriends dish so I can't give a super detailed opinion in it, but the chicken was another phenomenon on it's own. The chicken was so tender you could hear the bedtime stories and lullabies it was sang before bed each night and somehow it was fried and super moist without gushing oil or juices. Portion sized were 10/10. Able to eat everything on your plate without being miserable and still have room for desert.

Atmosphere - When you visit their website you asks you what atmosphere you want and can choose between their two restaurants. 440 being the high class dinning experience while Micki's is slamming Bud Light while you listen to someone play a cover of Sweet Home Alabama. I love that they have choices, however there's a problem. Both restaurants are connected by a small doorway, but no door to close so you are exposed to the noise of the bar next door. It's really detracting when you planned on having a nice dinner in a quiet restaurant but it sounds like you're in a rowdy bar. If this one issues got fixed by putting a thick/soundproof door between the restaurants I'd bump my review...

Nope

After a fun tribute show at SKyPAC, my friends and I thought we’d cap the night off with a few drinks at 440. My first impression? The place looked clean, and the live music and friendly crowd gave me hope for a good time. But, as they say, looks can be deceiving.

Upon entering, we made the rookie mistake of standing at the bar, waiting patiently to order drinks. After about ten minutes of being ignored, a young man with a tattered T-shirt and a facial expression that screamed “I’d rather be anywhere else” picked up a sign that said, "Do Not Order Drinks at the End of the Bar." Now, I get that this generation prefers written communication, but when you're managing a bar, you might want to, I don't know, communicate with your actual voice?

Not only did he fail to approach us to explain the situation, but he looked annoyed when we asked how exactly we were supposed to get a drink. The bar was so packed it seemed like a fire code hazard waiting to happen. His suggestion? "Go line up." Only problem—there was no line. It was just a chaotic mess of people, like a mosh pit at a bad concert, blocking each other from getting drinks or even finding a place to stand.

To add insult to injury, when I pointed out how packed and disorganized the place was, he tried to calm me down with a patronizing "Hey, hey," as if I was out of line for expecting to be served in a timely manner. His ultimate solution? He told me there were other bars nearby that I could go visit. Yes, you read that right—he actually suggested I take my money elsewhere. I guess that's one way to manage the crowd.

Now, as a Hispanic male with a friend who’s also Hispanic, this interaction didn’t exactly leave the best impression, especially in Bowling Green, Kentucky. But hey, I’m not saying it was a factor—just pointing it out.

In the end, it took us about 30 minutes to finally get a drink, and when we did, the only bright spot was the one bartender who managed to smile through the chaos. I left him a good tip and thanked him for his attention because, let’s be real, he was the only one who deserved it.

To the owner: Train your staff better. Figure out a more effective way to manage bar traffic. Maybe even reconsider who you put in charge on busy nights. Your establishment is a disaster. If I could give it -5 stars, I would.

Will I be back? Nope, and I’ll make sure to let all my friends know to...

I had called 440 to make a pickup order for 5:30. The lady who took my order asked what I wanted and I stated that I wanted an order of the champagne chicken, the louisiana pasta, the bread pudding, a side salad, and the cajun rolls. she then read back the order to me and then after that told me the cajun rolls and pasta WOULD be available at 5, so by time i picked my order up at 5:30, it should all be ready. she then read my order back and confirmed the price with me. once i got there, i had my boyfriend go in and pick it up. as he gets back in the car, i check the bag and i have two orders of the champagne chicken and no cajun rolls, no pasta. i go back in and tell them my order is messed up and a blonde bartender comes up to me and is extremely rude saying how the person who took my order told me and her that they were out of those and wouldn’t be able to give them to me. i had reassured her that that never happened and she read the order back which included those items and also informed me how at 5, they would start basically prepping those items. she then continues to be rude about the situation, she then also says well i can get them for you then but she told you we couldn’t which didn’t make sense of her saying that they didn’t have it but then did. afterwards, she ended up getting everything situated and once she saw that i was tipping accordingly she then wanted to be nice towards the end and apologize. i myself am a server and bartender and also a manager at a restaurant and i expected more coming from a fine dining place or anywhere with customer service as well. i will...