1799 Kitchen & Bar Room — Restaurant in Franklin

We ate here for my birthday dinner. I'll rate each part of the meal below in the review, which is not entirely flattering. I really wanted to like this place.

Seating: We had a reservation and were greeted at the host stand. The hostess stated that she would ensure that our table was ready. She didn't invite us to sit at the bar, so we didn't go and instead stood there for about seven minutes and admiring the paintings. Awkward.

Our Table: Fantastic. Private, plush leather seating w/noise reducing curtains. There was a nice, small candle on the table, but no one ever lit it.

Appetizers: Appetizers came out promptly. They were served in a stoneware dish that clashed with the very modern and stylish décor of the rest of the restaurant. Not a deal breaker, but odd to put a $22 quail consumed with $20 per glass wine on a plate that looked as if it came from World Market.

Crab Cakes: The crab cakes were very good, tasty, delicate, and full of crab. The crab meat was fresh and sweet and the cakes had an outer crisp to them that was very nice. The remoulade was outstanding, and made a very nice addition to the quail below helping to solve some of the its issues. They needed salt, though. Everything ended up needing salt.

Buttermilk Quail: The buttermilk quail was good, but they hadn't been drained of grease and were very greasy; so greasy that I stopped eating my portion, and my wife ate only her leg portion and left the rest, which was never eaten. I was disappointed; I love quail, and the meat was very good quality, but the execution was weak here. The salt issue became a consistent theme throughout all dishes. Fried foods call out for salt to cut the rather bland flavor of today's cooking oils. The crust was very crispy, but it was so saturated in oil that it dripped when I picked it up. I wanted a salt shaker, but there was not one on the table. We never finished the quail and the kids didn't want it when we got home as it was too greasy. The dog ate it and seemed to be delighted. Success.

Main Course: Wife ordered gnocchi; I ordered the duck. I love duck, and I was again, excited. We ordered lobster mac and cheese as a side.

Gnocchi: This was a vegetarian dish, which I traditionally avoid like the plague. I could never be a vegetarian, so I don't bother trying. It was very good, and the mushrooms were meaty and not overcooked. The gnocchi was tender and well seasoned, but it needed salt (I promise we're not salt addicts). Served in a weird stoneware bowl.

Duck: Perfectly cooked, with a very nice crust on it, it unfortunately needed seasoning and salt. It was very bland, which was a shame as perfectly as it was cooked. The corn maque choux was outstanding. I could have eaten a plate...bowl of that. Served in a weird stoneware bowl thing.

Lobster M&C: Very good. Classic. Needed salt.

Dessert: Apple crumble thingy with vanilla ice cream. Sort of lukewarm, obviously pre-portioned, nothing original at all, and not much to it. I would have expected more. I didn't finish it.

Overall, for three hundred dollars for dinner ($235) with tip ($65) included, it was not a great value. I am consistently blown away by other restaurants for far less, and I wasn't here. I'll likely not go back. The décor with the serving dishes feels disjointed and inconsistent, and while the service is good, it wasn't super great. The salt thing really annoyed me. If you're going to assume that your dishes don't need salt and pepper and not include them on the table, then you'd better make sure that your food doesn't need salt and pepper. This food did. All of it. Although the restaurant wasn't super busy, no manager ever came to the table to check on us, either. It felt like high-end pricing for food without the high-end service you'd expect at that price point.

Nothing was terrible, but nothing was really great either, and dessert was a huge letdown. Sorry guys. I really really wanted to...

This restaurant has a very nice atmosphere, food was hit or miss, and the service was, for lack of a better word, odd. After bringing us our wine, our waiter, who said his name was Ray (the check said it was Jehu L) asked us if we would like to order. We asked him what the soup du jour on the menu was and he looked confused and said, "I'm not sure but I don't think we have anymore". We thought that was odd, as it was only 7:00pm. So I asked him if he could go and check with the kitchen. He went to the kitchen and came back and told us it was a Artichoke/garlic cream based type soup. (So much for them being out of soup) So, we ordered the Farmstead cheese platter, 2 soups, steak, crab cakes, and brussel sprouts. The cheese platter had goat cheese, feta (both odd cheese choices to be eaten with crackers) and 4 cubes of a hard cheese. It also came with jam, honey, olives, capers and some gross beef flavored compote with raisins (really nasty). I'm glad I called him on the soup lie he told us, as the soup was really good. The menu gave us a choice of 4 sauces with the steak. We ordered the bearnaise. The steak came out with some weird congealed cold butter nonsense on the side. When I told the waiter that I had ordered bearnaise, he looked like he got caught trying to pass something off as bearnaise and said he would be right back. As, my steak was getting cold, he came by the table and said that the kitchen was "whipping something up" for me. Why do they offer bearnaise if they didn't have it available? Finally he come back with this "bearnaise" that did have tarragon in it (so we were getting closer than the last thing he brought out) but had the consistency and taste of miracle whip with tarragon. It was disgusting! The crab cakes and brussel sprouts were very good. All in all, this is not fine dining service. You have to pay $5 if you want bread with your meal and the waiter seemed to be shady. Also, the tap water had a heavy chlorine taste like it...

We were in town for a wedding. We loved Franklin and decided to dine. Huge mistake. My wife and 2 girls were freezing and kindly asked if anything could be done. The server said I am fine as I do alot of walking.....really. Could have offered different seating. Only 1 appetizer the smoke carpatchio, the bread was old and like rubber and only 6 tiny pieces. It was never foid checked. We asked for toast points which finally came. It was delicious. Dinner I had the smoked pork chop and fried mushrooms as I read they were great. The mushrooms came out and were warm and soggy, no bother asking for new as we waited 45 minutes for food to come out. The chop was great except the green peppercorn sauce was not good at all. My wife had the halibut, it not hot but did not send it back. My oldest had wedge salad minus tomatoes and the pasta. The wedge came with tomatoes... her pasta was good. My youngest had the chicken and side of potatoes. Cut into it and it was still raw. Took some time for our server to return as her section was to big for her. Not enough attention to guests. She took the chicken back. We waited so long we had finished our meals. Finally the plate comes back. The Mgr says is this better, my daughter say it looks better and she leaves. She begins eating the breast and it's good. Now the potatoes are cold and they did not offer to make new or keep warm. My daughter eats some the breast and small leg. To avoid wasting a $40 chicken quarter I take the thigh. I cut into it and it's raw. We had just got the bill and the server took our card. I call the Mgr. She comes over and instead of apologizing she tells me how they cook it. I say raw is raw. She did not offer to remove it so I said please take it off after two times it was not cooked. The restuarant was not busy. They ran out of a few appetizers at 7pm. Save yourself and go to the bar for drinks. Will not be back...