GRAYS on Main — Restaurant in Franklin

My girlfriend, her family, and myself went here for dinner after walking around the Franklin Square during the Christmas season.

THE ATMOSPHERE: The first thing I noticed about this place when walking in was their door. The door is a large, thick-cut piece of antiqued wood, which sets the stage for the rest of the interior. The floor is all original hardwood (back from when the space was a pharmacy decades ago) and a lot of the table tops are made from original wood as well. They have wrought-iron finishes with old-school light bulbs/light fixtures and a bunch of what looks like original, antique brick. It feels like an old-school cabin mixed with a general store back in the day, very very cool.

I've been told they have great and fun live music in the upstairs space, but there was no one playing when we went. We were sat downstairs so I cannot comment on the upstairs decor or atmosphere.

THE FOOD: If you want delicious and thoughtful Southern cooking, with the portions to match, then this is the place for you. For appetizers, we ordered Fried Pimento Cheeseballs (SO GOOD), Bacon-Wrapped Figs (melt in your mouth delicious), and Brussels Sprouts Trio. My favorite by a good margin were the Fried Pimento Cheeseballs - who doesn't like fried cheese?? They were lightly drizzled with a moonshine pepper jelly which gives a unique flavor of the moonshine with the bite of the pepper, without being overpowering. The Bacon-Wrapped Figs just melt in your mouth and have a wonderful rich taste. I personally am not a fan of Brussels, but these were actually pretty tasty and I wouldn't mind ordering them again. If you like Brussels, then you will probably love the ones here. (All 3 apps pictured together)

For the entree, I ordered the Heritage Fried Chicken (pictured). Growing up in Nashville, I have had a lot of fried chicken and had it numerous different ways, and let me just say that this was one of the best classic fried chicken dishes I have ever had the pleasure of eating. The dish itself is not overly fancy or complicated and it doesn't try to reinvent the wheel. The chicken is perfectly seasoned with a wonderful crispy crust and is exactly what I imagine a fried chicken would taste like back in the old farmhouse days. The green beans were the most flavorful and tasty green beans I've had. They're described as "long-cooked" on the menu and it 100% shines through. The mashed potatoes and pepper drop biscuit were also wonderful accompaniments to this classic but genuinely delicious dish. This dish stands out in the Nashville fried chicken scene, in my opinion.

THE SERVICE: All of the staff we encountered were so nice, polite, and welcoming. Our server was absolutely wonderful and she happily answered all of our questions. She also offered great cocktail recommendations (the drinks are very good, highly recommend) and was very attentive to our needs and made sure we always had...

Don't waste your money at this place, it is absolutely the very worse restaurant I've ever eaten at, it has the worse service ever! Two friends and I were driving in from Dallas, TX, and we had never eaten in downtown Franklin, TN, so we looked online and decided on Grays on Main. So, we called ahead of time, 1.5 hours ahead, to find out if we needed to make reservations, we told them over the phone that we were driving in from Dallas, and simply calling to find out what time they close, and to make sure we had time to arrive and have dinner. They told us that we didn't need to make reservation, unless we arrived after 8pm. We arrived at 7pm, and when we got there, the two male hosts said there was already a 45-minute wait. We mentioned to the two of the hosts that we had called ahead, specifically for that reason, since we were driving in from a long distance. And even though one of them said that he spoke with us, that we needed to wait. Neither of the two male hosts, offered to bump us up, even though one of them clearly remembered speaking with us over the phone and telling us that we didn't need to make a reservation, because he didn't think that we would need to wait. At this point, the right thing to do was either to call a manager over, or take the initiative to accommodate us. None of this happened, but we decided to go ahead and wait, since we had already decided on this restaurant and we had just driven most of the day. We asked to sit at the bar in the meantime, so that we could at least get a drink while we waited, and noticed that there were three 4-person tables by the bar. We asked if we could sit at these, and we were told that we could not due to reservations. Well, we were there for 45-minutes, and no-one showed up for either of the tables. Then, they came up and sat us at one of the empty tables, which was in the middle of the room. We were hungry, so made no fuss, but we kept getting bumped into by servers and other guests. The other two tables were out of the way, and no one ever sat there. In fact, there were other tables that were available by we heard to server taking care of the next table offer the "Chef's Special' to the group sitting just next to us, not even 20 minutes later. Also, when we received out food, we only received part of it. They forgot some food. And our drinks stayed empty for over half an hour, until we called the server over because then, but we were sat in a very uncomfortable spot. Then, when we began to place our order, we asked about the 'Chef's Special of the Day" and we were told by our server, that we were too late to order the chef's special, because it was no longer available. However; we had not been asked if we needed any more drinks. At this point, there were very few tables that had customers. The restaurant was pretty empty by 9pm. Don't waste your time or money at...

The atmosphere is quite typical of a quintessential small town restaurant on the square. The sweet tea was perfect. I ordered a pork chop with the fried chicken sides ... the menu was very straight forward. Fried chicken with mash, greenbeans, and a biscuit. A pork chop with other sides, etc., and I wanted the pork chop with the sides that came with the fried chicken. I was told that there were absolutely NO exceptions or substitutions to the menu. If you ordered a pork chop, you get the sides listed with it and so on. So, I got the fried chicken. The server was great. Why shoot the messenger. When my plate arrived, it looked quite appetizing. The chicken was juicy and cooked very well. However, it had absolutely no flavor. Very, very bland. The green beans were over salted as if they had been plucked from the ocean and were not edible. The mash was ok and the biscuit was bland and cold and no condiments (butter, honey, jam or jelly) were offered or available. I was quite disappointed. Why would an eating establishment not let me order what I wanted meaning the exchange of sides? It makes no sense to me to not give the paying patron what she wanted. I don't like this trend. I wasn't asking for anything outrageous or ridiculous. Now, on the other hand, my sister-in-law ordered the short ribs and they were succulent, juicy and absolutely delicious! They were more like roast beef than short ribs. Towards the end of the meal the waiter asked us if we had enjoyed our meal, and my husband and I were honest with him about our fried chicken plates. He (the waiter) went and spoke to the chef who admitted that the mixture or breading for the chicken was off or missing an ingredient or something to that affect. Because we were both dissatisfied with our orders, he removed both orders from the check which we were not expecting, but quite pleasantly surprised. Again, no need to shoot the messenger, so his kindness was reflected in the tip. Having been a server many, many years ago, I understand the wait staff can't control the kitchen, and table turnover and time equal money in your pocket and I saw absolutely no reason to "punish" him. He was kind and very patient to a rowdy group of 6 catching up on family gossip. If I'm being honest, we won't be returning to Grays on Main, but I do wish them well...