Saffire Restaurant — Restaurant in Franklin

Love the decor and atmosphere of the place. Fantastic bar and art work. Popped in while waiting for jewelry to be created around the corner during lunch. I wanted an order to go, got the soup du jour, Potato and Watercress, and the Caesar salad with Chicken, It is also available with shrimp and another protein. The waitress recommended the chicken over shrimp. I told the hostess I would be the common area in front of the Jamison since my friend had food from a different restaurant in the Factory. We planned on eating in the common area, and I was told by Jennifer, the manager, that it would be no problem. Took a while for the food to come out, so I went in to check on it. It had been sitting on the bar, don't know how long. Soup was very green, due to the large amounts of watercress, and there was not quite enough creme on top to counteract the bitterness of the watercress. Not sure if the watercress was too mature or just too much of it. Caesar salad was a generous portion with a great combination. Fresh crisp Romaine chopped to bite size pieces, complimented with diced Country Ham, Molasses Drizzle and buttermilk dressing. The add on chicken was juicy and made for a satisfying meal. Loved the combination of flavors - had to get a bit of each on the fork each time for the symphony in my mouth. Jennifer, the manager was very helpful and offered make anything right, but I was satisfied with the salad and didn't want to wait much longer. The price was higher than I would normally pay for soup and salad, $22. The freshness and unique flavor combination of the salad...

I think this was a case of over-hipe and lackluster food. From start to finish... here we go.

Bartender was very nice and made a good margarita. The Hellfire is amazing, and he made me a classic version that was also very good. Service was fine.

-We started with the cheese and charcuterie. There was a whole lot of cheese, very little of one type of meat, a peach glaze of some sort, and crackers from a box. (Yes, I know the wheat, water, and butterfly shaped cracker come from a box.) My impression here is there was too much cheese for four people to eat, no meat to talk about, and well.. that's about it. Charcutterie implies more than a few slcoes of deer meat from your last hunt.

-I got the burger and subbed parmesian truffel fries, and my lady got the pork chop. The burger and fries were great. I actually give them props for the parm fires as they were cooked perfectly and seasoned well. The pork chop was fatty but tasty with some run of the mill mash. I don't remember what the veg so take that for what it's worth.

Overall the ambiance was very trendy, good crowd, good music. There just was not a lot to speak of when it comes to the depth of the food. What was portrayed is not what was delivered. Let's just say I am glad I didn't gamble on the "MKT" price strip steak. This place needs to find it's identity and stick to it. Or I may have just had bad luck. Not saying I won't go back, just not...

Unbelievably expensive for a merely adequate meal. I would have given two or three stars if the prices were MUCH lower, but....they are not. Granted, I do not get to Franklin much, so I do not know what the options are, but if you are charging $20 up to nearly $40 (!!) per entree, you'd better blow me away and knock my socks off simultaneously. We had: Shrimp and grits - best dish on the table, but certainly nothing extraordinary; short ribs with black-eyed-pea puree - short ribs were tender but unremarkable in any other way - black eyed pea puree.....I will reconstruct the obvious recipe: take one can of black eyed peas, dump in blender, puree, serve. Kinda very unappetizing. Salmon with three bean succotash (what is it with this restaraunt and legumes, anyway?) Seemed to be OK, but looked quite overcooked. I did not ask my mother for a bite since the $26 serving of fish was pretty miniscule. Our waitress was VERY nice, but the person who brought our food to the table kinda hurled it at us with an attitude that quite possibly reflected the amount of respect she had for the dishes she was serving. You may be tempted to try this restuarant because of its proximity to the Jameson Theater in the Factory (you can see Will Call from your table). 5 stars for location, by the way! Well done! If you DO choose to have a pre-theater meal at Saffire though, bring wads of cash and VERY low...