Claywood — Restaurant in Hendersonville

Meh! Don't order an espresso martini.

Edit: After receiving an AI response from the establishment let's get into this. If you run a small business in a small town and can't take the time to respond to your locals then maybe that's the start of the problem.

First the food was good. Was it amazing? No. Was it fantastic? No. Was it worth the value? Honestly I've had much better for less but it was good well rounded small plates we had along with a nice flatbread. Again is this award winning food? No. Did Claywood figure things out on their 5th chef now? Possible, only time will tell.

As for service, our final server after being I don't know by the first guy (who made the worst espresso martini I have ever had. I'm talking just espresso and no martini. I literally went to another bar afterwards to get a decent espresso martini) was great he took care of us when he was not killing it behind the bar. Also I watched as the owner/manger bounced around to every individual in the restaurant but never stopped to greet us. Is it on me to stop her? No! This is literally what this platform is for. Again our final guy, great. First guy mother of Gods I felt like I did something wrong to him, his family, or something with the drink that I received.

Finally let's talk about the atmosphere.... Ok this has changed a number of times over the year but a few things have remained the same. The half living half plastic plant wall, the art procured from hobby lobby, and the always icky bathrooms for a so called "fine" dining establishment. All of it along with the just in your face of it all is a bit tacky. Not to mention it is right across the way from the mission so you can shove your opulence in the homeless communities face. On this last visit the AC unit appeared to be leaking quite a bit and I actually got splattered in the face by something.

I hope you enjoy my full review of Claywood and I wish them the best of luck in their future endeavors.

Edit to the edit: after the owner reply, now I'm emotional charged. Of course I slammed my 18-20 dollar drink!!! Is the owner so out of touch that they don't realize you just get through it and try for something better?!?! I had nothing personal against this establishment again I have been here a number of times through ALL of its changes. In my first review I got a very AI/copy and paste reposone from the owner so I gave a further detailed review of their restaurant for the individuals in this community who may only be able to eat there possibly once every 6 months. Not the individuals in the top 1% who can eat there as often as they like. I feel like this is who the restaurant caters to and really who the restaurant only cares about. It doesn't actually care about the community itself, just the people who can flood money into their pockets. And whenever you're a restaurant like that or owners like that then really what are you doing for our community? Nothing. You just help gentrify 7th avenue. So honestly why should we support your business? I would have much rather eaten at Daddy D's any day of the week, then spend my hard-earned dollars back at any establishment on 7th avenue at this point. So here is my emotional response now that I've been accused of writing and emotionally fueled review. The owner needs to learn how to take constructive criticism and not respond to every low star review. I could have reviewed this restaurant at one star but again I slightly...

The good- the place is beautifully decorated with a wonderful ambiance. It’s very obvious that a lot of thought and effort went into designing the space.

The bad- Our night started out a little odd as the hostess let us know when she sat us that there was another reservation for our couch area at 8:30 (we had a 6:30 reservation) but not to worry that our 2 hour window allowed us plenty of time- it did not. I have never been told by any restaurant that we needed to leave by a certain time so that was off putting. Seating was slightly uncomfortable for a party of 2 on a big couch and the chairs across from it- it was hard to find a cozy spot to hear our conversation. Things did progress from there and our small plates and first round of drinks did not disappoint. After that, we ordered a cheese board and bottle of wine. The cheese board took so long to get to us that we finished our bottle of wine before it even came out. When we got the board, we were disappointed as most of the cheeses and other items listed on the menu were not on the board. We mentioned it to our server who brought missing Brie, said that they were trying out something new for the boards and asked if we wanted bread or crackers with the board. We asked for both. The owner came over and brought us even more Brie and missing nuts and mentioned lots of cheeses weren’t available for the board so they made substitutions but that’s why she brought us more Brie. Not a problem, we understand that has to happen from time to time but it would have been nice to know ahead of time. We waited for the crackers, which we ended up getting charged for at the end of the night. At the price we’re paying for the boards, it seems silly to have to pay extra for that or at least have it mentioned that was an added cost. We noticed that the cheese replacements were more of the “basic” cheeses- cheddar, Gouda, Muenster. LaBonne Vie Brie is not a local cheese either, as had been mentioned. The server asked the chef to speak to us, which he did and kindly offered to make us another board with the correct items- not sure how since we had previously been told many of the cheeses were out. We declined as we were already very full and he offered to take care of the board, which we did take him up on. In the meantime, we felt as though our server started ignoring us and we were well beyond our time limit of 8:30.

There is a lot of potential for this restaurant, the concept is great, the food is good and the atmosphere is spot on. We are locals in the wine industry and have worked in fine dining before so we did feel a little jipped on our experience, especially for the prices being paid. I think once the kinks get worked out, things will improve. Transparency and little better quality control in the kitchen along with communication between the staff would...

I had to plan my wedding in five weeks… I initially called Claywood to see if they could deliver food. While talking with Carly, she suggested using their dining room, since the cost was the same (although tip higher) and the experience far better. She sent me pictures and videos of the space. It was absolutely perfect!

I booked the space for 30 people, we ended up with 42! We had children, allergies, picky eaters, and they were great working with us. I had never been here before, and wasn’t going to be able to visit before the wedding, since I live in Charlotte. I admit I was a little nervous booking a place I’ve never seen or tasted.

They blew us away! The food was absolutely fantastic and we got endless compliments all weekend. The service was wonderful, my wine glass was never empty 😉

The food was served family style, which was amazing - everyone gets a little bit of everything, they don’t have to get up like a buffet, and food is not wasted! There were three courses. First came out three separate appetizers with plenty for everyone. Those were cleared and the second course, including steak and salmon, was brought out. Finally, two desserts were brought out.

The star dish of the night was definitely the salmon. Many people had 2 servings, and there was only a single piece leftover at the end of the night!

My favorite moment was when they asked if they could start boxing up the food for me to take home. There was so much leftover, it was incredible!

A friend showed up 30 minutes before everyone else to decorate, and they already had the tables all set up and everything. She said they were super easy to work with.

Things I wished I’d known: since we added a table for eight in the center to accommodate the extra people, I thought that would be perfect for me and my new husband to sit in the middle of things. Unfortunately it was a couch table (2 couches instead of chairs)… Which really didn’t work for a wedding dress. So he ended up sitting on the couch, while I had a chair at the head of the table… of course I moved around so much, it hardly mattered. Also, the TVs were on and playing the Netflix screensaver the entire time. I wish I had thought to ask them to turn that off. Not their fault, just something that didn’t occur to me at the time but ended up in the background...