Nic & Norman's Louisville — Restaurant in Louisville

We were in Louisville for two nights and we challenged our 12 year old pescatarian with researching and picking a restaurant for dinner. The kid looked up a bunch of places and liked Nic & Norman's menu the best. After looking over the online menu as parents, we agreed with the choice. After tasting the food, we truly appreciated our kid finding this restaurant!

My wife and I both ended up ordering Nic & Norman's Salad for our meals (me with salmon, her with shrimp). We both agreed the salad was delicious. The candied pecans were such a delightful sweet touch to a salad full of fresh greens. I don't like goat cheese, so I got mine with feta instead and that made me happy. I also got a side of Brussels sprouts, which were tossed with bacon and quite flavorful. I took a star away from service because of this side dish, however. I told the waitress I didn't want goat cheese on my salad because I didn't like it. She should have told me that the Brussels also come with goat cheese (which isn't mentioned on the menu). I was disappointed that the Brussels were tossed with something I said I didn't like. Although I was mostly unable to eat around the cheese, the flavor was still present.

Our kid got fish and chips and if was a great choice. The fish was only lightly battered (which is what our kid prefers) and the breading was seasoned so well. We all enjoyed sharing in bites of that meal.

As for atmosphere, the ambiance was just okay. The walls had pictures of random people hung up in frames, which we thought were musicians, but they could have been anybody. There was no context or labels or explanations. Also our first table we were given was very wobbly. Not from the bottom with an offset foot or anything, but at the top where the tabletop connects to the post. It was obvious to us as soon as we sat down. It should have been obvious the the staff when cleaning the table off previously or to the hostess when seating us and putting menus down. It shouldn't require a patron to ask to move to get attention to an issue like this.

All things considered, Nic & Norman's is a great restaurant for a casual meal while hanging out or watching sports on TV. It had a really relaxed and casual feel to it. And the food was surprisingly delicious and high quality for a place that, at first glance, looked like just a standard non descript sports bar. We'd definitely go back next time...

Late dinner meal (8pm) on a Sunday

Clean, welcoming restaurant with friendly, attentive staff. Everything came out in a timely manner and tasted great. Environment was family friendly, our 10 year old twin granddaughters enjoyed both the restaurant’s environment and food. Our server, Eric O, was top-notch; fast and friendly service.

Appetizer: we ordered the brisket nachos to share. From the chunks of brisket to the homemade chips, it all was delicious.

Entrees: we ordered the meatloaf, the fish and chips, Greg’s pick, and the Mexican burger.

The meatloaf was terrific, no part of it disappointed in the least. Great tasting sauce and it was a loaf of meat, not filler with meat; the combination of meats in the meatloaf truly satisfied. Highly recommend.

The fish and chips also stood out as among the best. The large haddock fillet was perfectly breaded, the breading on it was just right (taste/texture). The house made tartar sauce tasted great and perfectly complimented the fish.

Both Greg’s pick and the Mexican burger were great burgers, the quality and amount of ingredients in each burger made for great flavor profiles. I would have preferred double the amount of jalapeño on the Mexican burger since the queso tends to hide stronger flavors, but I do like my food spicy. Fresh jalapeño is used in the burger, adding crunch and more flavor than the all too frequently used canned jalapeños most other restaurants use.

Drinks: standout was the Spicy Gringo. My wife, who is not into really spicy food ordered it and really enjoyed it. She noted that it had just enough spice to not be too much. Really fun and flavorful drink. As a side benefit, I got to enjoy the large jalapeño slices once she was done with her drink.

We were staying at a nearby hotel and are not local, I don’t know about parking. There appeared to be a good amount of options within a very short (0.2 miles) distance to the restaurant. Great place to eat and/or get a drink if in the area. We’ll make a point of stopping by again when traveling through the area, it’s that good and the menu has lots of appealing...

The hostest was lovely, the bartenders were great, and our server and his trainee were also very friendly.

That said there were a few issues. We were there to celebrate my friends birthday and there were 5 of us.

There was an early on mix up with the drink order and the Birthday girl didn't receive her drink, everyone else at the table did. They brought it over about 6-7 minutes later.

It went downhill quick from there....

We placed our dinner orders a burger, sliders, chicken, sandwich and steak.

They arrived to the table with 4/5 meals telling us they dropped the sandwich in the kitchen and had to remake it. No biggie..

20-25 minutes later her meal arrives after everyone was done eating. She eats her meal and its time to leave so we ask for the bill.

They didn't comp her meal at all which was surprising so I asked them if they were going to comp her meal since it came out sooo.. much later than anyone else's. The server said the best he could do would be 50%. I asked if he could send the manager over.

When I tell you this was the worst manager experience I've ever had... believe me. He came to the table asking what the problem was, that they were already taking 50% , had the WORST attitude we were all dumb stuck.

Asked if we ate it, if we liked it, that he made it himself, that they are short staffed and on and on while starting to get loud with us in the restaurant. I told him I wasn't going to argue with him and that this was the worst service I've seen in a long time.

We went to the bathroom before leaving and he was standing next to the bathroom talking about how rude we were and that we ate the damn food and we didnt want to pay for it. Mind you we ordered 10 drinks, apps, meals etc and was just trying to have the meal that came out after everyone was done eating, taken care of.

Even the server was apologizing for how the manager spoke to us.

Food was okay, and the drinks were great. Overall this manager really ruined the...