888 — Restaurant in Nashville-Davidson

Felt like a bad dream.

I checked online reservations planning our visit, and there was availability for every time slot and seating option that evening. When we arrived, the host told us we were "lucky" to be able to have a table and dine with them.

We ordered drinks, nigiri, and few other plates. Mainly, we were excited for the sushi. My wife's drink arrives, then the small plates, and then comes the nigiri. This is where it got a little confusing.

The Hamachi and Kinmedai were uniform, looked fine – these are served 2pcs together. The 2 pieces of Chu Toro, however, were totally different. One looked like the nice pink marbled fatty tuna – nice, as expected. The other piece was a clearly different cut, much leaner, a rich red, no marbling. It was their lean tuna cut, the Akami. It's easy to tell the difference.. one more red, one more pink.

Being familiar with what we've ordered, we asked why the pieces were different? Our server said hmm, maybe it's just the lighting. We said no, we can see these are different, and showed her. She took the dish back to the kitchen.

Ordered a neat whisky upon sitting down. Still no drink.

A manager comes out with the dish, this time no fatty tuna. Two cuts of lean, red, Akami tuna. He showed us a picture on his phone of both cuts from the kitchen. One akami (red) and one chu toro (pink).

We nodded in agreement, yes we see the two cuts. Then we asked why the one on our plate is the akami, not the chu toro we ordered. He told us that because the fish is brushed with soy, it can darken the appearance. Sure. But it doesn't change the cut.

At this point we're feeling gaslit. And we still don't know what happened to the one piece of actual chu toro that we saw on our plate when they first served it.

And my whisky neat finally arrives. Server said they had lost the bottle and were looking for it.. for 45m.

Man. I'd rather the kitchen and the server just say... "We got it wrong." "We actually just ran out of Chu Toro, I can get you Akami." Or "So sorry, I lost track of your drink order. This one is on me." My wife and I have many years of food industry experience, so we always try to understand the perspective of the staff. But this was just off.

It felt like they were constantly trying to cover mistakes, or prove their story. I wish they'd have tried to be more accommodating.

Top it off, it was my wife's birthday.

We got the hell out of there and made it over to FOLK, a real restaurant, to cleanse our palette of the awful time we had at 888.

I'd like to give 0 stars but 1 is the lowest.

Never given a google review. And I'll be working to deter any businesss away from 888 to literally anywhere else from here on out. These guys are just bad at...

Let me start by saying I never leave a review but feel it is necessary to warn people that this establishment is several mistakes masked as one beautifully decorated restaurant. Before posting this review, I went through and read other reviews to see who has had similar experiences and it wasn't difficult to find some. Upon finding the place, there were NO signs on the door I entered through, which I found odd. I came here knowing that I would only order dessert cause I had already eaten elsewhere and knew how expensive this place was for the portions. The time was around 12:30-ish on a Saturday. I knew they closed at 2am but I didn't know that they stopped serving a large portion of the menu at a certain time. I did not have a problem with that. What I did find weird was the lack of patrons in the restaurant for a Saturday night in Nashville but I dismissed that as well. For the amount of people there, the service was absolutely horrible. In my party, it was just my brother and I. We sat at the bar because lack of hostess. So the bartender was taking our orders. He ordered a drink and some fries, which were okay but ask me if I'd order it myself. I ordered one thing. ONE. I ordered matcha ice cream as it was the only dessert on the 8 item long menu they gave us. It was taking a while for the few things we ordered. My brother got his two items first and my ice cream was taking a while so, I stopped a waiter and told her. The waiter then told the bartender (I can only assume that because she went straight to her after our conversation). The bartender did NOT come to us and apologize or reassure me that it's on its way out. I was simply disregarded. So, I sat there with nothing and finally left after my brother finished his food. One can only assume that the ice cream is pre-made and scooped out of a container. How does one messed that up? Let's now talk about atmosphere. It is so beautifully decorated and was intensely well-put together. However, in my opinion, the music did not match the atmosphere. From the interior design, I thought it would be more lo-fi/calming jazz music but some of the songs were extremely provocative and did not match the visual aspect of the establishment but that's just my view and I seen a few other reviews with the same opinion. Also, If you were wanting a quiet place to have drinks, look elsewhere because it was quite loud...

What an incredible experience. I’ve eaten all over Nashville, at some of the best restaurants. At the moment, 888 takes the prize.

Ambience: When you walk up, it’s just a red light above the doors, an homage im assuming to the classic red Izakaya lanterns you’d see in Japan. The low light, round edges and clean lines come together really well. I’m a big fan of the Japanese Vinyl Lounge concept, so to see Nashville break into this scene with 888 makes me really excited. I think they absolutely killed it on design and vibe. And the DJ played some solid Jazz, and a couple Talking Heads tunes off their live album. What could make this millennial heart more satisfied?

Server: Josh was our server, if you’re going, ask for him specifically. Not only was his attention to our table standout, but his recommendations were all, so good. He made solid recommendations with explanations on each section of the menu, he didn’t offer up a single thing we weren’t throughly impressed with when it came to the table. Post covid its rare to find standout servers, it was so refreshing and reassuring to see someone like Josh helping create such an incredible dining experience for not only us, but the other tables we saw him taking care of. Simply put, I was just very impressed.

Drinks: We tried a variety of the cocktails, and the Japanese whiskeys. Nothing we had was bad, every cocktail was a curated balance of creativity and class, in gorgeous stemware and cocktail glasses(888 if you read this, where can I get the rocks glasses our old fashion was served in, need a link!). Stand outs were matcha mezcal sour and their version of the old fashion. Most unique was the umami martini.

Food: We kind of ate our way through the menu, presentation was simple, and gorgeous. I appreciate when things are presented aesthetically but not overdone, so the food can speak for itself. Which it was awesome to be able to meet the chef and chat with him briefly, those little experiences help build loyalty to a location and it was pleasure to meet him. We had the eel, the fatty tuna, the trio roll, tuna jalapeño, alongside so many of the shareables and oysters. Just an unreal experience overall. So excited that the evening blew expectations out of the water.

10/10 recommend.

Can’t wait to turn more folks onto this place. Will be recommending...