Common Ground - Sylvan Park — Restaurant in Nashville-Davidson

Mixed bag of experiences overall — but before I delve into it — cancel your next dinner reservation & try their Focaccia Bread. Whoever told you they serving the best thing since the sliced bread, hasn’t had this bread. It’s everything you hoped, wanted, could have expected, craved and more. They serve it with a whipped Boursin, flavored butter and seasonal jam (in our case, pineapple 🍍). Some of the other things I tried were a bit underwhelming or average though. Crudités were good. Potatoes were underwhelming, not all of them were crunchy and some were not cooked fully well inside, lacked seasoning despite menu description showing herbs and sea salt. Espresso martini flight (the main reason we went there for) wasn’t bad. The classic espresso turned out to be my favorite, the seasonal honey blueberry espresso and chocolate mandarin espresso were a tad sweeter for my taste. The old fashioned served during common hour didn’t have a solo cube of ice that the traditional old fashioned should be served with. Bees knees & Nigroni were also average.

I do like that there’s plenty of parking at this location. The other location, we never find parking in berry hill and is always packed so it’s hard to get a seat without reservation. I do prefer this location as it’s bigger, can host more people, there’s more parking, bar is bigger, staff is friendlier here as well.

Overall, I’ll be going there for the focaccia again and maybe try some other things on the menu such as shrimp taco & avocado toast. I might also wanna try their brunch...

As a professional chef with two Michelin stars to my name, I approach dining out with an open mind and a deep respect for the craft. That said, here’s my honest take on my recent visit:

The service, while friendly, was noticeably absent throughout the meal. Our server greeted us warmly but rarely checked in—a detail that shouldn’t be overlooked in any hospitality setting.

The Bloody Marys, while possessing a balanced flavor profile, were disappointingly small. More critically, the pour was so light it barely registered—even for someone like me who doesn’t require much to feel the effects. Cocktails should be consistent not only in flavor but in potency, and this missed the mark.

The appetizers had thoughtful seasoning, and I can appreciate the intention behind them, but the portion-to-price ratio is simply off. At $13, I expected either a more generous serving or a dish that offered something I couldn’t replicate at home.

Unfortunately, the entrées were even more underwhelming. Every dish we ordered could be replicated in a standard home kitchen within 20 minutes. As someone who has spent years in professional kitchens, the goal of dining out is to experience something distinct, something that reflects a chef’s unique vision or technical mastery. Here, I found neither.

Bottom line: if you’re looking for elevated cuisine or a dining experience that inspires, this isn’t it. While I respect the effort behind the menu, most guests with basic cooking skills could recreate these dishes at...

Overall: 3 stars Price: 1 star Selection/variety: 3 stars Quality: 5 stars Happy hour: 2 stars Service: 5 stars (Tommy was great)

We ordered 2 apps, avocado toast and the focasia bread. Both were very tasty but the portion size for the avo toast for five dollars was definitely not worth it. It was half of one piece of bread with some avocado spread on top. Seriously?! Facasia bread was better.. definitely more plentiful, but it also cost three times as much, $14! The happy hour alcoholic beverage list was just average… Not many options, and the prices are just OK but underwhelming compared to the mini many other happy hour options across Nashville with much better prices.

After looking at the cost of entrées, here, we decided to simply go home and eat dinner there. While the food was definitely tasty, and Tommy was a great waiter, I do not plan to ever return here, purely due to the extremely high prices relative to portion sizes. I give this place six months to stay in business and less they Address their portion sizes relative to pricing. They would be better off being located in Green Hills, where these prices are much more tolerable and expected. If you were wondering why I gave them three stars, it actually would be a lower score except the food quality and service quality by Tommy were outstanding, hence the three stars...