Gray & Dudley — Restaurant in Nashville-Davidson

We were excited to discover the 21c Museum hotel (here and in Louisville) which, not only has super-good restaurants like Gray & Dudley, but which serve as an open-24-hours modern art museum. (That’s 3 levels of museum you can wander in and out of all day and night forever!)

The front entrance of the restaurant itself is off the alley to the left of the hotel’s main entrance, or enter the restaurant through the main lobby of the hotel. I realize I’m not at the food or actual restaurant experience part of the restaurant, but for art lovers, I also want to note that the restaurant itself doubles as an art gallery with rotating exhibits. (That is they periodically put up a new exhibit in the dining area…it does not rotate while you are eating.)

Okay, the restaurant…are you ready? It’s fine dining with super good service. I want to give it 5 stars just on the basis of the individual and honest attention we received from our server, Laura. I want her to be my server at all restaurants. She was like a food concierge. (Actually I want her to be successful at whatever she wants to do.)

There are several vegetarian starters and small vegetable plates, salads, a soup and a couple of vegetarian main options.

They also a nice cocktail menu. I started with the Low Fidelity cocktail which was beautiful and delicious. (Kudos for having another cocktail named after the Sons of Anarchy character Jax Teller!)

Our table shared the hand cut fries, served with a malt vinegar aioli. There was nothing left of these when we were done. They were really good and it was not an exaggeration at all when Laura told us these were the best fries she’d ever had..

Two of us had the Spring Pea Soup, served cold…this was super refreshing and tasty. Well done. I want this again. Please mail me some in Los Angeles. Please.

Two of us also had the asparagus risotto. This was beautifully presented but a little bland…the cheese it was prepared with, which was described as pungent (aka really good if you’re cheese lover) was not at all present in the initial flavor profile and we had to send it back…they may have over compensated a little after that feedback as the cheese was definitely very present on the second try…much more flavorful. The asparagus in the risotto was cooked perfectly.

We would definitely come back, if we found ourselves in Nashville, and try other things as their menu seasonally rotates. Sometimes restaurants in hotels are a little high on concept and really just cater to the convenience of people staying at the hotel. Gray & Dudley holds its own separate from being part of the 21c hotel and is well worth a visit to when you want really good food, an excellent atmosphere, sweet and honest service and an entire museum experience, all wrapped up into one dining package. No extra charge to be seated with a...

After flying in for a conference, I was looking for a nice relaxing place to have a good dinner. I sure hit jackpot here, and it was walking distance from my hotel. When you walk in, it is very open with bar tables and a lounge type area with t.v., and the bar next to it. The décor on the walls was, unique, to say the least. I kinda want it in my house, almost something from Betelegeuse.

The cocktail menu had a lot of your usual fare, and I went with a Manhattan. Looking over the dinner menu though, I was certainly watering at the mouth reading the descriptions. It is a shame I couldn't try more. I went with the crispy roast pork with (honeyed?) brussel sprouts and sliced sweet potatoes. The waitress told me it was her favorite, then the food runner also told me it was his favorite when it came out. That normally leads me to be suspicious of my food, but after the first bite, it was like heaven. I have been to many great restaurants and tried a wide variety of food, but I must say, this has absolutely got to be one of the best tasting dishes I have ever eaten. The crispy skin and perfectly roasted shank was like none other. The vegetables complemented it very well. I wish I could give the chef my complements on such a wonderful dish. It is big enough to fill anyone up, so unfortunately no dessert this time around. After having this, I could only imagine what the other dishes taste like. (One suggestion to the chef/owner, have you tried it using a lamb shank?)

I definitely have to come back here next time I venture to Nashville, and...

My girlfriend, two of her friends, and myself went here on a Friday evening and were sat right away.

The Atmosphere: Inside there is a very cool and contemporary feel. The lighting was appropriately dimmed and the music was great. There is an art gallery attached to the restaurant which was really cool and allows this restaurant to stand-out from other surrounding restaurants, which also makes it a great place for a dinner date, I assume. Make sure to take a selfie with the penguin when you're here.

The Food: The food here is very delicious, however, our food took well over an hour to get to us and some of the items were no longer hot. We ordered the duck fried rice (highly recommend), the burger and fries (showed up to the table cold), a salad, as well as 2 desserts which were also tasty.

The Service: Overall I believe our dinner took nearly 2 hours from start to finish. Our waitress told us this was the busiest they had been in a long time, but that still does not constitute a 2 hour dinner time. Someone at our table ordered the scallops, and 15 - 20 minutes later we were informed that they no longer had any scallops. When we asked what was taking so long for our food to arrive they admitted that they had been having some difficulties in the kitchen and apologized. The only thing that saved this restaurant from a lower rating was our server, who made every attempt possible to remedy the situation by constantly bring us more bread, waiving some of the entrees off the receipt, as well as providing us 2...