Lyra — Restaurant in Nashville-Davidson

Lyra has been one of our favorite restaurants in our neighborhood we’ve eaten over half a dozen times and have always had a great experience.

That all changed last night. We will never be back.

To begin we arrived 5 minutes prior to our reservation at 9. The hostess tells us their running a little bit behind and it will only be a few minutes. It was 30. For a large portion of that time the hostess disappeared never to be seen while 6 or 7 of us with all with reservations sat waiting wondering how they could overbook the restaurant this bad.

We are finally shown to our seat and given a free glass of rose for our wait. The night is back on track. And spirits our high. Looking at the menu, none of Lyra’s usual offering are available. Which is strange. But for 65 dollars a person I am sure what they can offer is very good. Boy how wrong was I. We asked the server what she recommended and if she liked the lamb. She didn’t acknowledge the question and instead stated she liked the chicken. Being as the meal was sixty five dollars. And a trained lemur could could a chicken thigh to turn out delicious. We chose the lamb.

Let’s dive in and take time to break down each dish. Because the chef sure didn’t take the time preparing them.

For your 65 dollars you are given the following: two half sized apps, one entree, and one half sized desert. No matter how you calculate it the total doesn’t add up.

For the first course I ordered the Beef tartar (the only properly portioned dish all night) and my fiancé had a piece of toasted flat bread with one slice of cheese on it and three halves of strawberries. It tasted great but comically small.

Next course came a bowl of raw root vegetables for me and a bowl with 8 little clams for my fiancé. The “salad” as they called it was pretty much what being a rabbit would be like. If rabbits were laying 65 dollars for overpriced under seasoned food. The clams were pretty great but again... 8 clams.

Finally the entrees. The lamb (which we both ordered) comes out blue. I take a bite expecting mouthwatering lamb and get a knot of inedible, cold, gristled, meat that popped my jaw out of socket to eat. Underneath it were more raw root vegetables and cauliflower. All cold. And the coup de grace: there was no salt or flavor to be found anywhere in the dish. If you threw a strip of beef jerky from a gas station onto a bed of frozen carrots and cauliflower, you would have a better meal.

Looking around us plates are being left on tables with whole meals on it. I attempted to eat but simple couldn’t get the grotesque food down. I asked the server to take it away. She apparently knew how bad it was, as she looked at the full plate and took it without making eye contact or saying a single thing. It’s almost seemed she was embarrassed to be apart of this night.

Finally desert comes which was a piece of flan with a little cookie on top and some berries. It was... something.

In the end we spend one hundred and forty dollars for the worst meal I have ever had in Nashville. As I previously mentioned we eat at Lyra frequently where we order 6-8 dishes each time. Never once have we spent that much. Do the math. 2 half apps per person (6ish each x 2)=12 bucks. One horrendous entree ($26 judging from the lamb on their normal menu). One half desert=6ish dollars. At most this meal should have been 45 dollars. If you go on their menu now and pick 2 apps 1 enter and a desert. You won’t come close to 65 dollars. This was a pure scam.

In the end what we have here is some greedy person decided to overbook the restaurant on Valentine’s Day. Then preceded to throw their normal menu in the garbage and serve a meal you might find on your local Carnival Cruise ship. Finally, their greed made them overcharge customers to pad their coffers. It was so bad we will probably not come back to Lyra. Which sucks. We loved the place.

Last night’s experience was so awful we left hungry and stopped at cookout on the way home. For $12 dollars we got two new meals. At least cookout knows to serve the...

TL;DR: The food is over-spiced mediterranean hipster fusion nonsense carefully created with no culinary sensibility whatsoever. The overarching theme of everything I ate was a complete disregard for flavor compatibility with an absolute ton of random spices. It felt like the kitchen got a bulk order of spices and decided to randomly pair herbs with dishes in quantities that are almost unfathomable.

I was excited to try this place given the hype, but overall was extremely disappointed. First the good: The hummus was a bit odd, but fine, and the fataya was fantastic. If you do go, I highly recommend the fataya, but it all went downhill from there.

The lamb sausage served with the hummus had so much fennel that I couldn't even taste a hint of lamb--just slightly meaty fennel. The french fries were carefully prepared, fried perfectly and with exceptional texture served piping hot. They were, however, coated with so much thyme as to be completely green and basically inedible. I'm pretty sure that a handful of french fries had the amount of thyme that a normal human could expect in a year's worth of food consumption.

Similarly, the market steak was high quality steak that was cooked perfectly, but dredged in a layer of herbs so thick as to resemble breading. One couldn't even taste the meat over the ridiculous selection of spices, and yet, despite the herb encrusting, the steak was basically devoid of salt!

The potatoes served with the steak were marinated / coated in something so sweet that it might have been appropriate for desert if they were a little less sweet. I found them to be completely inedible.

Even simple things such as cheese with a bit of honey were more honey than cheese. We had a large party and sampled most of the dishes on the menu and the consistency of the preparation was astounding: poor choice of spice, too much of it.

For dessert, we had some of the pistachio ice cream sandwiches. I was pretty excited about this, figuring that they would at least get this right; I love pistachio ice cream. Unfortunately, the pistachio flavor in the ice cream was very subtle, the quality of the ice cream was poor (not enough cream) and the whole thing was rendered inedible by the breading of the ice cream sandwich being coated in salty toasted sesame! Not a minor amount of sesame either, but enough that the overall effect was like eating a mouthful of sesame with a hint...

We enjoyed every aspect of our experience at Lyra. The server was able to describe each dish and drink in detail that really helped with the decision making process. They were also fast from getting drinks out to food coming from the kitchen despite being busy. The atmosphere is pleasant. Chic, clean and modern it does not give off a distinct middle eastern vibe but it goes well for a date night or nice business dinner. The food was hands down some of the best I've had in Nashville for a long while. We started with stuffed bread which was essentially a highly elevated spinach dip inside of a delicious crusty bread. The red pepper dip didn't quite live up to that but it was lighter and made a nice palate cleanser. Finally some fried cauliflower provides a nice crispness and char without being the slightest bit greasy or burnt. For mains the leaf wrapped red grouper was not photogenic but was perfectly prepared so that it was moist but solid and paired with a thin slightly tangy yogurt sauce that balanced the sweetness of the fish. The octopus might have been the best octopus I've ever had. Absolutely melt in your mouth soft, which is so hard to do with this typically tough meat. Finally the chicken really shined, bathed in a greek tatizik style sauce the heavy dill cut with a roasted lemon it had crisp skin and juicy meat really making this somewhat boring sounding dish shine. It was the only dish we had any leftovers for but it made an excellent lunch the next day. All the while we enjoyed some creative cocktails like an old fashioned with some cinnamon notes and a delicious rum absinthe pairing. The wine list is also strong and the server was well able to pair a few glasses with our eclectic meal. Logistical consideration: reservations highly recommend and they fill up quick it's a small place. Parking can be a major hassle with the pharmacy and mas taco right by them. You may want to check the side streets and drop off anyone in your party with uncomfortable shoes. Finally I'd be remiss if I didn't mention they have a short but generous happy hour that makes many of the cocktails and appetizers a little more approachable for your bank account. Currently 6 dollars for a good house red or white wine or a very well made cocktail. Happy hour or dinner add Lyra to your gotta try...