Pinewood — Restaurant in Nashville-Davidson

Update 2.20.25: Notice in the restaurant's response they have nothing to say in their defense. They simply "see it differently" without any factual assertions or any explanation- and platitudes about respect and safety. What orewellian hogwash!

Had a ticket to the bowling event on Valentines day with 6 friends. It was a pretty decent time until I was kicked out. "I've been kicked out of better places than this," I whaled to my friends, as a flight of waiters surrounded me like they were escorting some high-security inmate.

Why? you ask. Well, I had the audacity to spark up a conversation with a nearby table. Can u imagine?!

Specifically, I had noticed two people leaning into each other and -importantly- not on their phones. Several times throughout the night, I happen to notice these two people genuinely engaged in a lively conversation. What a rarity, I thought, to see people undistracted by their phones.

So, I approached and I said with a smile, "I've peered into the dining hall a dozen times and each time I saw you two leaning into a conversation and not on your phones. From my vantage point, it seemed like a really earnest conversation. I just want to know, is this the baseline of your friendship... like is this typical for you both... or are you guys talking about some insane issue that happened."

At that point, they started laughing and mentioned that they were, in fact, talking about something that happened. They then began negotiating between themselves who was going to reveal it, saying, "you tell him" and "no, you tell him."

At that point, the manager approached me and instructed me to return to the bowling area and not to disturb the diners. I tried to clarify that I wasn't bothering anyone and I was simply asking a polite question. Brazenly, the manager then defers to the two women sitting down to ask if I was, indeed, bothering them.

(Keep in mind, I had been standing there for about 10 seconds.)

The women, now caught in the middle of this awkward situation and being obliged to mediate this dispute between myself and the manager, awkwardly laughed and shrugged their shoulders, which the manager apparently took as confirmation that I was harassing them.

Realizing that any good momentum and playfulness of the conversation had been deflated by the manager, I excused myself and returned to my friends.

Several minutes later, the manager was standing beside our bowling lane and I confronted him. Trying to understand his motivations, and believing that he thought I was -perhaps- intoxicated or had been standing by the table for awhile, I clarified that I was on my first drink and that I had only just approached the table to ask a question in earnest.

The manager's response was to investigate what possible cause I had to interrupt their dinner. I clarified that they weren't actually eating, and as I began to relay the story of what prompted me to initiate that conversation, I realized it was really none of his business.

Instead, I shifted the conversation to the basic premise: "it really isn't your prerogative to police the conversations between patrons," I told him. I reminded him that I was a customer here, it's Friday night, and informed him I regularly make a habit of sparking up conversations with people around me, almost always without issue; I have certainly never had a manager escort me away from a table simply for no other reason than because I started a conversation.

As I reflected on the talk, what I really should have said was that your exercise of paternalism is actually anti-feminist, because it presumes these women couldn't speak for themselves.

At some point in the conversation, the manager started shaking, clearly unaccustomed to confrontation. I pointed it out, "hey man, you're shaking," to which the manager blurted, "because I'm frustrated."

When presented with the opportunity to exchange ideas and explain his behavior, he couldn't. Refusing to address any arguments, and meet logic with reason, he exercised what little authority he had left, and demanded I...

I am so happy we finally got a chance to check out Pinewood Social - this place has been on my Nashville list for a while. First and foremost, make a reservation! Especially if you want to bowl! I made a reservation for a Saturday morning at 10:15AM for 12 - easy enough to online. I did make it a few weeks in advance.. maybe a month? We were able to reserve two lanes for 1.5 hours. We arrived on time, they took our shoe sizes (no kid's shoes but as long as your kids have closed toed shoes, they can bowl) and we were brought back to our lanes right away. The first part of the building is the main restaurant. It is super cute, open, and bright. The bowling portion is in the back and separated from the main area by a half wall and glass. There are 6 lanes and they are the cutest vintage bowling lanes ever! So IG worthy. Our group was large enough so we had two lanes and a seating area to ourselves. Cozy, clean, and spacious. Plenty of space for food and drinks. They bring you your shoes right at the lane. Since the lanes are vintage, scoring is on an ipad, so there are no huge screens. There is a special menu for the bowling area that is group friendly - so portions serve 4-6, I believe. You can also order off the regular menu if you want. Both menus are very similar but the group order one is smaller. We started with the group tots and broccoli and both were SO good. I ordered the turkey and brie sandwich from the normal menu and split it with my husband, we both thought it was really good and the side salad was delish. They have lots of options for drinks, too. Love that you can get champagne bottles, too! There was a group of girls next to us having a blast with some lovely rose - that is the way to brunch and bowl! Service was super friendly, attentive, and everything came out super fast. I would absolutely recommend a stop here if you have a group and are looking for something fun to do in the morning, or anytime, really! We had a blast and it was a great start to...

Thanksgiving at Pinewood was a hospitality disaster. Despite having a reservation, the host informed us upon arrival that we would likely wait at least 30 minutes for a table and encouraged us to look for seats at the bar. She also informed us that the restaurant was out of turkey; the whole reason we came was to have a traditional Thanksgiving dinner. We did indeed wait 30 minutes past our reservation time to be seated despite approximately 30 people leaving- most having vacated tables- within about 15 minutes of our arrival. There were children running all over the restaurant, many in pajamas, oddly enough. After being seated, we waited about another 20 minutes before anyone ever came to our table. I tried to order the turkey plate without the turkey (because they were out of it), but the server quickly informed me that that wouldn’t be an option because “we don’t do any type of substitutions” and that they had run out of turkey over 3 hours prior. I wasn’t asking to substitute another meat for turkey, I simply wanted the traditional Thanksgiving side dishes that came on that plate and would have still paid the full price for it even without the turkey. Instead of an entree I had pumpkin pie alone after having not eaten the entire day due to working a grueling shift as a first responder. I miss getting to enjoy the traditions of most holidays because of my job and was very excited to finally get to have a “normal” Thanksgiving dinner after years of not being able to. I passed on several invites to friends’ homes for a late dinner after my shift to go to Pinewood’s “Thanksgiving dinner” and am very sorry I did. Effectively managing and honoring actual reservations, properly planning for and stocking enough traditional Thanksgiving food, and requiring guests to parent their children could have prevented all of this. I’m still shocked at the level of unprofessionalism we encountered. I’ve patronized Pinewood since its inception, but after this I...