Sperry's Belle Meade — Restaurant in Nashville-Davidson

My wife has wanted to go here for a long time and we finally decided to go this weekend for her birthday. Biy was this a huge disappointment! It started with the rude hostess, we stopped in the lobby to look at the foyer decor as we were a few minutes early for our reservation. The hostess made an audible ugh and says "come on people what are you waiting for ", I think she thought it was under her breath but no my wife and kid both heard her. We then approached her and give her the name on the reservation and she rudely asked is that first or last name? We answered and she fumbled around in her iPad trying to find it while we stood there waiting. Why the initial ugh if you weren't ready to look up our reservation? She was also obviously side tracked arguing with a waitress about something else while trying to tell another girl where to seat us. We were seated at a table in the corner of the bar area by the side emergency exit door. Not exactly where you want to be for your first experience at a place but oh well on that. The first person to greet us at our table was a gentleman who filled our glasses with water and did not say a word to us. He clearly didn't speak any English. From there it was 7 or 8 minutes before our actual waiter greeted us. We informed him it was our first visit and both my wife and daughters birthday. He got our drink order and disappeared for another 8 or 9 minutes. By the time he returned we were ready to order and did. My daughters ceaser salad was good but my wife and I chose the salad bar. This was a mistake as there was no ranch dressing option. The steaks arrived and were cooked correctly but had zero flavor. Seasoning was non existent. I ordered lobster mac and cheese as my side but it was not brought out until after I finished my steak. On a side note, because there was so much waiting time we began watching other tables in the restaurant. There was a young man in to celebrate his 21st birthday and we overheard the conversation about his ID expiring that day and he was refused alcohol. I completely understand this is the law. Then the table beside us had a similar situation where the lady (there with 3 kids well into thier teens) was denied for her expired license but the manager wouldn't accept her valid passport. They demanded the check and left. I write all this because my wife wasn't even carded for her drink when this obviously was made an issue at other tables. Overall this wa a huge disappointment from a place with a long standing reputation in Nashville. I hate to say it but I have had better filets at Longhorn for less price and better service. Unfortunately we will...

Terrible! This place is really almost comically unbelievable! It is a caricature of the Good Old Boy southern system of pompous and condescending servers coupled with truly average yet temendously overpriced food. This is the second time I've eaten here, and my experience was identical both times. Several years ago, I decided to take my mother here during the holidays. We made reservations and showed up on time. Although there were empty tables in the dining room, we were asked if we'd be okay sitting in the bar (smoky, TVs blaring, crowded). I wasn't happy with this, but my mom said it was fine, so we sat there. We both discussed how it was a shame that some restaurants STILL treat women poorly when there is no man in the party. (i.e., poor tables, bad service, etc.).

I made a mental note never to waste my money at Sperry's again.

However, a female friend received a gift certificate and asked me to dine with her at Sperry's. She made a reservation, we showed up on time. The host was laughably rude to us the minute we walked in. He looked us up and down and just sort of sneered and said nothing. My friend seemed a little confused by his behavior, but smiled and said we had a reservation at 6:30 for 2. His response? Nothing. Just more condescending sneering and finally a bored and exhausted-sounding, "Last name?"

Again, there were empty tables in the dining room, but the host claimed there were no tables available and asked if we would eat in the bar. This time, I said no. He looked a bit shocked and told us to wait at the bar then. 30 minutes later, we had watched him seat at least a dozen parties in the dining room. My friend finally got up to ask him what was going on, and he turned his back on her and walked away! Finally, a waiter seated us, walking over to the host after we were seated to point us out while they both snickered and laughed about it.

I can only assume, this treatment is encouraged by the ownership since it is so blatant. Granted, this is a restaurant that caters to old money, old people, in Belle Meade, so it shouldn't come as much of a surprise. Still, it is discouraging to experience 1950s Old South treatment in a 2011 New South. Nashville is typically pretty progressive, fair, and forward-thinking. Not so at this stronghold of Good Old Boyism. I can only shudder to think of how black patrons might be treated. Shame on...

We were staying at a nearby VRBO. We read that Sperry's is a Belle Meade institution and decided to give it try. The restaurant was busy, confirming it is popular. We ordered cocktails, a Hendrix martini, a Bloody Mary, and a Sazerac (many restaurants do not offer Sazeracs because they do not carry Absinthe, so the fact that it is available is a plus.) All were good, not great. The Bloody Mary tasted like a mix. We ordered salads and entrees. My wife had the wedge salad, which she said was quite good. I ordered a special salad, heirloom tomatoes, which was good. Given that it was January, the tomatoes were good. I asked our waiter, Trevor, for anchovies, and he brought them quickly. Overall, Trevor was an excellent waiter. Attentive without being overbearing, responsive, and friendly. Overall, the service was very good. Our daughter ordered a Caesar salad. She did not each much of it, and I decided to try it myself. I don't know what was supposed to be in the dressing, but it had virtually no flavor, and I'm not sure what the flavor was. For entrees, my wife and daughter ordered the "blue chez" filets. Again, very little flavor. My wife commented that hers "had a lot of tendons. Her piece appeared to be a combination of several different pieces. She told Trevor that there was little blue cheese, and he promptly brought a blue cheese sauce. As I wrote, he provided excellent service. Our daughter said her piece was fatty. They both agreed that they were disappointed in the quality of the meat. I ordered the sashimi tuna. It is often hard to find sashimi tuna, and I was anxious to try it, having tried it earlier at another local restaurant, which was outstanding. I don't know whether Sperry's intentionally serves food that was little flavor to appeal to older customers or for some other reason, but my tuna did not taste like much anything. Very bland. The entrée included a relatively large portion of pickled ginger (much appreciated) and wasabi paste. The wasabi paste was green, but except for that, I would not have guessed what it was. It tasted mostly of vinegar. Very little mustard taste. All that said, the bananas foster was very good. Given the number of customers and other reviews, most customers apparently enjoy...