SweetMilk Breakfast & Lunch — Restaurant in Nashville-Davidson

So I really just want to give feedback of our first experience as my wife and I want this place, and all of Donelson, to thrive. We have some critiques but overall an okay experience and we loved the atmosphere.

It was busy, it recently opened, we have grace for that. We were ignored for quite a while by someone who was right next to us not serving anyone else. I had to get their attention and ask for menus. Could have been a miscommunication- not a big deal - more annoyed that they blamed other people for not seeing us for 5 minutes rather than taking ownership since they clearly saw us for a while just sitting there.

Coffee orders: Latte (just plain w whole milk) and an americano, cream on side.

Notes on coffee order: (we are craft coffee lovers- we're excited to try) They've got an amazing espresso machine, a great grinder, a barista who knew what they were doing when texturizing the milk.-- the coffee itself was not great- not the baristas fault. Not sure who their supplier for beans are, we tried looking for that info but couldnt find it, but I would really recommend they get their beans from a local roaster or from a good supplier. The prices for the espresso drinks are the same as some of the best coffee shops in the city but it was just not good. The roast was burnt and super dark.

Food order: I ordered the country breakfast (and upcharged for the pimento grits) and my wife got the benedict (with upcharge for ham).

Country breakfast was good but overpriced- the biscuits are really small and feel like you should get two for this price (about the size of one normal biscuit). The eggs were good, the bacon was just bacon and two small pieces of it, and the pimento grits were the best thing on the plate for sure- Very very good, but we had to pay extra even on top to get it.

The benedict was good, she got it with hashbrowns, the ham was very good- perfectly carmelized and a nice cut. It usually comes with bacon and you have to pay two dollars extra to come with ham. This was odd to us and felt like a money grab considering benedicts are with ham, not bacon.

We primarily eat vegetarian but eat meat sometimes when we go out: we would love to see some kind of breakfast special on the menu with a take on something southern that doesn't involve meat. An idea- my wife loved how the fried chicken sounded (but didnt want fried chicken, i think it had like pickled onions, hot honey, etc).. so perhaps a version of that that is cheaper which just involved eggs or something different all together. I think there are so many vegetarians in nashville that this would just be a really good idea.

To sum up our initial thoughts- this place will do well because Donelson still doesn't have much, but this wouldn't hold up to what the rest of Nashville has to offer as of right now in...

I want to start off by saying; I know this place is brand new. I have plans on trying it again. If my experience is different I will come back and update this review. I WANT this place to be good and I love seeing new places open in Donelson. I’ve also worked extensively in hospitality and have no ill feelings towards my bad experience, I’m just hoping they’ll read this and consider somethings.

My husband and I came in on Sunday morning around 10ish. They said the wait would be an hour which was no big deal, we walked home and waited for a text.

When we got back to the restaurant, the host desk was PACKED. Only one host working a very busy Sunday brunch. Again, no biggie, but as we were patiently waiting in line to talk to the host, we got a text that they had removed us from the wait list… annoying but when we got to the front we were seated right away.

It went downhill from there. We waited over 20 minutes to be greeted, and we were only greeted because we asked the host if someone was assigned to our section.

We ordered 2 coffee drinks, 2 waters, and 2 mimosas (standard as they were out of literally every other kind of breakfast cocktail).

Instead of telling us what they were out of, our server just kept informing us ‘we don’t have that’ when we would try to order off the menu. Eventually, we each picked something they did have.

5 minutes after that, we got our waters and my husband got his drip coffee. 20 minutes later I got my iced later.

Over an hour after we ordered, we started looking for our server as we never got our food or mimosas… and hadn’t been checked on.

When we finally found her, we paid for our drinks and left. We had zero faith our food was coming… and we were able to walk home and cook brunch in less time than it took to get a latte.

Again, not angry at anyone. I know the owners have opened other successful restaurants, and I hope this one will workout too!!!

But while you’re new and short staffed, think about a few things. Reduce your menu down by half and just run one menu until your kitchen is ready to be rocked, don’t open the patio if you can’t serve the dining room AND the patio, lastly 2 hostesses. 1 to take names and check people in and 1 to bus tables and take...

Not bad, but not great. Came with two buddies and sat at the bar. The place was new, roomy, and clean. It was today, a Wednesday at around 11:00. The bartender/server (Brandy?) was nice and answered any questions we had. Placed the order and the food was delivered quickly. However, here’s where it goes a little sideways. The food was delivered by the kitchen manager and given to the wrong people. No big deal, we just switched it around and I asked for the extra butter that I ordered originally, but never received. Again, not a big deal, but would the server have realized that it wasn’t there and brought it? Who knows. The food was good, but not overly impressive. The biscuits were amazing, but the Omelet, while tasty, was small. The grits were pretty good, but the pimento cheese threw it off. My buddy’s meatloaf was rather dry and the portions were small. I was going to order a single pancake because I was still hungry, but our server/bartender never check back to check on us…not once. She was gone for a good amount of time and then returned to do some dishes and take an order at the far end of the counter. The couple to our right was patiently waiting for their check as well. The lady finally started waving and got her attention and the bill. She then turned to us and said “are you guys still good?” Not can I get you anything else or how was everything. We were finished and just sitting there lol. We paid and even tipped the standard 15% because it’s the right thing to do. On the way out, I spoke to the host and asked if they were short staffed behind the bar because the service was lacking. He happily explained that when it’s busier the even have one less “back there” because the outside is open or something? I’m like uhh what? Anyway, this seems like a nice place, but has a trendy hipster vibe to it and they’re trying to do a little too much. Not that it’s a bad thing, just a different vibe that I was expecting. The food is ok, but I was looking for a good and substantial southern breakfast that I’ve been hearing about. This definitely wasn’t it and the service needs a lot of work, but maybe we caught them...