The Optimist — Restaurant in Nashville-Davidson

I both loved and disliked things from my and my fiances experience. I think with a few tweaks this place can really execute and elevate their flavors. I understand testing flavor boundaries but this isn't it.

The rolls people are enthused with are okay they taste like homemade Hawaiian rolls on a plate of melted butter. Fresh rolls or an in house baker is needed.

We started with the tuna crudo and 5 of their oysters. The tuna crudo was amazing and although the server said it did not have buzz buttons we could have sworn otherwise, great dish! I'd go back for a double order! Thickness of the slices could be more exact to eachother given every ounce of fish being consumed counts on the books.

The best oysters were the Hollywood, nice creamy throughout. The horseradish was well garbage for being a seafood specialized restaurant, it had no kick whatsoever and I truly have never made it from scratch but it almost had a hairy consistency if I were to grate ginger root instead of the traditional creamy consistency, I'm still confused.

We ordered the mahi mahi which was okay but the skin somehow was gamy which took away from the dish and we think it was farm raised. The mahi mahi creamy sauce was generous and the large fish eggs were delightful.

I got the lobster roll which could have had a more generous amount of lobster but this time with flavor for having all that creamy sauce and chives it was underwealming, needed garlic salt or something. I left thinking the bun was not cloud bouncy and could have been fully slit and slabbed with clarified butter before and after placing the lobster in or just a side of it for option - I just prefer it drowning in butter and warm vs a cold lobster roll. The fries were alright and our server brought us some aoli to go with it which was delicious.

The sides were strange the sweet potato had a banh mi twist of garnishes and my fiance doesn't like cilantro. The worst was ordering the BROCCOLLINI and getting REGULAR BROCCOLI not to mention instead of feeling healthy with a green I bit into a oil filled broccoli dish.

The drinks were okay and we finish with espresso martinis for dessert which could improve if it was separated and not all shooken up, I like a heavier whip or cream consistency on the top level and all the espresso/alcohol on the bottom half but it did the trick, also almost borderline too sweet.

My biggest suggestion is taste your own food!

All the best! Thank you for...

This used to be my favorite, since it's rather difficult to find good seafood in Nashville. We were so disappointed last night after coming in for our anniversary dinner. The number one offense, however, was not the food, but rather the state of the bathrooms. I was disgusted: paper towels to dry hands after washing set RIGHT NEXT to the toilets (with no lids to be shut while flushing). Do you know what happens when you flush a toilet without a lid? Anything nearby is contaminated...meaning the paper towels used by staff preparing your food, and those you just used prior to eating, are potentially sickening. Apparently the Optimist is optimistic about their cleanliness. I had to maneuver myself in order to avoid stepping in urine all over the floor. I've seen tidier frat houses.

Now to the food. I hope you arrived well-fed, because the portions are laughable. I ordered the crab claw appetizer and was so excited; I had to do a double take when the plate was set down, thinking I had been sent the wrong dish. The tiniest crab claws I've ever seen, swimming in a green butter sauce, were literally less than an ounce of meat. I had to search for the crab, and when I found it, it left more to be desired, especially flavor. We brought our own champagne (corkage raised from $20 last year to $30), which was stuck in a plastic bag (fancy!) with minimal ice. I requested a lot of ice to try to compensate and was still left with rather warm champagne. After our appetizers (appe-teazers?), we waited quite a while for our mains to arrive, to the point where we were almost done with our champagne and would have nothing to drink with our meal. My halibut was woefully small, with tiny slivers of fingerlings and more minute pieces of find-the-crab. $50 for maybe 5 ounces of fish and no accompaniments. Ridiculous. My husband's red fish was more of the same, and he finished eating it within a minute given its small size and lack of sides. We finished the meal with the coconut cream pie, which is usually great, but this time was overbaked. Almost $200 later we were annoyed, still hungry, and thinking we need to find a new anniversary restaurant....

Just as a note, I usually have more optimistic reviews because I find the time isn't worth it to document places I don't like

Tonight we got to try out Nashville's newest restaurants and went to see if the hype is real. One of the rules of most landlocked states as we as Tennessee is that seafood will usually leave something desired. The Optimist, tonight, did much better than that expectation.

Nestled in the area of Germantown near O-Ku sits The Optimist with a tasteful brick industrial look beyond well beyond the barn wood and Edison light fad we've come to enjoy in our town. On the inside, well spaced out, not a loud environment even though while packed and overall an inviting atmosphere.

The selection of oysters was great, one PEI, two East Coast (Real Blue Points) and two Gulf. We tried 5, the winners were the PEI, Blue Points and and surprised but the Murder Points from the Gulf were delicious and glad the server pushed us to try em.

The entrees we went for was the swordfish and a seared bluefin tuna. You know when you think of certain foods you have a taste in mind and when you finally eat it and it matches that taste it's satisfactory I had that with the swordfish tonight.

The sides were a fried zucchini and a smoked fish chowder. The fries zucchini was excellent and the southern flair of using cornbread for the breading was a nice and interesting touch. They had a honey mustard style sauce and I don't know if it was housemate or not, I can't say I didn't enjoy it.

The smoked fish chowder? I had someone who had spent some time near Massachusetts we me and I think I have to agree with her opinion. It didn't taste like fish, sure, it had some in it but it was overpowered by the bacon in it. Hearing smoked fish, I was expecting more of it. The spicing was just right and enjoyable and the fish they did put in it was good as well but something was...