Up-Down Nashville — Restaurant in Nashville-Davidson

I am a paralyzed individual, and I had planned to celebrate my birthday at the Up-Down location in Nashville on Saturday, June 28th. Unfortunately, my experience was deeply disappointing and disrespectful.

When we arrived, there were very limited parking spots available. A maroon Honda Accord was parked in the slashed lines between the two designated handicap spots—the very space required for my ramp to deploy safely. My friend got out to ask two employees standing outside if they could identify the vehicle owner and request that it be moved. It turned out the car belonged to the manager of the bar.

Rather than showing any concern or offering an apology, the manager came out and simply stated that this was his bar and there were two designated handicap spots available. He claimed it wasn’t illegal to park in the access aisle—even though it very clearly violates ADA regulations and prevents accessible entry and exit for individuals like myself. To make matters worse, when he got into his vehicle, he rudely shouted that I needed to move so he could get out.

This kind of behavior, especially from a manager, is completely unacceptable. Not only was it disrespectful, but it also created a physical barrier that made it impossible for me to access the venue safely and independently. It reflects a troubling lack of awareness, empathy, and understanding of accessibility standards and basic human decency.

I will not be returning to Up-Down after this experience, especially when there are other inclusive and respectful establishments in the area, such as...

Pretty cool spot to hang out. Nice vibes with all the retro arcade and pinball machines in addition to the basketball and skee-ball games. There's also cool 80s movies on the TVs around the bar area. The upstairs area has other games like giant Jenga and Connect 4. There's also another bar and outdoor seating up there. Since the downstairs area can get fairly noisy, it's a nice reprieve from all the commotion.

The beers and pizza are great too and very fitting for this kind of spot. One downside is that it gets pretty busy at times and you may need to wait for some games. Also more than one of the machines were out of order and some of the ones that weren't had issues with the joystick controls sticking or not responding. I imagine people get pretty rough with these games especially when there's drinking involved so it's understandable but hopefully management is aware of these issues. Janky controls can really ruin the fun of a game!

Another thing I'd like to see is more places next to the machines that you can put your drink down on. I bet some of these machines have had drinks spilled on them which may have contributed to them being in less than...

The owner is doing some shadey stuff with their POS (point of sale system). I have never had to give my card a second time unless the system bulerpted out after starting a tab. They use Toast, in my 20 plus years experience in the hospitality industry no system requires you to re-swipe a card after a pre-autherized tab has been started to close it out. I have also used Toast personally at more than one place as a hourly and a manager. It may not be my preferred POS system but there is something wrong here. Pinball games are also poorly maintained, from asking staff questions, the company owns them and do not rent them which means they are responsible for 100% of the maintenance on them. Staff are miserable and admit it... they are also confused by the Toast POS requirering a 2nd swipe to close a tab. I asked them about how they close open tabs at the end of the night without that second swipe. They said they just close them out with 20% (which is the bare minimum standard) so again why do they need the...