ZuZu Nashville — Restaurant in Nashville-Davidson

I made reservations here last night for a friend’s surprise 33rd birthday. Once we ordered bar drinks it took over 25 minutes for them to hit the table. And of course they brought out a drink for the birthday girl that was supposed to be their version of a smoke old fashioned with a a whole presentation. She received some floral/sour drink with no presentation but she drank it because of how long it took to even get a drink in the first place. When she talked to the server, she said it was the right drink (it wasn’t, we watched multiple orders of the smoked drink go out to other patrons and this clearly was NOT it) and said she would “take care of it”. Then they have this odd policy of you not being allowed to order appetizers separate from your meal so they come out first? Apps took 30+ minutes and the food itself took over an hour. One of our appetizers didn’t hit the table until after all the entrees came out. And if you want to order the crab Rangoon claws….don’t. Took a bite and thought literally all I got was a claw. There was nothing even a bites worth of anything but the fried kataifi in any of our pieces. We weren’t checked on at all other than when our drinks and food hit the table. Then sadly our server brought someone else’s birthday cake to our table. Probably not her fault but come on. Checks were finally brought and they didn’t take off the incorrect drink and at that point we were just so done and we knew that if we said anything we could possibly be stuck there for another 20 minutes. In total from sit down to leaving it took 3 hours and 15 minutes and not because we were sitting there chatting it up but because we literally were waiting for everything the entire time. Then we go to leave and the parking validation that’s supposed to be included was not because we went over the 3 hour limit. The host went and spoke to the manager about it and he said that parking was over their head and gave us a complimentary bottle of champagne. With 2-3 managers walking around the restaurant and not once did any of them do a table touch and check on us and multiple times they caught us looking around because we were trying to catch someone’s attention for the drink issue, the food time, and to get the cake to the table. Food taste, great. But that was the ONLY positive because even the food portions was so small for what you spend. I worked in the bar and food industry for 13 years and this is all inexcusable. Then to spend as much as we did for such a crappy experience is infuriating. Wouldn’t...

Wanted to love this place. Decor and ambiance was the first positive. Upon walking in for our 730pm reservation, we were told that table was not ready yet. This was fine as 2 of our guests hit a little traffic and we're 5 minutes behind. We were seated just as the late members of our party arrived. Then it went down hill. Some of the menus advertised certain signature cocktails with vodka. Some menus had same cocktails listed with gin or mezcal. We were not given enough menus for amount of guests at table. Awkwardly tall Champagne flute stemware placed at every seat. No waiter for some time. Waiter appeared and took drink order which was given all at once. We ordered 6 Sake Bombs as well as individual cocktails (which we had to verify ingredients due to menus listing same drinks with different base liquors), glasses of wine, and a Sprite for the child at the table. At the 40 minute mark, an employee asked if we needed refills on our waters but we hadn't even received first waters yet. Drinks including the Sprite took over an hour. Before any food hit the table we called over a manager and explained that there were timing issues and he responded by saying 4 staff members called out and one fainted which seemed like too much information to give us, especially without an apology. He should have been filling our waters before the 40 minute mark if he didn't have enough staff to run the business. Server was nice and gave good effort, but did not know the menu well enough to answer simple questions about signature dishes. Manager never came back to ensure that everything was okay. And there continued to be disjointed timing issues with the food and additional cocktails ordered. Food was okay but not great. Appetizers were better than entrées and sushi was not very good. To top it off, we split our $1270 bill 3 ways and my bank account shows I was charged double. I hope that's just a processing error and will contact the restaurant in the morning to rectify but still affects my bank account while erroneous charge is processing and leaves me with a worse taste in my mouth after all of the service pitfalls leading up to this. I'm sure this restaurant will succeed because of location and atmosphere alone and won't need my business. But I...

Upon arrival, one of the host was straight-faced. Not expecting over the top energy, but this is a new hot spot in the city! It was packed for a Wednesday evening. Many of the guests were dressed down. I carefully looked over the website…so I was a bit surprised by the very relaxed attire. Before going inside, Valet was unorganized. It was only one attendant. You have to pay up front which caused a delay with guests having to get their phones out, pay, and leave their cars. Some were left running. We chose to turn our truck off and give the attendant the keys. (We will finish this part at the end).

It’s for sure a beautiful place…great for social media content-creators to have a fun photo shoot. If you’re celebrating a special day or simply hanging out with your crew…all cool vibes inside. My drink stood out the most. I had the golden idol…really good. I kept the small gold playing card attached to the cocktail glass —thinking…ok, this is a vibe and I thought I would visit again. The rangoon crab claws, tableside fried rice, and peking bbq beef ribs were all pretty good. I didn’t have room for dessert. The waitress was very nice…she expressed her excitement for one month of being open for business.

My night ended horribly! Upon getting our truck back, a pair of my shoes were stolen and a school backpack was unzipped —every zipper. The single valet attendant was vague, clueless, and honestly, I just don’t think he was telling the truth. His story vs one of the manager’s story about parking and cameras were totally different. Although the manager was eager to figure out what happened…we were very frustrated and needed to get to our children. The attendant continued to do his job and I couldn’t help but to think how many other guests could be in trouble or violated; someone going through their personal belongings. Now I feel robbed of an experience I was so looking forward to. I chose ZUZU to support a new restaurant in the city and to celebrate some recent wins in my life. I don’t know if I can go back again…and if I do, I don’t trust valet. Hopefully this will get better soon! I cannot separate my valet experience from my overall experience...