Maru Sushi & Grill (Nashville, TN)
1100 Fatherland Street, Suite 101; (615) 712-8115
We consulted a local food blogger for ideas on the best sushi in Nashville. We ate an early dinner at Maru, a family-owned restaurant on the East side of town. We felt right at home, the service was great, and the sushi was fresh and flavorful. We especially enjoyed the Wild Cow Roll {Japanese pickles (shibazuke, kyurizuke, kanpyo) and avocado seaweed salad wrapped with cucumber peel and ponzu} and the Baja Fresh Roll {spicy tuna, cilantro and cucumber, topped with yellowtail, avocado and jalapeno with ponzu and chili sauce. We recommend it as a great option to satisfy a sushi craving.
North Italia (Nashville, TN)
2159 Green Hills Village Drive; (615) 622-7423
On our trips, we try to scope out good restaurant options in different parts of town. We needed an early dinner before going to a show at the renowned Bluebird Cafe. We decided on this Italian restaurant, which is located in the Green Hills Mall. Usually, a restaurant in a mall is a red flag for us, but this restaurant had good reviews and some good happy hour specials, so we gave it a try. While it is a large restaurant, it was comfortable and the service was great. Our waiter had just moved to Nashville to pursue his music career – he was still learning the ropes at the restaurant but did a great job. We enjoyed some happy hour specials including a “Classico Chef’s Board” (including a variety of meats, peppers, olives, marcona almonds, spreads and grilled bread), a Seasonal Vegetable Salad and a Bruschetta (with roasted tomatoes, cheese and basil).
Everything had great flavor with fresh ingredients. Given there were relatively few options in the area at the time we needed to eat, we had no regrets.
Epice (Nashville, TN)
2902 12th Avenue South; (833) 936-3873
This showed up on several websites as one of the best restaurants in Nashville. It is a family-owned Lebanese bistro with some great-sounding menu options (things like Fattoush salad, Shakshuka, Shawarma and more). The restaurant was nice and we would describe the service as “indifferent.” They did all the things you would expect servers to do, but it felt like they were going through the motions – it certainly wasn’t a highly-welcoming experience. We were there for lunch and ordered a Mushroom Flatbread, a seasonal Roasted Acorn Squash with Chickpeas, the Arnabeet (crispy cauliflower, beet tahini, lemon, chili, parsley, mint and dukkah) and the Fattoush salad.
The food was very flavorful. Our only complaint was, for the money, the servings seemed a bit small. That, combined with the “indifferent” service, left us a little disappointed.
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