Germantown Restaurant Week

Germantown Cafe
1200 5th Ave North
Nashville, TN
615-242-3226

as part of Nashville Originals 1st Annual Restaurant Week

spicy shrimp

I just got off the plane from Ohio where there was plenty of gasoline (and about $0.35 cheaper than gas being sold in Nashville) on the next to the last day of restaurant week. We decided to go to Germantown Cafe because the advertised the the whole menu of entrees were available for choice in the $20.08 3 course event. We like Germantown for many reasons. Germantown's deal for the $20.08 special was 1st course salad or veggie beef soup, 2nd course a full list of entrees from fish, chicken, pasta, and meat, 3rd course was an option of 4 desserts. Germantown also offered other starts at an additional price like their signature savory sturdel, French onion soup, and other starters.

This evening, I opted to have the French onion soup on top of my 3 course dinner of salad, spicy southern shrimp over white rice and spinach, and he got the flat iron steak over mashed potatoes and asparagus. I asked our rather "slacker" waiter about the desserts, and if there were any desserts nearing its demise, I want to know so I could pre-order it and hold it for my dessert. He mentioned that there were 4 desserts including cheese cake (I love cheese cake), and that he would get back to us about any getting close to being sold out. I was fairly clear with the "slacker" that I wanted the cheese cake, and I would order it up front if it is going to be 86ed. Well, the "slacker" never did get back, the cheese cake sold out before I could order it, and I was mad because I did not care for the other options that much. I am a little mad that I left the slacker slightly more than 15% because he DISSED ME. Anyone who knows me, I am usually a 20%+ tipper (for many reasons) and I have to feel really DISSED to go under that. I am still feeling burned by the slacker that I wish I only left 10%.

flat iron steak

The slacker waiter aside, we really like the entrees at Germantown. I feel like the entrees are staight forward, simple, and let the ingredients be what they are. The preparation and cooking are usually excellent. My French onion soup at an extra cost was delicious, and we both split it. The salad, I usually like because the kitchen usually tosses the salad, and has a light layer dressing on the lettuce leaves, but for some reason, this evening, they just dumped the dressing on top, so the top leaves had a ton of dressing (yuck) and the bottom had none. Not tossing a salad before serving, leaving me with a mouth full of dressing in some bites and none in another is a pet peeve of mine, and I don't enjoy the salad. For years now, I have enjoyed the salads here because they were excellently and consistently made by tossing with a very light coating of dressing on the salad. Had I known it was going to be the "slackers" way out by dumping dressing on top, I would have asked for dressing on the side.

Our entrees, thank goodness, were excellent as usual. My shrimp dish was really peppery and spicy like I like, the spinach was freshly blanched, and the white rice was perfectly cooked to fluffy goodness. The flat iron steak was executed perfectly to his specifications of the rare side of medium rare. Germantown Cafe's mashed potatoes (either white or sweet potatoes) are always magical to my taste buds, and the mashed potatoes under the flat iron steak really were tasty. The entrees were what we were expecting, and we enjoyed our main dishes.

It is disappointing that service was lacking by the slacking. It was disappointing to me that I did not get the cheese cake due to the slacking. The presentation of the salad and the gloppy dressing was disappointing at best. BUT, this meal was saved by the the consistent execution of the main entrees. Next time we dine at Germantown Cafe, we will not be going during the restaurant week, so I know now to just stick with entrees, don't even ask about desserts, and start asking for dressing on the side.