Best Casual Restaurants in Nashville

First time here and loved everything about our visit! Had the filet and ribeye and both were outstanding. Our server was also a gem!

Sinatra’s was suggested to me by a friend and she did not steer me wrong. The food and drinks were fantastic and the service was friendly and warm. This experience has made me a convert. Cannot wait to go again.

Restaurant is very clean and presentable, nice bright colors for a beautiful ambiance. Appetizers (volcano rock shrimp, salmon crudo, and the feta dip) were all delicious, salmon melted in your mouth, and came out in perfectly timely manner. Main brunch entrees were also delicious, between the three we ordered (avocado toast, tex mex wrap, and French toast) the avocado toast was the group favorite although all were delicious, actually avocado mash and slices as opposed to just some cuts with egg like most places do. We ordered both soups, daily lobster bisque and the French onion and both were divine. Definitely would recommend for a day out in Nash.

Second trip to Bastion—the first was a year ago and positively incredible, from the food to the wine to the service, music and ambiance. Brought some friends back this time and was far less impressed, unfortunately. It may have just been an off night but I found most of the dishes and wines forgettable, with a couple truly unpalatable (in at least two cases, courses were excessively salty IMO, and I couldn’t choke down one of the wine pairings). That said, the beef main was great, as were the accompanying rolls and a couple of the seafood preparations. Still love what this place is doing but was disappointed last night (and bummed to have talked the restaurant up to friends who left similarly underwhelmed).

All the food was impeccably fresh and the presentation superb. I was entertaining guests who had just arrived from Sweden. We got one of everything and the delivery pace was excellent. Flatware was proffered and removed for each plate. We got a beautiful set of hand carved spoons that were stunning to look at but about as useful as poker chips on skewers. (Milk?) bread was perfection. Scallop crudo was visually perfect but so subtle as to taste merely of heavy cream on sushi. The beef tartare very well done (had freeze dried capers instead of jar brined). Again subtle. (“Nashville”) hot swordfish is a cute knockoff of the chicken dish but was oily in spite of being cooked to a perfect 140°. The snapper/grouper jaw on the other hand was not quite firm yet probably because of the complex bone structure blocking some of the heat. But the outside sear flavorful. Great effort by the staff but I was left wanting a little bolder flavor profile for the expense.