Sperry's Restaurant

Great food, Great service, Great value. I've always loved Sperry's and a recent dinner there with my wife reminded me why: great food, great service, great ambiance. First, the food. My wife and I both had a steak: she a filet and me a strip. She likes hers medium rare and I like mine medium, and both steaks were cooked to perfection and wonderfully seasoned with Sperry's proprietary steak seasoning. The meat was tender, marvelously marbled and very flavorful.

Of course, we began our meal with a trip to Sperry's famous salad bar. I'm pretty sure that Sperry's invented the gourmet salad bar concept in Nashville. If not, they sure perfected it. All of the ingredients were fresh and crisp. I indulged in the sumptuous blue cheese dressing on my salad - which I could pretty much just make a meal of by itself. My wife went with the vinaigrette.

Service was prompt, friendly and knowledgeable. Timing was perfect: We weren't made to feel rushed but neither were we abandoned for long periods of time. Other Nashville restaurants could take a clue from Sperry's on training their staff.

Finally, the ambiance. It's uniquely Sperry's. It's what I imagine the inner sanctum of the Belle Meade Country Club was in the club's glory days. Spotlessly clean. Dark wood. Flattering lighting. Kind of mysterious, really, unlike the readymade imported environments at the national chain steakhouses. In short, very cool space.

And, of course, it's a remarkable value. I've eaten at every steakhouse in Nashville and none offers a better deal for your money than Sperry's. Now it ain't cheap - it is a high-end steakhouse - but it is easily half to one third less than the national steak house chains like The Palm. And its authentic Nashville, not something imported from somewhere else.…

If You Don't Have a Man With You, Prepare for Rude Treatment. This place is really almost comically unbelievable! It is a caricature of the Good Old Boy southern system of pompous and condescending servers coupled with truly average yet temendously overpriced food.

This is the second time I've eaten here, and my experience was identical both times. Several years ago, I decided to take my mother here during the holidays. We made reservations and showed up on time. Although there were empty tables in the dining room, we were asked if we'd be okay sitting in the bar (smoky, TVs blaring, crowded). I wasn't happy with this, but my mom said it was fine, so we sat there. We both discussed how it was a shame that some restaurants STILL treat women poorly when there is no man in the party. (i.e., poor tables, bad service, etc.).

I made a mental note never to waste my money at Sperry's again.

However, a female friend received a gift certificate and asked me to dine with her at Sperry's. She made a reservation, we showed up on time. The host was laughably rude to us the minute we walked in. He looked us up and down and just sort of sneered and said nothing. My friend seemed a little confused by his behavior, but smiled and said we had a reservation at 6:30 for 2. His response? Nothing. Just more condescending sneering and finally a bored and exhausted-sounding, "Last name?"

Again, there were empty tables in the dining room, but the host claimed there were no tables available and asked if we would eat in the bar. This time, I said no. He looked a bit shocked and told us to wait at the bar then. 30 minutes later, we had watched him seat at least a dozen parties in the dining room. My friend finally got up to ask him what was going on, and he turned his back on her and walked away! Finally, a waiter seated us, walking over to the host after we were seated to point us out while they both snickered and laughed about it.

I can only assume, this treatment is encouraged by the ownership since it is so blatant. Granted, this is a restaurant that caters to old money, old people, in Belle Meade, so it shouldn't come as much of a surprise. Still, it is discouraging to experience 1950s Old South treatment in a 2011 New South. Nashville is typically pretty progressive, fair, and forward-thinking. Not so at this stronghold of Good Old Boyism.

I can only shudder to think of how black patrons might be treated. Shame on you, Sperrys!…

Awesome. We had a great time, There were four of us. The servers were attentive to our needs and wants. The wait for our reservation was a short wait. We sat down and had a wonderful dinner and conversation. The restaurant looked great. I was a little concerned about how the flood would affect the reopening. It was handled very well. It looked fantastic. Thanks for a great evening and great service for our friends who were from out of State. They too complimented every thing. The filets, were perfection, Twice baked potatoes Awesome as usual. Keep up the good work.…

Never a letdown!!!. It had been a while since my last visit to the Belle Meade Sperry's. As soon as I entered I remembered why I loved going here. We were greeted by a friendly hostess that hated to tell us that since we didn't have a reservation, we would be waiting a while. However, she informed us that we could sit at the bar and eat right away if we would like. I'm not a fan of sitting at a bar and eating, but thought we could have a drink or two while waiting for a table in the main dining room. We took a seat at the bar and were acknowledged right away by the bartender, Hillary. I asked for a wine list, but also asked if there was one that she recommended. She had me try one and gosh it was just what I was looking! We sat there talking to Hillary and a few people around us and decided that since we were having such a great time at the bar we wanted to stay there and eat. Hillary walked us through the specials as she set up a setting at the bar, which I was totally impressed by. It was treatment I’ve only known to get at the main table!! The special sounded great, but I decided to go with what I used to get…the filet (medium rare) Oskar style and sweet potato fries. Then, one friend ordered the salmon with creamed spinach and the other ordered a filet with a twice baked potato. We were all eating off each other’s plates. Everything was done to perfection and SO yummy!!! We were completely stuffed, but we can never pass up dessert. We ordered two sticky toffees because a guy beside us at the bar said we had to try it…OH WOW!!! Hillary poured something over it and it just melts in your mouth…we called it ooey gooey heaven! It was meant that we were to stay at the bar…fabulous service from Hillary, fantastic food and wonderful crowd to hang out with (no wonder this restaurant is always packed when I drive by and completely crowded when we got there!!), such a wonderful time that we stayed til almost closing!!!! Thank you Sperry’s…we WILL be back more often :)…