09/22/09

The only place to go

by predmember

We visited Big River before the last two hockey games, having been disappointed with the service at two other downtown establishments, and we will never go anywhere else. The staff was very busy, yet took time to explain the beer and menu in detail, pointing out favorites and making recommendations. The Octoberfest Beer and the Rocket Red Ale were both outstanding, as were the selections from the Octoberfest menu. Our waitress was sweet and attentive despite the volume, and we never lacked for anything. I highly recommend Big River to anyone looking for good beer and good food with great service!

• Pros: food, beer, service
• Cons: can get a bit busy

02/25/09

Don't Beleive Everything You Read

by colle

Read some bad reviews, but since a lot of people are idiots I thought I would try it for myself. Went prior to a Tuesday night Predator game with my son. Our waitress was great. The food was good. The manager checked on us. The stout beer was excellent!. It was happy hour so they were 3 bucks each. Good experience. Don't believe everything you read.

12/10/08

Best food in downtown Nashville

by Brookelyngirl

My family recently visted Big River Grille in downtown Nashville this past November. We visited Nashville from Myrtle Beach and dined at Wildhorse Saloon, and Hard Rock, but the food and service at Big River put the other 2 restaurants to shame, we ate their on our last night and we wished we had eaten their the first so we could have avoided the Wildhorse and Hard Rock. They brew their own beers there and all 4 that we tried were amazing. The food was fantastic we had hazelnut chicken and filet with shrimp, followed by chocolate cake. It was hands down the best food we ate in Nashville. I would strongly recommend this resturant to anyone visting or living in the Nashville area, it is the perfect spot to start your night off before you go bar hopping.

10/17/08

Great service, great food, very accommodating to our small and large groups

by twohooz

I went to the Big River Grille on two different nights while in Nashville at a conference, taking a group of 8 one night, a group of 22 the other. I have to admit that some of the other reviews made me reconsider going here, but it was too complicated to switch gears to another restaurant at the last minute, and I figured surely it could not be as bad as some of the other reviews indicated.

To say that I was pleasantly surprised is a major understatement. The service was very attentive but not intrusive, the food was served very promptly, drinks were well attended to ... across the board the service was great. The food was also a big plus. With a larger group you have a wide variety of tastes, and our party included vegetarians as well, and the restaurant had plenty of options to keep everyone happy. Dinners ordered at our table ranged from pizza to ribs to pasta dishes to a really nice marinated filet and grilled vegetable dish that I had and would HIGHLY recommend. We had a great experience at the Big River Grill and I would return in a heartbeat.

• Pros: Fast service, great food
• Cons: Can get a little noisy if busy

08/08/08

Looking for pizza checkout Big River

by fb101

My wife knows pizza and the best is at Big River. Great place to unwind from the busy week. Lighting was nice beer was clod and food was hot.

• Pros: food was great
• Cons: parking

07/15/08

Welcome to the city??!!

by kelly2317

Went to Big River with a group of associates from a workshop in Nashville. Waiter was in a hurry and seemed to be inconvenienced by having to serve us. Thought food was good, but meal was ruined when a giant pest (am not allowed to type real word, but it was large!) began crawling on me! I am normally not afraid of pests, but this one appeared on my leg and moved its way up my body before someone at the table was able to get it off and squash it! While the manager was quick to have the carcass cleaned off the floor, she offered no apology and only said "welcome to the city," which i found completely offensive since I live in Chicago and have never had a pest crawl on me while eating! No free meal was offered by her or waiter, even though it was obvious I wouldn't be finishing my dinner. When the bill came, I informed the manager I wouldn't pay, which she said was ok. Horrible customer service.

• Pros: food was good while i could still eat it
• Cons: service and cleanliness

07/11/08

Serve drinks with insects in them, then make excuses

by jdd32005

My sister and I went into have a drink at the bar. After waiting there for close to 10 minutes while the bartender ignored us, we were finally served another bartender who happened to walk back there. We are served our drinks finally, and everything is fine while we drink them.

When I finish my drink, I notice a gnat in the glass. I originally thought that it was frozen in an ice cube, but it was just in the glass. I hadn't noticed it until I was finished. I told the bartender (the one who had ignored us) about it, and instead of her apologizing or acting embarrassed or offering to not charge me, she launches into this lengthy explanation about how it is just a "bar gnat." Oh, is THAT what they're calling them these days?

She explains that they are "attracted to bourbon" (I was drinking a Manhattan), and that since it is an open-air restaurant, that this is commonplace. She then explains that there was enough alcohol in the drink to get rid of any germs. She finally offers some half-baked apology that sounded more like she was just saying "tough luck." She then brings me my tab which still had the full-priced drink on it. No refund. No discount. Nothing. Not wanting to make a scene in front of my sister, I paid the bill and left no tip. What kind of food business serves products with INSECTS in them to customers and then explains that this is NORMAL?

I didn't want an excuse, an explanation, or really even my money back. I just wanted a sincere apology and for her to show even the slightest modicum of remorse for what had happened. I guess that was asking too much. My first and last time at Big River.

• Pros: None
• Cons: Drinks have insects in them, and the staff makes excuses.

06/13/08

A Let Down

by kmills554

My first time at Big River was really awful, so after about a year I decided to give it a second chance. But the second time around wasn't that good either. It took a long time to get our food, our server wasn't that great and once our entrees finally came they weren't that great. But the appetizer was good as was the beer, if we could get refills and we got immediate seating on a busy Friday night. Also, the bathrooms weren't very clean.

• Pros: Outdoor patio, downtown night life, beer
• Cons: Parking, bathrooms, service, food.

04/14/08

No warm fuzzies but lots of lipstick

by FaithM722

I was not impressed at all with the brewery. The beer was not very tasty. We all thought the food was very good though. We had the shrimp & grits, baby back ribs, chicken, mahi mahi sandwich & the halibut. Everyone was satisfied. Even though the crab dip appetizer was mostly mayonaise (not much crab). The service was not up to par. I had to take 2 of our drink glasses up to the bar to get ones without lipstick. (our waiter was no where around - he dropped of the pitcher of beer and ran). I explained this to the waiter upon his return but he never bothered to apologized. In fact, the people at the bar never apologized either. That seemed to the attitude of the entire staff. No one really cared. There were no warm fuzzies here!

• Pros: very good food
• Cons: poor dishwashing standards, wait staff needs to learn to WOW their customers

04/10/08

Below average food, incompetent waitress

by coog78

The food here is edible, but definitely not good. That only gets magnified when the waitress was off in lala land. It took forever for her to take our order and the place wasn't even crowded. She finally got our order then finally brought our drinks. She made sure to not come back when drinks were completely empty, left the appetizer sitting on our table throughout the entire meal. Mayonaisse was put on the burger instead of mustard as requested. I don't know how much worse she could have been. Horrible experience, don't eat here.

• Cons: service, food