Germantown Cafe

On any given night Germantown Café has the best views of any restaurant in town. And the light in the dining room is balanced to both compliment the diner and help the windows frame views of downtown and the Capitol. And you just have to smile when you see those cheerful Gerbera daisies on each table.

Grey begins with French onion soup, and the Café’s version gives French onion soup a good name—beefy broth, deeply-caramelized onions, crisp Parmesan crouton and it overflows with Swiss cheese. Thank you France, Italy and Switzerland: it is a terrific soup. And thank you Grey for sharing with the others at the table. If you are looking for a Nashville Best, choose this soup. Order it with a salad and you have a meal.

Ann and Sallie begin with house salad: reliable standards. No fireworks, simply crisp, cold, well-dressed. Salad as prelude doesn’t have to set the plates spinning.

When we see a dish that includes pork and potatoes on a menu, it just catches our eye. Seizing the opportunity, Ann chooses the pork with plum sauce and mashed potatoes. The dish is a hit: the sauce is savory and sweet and adds just the right note to the medallions of pork tenderloin. The potatoes are a purist’s delight: seasoned well, not-mucked-about with. Potatoes—just potatoes, ma’am. And accompanied by crisp green beans.

Sallie orders the rack of lamb special. Toothsome chops cooked to the correct temperature, but a little short on basic salt and pepper. Again, those terrific, simple potatoes and the good green beans.

Hamilton orders one of the specials, pasta in a light tomato sauce with grilled salmon. The pasta is a hit, but only the pasta. After specifically asking the server about the size of the salmon portion to come and being assured that it was thick cut, he is delivered a nice plate of pasta topped with a very thin slice of salmon—the resemblance to a floppy disc is astonishing and uncanny. Luckily, Hamilton had two things in his favor: he is a gentleman and had begun the evening with a very dry martini. Thus he is able to finish the meal with his customary good humor.

Grey has a penchant for anything curry: Thai curry, West Indian curry, Guyanese curry. His eyes light up as soon as he spots the coconut curry salmon on this menu. The salmon is well-prepared and flavorful, though the coconut curry sauce lacks seasoning as does the risotto.

A couple of glasses of port and one shared serving of hot apple pie with cinnamon ice cream later, we are all generally satisfied despite the missteps on Grey and Hamilton’s dishes.

As we expect of any good restaurant that pays attention, Hamilton’s dish and the dessert were comped by way of an apology. There is no better way to insure customer loyalty than paying attention to a complaint.

Dinner for four exclusive of wine, port, tax and tip: $100.00

FourTop Rating (1-4)
Ann - 3.75
Sallie - 3.7
Hamilton – high 2, low 3
Grey - 3

FourTop Clip
Germantown Cafe
1200 Fifth Avenue, North
Nashville, TN 37208
Phone: 615.242.3226
Fax: 615.242.3112
www.germantowncafe.com