Sunset Grill

Glad to hear that Sunset has declared «uncle» in an ever expanding food scene. While this restaurant may have may have offered a break from the norm 5 or 10 years ago, Nashville has become a very complex culinary city and can not tolerate such spotty service. Either keep up with the times, or respectably bow out.

I was just was at the wonderful Sunset Grill in Nashville or so I thought. My daughter just performed at the Grand Olé Opry — Ryman that is. We met her and her friends to celebrate at the Sunset Grill. We ordered our drinks and asked for a menu. Twice! Still no menu. Got our check and left. What has happened to service and pride. Now I will not be back. Darn!!!
@ M.L. Rose on Charlotte fixing to e at. FYI — the bartender at Sunset was working 9:00 — 9:30. UGH!

Best Sunday happy hour, ever! My husband and I make this our date spot at least twice a month! We usually sit with Garret (the bartender) in the bar area. His customer service is always above and beyond. His knowledge of their food and wine is always impressive. I highly recommend the calamari appetizer and the voo doo pizza! There are a plethora of amazing things on their menu besides that as well. You’ll just have to go try it out yourself!

Went for late-​night nachos, and it was a great decision. Potentially the best in the city.

Sunset Grill has been on my list of places to try for awhile, but it’s never been at the top due to it’s menu being a bit out of my everyday price range. Sunday was finally the day it happened! My friends wanted a chill spot to sit outside that also offered a happy hour special. Since there’s not too many places that have good Sunday specials, Sunset Grill finally won!
We got there around 6:30 to a pretty empty place so we had most of the patio to ourselves for most of the night. Their happy hour specials are half priced wine, beer, cocktails, pizza and $ 5 apps. Pretty good deal!
I ordered the margarita and for $ 4.50 it was good, if I had paid full price I would not have had the same thought. I also had a pizza with Benton’s bacon, because let’s be honest, everything should come with Benton’s bacon! The pizza was just okay, nothing special, except the bacon! I also had a couple bites of my husbands Caesar salad, it was meh at best. I did appreciate that it had pine nuts on it; I do love pine nuts! We also shared the chocolate almond sushi dessert, which was pretty good! I would definitely get that again.
Our server was great, had a bit of a dry sense of humor, which always goes over well with my group of friends! She was very attentive and we never had to ask for anything! She was on top of her game!
Overall, I would go back, but only for happy hour. Just didn’t impress me enough to go pay full price.

I have known Randy Rayburn since he worked at The Third Coast as a Manager. Not only have I worked a few times at Sunset Grill, I have also eaten there more times than I can count. I appreciate the thoughtful staff and wonderful management as well as the exciting foods and wine available! Each meal there is special and it is a great place to have a special event. Many local celebrities and musicians can be found in the intimate bar area which is very private and separate from the main dining room. Valet parking is a breeze and each visit will amaze you and your guests. Go eat some local and fresh food in the lovely location in Hillsboro Village.

We ate here on a Sunday night, with a party of eight. We started off with a cheese plate and a nachos for the group, and we enjoyed every last bite! I ordered a steak, and I cannot stop thinking about it, it was cooked to perfection, seasoned just a touch, and marvelous!
The staff was outstanding, they went over top to make sure our group were satisfied. The food was art, and very tasty. I will make sure to stop by again next time I am in Nashville!

Walked in and a very cordial lady greeted me and prompted me to seat at the bar (my choice). Sat at the bar and every server looked at me like if I had 4 heard or was from another planet. Ordered a kettle citron on the rocks… Well they don’t have any flavored vodka but absolute citron… SERIOUSLY??? You are marketed as a sophisticated dinning and no kettle, gray goose or high end vodka… Bartender was cordial… Weird place to come if you are visiting the city .,. Had a salad and order pork chops … We will see how it goes from here… Not a place I would come and hang out.

Every time Restaurant Week rolls around I use the opportunity to try new places, or ones I haven’t been to in a long time. I think I went to Sunset Grill a few times for happy hour about four years ago and just never went back after moving away from that part of town. It’s been open since 1990, so I figured it’s about time to give it a real shot.
Sunset Grill appears to have done no updating to their décor since they opened in 1990. Let’s just say that it reminded me of a Manhattan apartment of a coke-​sniffing Wall Street Banker circa the late 80s. What grabbed my attention most was the artwork– apparently all done by the same artist that was probably super cool when I was in elementary school and now just reeks of the first Bush administration. I think Sunset Grill could stand to do themselves a big favor by updating their space. There’s a large room with tons of windows –which is great– all they need to do is change the paint color and update the art. With how much I’ve been ragging on restaurant art lately I might as well start a blog called «Your Art Makes Me Lose My Appetite.»
For cocktails I went with the Sparkling Cider which was made with apple pie moonshine, Prosecco and honey water. This was possibly the girliest moonshine drink I’ve ever had– but that’s a compliment! (I am a girl afterall.) There was a very mild apple spice flavor that worked well with the bubbles. Steve ordered the Velvet Elvis which was made with Jack Daniels, Chambord, sour mix and soda. This was Steve’s first time having this cocktail and while he said it was solid, he felt like the drink was just not his style.
The restaurant week menu at Sunset Grill allowed you to get one appetizer and one entrée for $ 20.14 from a limited menu. For my appetizer I went with the half order of shrimp and grits. I really liked this dish! The shrimp were still tender and the grits had a mild tobacco spice which added heat. The pickled okra garnish was a great addition… mostly because I can eat a jar of pickled okra and consider that dinner.
For his appetizer Steve went healthy and ordered the Sonoma salad. It had field greens, apples, almonds, blue cheese and a garlic-​zinfandel vinaigrette. While everything worked really well together and the apples added a nice crunch, this is the kind of salad that you find everywhere now. Despite being derivative, everything was fresh and crisp, and the apples+bleu cheese combination just can’t be beat.
For my entrée I chose the smoked pork chops with greens and sweet potatoes. This was the right choice for me and I knew I would like this dish as soon as I smelled it. The chop had a very smokey flavor to it and was super tender. The maple demi-​glacé added a nice sweetness to the smoke. I enjoyed the sorghum sweet potatoes even though I came across a cold spot in the center of the pile. The mustard greens were not really my thing. First of all, they were left as full leaves making them hard to eat as you had to dig your knife in to cut them up. Also, they weren’t boiled nearly long enough, making them very tough. I pretty much didn’t touch the greens after my first bite.
Steve went with the Mississippi delta catfish. The dish was served with Benton’s bacon butter beans, dill remoulade and crispy shallots. Compared to the amount of food I got on my plate, this dish was a significantly smaller portion. The fish didn’t have nearly the amount of Cajun spice we were expecting, making it a much milder dish. But the way the fish was seasoned worked well with the lightness of the dill remoulade and the creamy deliciousness of the beans.
Overall we had a pretty enjoyable dinner at Sunset Grill. Our waiter was very nice and super attentive without being overbearing. While this isn’t really the sort of restaurant I would go to often, I was pleasantly surprised by their offerings. Thus is the joy of Restaurant Week.

Great atmosphere, service, and food. I had the shrimp and grits and they were yummy. Most impressive was the butterscotch habanero bread pudding. Velvety texture and a pleasant little bite at the end ;)
Highly recommend the sunset grill.

Excellent Service is what the two stars represent. I had the Johnny Cakes, the Calamari appetizer and the «hot chicken» a french martini and shrimp and grits.
I should have simply stuck with water after having their white sangria that we sent back. I was supposed to be peach sangria and what I tasted was a cheap white wine and some peach schnapps. There was no muddled fruit and the fruit the did have was maraschino cherries. (I sent it back)
The Johnny Cakes are the size of san dollars with apple butter, they were tasty but only came with two and were tiny.
The Calamari (fail)
Shrimp and grits were not the best I’d had considering they were almost 30 dollars. Unimpressed and I won’t be back.

So… where to begin? I will try to keep this short and sweet.
I was really excited to come here for my belated birthday dinner with my boyfriend. The ambience of the restaurant is so nice– it’s really pretty, but they could invest in some better tables. I leaned on the corner to get up, and I almost tipped the thing over, and I’m only ~110 lbs…
Food-​wise I was disappointed because I expect that when I’m paying this much for dinner it should be awesome. It was good but «nothing to write home about.»
On a side note: our waiter was one of the most awkward people I have ever met! My boyfriend and I just adopted a humorous attitude towards him so as not to spoil the mood for the evening.

I actually joined Unilocal so I could do this review. It’s hard to find a starting point for this debacle but I will try.
So I walk into Sunset Grill for the first time and grab a seat at the bar. I ordered my first drink of the night, an Old Fashion. I was meeting my friend, his date and my date. I arrived early. Right around the time my people got there I was finishing my drink. My buddy asked me if we should grab a table. I said sure. The bar area, where we were sitting, was at about 80% capacity and it was a Saturday night so it was a bit lively.
The waitress comes up to take our order, she made it a point to get mine last. After I finished ordering. She said, «if you’re gonna stay here and eat you need to quit yelling.» At first I thought she was kidding, but the dumb sneer never left her old face. I looked around at my friends and their jaws were just as low as mine. I said «what are you talking about?» She said «ever since you were sitting at the bar you’ve been yelling across the bar.» I said «I literally didn’t open my mouth until I sat down here at the table and you can ask my friends if I’ve been loud.» My friends agreed this bar wench was out of line. Probably still trying to get the right dose of benzodiazepines and antidepressants ironed out on her daily med list.
She eventually walked off with the order. We all were very confused. She returned to the table to top waters off, about the only thing she did right. Then out of the blue she said «are we going to act like adults tonight?». I laughed and ignored the troubled hag. She finally brought us the food and made an effort to be rough in setting my plate down. «I said thank you, I’m looking forward to your spit in my food.» I shouldn’t have said that but she had been under my skin all night. She was outraged «I’m going to get the manager!», she foamed from the mouth.
I was looking at this as an opportunity to report her bad behavior but turns out the manager is sleeping with this harlot. Naturally he took her side. Keep in mind, my friends and I are sober and we are all outraged and they are defending me, so I’m not being delusional.
Then the worst part is, I finally just said «ok I’m sorry for whatever I did, just let us finish our food and we will leave.» But he stood there hovering over me and watching us eat for like 2 minutes. It was absolutely unprofessional and a mockery of the restaurant business.
I won’t be going back there because if there kitchen is anything like the staff then they are probably dicing up roaches and mincing maggots to put in the food of unsuspecting patrons.
F–

I loved this place. The Classic Hummus appetizer was fantastic. The name is deceiving though because it includes a lot more than just hummus. They should change the name. The basil pistou was yummy. Olive tapanade although good was a little salty. The Shrimp and Grits were great and the Salmon over spinach and lemon ricotta polenta with crispy chick peas was yummy! Even the spinach was good. Many items on the menu I wanted to try, but was very happy with the choices I made.
We sat outside which was nice, but it did start to get slightly buggy.
5 stars for food, 4 for service (a little rushed).

We came for father’s day brunch right at 10 am when they opened. We sat outside on the patio and basically had the place to ourselves for the first half hour. Parking was challenging as Cabana (across the street, shared lot) apparently turns into a church on Sunday mornings!!! After some driving about aimlessly, we were able to find a spot.
Our meal was great. As an East Nashville resident and freakish fan, I love all the new eateries in my neck of the woods, but there is definitely something to be said for a place that’s been doing it right for years. My tot loved her enormous grilled cheese and homemade potato chips and had fun coloring in her menu. We had the hummus plate to start and it was my favorite course of the meal. The sun dried tomatoes taste fresh, the cheese is great, and the hummus, of course, is super tasty. My friends had the spicy golden beet salad — they loved it, but be forewarned, it is really spicy.
Service was fantastic. Great bunch spot with a half pint.

My husband and I are constantly looking to try different happy hour deals. There are quite a few to choose from on any given day in Nashville.
So after some research for where we’d try on this Saturday, we picked Sunset Grill. Under the Happy Hour section of their website, it stated clearly that there was a Happy Hour for Appetizers, Bottle Beers, Wine and Premium Cocktails EVERYDAY between 4:30−6 (I even included proof under photos on Unilocal).
However, when we got there this afternoon and asked about the happy hour menu, the host looked at me clueless. She fumbled around at the menus and proceeds to tell me (in an annoyed tone) that there is a happy hour everyday EXCEPT Saturday. Huh?! I wanted to show her the website just to prove her wrong, but the fact that she didn’t know her own specials to begin with turned me off completely.
The sad things is… we probably would have stayed to eat there with or without the happy hour– but the unwelcome reception made it really easy to turn around and walk out. I honestly cannot recall ever doing that in a restaurant.
It’s unfortunate this happened because the décor looked really nice, and I liked what I saw on the menu. I don’t know if I’ll try Sunset again, but you can’t say I didn’t try…

I have been to Sunset Grill more times than I can count, and my overall impression is that they are solid.
It is a rather large space so on most nights that aren’t Friday or Saturday, you are typically guaranteed a spot even without reservation. However, it’s not a bad idea to get one just in case. They bring out two kinds of bread with a olive oil dipping sauce that has parmesan and black pepper inside. Yum! My recent dinning experience I ordered the chicken with brussel sprouts, pearl onions, and mushrooms and it was excellent! Our table also had the salmon and quiche of the day with good reviews as well. My favorite dish here is definitely the paella, but I learned this week it is a seasonal dish. Bummer!
Their wine list is quite extensive, and they had a special selection of bottles for only $ 20! Hey, I love a good deal!
I’ve had some mixed experiences with dessert, the chocolate coconut sushi is good but only if you like shredded coconut. I am not a fan and would not suggest you get it if that is not your cup of tea. I also tried the vanilla crème brûlée on my last visit, and it was good, but the layer of sugar on top was too thick for this dessert. A bit disappointing here.
I also adore their cocktails and they have a pretty nice happy hour menu! I recommend Sunset Grill for a solid meal!

Let’s start with things I liked about this place. The location is great to where I stayed in Nashville, I love the neighborhood. They also clearly indicate the things that are gluten free, at least on their main menu (I had to ask about specials and desserts). They had a $ 5 Happy Hour for appetizers with quite an extensive list (I believe it ran 4p-​7p).
The food was good but it wasn’t as creative as I was hoping for the price. Of course I ordered a Veggie Stir Fry because I was either afraid to eat something they couldn’t assure me was gluten free or because I just wasn’t into anything else on the menu.
They do have quite an extensive menu for folks who aren’t gluten free. My friend ordered a pizza with ham and figs that looked absolutely delicious. I hear the desserts are top notch but I didn’t really feel like paying another $ 7 or more for one.
The atmosphere is weird. I was wearing jeans, as were my friends, but I felt like I should have been way more dressed up. If you want to have a few drinks and get a little loud with a group of friends I wouldn’t recommend it.

Stephen P was our server and he was pitch perfect. I could not think of a better server. He was personable, funny-​he made my girlfriend laugh out loud twice with his turns of phrase and was quick to check on us and came back with anything we needed/​wanted. I wanted to start out singing his praises because he was that good. We had extra cupcakes and it was decided we should give him one.
We started with the polenta cheese fries, how do you get polenta and cheese fries to come together but they worked together pretty well! We also got the Tennessee sunset Caprese, which was just all right-​it was a twist on Caprese, but it was not one that I enjoyed too much.
I got the Pan Seared Ahi Tuna Nicoise, which was pretty good, with the egg and olives standing out, with a super savory kick to the tuna and a delicious meal. The asparagus and potatoes were delicious additions. I really like tuna, and this was prepared well. The evening ended with a cake, Stephen picked up that we were in a celebratory mood.
The service was terrific and they get an ‘A’ for effort for trying to do put a nontraditional spin on dishes but it in some places, hit and miss.

We stopped in for Happy Hour instead of fighting Friday traffic.
The Bar offered Specials on Beers & Well Drinks.
We had an appetizer and split the AI Tuna, the Ahi dinner was a large portion of Tuna cooked perfectly, medium as ordered.
A wonderful stop, this Family Owned & Operated restaurant is fantastic and known to take Great care of locals as well as visitors to Nashville
Bön Appétit !