Nashville Restaurant Guide

This is a great place to eat when in Downtown Nashville. The food and service are good and has only gotten better over the years. My only complaint is that I have to pay for parking when eating Downtown. You will not go wrong eating here and if you are a visitor then I would even suggest this place should be on your list of places to eat in Nashville.

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.