Kalee & I are always up to try a new restaurant in Nashville. So, as a prep-meal (aka brunch) before going to Wine in the Winter, we decided to try out Deacon’s New South on Church Street. Below is our honest review of the food and restaurant!
There are always new bars, honky tonks, coffee houses, and restaurants opening up in Nashville, and Kalee & I are always up for the challenge of trying out these new places to see if they indeed qualify, in our opinion at least, to their 4+ star Google rating.
About Nashville’s Deacon’s New South
Deacon’s (as we shorten the name) is located in the historic L & C building in Nashville. This made the experience even more meaningful to me because this is where my mom had her first job and actually met George Hamilton in the elevator here.
The restaurant, in their words, is a “modern, Southern steakhouse.” They are known for their steaks, seafood, and a great wine selection.
Their sides and proteins are locally-sourced when possible which I really liked this idea of supporting our local farmers.
Deacon’s also uses produce, greens, and herbs from its sister restaurant, Homestead Manor in Thompson’s Station, which has its own onsite organic farm and garden.
The Atmosphere is cozy and warm with an eclectic feel.
The setting is very modern but comfortable and warm.
Kalee & I really enjoyed the setting for brunch; however, we both agreed that we wouldn’t really like the setting for a nicer night out for steak and wine.
The cafe’ style seating didn’t lend itself to be cozy for an intimidate date but rather a nice night out with friends.
Deacon’s is well equipped with two bars for its patrons.
Deacon’s has two pretty bars for its customers.
While we didn’t have anything alcoholic to drink because we were on our way to Wine in the Winter, we did sit in the bar area and can say that it went well with the decor. It was very pretty and matched the eclectic style of the decor.
Deacon’s New South’s Brunch Review
So, now you have some background and a little bit on about the kind of restaurant Deacon’s New South is. Now, to our thoughts and experience…
As mentioned, we went for brunch to fill up my belly before partaking in the vast selection of wines at Wine in the Winter. I’ve been known to go on an empty stomach which does not bode well for me after a few sips.
Kalee wised up and fed her mama beforehand this time!!
This was a great chance to try out Deacon’s brunch since it’s just a short walk from the Hilton where the wine event was being held, and brunch is served on Saturday’s and Sunday’s from 10:00 to 3:00…perfect timing before the 4:00 wine tastings.
Our Honest Review of Service & Food
Kalee had made reservations (not that they were busy) for 2:00 through OpenTable. We arrived a little early and were greeted by the hostess and a server at the hostess stand.
The hostess found our reservation easily and escorted us to our table.
Mind you, the server that was with her didn’t move out of her way in order to allow the hostess to escort us, and the hostess had to walk around between us and the hostess stand versus coming from behind the stand and not having to squeeze between us and the stand.
We are easy though, so we really didn’t care and went with the casual flow of the two ladies. We were seated at one of the cafe’ style tables in the bar area.
They have several lunch and breakfast items to pick from. We debated between the burger or the waffles and hot chicken.
Deacon’s New South Food
Since Deacon’s isn’t really a Nashville’s hot chicken place, we opted to not risk it and went with splitting the burger (see the pic at the top of the post) and a plate of biscuits along with a Coke Zero each.
We are suckers for pimento cheese right now. So, when we saw the biscuit plate had pimento cheese, we were in!!
Plus, it’s biscuits!! Hello!?!
The biscuits were dense but in a good way.
The biscuits were odd shaped like maybe the dough had been place flat in a pan then cut into triangles after being baked.
Regardless of the shape, the biscuits were tasty.
We both liked the density of the biscuits. Not hockey puck dense, so don’t read into that. They were just a nice thick biscuit vs light and fluffy. They were sturdy.
The flavor was good but nothing you just had to ask for the recipe.
They came with the pimento cheese we were craving along with a pepper jelly and some honey butter. The butter and jelly were yummy!! The pimento cheese was a major let down. We did eat it all, but it was nothing to write home about.
So how about the burger? This is a steak place so you’d think potentially great burger, right?
So the burger came with pickled red onions, bacon, and aioli sauce.
Let me just tell you now, it was a HUGE let down.
The burger itself looked disgusting. The burger was grumbly and gooey and soft and yuck. Ew.
Yes, we both had a couple of bites. No, we didn’t tell the server because we didn’t want to be asked why we didn’t like it.
How would we ever tell her…”Take a look! Does this look normal to you? Have you ever seen a hamburger patty look so grumbly and gooey at the same time?!”
No, we just sucked it up and took the couple bites to make it look like we were just simply full of biscuits.
Meanwhile, waiting on a refill of our Coke Zeros…which came back full fledge Cokes…which was another sour note to our already lackluster review of the place.
Now to the service. Remember the server at the hostess stand?
Remember the gal standing with our hostess who also met us and didn’t move out of the hostess’s way? Well, this gal was our server.
It was kinda funny how she acted like she had never seen us when she came up to our table for the first time. I just wanted to say, “Yo, we just met. Why didn’t you just walk us over?” but I held my ever polite tongue.
She, in a sickeningly sweet, fake way took our order and continue to wait on us in that style. I get it. The sweet put-on might just be her style. I will give you that, but I prefer someone just be themselves.
Her service was fine as you can imagine from the get go when we first met her. Nothing totally out of her way, but she also didn’t do anything really wrong either…WELL…EXCEPT FOR…messing up our refill on the Coke Zero.
By the way, she never came to check on us again until we were done in order for us to tell her we had the wrong drinks.
Plus – it’s a steak house. Shouldn’t the service be a notch up from mediocre?
Deacon’s New South Final Notes
Deacon’s New South in Nashville in the historic 1950’s L & C building does have style and beauty, but we are in Nashville. Lots of places in Nashville have flare and style.
They need to up their game on their food…at least their brunch…we can’t speak for the evening service.
The service was nothing special. Oh, I failed to mention, that they neglected to mark us off the OpenTable reservation, so we received a notice from OpenTable asking if we were a “no show” to Deacon’s New South.
Not a big deal, but Kalee did have to take some time to submit a note letting OpenTable know that we didn’t skip on the reservation.
So final ratings for Deacon’s New South from Kim and Kalee:
- Environment = B+ We like the decor but didn’t find the cafe’ style seating to be suitable for an upscale seafood and steak restaurant that it was known for at night. Fine for brunch.
- Food = C- The only thing saving this from being a D is that the biscuits were good…not great…but good.
- Service = C Typical service. We expected more from an upscale place like Deacon’s has marketed itself to be.
Will we go back?
No. There are too many places yet still to try in Nashville, so we won’t be wasting a dining experience here again.
Have you tried Deacon’s New South in Nashville? Did you like it?
Share with us in the comments if you have or where you’d like to try when you visit Nashville.
Visiting Nashville soon?
Check out our thoughts on Nashville’s Midtown boutique hotel the Kimpton Aerston.
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