Ellendale's Restaurant

Found this place during a very brief stay in Nashville. It is excellent. The chef has taken "modern Southern fusion" to a exceptional level. Decent wine list; wonderfully relaxing atmosphere and great piano player. Definitely recommended if you like fine Southern dining.

Excellent lunch buffet, complete with awesome selection of food throughout salad buffet as well as the hot food buffet. Suited for ant palate with options of turkey, chicken and meat complimented by tasty pastas, pita bread and humus, soup, fresh fruit and much more. Has a bar, and in evening the live dinner music is relaxing yet engaging. Great place to dine for business or leisure. Always a delite, and staff great too!

Be prepared to have your palate inundated with succulent medleys and layers of flavors and textures that will satiate even the most discriminating connoisseur. This place is truly a gem, nay a treasure, hidden just outside of the burgeoning metropolis. The fine dining experience is complemented by artfully crafted piano melodies that will transport one's mind through time to a bygone era of decades past, on a softer side of rock and roll that will have you reaching for your Googler to find the artists and dates of memories too long buried. But the food is the real star here, and while not belt-shattering, the portions are crafted such that dessert becomes an unnecessary and debatable option. All of this is served by a friendly and attentive staff. Go. Enjoy. Eat well.

The food was really good. I had the roasted leg of lamb and it was falling off the bone!! The service was good, the soft live piano music was wonderful and the atmosphere of the old farm house was perfect!! Highly recommend it.

Just left the best brunch in Nashville. Julie has done an amazing job keeping this fine dining restaurant welcoming & unpretentious. Her staff was everything you'd hope. Every bite of the amazing offerings made us lean back in our chairs & look at each other as smiles covered our faces. Great place to impress a date! Thanks Julie, whenever this St. Louis guy is anywhere close, we'll see you again.

A friend and I made reservations for lunch on a Tuesday at Ellendale's. It was awesome! When we entered the quaint and lovely house, we were greeted warmly by a lovely host and seated immediately. The lunch buffet was absolutely delicious. Everything was fresh and beautifully displayed. The Miso/bluecheese meat was YUMMY!! Our server, Mike, was very attentive, super-friendly and never let our sweet iced teas get low. In addition, I have Celiac's so have to eat gluten-free. He quickly asked the chef which food items were safe for me to eat and which were not. It turned out there were only 2 items on the buffet I could not eat (not counting croutons, bread, and the obvious...), so I had plenty to choose from. I love ranch dressing and it wasn't on the buffet that day, but Mike quickly went to the kitchen and brought me as much Ranch dressing we wanted. :) Later, I had to call with a question and got was lucky enough to have the owner, Julie, answer the phone. She was very gracious and informative. Overall we had a spectacular experience, and it made our "girl's day out" perfect. Thank you Ellendale's!

My wife and I, along with two friends, dined here and could not have been happier with the food and experience. During our visit in Nashville, we enjoyed meals at some of the top-rated downtown Nashville restaurants, and rate Ellendale's equal to or better than all of them. The restaurant is in a beautiful home that feels elegant and charming, but that thankfully lacks the stuffiness that can come with places that work so hard to do everything right. Nathan, our server, took care of us in way that reflected the ethos of the place. He was charming, professional, hospitable, friendly, attentive, but not at all obtrusive. At other places in Nashville, we spent days being attended to by people who wanted to be musicians, and not waitstaff -- and it showed. While we wish Nathan all the success as a musician, it was refreshing that he takes seriously his role as a server. While ambience and service is a big deal, we dine out for the food, and boy oh boy does Ellendale's have good food figured out. Any thoughtful diner can tell that the owner and her staff pay attention to the ingredients they select, with an emphasis on locally-sourced ingredients, freshness, and quality. They of course, are equally focused on creative, yet accessible preparation. My wife and one of our friend's enjoyed the Roasted Lemon Rosemary Chicken and they were kind enough to share some bites. It was without question the best chicken I have ever had. A reviewer here called ycats1229 described the food as having "layers of flavor" and I can come up with no better description. The sweet potato hash, okra, and green beens served with it worked super well. My and my buddy's meals were outstanding as well. I normally do not like to listen to live music while I eat, but the musician that was playing piano and singing the evening of our visit was super talented and perfectly complemented the ambiance, service and food. I cannot say enough good things about Ellendale's. The owner and her crew really do a fantastic job providing a lovely evening out.

Good food, good people, good atmosphere. What more could you ask for? I sat at the bar, Justin was the man. To the person who gave a one star review because the steak was too rare, maybe you shouldn't order your steak mid well you savage. Have some decency and self respect.

We had a fantastic time! 20 of my friends gather this evening for a surprise birthday celebration. We could not have picked a better place. Tonight was exactly what we all needed. A calm adult place to reconnect, relax, have a few cocktails, chat and wonderful food. Tonight was priceless! So shhhh tell no one about this place cause, I'm booking all my adult parties there.

I absolutely love Ellendale's! The food is great! I went for dinner my first visit and the food was fresh and flavorful. Not too salty and not too sweet. I have a very colorful taste pallet and do not like my food to be over spiced so this place is perfect for tasting the quality of the food instead of the added flavoring. The second time I visited was for the Sunday brunch buffet which is AMAZING!!! You must try the omelets. The chef cooks the omelets right in front of you with a wide variety of fillings from bacon to salmon. The atmosphere is not up to parr and could use an update, but me personally I don't go to a restaurant for the atmosphere. Its about the food. I came to eat, not look at stuff. So I give this restaurant a 5-star rating. Keep up the good work!

I have enjoyed Sunday Brunch here several times, and I am deeply impressed with the atmosphere, food, and service. The buffet has something for everybody and was maintained well. Most times they have had live entertainment which has been excellent, not too loud, not too banal. And... blackened sea bass as an option for a custom omlets??? Amazing!

Amazing food. Great variety and good options for those with gluten allergies or those who are vegetarian. Technically there is no kids menu, but they are more than happy to work with you. The chicken tenders they made for my son were amazing, yes I stole some lol. Overall great food, cool views, and the fact it seems to be an old style house type building just adds to the effect.

This place is fantastic. I went for dinner on my own with no reservation. It was busy so it took the server a little while to get to me and a while for the food to come out. However, it was DEFINITELY worth the little extra wait. The cocktails were amazingly made and the food was DELICIOUS. I would highly highly recommend this place.

Literally the best omlette I have EVER had! Made with love, in this case, was not just a saying. Everything that was put out for Sunday brunch was amazing. They had live music from a solo musician who was fantastic. Giant shrimp, lobster bisque, waffles, fresh fruit..and on and on. The staff is extremely friendly and talented. I highly recommend you pay them a visit for brunch on Sunday.

The atmosphere here is absolutely incredible. There lunch buffet had the distinction of being ready too easy regardless of dietary restrictions and out was well made and delicious! I haven't had dinner there yet, but I most definitely whip be back!

Very cool atmosphere. Live music but not in-your-face loud. The dessert was amazing and apparently the dessert menu changes daily. Bottle of wine, appettizer, two entrees and dessert, and the bill was under $90. I'll definitely go back.

Went here to try something different and heard a lot of good things about this restaurant. Food was fantastic, however, there were a few issues. My mother and I both ordered the Sea Bass and while hers came out perfectly cooked, mine came our Rare. My friend ordered the Gouda Lobster Mac & Cheese and it came out room temperature and the bowl wasn't even warm. Desert was flawless and wonderful! Overall, 50/50 shot of coming back at this point.

Charming restaurant, live music, sweet wait staff. Unfortunately we went after mothers day so they were out of a few things. But what we ordered was great

Charming and well decorated farmhouse close to all the airport hotels. The dish I ordered (sea bass) seemed very fresh and flavorful. For solo travelers, the live piano was nice. It was a pretty full house when there. My total time there (glass of wine, dinner, no appetizers, no dessert) was little over an hour.

Notice-Permently closed! Healthy, delicious and beautiful those are the three best words to describe this lil hideaway. Today I had lunch but it's also important to note that this place is Easily the best bruch in town

Good food, and plenty of it. If you like shrimp this is the bomb!

I really enjoyed this place! I went for my work's office party. We had a room to ourselves and ordered three courses. Everything was awesome, and the service was really friendly. They served their caesar salad the traditional way with the romaine lettuce still on the stalk (not shredded up). I thought it was odd at first, but later learned that this was the traditional method of serving it. The more you know! I'm only giving them a 4/5 because several of my coworkers did not get their steaks cooked the way they asked. Several of them were overcooked by quite a bit. Mine was excellent though!

Great food! Went for valentine's day with my fiance and we both loved our food. The problem, it was a bit dark and we had a really bad waiter. We had left over food that we would have loved to take home with us that was just taken away. He was just all around horrible at being a waiter. Other than that though it was a good. Would like to go back and give it another chance.

This place is just as nice on the inside as it is on the outside. It's a great atmosphere. Service was great. We had someone come out and meet us at the buffet and explain all the meals. Everyone was courteous and attentive. I cannot say enough about the food. It was the best I'd ever had. Great selection of food with healthy options. The only reason I didn't give 5 stars is I did notice some flies in the building and a couple around the food. But, not enough to be concerning. I will definitely be coming back next time I'm in Nashville.

Very unique venue. The old mansion makes for an intriguing dynamic. Overall the food was very decent. The appetizers were the best part (calamari and the bacon-wrapped shrimp), the entrees were not overly impressive. The service was somewhat lacking but we were there late on a Thursday night and our server was attempting to train a new employee. In conclusion, I wasn't overly impressed but there wasn't anything about my experience was was notably poor. I would probably give them a second chance if I'm back in town in the future.

I had the pan seared trout. I asked for it to be cooked through, however, it was done a little to much & was dry. It also, didn't seem to be fresh. It had a Cajun spice which was good but a bit over done. In general it was okay. My wife had the Quinoa with shrimp. She said it was excellent (except it had peas, which she doesn't like). Service was very good, atmosphere was very good. Piano player/singer added to the ambiance.

The chef was able to let us know about the soy content of everything on the buffet, which was amazing with a soy allergy. I think the buffet would have been better quality if we had made it at brunch time instead of for a late lunch. We'll most likely be back soon to try the menu.

It was my first time going, the first thing I noticed is how cold it was inside. I never took my hat, jacket and scarf off. The did turn heat up but finally felt anything was when we left. When we finally were able to give our drink order which took a little to long to give because it wasn't very busy. Then we went to the buffet. The soup wasn't out on the bar and when it came out it was luke warm with cold spots. The salad bar was great and the main food was delicious. Service is slow but all in all, if changes were made it would be a cute place to go.

Food quality and unique selections good. Buffet layout creates congestion and omelette station was the worst including the server there who didn't seem interested in servicing. Drafty, cold dining room displeased our spouses.

The service was terrific. I ordered the braised short ribs with shrimp and grits. The short ribs were ok. They tasted like the roast I take out of my crock pot once a week-nothing special. The shrimp and grits were very good. We ordered the steak biscuits as an appetizer which was also very good. The focaccia bread served before dinner was terrible. The bread was cold, dry and tasteless.

Nice atmosphere but the prices are way too high for what it is. FYI before you go the buffet is $25.00 and that's for an omelette bar, soggy salad, floppy waffles, room temperature gravy for biscuits, and dried out lunch food. The cheesecake for dessert was good but not worth $25.00...Too rich for my blood.

Preface: My review covers the brunch/lunch buffet experience only. This place used to be such a gem, but have visited a couple times for brunch in the last year, most recently in Feb of '18 and sadly, it was just not good. At 10:30 in the morning they put out a brunch line that was a confused mix of limited breakfast items and what appeared to be leftovers from yesterday's lunch and dinner buffet offerings. Weird to see a scrambled egg dish next to a dried out stuffed chicken roll (or whatever it was). The full salad bar was out right away too, which just seems odd at 10:00 a.m. It really was the worst of both worlds - incomplete and lackluster breakfast offerings and lifeless, stale lunch offerings. Oh, and if you did want breakfast, the biscuits, bacon, and waffles were all kept in the same warmer. Sorry but waffles in a warmer does NOT work. They were lukewarm and like sponges. On the off-chance anyone there will read this, here's an idea... open at 9:00 a.m. on Sat-Sun and throw down with BREAKFAST-focused options until 11:00 or 11:30. 6 or 8 tasty dishes that you make fresh and hot. I would be happy to pay $15 or more for something like that. It's such a unique and inviting space, and for years was consistently very very good. Not sure if it's new ownership/management or what, but I am rooting for Ellendale's to find their mojo again soon.

While the staff was friendly and helpful, I can't recommend this restaurant. It's possible that their kitchen / staff was having an off-day, but the food was decidedly not good - it was bland, and wasn't being refreshed as quickly as required, so ended up cold and hard.. The cost for two people eating their brunch buffet made it sting worse - $60 for mediocre food is not acceptable in my opinion. I must say, however, that their tropical Mimosas are on-point.

Second and last time dining here. Had the ribeye, it was cooked medium rare as ordered but was a tough cut of meat. Should have sent it back. Nothing on the plate was hot. Server was friendly but inexperienced. Too expensive for what you get. Place is drafty and cold. Not a fan.

Four of us ate lunch at Ellendale's today. No one asked if we wanted something to drink (other than the water on the table) and when I finally found someone to ask I was charged extra for coffee ($3.00) making my total $28.35 ($22.95 for buffet), and I didn't think the food was very good. All the meat was tough, and the vegetable dishes not very good at all. The salad foods looked good but the salads were set up in a separate room that I didn't even know about until I finished my food. The desserts that I had were good. I was very disappointed and will not eat there again.

This old house turned restaurant is very pretty. We went on a Saturday night and ordered the rib eye medium well. It came to the table medium rare. She took it back and brought out another rib eye also rare. At this point I asked her to just wrap it up and I would take it home to finish cooking it. She brought it back in a cardboard box literally just the steak laying on the cardboard box. Before I even got to the car it was soaked through and on my jeans. It should have been wrapped in tinfoil. She said they had a party of 25 and the kitchen was just having a very bad night. To compensate they did bring us this carrot cake which was delicious but I will not be back.

Don't even bother going here. We went on a Friday for late lunch. It looks like it used to be a nice place that has gone down hill. There was no one at the front hosting and someone finally came out to from the kitchen. Another couple came in after us and they waited a good 10 minutes and no one ever came out to serve them, so they left. The restaurant was empty which should have been a hint for us to leave. The food was not good. I ordered ice cream sundae and the ice cream tasted really old with ice crystals in it although they told me it was made in house. They brought me anotherr one out but it was probably from the same batch bc it had ice in it too. The rest of the food was mediocre at best. The servers were nice, though.

Very unpleased. I’ve gone to this place 2 times a month for at least a year now. Super impressed most times. But something has changed, last 3 visits have had bad experience. Your plates by the hot food were ice cold. We have to walk through people waiting for tables all over the restaurant (that sucked) Today should have been Resv only. I had reservations for 2 people. It took them 35 minutes to sit us. And they put us in a room that that freezing cold. Wife and I agreed after last 3 visits being bad. We will never go back there again. Maybe some new Management would help.

Easily the worst meal I've had in months. We had a great waitress; very polite and professional. The wait staff in general seemed very good. No complaints there. I kind of dig the quirky decor they've got going on. I felt pretty comfortable there, and was looking forward to dinner. The food was pretty awful. We really had the impression that the chef just opened a couple of cans, seasoned the ever loving hell out of what came out and dumped the contents next to our dry, flavorless pork chops. It was a very disappointing experience followed by a fifty dollar check. I wish I had just gone to the Sonic around the corner for dinner. The only possible explanation I can think of in their defense is that we came in around 9:00 pm on a Friday - Maybe the chef left early and somebody was filling in for him. Whatever the reason, the food I experienced at Ellendale's left me feeling disappointed, and I was embarrassed for having taken someone to dinner there. I will not be going back. Seriously, though, almost any restaurant in Nashville, fast food included, is preferable to what I experienced.

We decided to try this place out on a friends recommendation who had a good experience. We ordered the BBQ shrimp to start. This was pretty good, the dish could have used the larger shrimp as it appeared to be 21/25 instead of the U-15 you see on upscale dishes. The Southern Caesar was pretty good and the bread is to die for. My wife had the Quinoa Stir Fry, the chicken was dry (previously cooked?) and the greens in the dish were bitter. We should have sent it back but sometimes you just assume it's supposed to be that way. I had the hamburger with fries, the hamburger was pretty good but the fries looked they had been swimming in grease. Once again I should have sent them back but we were pretty much set on going home and having ice cream to finish the night. My recommendations is the skip it for now, it's either on the way out or needs some serious work in the kitchen.