Belle Restaurant

Had some time before our Belle Meade Plantation tour, so figured we’d try the restaurant. I ordered the Reuben, and it came with no dressing, no Swiss cheese, no grilling. It was literally sauerkraut and corned beef on two dry pieces of bread. Reuben would turn over in his grave. Guess I got the wrong thing based on the other good reviews?

Still a great place for lunch, but Belle has gone more casual.
In a way, this is good (more affordable).
But it’s sad to see that Chef Brian has removed some of the more ambitious items from the menu.
The burger stuffed with short ribs? Just a memory now.
The amazing fried chicken? Heartbroken to report that it has disappeared.
Apparently Belle does dinner once a month on Thursdays and some of these old favorites are resurrected.
Until then I’ll just have to try to visit on Saturday (fried chicken tender and waffle day)!
Service is still lovely. The fruit tea is still spectacular.

Was in town for the Country Music Marathon and we decided to do a little site-​seeing as well before the race. Our guide book recommended visiting the Belle Meade Plantation and that was really cool. The plantation was once a stud plantation, meaning it raised thoroughbreds (apparently many of the kentucky derby horses can trace their lineage back to a stud here). After exploring the grounds which included the mansion, dairy house, winery, and slave quarters, we ended the tour w/​lunch at their rest’t, «Belle». Wow, what a great southern cuisine experience! Our guide book recommended trying their «tea punch», so I ordered a glass. YUM-​O! they make it fresh when you order (and refills included:). the waiter said it was a blend of orange pekoe black tea, pineapple, orange, and lemon concentrate. It was sooo refreshing! just what I needed pre-​race for hydration. For appetizer, we had the blue-​crab fritters, which had excellent texture. the crab in it was perfect. Next I had the wedge salad, which was only ok. But my main course of shrimp and grits was amazing! Luvved the stone-​ground texture of the grits. Now, I’m not gonna obssess over perhaps how much butter went into the dish to make it so smooth and delicious (there was like a ring of butter all around the plate of grits)…I’m just gonna consider that I ran it off the next day! A must-​visit if you come to Nashville!

I have been to Belle twice for brunch now with my mom who is a serious NYC foodie, i.e., finding restaurants outside of NYC that meet her expectations is extremely difficult. But to my surprise, my mom liked Belle enough that she requested to go back there with my dad and fiancé during her stay in Nashville this time.
The Fried Green Tomatoes are reliably delicious and the Belle Benedict is made with two perfectly poached eggs and a side of potato hash-​cheese-​cream goodness. The MaBelle’s Meatloaf – just like mama makes it… but better. The Carolina Shrimp & Grits are amazingly creamy (but might be just a tad more amazing if they used jumbo shrimp). The vegetable panini and bread pudding were perhaps a little disappointing, relative to the rest of our meal. But, by the way, the mimosas are made with fresh squeezed orange juice.
Overall, this is a great place if you’re looking for a place that is a little nicer than your usual brunch/​lunch spot and you need to impress your hard-​to-​please out-​of-​town visitors.

Let me preface this review with the following commentary: I have never written a review, excellent or poor, for any business, ever! The only reason I decided to write this one is that the food we had for lunch was so poor that it defied description.
I had eaten at the former restaurant at this location, Martha’s, several times but it had never been a first choice or something I would have immediately thought of when going out to dinner or lunch. In fact, i can’t remember if they served dinner but I did have lunch and sunday brunch there and it was always an average to above average meal (depending on my mood).
The service at Belle was excellent. We had children with us and Barb, the server, was extremely patient and attentive.
The food was awful! The eggs benedict (or whatever name they gave them) according to my friend had cold eggs. My wife’s cod with risotto and fried onions according to her tasted like some one went to Publix bought frozen cod, baked it (not pan seared) and placed on a risotto that looked and tasted like runny oatmeal. it was bad. The ham and cheese panini i had was worse than a panera panini and twice as much. The ham was processed, thickly sliced, and probably could have been been better if they just bought Boar’s Head at the store. The dijon mustard on the sandwich was not even Grey Poupon, it was a cheaper version at best (and I don’t think Grey Poupon is even any good). Overall, the experience was poor because the food was poor.