Germantown Cafe East

I would recommend trying this place for Happy Hour or Brunch.
Dinner is pretty average and nothing special.
The atmosphere is nice and wait staff attentive, but the food pretty unimpressive overall.

Definitely lives up to Germantown’s fabulous reputation! Thoroughly enjoyed the crab/​asiago quiche, the service and ambiance. And, if you’re lucky enough to be there when they are featuring the 3-​layer Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Cream Cheese Icing — you won’t regret the calories! My birthday treat… complete with a candle!

Delicious! Thank you Nashville Unilocalers for directing me to the Germantown Café. I will still need to visit the original, but given my location, the boss & I tried the east location for dinner.
I was a bit concerned at first because it was almost empty around 6 on a Monday evening. There’s certainly no reason I can see as to why this place shouldn’t be packed every night. Everything on the menu looked enticing. I’m trying not to gain a ton of weight while in Nashville, so passed on the appetizers and dessert (one day I’ll be back and will partake!). I was torn between the plum pork and the coconut curry salmon. Our server was very helpful and said that both were very popular, but that personally she’d go with the salmon. As it seemed a little more unique, I agreed. Each entrée comes with salad or soup. I opted for the house salad with balsamic vinaigrette. It was a good — and healthy — start. With the salad they bring out hot, heavenly bread. OMG, the bread! It’s almost like a doughnut, but not sweet. It was very difficult not to eat a bazillion of those rolls! Then the salmon was equally as delicious. Again, I planned on eating maybe half of what was on my plate (in an attempt at portion control), but it was so good I just kept eating. Getting some salmon, sauce, and risotto in the same bite was oh so good. And they graciously swapped the asparagus for green beans. Yummy, skinny green beans. (Sorry, just not a fan of asparagus.) And, all of this yummy goodness was only $ 20! How is that even possible? To top it all off, our server was very attentive, helpful, and friendly. Please people of Nashville — fill this place up and keep it in business. Your stomach will thank you!

Not a bad place to grab a nosh.
Not a whole lot has changed since they shifted over from Allium, same owners, same décor, slightly different menu.
A good solid place to eat lunch with food that is always consistent. The parking here is good too. This is the go-​to place for the wife and I when I need to whisk her away from downtown for a lunch date.
They have great frites here and they do a good sit-​down burger, but my favorite is the croque madame, which they call a ham sandwich now, you can ratchet it up with an egg on top for the same effect. Yummy hot ham and cheese sammich topped with Mornay sauce, completely hits the spot. They also seem to always have a cool soup of the day in addition to their French onion soup, which is spot-​on. I’ve really enjoyed the cream of celery soup and their chicken artichoke soup — nothing beats a well-​made soup that didn’t come from a plastic bag.
Last but not least, they have nice options for veggie people out there too!

Brunch is amazing right now because they offer some amazing croissant french toast. buttered bread cooked in butter topped with maple syrup. Too much of a good thing = greatness. Getting a flask of mimosas is definitely the way to go.
Theres a bread pudding benedict that looked delicious, in fact I wanted to try at least 4 – 5 dishes, did I order two, maybe. I love french food, but you can order american. Grapefruit salad, super healthy.
Oh yeah, TIP: ask to add some cranberry juice to the mimosa. It’s just fun to drink pink champagne. Oh wow, I sound like a lady. Speaking of…
a friend was wearing a Yellow dress. A wandering wasp thought she was a huge dandelion and flew into her sunglasses. There was a wasp sting, but I’d like to report the service was attentive and manager took time to say sorry for that experience, and that no wasps were harmed in the making of this review.

I’m a big fan of the original Germantown Café location, so I’ve wanted to try this east location since it opened. It’s just as good as the original, and offers pretty much the same dinner menu. I believe the brunch and lunch menus might differ slightly between the two locations, but I’ve yet to eat anything other than dinner at Germantown Café.
The location is a little confusing — I parked in the parking garage and took the stairs to the level of the café, but I ended up in an adjacent apartment loft complex and had to walk through their courtyard. At first I thought I was going the wrong way, but that’s apparently the correct path, even though it seems fairly convoluted!
Anyhow, I had reservations at 8:30pm and my partner and I were promptly greeted by a friendly waiter who lead us into the virtually empty restaurant (maybe 3 other couples were there). He gave us the best seat in the house with a nice view of downtown and was very attentive and knowledgeable. Of course the infamous rolls came out and we scarfed those down before our actual meal. I ordered the greens plate, which consisted of potato leek cakes, collard greens, chard, tomatoes, and artichoke hearts. I don’t know how something so simple can be so phenomenal, but it is! My dinner date had the coconut curry salmon, which is just to die for (I’ve had it at the other location).
I will definitely be back to this location, especially to try the lunch and brunch options.

I visited GCE last week with a group of ladies for happy hour. This was my first trip here since the Allium change-​over, and the overall experience was great.
First off, we were seated in the dining room, but then realized happy hour is only applicable in the bar area. We asked to move but were told «no problem, we’ll make an exception for you». Surprised? Yes! Secondly, we thought we’d only have 4 people in our party, but about 10 ended up coming. They were very accomodating and quickly pulled 2 more tables over for us.
Happy Hour: $ 5 house wines (they are Bota Boxes, so don’t expect too much). They also have specials on beer & mixed drinks but I can’t remember what they are. They have happy hour prices on appetizers, but the server seemed a bit confused about it. She first said half price apps but then later said $ 5 apps, and I believe the $ 5 price was correct. But, not everything applies. The mussels are a ½ order as well as the crab cake (1 cake instead of 2). The baked brie and escargot were not included at all. So, you can choose from French onion soup, Southwest Chicken Strudel, Potato Gnocchi, or a ½ order of crab cakes or mussels. The chips are already $ 3.95 and the Lamb Satay is $ 4.95 so the $ 5 special doesn’t really apply.
We all ordered different things, and I ended up trying the chips & the mussels. The chips were pretty good, albeit a bit overdone. I liked the mustard cognac sauce but some ladies said it tasted too «boozy». Not to me! The mussels were pretty good but nothing great. They didn’t taste bad but they just didn’t taste super fresh. I did enjoy the grilled bread they were served with which allowed for major soppage. Yum!
There was one hiccup with my bill — the mussels were not charged the happy hour price, but the server corrected it. I think overall we got great service, especially given the size of our party, and we’ll most likely be back.

Solid American Cuisine!
I am a fan of the original Germantown Café and was happy to book a reservation for dinner (early Valentines date) at this location on the east side of the river. Although a reservation wasn’t needed it was nice that we were greeted by name when we walked in and were promptly shown to our seats. The dining room is warmly lit, elegant, but not stuffy and the tables have a skyline view.
The server approached us in relaxed manner, but was professional while sharing the specials and reviewing the menu with us. It was a nice touch and she knew the menu well. My date and I chose Germantown’s signature Plum Pork dish and Charcrusted Sirloin Steak. Both of the dishes were served with mashed potatoes and green beans after a choice of salad.
The bread served with the salad was basically a doughnut ball! The slightly sweet dough fried and served hot with butter. I was in heaven. The server gushed telling us how great the bread is during the weekend brunch when they toss it in cinnamon and sugar. I almost walked into the kitchen to find some cinsugar… we will be trying the brunch as soon as possible. The Walnut Vinaigrette Salad dressing was perfection.
The pork tenderloin was tender and flavorful cut thinly with marks from the grill. The dish was good in a comforting way with a hint of sweetness. The sirloin was served as requested, medium well, but was still still very flavorful. The marinade seems to have tenderized the sirloin as it wasn’t as tough as I am used to for the cut. The charcrusted delight was just want I was hoping for and I will definitely order it again. One little drawback: the steak was artfully presented resting on the mashed potatoes and the red juices from the meat were not very appetizing as it created a «red gravy» that wasn’t as much crimson as it was fire engine red. When I order the sirloin again, I will request they let it rest a few minutes before arranging on the plate giving the red gravy a chest to remain in the kitchen.
On the two minute check back, we informed the server that the mashed potatoes were over salted. Of course, she offered us an alternative, but we didn’t accept her offer. We simply just wanted to make the kitchen aware as the night was still young. At the end of our meal the server confirmed that she and the kitchen agreed with us about the mash and they were making a fresh batch. She even thanked us! She offered us a complementary dessert for sharing a kind critique. Now, who am I to turn down a wonderfully crafted dessert? We enjoyed the Chocolate Peanut Butter Mouse Cake. every last bit of it. And, it sealed the deal that this café would included in our repertoire of Nashville favorites.
The menus between the two locations varies slightly and the serving staff works at both locations… in other words, we have two fine restaurants from which to choose and are guaranteed good service.

We had a delicious birthday dinner here. Everything was top notch. Food was excellent. I was reluctant to get the chicken, for fear it might be boring. It was amazing! Seasoned so well and the mashed potatoes were yummy. They brought out dessert and coffee on cue and the coconut pie was really worth the calories. Great feel and view also. I would highly recommend this restaurant.

I used to come to this place when it was Alium, so I was interested to see what might have changed. Although the atmosphere is the same (which I like), the menu obviously has changed. I ordered the scallops, and unfortunately they came out COLD. The servers were preparing for a large party to come in and were setting tables — apparently left our food sitting out too long! The scallops came with a wild rice (nothing exciting there — I could have made that) and greens. The chocolate mousse cake was excellent, but I was disappointed that my food was cold.

I came here for brunch the other week, and was delighted at the food… However, the service? Not so much.
My friend and I walked into the first door we could find and were given empty stares as we looked for a hostess, table, available seating, whatever. A server finally came up to us, pointed to an area 20 feet away and said, «Over there’s where you can get a table. You walked in the wrong door,» then walked away.
We walked our obligatory 20 feet and the hostess pretentiously asked us if we had a reservation (on a Sunday morning?), then sat us with an audible sigh when we responded we had no prior RSVP.
Our server was a little slow to greet us, but made some great suggestions on the brunch menu. The shrimp and grits was fantastic, so A+ for that.
Overall, I thought the snooty and wannabe pretentious environment wasn’t worth the good food. Hopefully they’ll warm up their frigid approach soon — winter’s coming, and there’s a myriad of other, better, friendlier restaurants that will get my money, bokay?

Stopped by for lunch today. Pablo had the crab bisque and was delighted, thick chunky and orange. I had the tomato pesto cream linguine, almost did not as the word pesto scares me but I am glad I threw caution to the wind, it was delicious, not really pesto like at all, just sundried tomato and not too creamy. We did not partake of anything else but lashings of pomegranate lemonade. Check came to $ 26.
Glad to see Happy hour from 3.00pm — 7.00pm and $ 5 well/​wine and appetizers and half price beer. Service was A-​OK
Still not crazy about this location. lots of outdoor seating but too much traffic.

What a superb spot to enjoy lunch!
Not to knock brunch, happy hour, or dinner but I can only speak on my first and fantastic first hand experience with Germantown Café East that I had on Monday.
Having never stepped foot in the previous project (same owners) Allium, I was bright-​eyed and bushy-​tailed over the casually elegant dining room. There were just a few others seated during our noon nosh session which surprised me due to all of the popularity of the Germantown Café moniker and with this being recently opened? Hopefully others in the community will take notice of what a solid option this place is for a meal.
Let’s dish about the tasty Black Bean-​Quinoa Burger that made this vegan one happy camper… with corn-​avocado relish on a wheat bun, and fries (we substituted for asparagus) priced at $ 8.95, you can afford a healthy and delicious meal any day of the week! Couple of things that I must point out, the bread was fluffy and light and didn’t bog down the meal at all. This is hard to achieve and much appreciated from me. Many who order «veggie» burgers know that consistency of the burger can sometimes be wonky or not the best but this patty was simply divine.
Our server was friendly and efficient and we thoroughly enjoyed the ambiance and views of downtown. Parking was super easy as there is free underground garage parking available. I hope that the Fifth and Main development can woo more retailers and commercial residents to the ground floor to help entice consumers to give this area a shot and to help support this delightful eatery.
I look forward doing my part by coming back for dinner and drinks!

After calling the Germantown Café and finding out there was a 45 minute wait, I figured I should give Germantown Café East a try instead. My party was seated immediately even though we were still waiting on another person to join us.
My friend and I couldn’t decide between the chicken dish with mashed potatoes or the green plate. We decided to get each and share. Both dishes were delicious. The green plate is a wonderful option for those that are trying to eat healthy/​vegetarian without wanting to sacrifice flavor.
If you were hoping to head to Germantown Café without a reservation, give East a chance. You’ll probably have much less of a wait.