Sportsman’s Grille

Love the catfish. I think it’s the best in town. Burgers are yummy. Great friendly bartenders. Great to be able to have a stogie in the upstairs pool room. Love this place.

I think this place holds a lot of nostalgia for Vanderbilt alumni. They know the bartender by name, and have fond memories of having out here during their time at Vandy. However, I never went to that school and don’t really understand the «charm» of the place.
They are bar that still allows smoking indoors. An immediate star is knocked off. The food is typical bar fare; I was happy that they offered a black bean burger and it was pretty decent.
I’ve only ever been to the upstairs bar and can’t speak to the other areas of the place. It has a pub like feel and offer pool and snooker tables as well. It’s very laid back and casual, and it always seems a bit damp when I go in.
Overall, it’s just not my cup of tea, but I’ve been to worse, so it’s a-​ok in my book.

Terrible service, worst I’ve ever had at a restaurant!
I’ve had a great time here before, but had a terrible experience with a waitress on ¹⁰⁄₂₄. When I was standing up by our table, she ran into me and dumped a cup full of ranch dressing on my back and my legs, she then yelled at me (yes, yelled, elevated voice and all) that I was in her way and it wasn’t her fault. I was completely stunned, I’ve never had a waitress scream at me in my entire life, especially when they run into me and dump ranch dressing on my back. Another waiter immediately came over with a wet towel and helped clean the dressing off me, and apologized for the female waitress and her behavior.
This is a fun restaurant with good food and drinks, but I would never go back because of the appalling service and behavior of the waitress. Consider yourself warned

I really love Sportsman’s. The bartenders are probably the nicest in town. Always very chipper and skilled and helpful when you’re not sure what kind of mood you’re in for a drink. The pool tables are a little pricey, but always nice and fun for a game or two of doubles. I don’t really love the smokey smell and air in there. It’s really the worst part about the place. The food is great tho and always a nice rotation of drafts.

I only give two stars because the food tastes good. Save that, zero stars. The kitchen staff couldn’t get their own names right, and the table service is horrible. They just don’t care. After many sub par Sportman’s meals, tonight was the last straw, and I will never go back. My sandwich came out with the toppings I asked them to hold and without the condiment I asked them to add. So I thought, no big deal. I’ll just ask the server to get me what I ordered. That would have been fine… if the server ever came back to the table. Yep – just took our order and disappeared. We were without drinks for well over half of our meal, I never got my order corrected, and we actually had to hunt her down to get our check so that we could get out of there. They could be giving the food away and I wouldn’t go back.

This place may have had its glory days back in the1970s, but it’s in rough shape now. Went Here to kill some time when Tennessee was playing at Titans stadium. Fruit flies and bugs flying all over the bar area.
Then guy next to me, who ordered food, found a roach an inch from his plate.
Place was sickening.
Bartender said it’s a 100-​year old building and they’ve had exterminators here, but no luck. Avoid this place if possible.
Did feel sorry for the bartender. She was sweet and couldn’t do a thing to help the situation.

Five stars only because Lexie, the evening bar tender downstairs is incredibly accommodating, warm and friendly. rod and pat are also great. wonderful experience ever time. the servers and hostesses have always been very friendly. chicken wings are bomb and drinks are well priced and strong. Good job y’all!

Upstairs bar is the way to go. Whether it’s Pat, Brad or Dianne they will take care of you.

Was craving a sportsman’s cheeseburger yesterday, stopped and had one with my husband. Place looked a little slow for lunch, but we were greeted at the door by our server, sat, with drinks ordered and delivered swiftly. My bottle beer was SOOO cold and tasty. Food order was placed quickly and food was delivered fast. Our server was efficient and didn’t stand around and talk (we hate when servers do that). He was there when needed and dropped check with perfect timing.
I always get a cheeseburger cooked medium and ff or o’rings, but went with the slaw for something new. Food came and the burger was awesome as usual, bun was perfectly toasted, onions were perfectly grilled, and my burger was a nice pink medium. My slaw was horrible, it was looked and tasted like KFC slaw. My husband got fries as his side, and he had plenty to share.
I love this bar and its burgers! I don’t know why these people give it such bad reviews. ITS A PUB/​GRILLE! If you want a sterile bright restaurant with servers that act like robots and frozen food go to a corporate chain. There’s plenty here in Nashville

Why did I allow someone to choose this place? I’ve been here before and each time it’s a bad decision. This restaurant can only be surviving because of it’s location. The food is mediocre and the interior is so dated and dark. Every visit the server seems bothered to have restaurant guests.
The restroom was horrible. I’ve said before that the condition of the restroom is a sign of how the kitchen runs and looks. The dining room was slow, but the restroom floor was spotted with wet urine.
Next time I put my foot down and say, «NO WAY!»

Sadly it seems business most be going pretty badly. Sportsman’s used to be one of my faves. On a Friday night they had no one there at 6:30pm. Seriously like 3 tables. They were out of several draft beers. They have decent food, but it seems something needs to be done. Their upstairs seems behind the times and slummy almost. I stopped going there on Sunday’s for NFL last year when the bartender lady was rude.

Still a great place for beer & burgers (or catfish). Not an exciting menu, but you can get a well-​poured draft beer, a big juicy burger (not overpriced like so many in town), and decent service — in a comfortable environment. It’s classic Nashville holding up against the newcomers.

I finally checked out Sportsman’s for happy hour with some grad school friends this weekend. While the 2 for 1/​Half off beer and $ 7 hamburger and fries got me in the door, I’m not likely to come back.
I love an old building– and the Sportsman is definitely that. A nice old-​school vibe, kind of like cheers. Wouldn’t be my pick on a sunny day though.
Service was a little slow, but friendly. They’ve got a nice selection of beers for happy hour– mostly Anheuser-​Busch, but a couple local crafts as well.
My burger was up to snuff but nothing special. Fries were soggy, so thats a huge minus from me. One of my table-​mates ordered chicken tenders, and when he bit into his third tender it turned out to be a fish filet. Our server was polite to remedy the situation but the kitchen requested the non-​eaten fish tenders be returned for proof. He didn’t receive any sort of discount on his meal either. I found this mix-​up quite disturbing mostly for food safety reasons. Kitchen staff should have things straight enough that a fish/​chicken mix up wouldn’t happen.

horrible! We went in, it smelled bad and then we were seated and waited and waited — a waitress never showed! A table behind us was then seated and one in front, the same waitress picked up those 2 tables and didn’t even acknowledge us! Never going back!!!

Just left here. Was on a late night food run with my boyfriend. Went upstairs, as the downstairs bartender told us to. Sat at the bar for approximately 8min. Watched the bartender serve other guests who even came up to the bar after us. Even came within inches of us & never said hello, be with you in a minute, nothing. We were never even acknowledged. Sad thing is, is I’m a bartender myself & tip really well. Oh well. We’ll never go back there or anywhere where we don’t feel welcomed. Maybe that bartender needs a new job.

I have never EVER been to a place with such bad service. The food was decent (but a little overpriced). When we came in we waited for a hostess or waitress to seat us and no one was found. It took us over 2 and a half hours to get our drinks, food and then paying was the hardest part. I recommend going somewhere else for food, sportsmans was terrible.

I’ve been coming to Sportsman’s Grill for years! All three locations. They all have that warm and cozy feeling and the food is great, in a comfort food kind of way. One of my favorite choices is the BBQ on cornbread with fries and beans. Delicious!!! The cornbread is a sweet jalapeño type, cooked like a pancake. The fries are hand cut and wonderful! Good burgers too! I hear the catfish is good but I haven’t personally tried it. I love their chicken tortilla soup. Yum!

I’ve worked across the street at Vanderbilt for years and never bothered to visit Sportsman’s. I finally went with a group of 4 co-​workers yesterday. We mainly went for some drinks but ended up ordering food after a couple of hours.
The first thing we noticed as soon as we walked in was this strong odor in the air. It smelt like stale smoke/​food/​sweat all combined. You get used to it after a little while or that might have just been the alcohol dulling my sense of smell. Either way it wasn’t an issue after about 30 minutes.
I started off drinking vodka/​cranberry. It was happy hour so my drink was in a tall glass and supposedly with a double shot of vodka. I’m no alcoholic, I can almost count on both hands how many times I drink in a year. I had 5 drinks within a 4 hour period and had a buzz but nothing like I should’ve had after the equivalent of 10 drinks. I don’t think I was getting double shots. I even confirmed it was happy hour with the bartender. The rest of my group drank beer and they got their 2 for 1’s in 2 separate glasses. After an hour, we moved from the bar to the patio. We were immediately greeted by a server. Nice guy, very happy but very forgetful. We ordered another round of drinks which came in a timely manner but then we didn’t see the server for another hour. We had to go back inside to the bar to order more drinks. Not sure what the problem was as there were only 10 – 12 people in the whole place at the time. Once the server finally returned we ordered some food. Two of us ordered the buffalo wings and two of us ordered cheeseburgers and fries. The wings came out quick, like 10 – 15 minutes but it was a half hour before we got our burgers and fries. The wings looked and tasted damn near perfect, I’ll get those next time. They were crispy fried and tossed in the sauce with extra sauce on the side. Yumm. The burgers were greasy but still good, cooked to a perfect medium-​well. The buns were a little soggy but whatever. Unfortunately, all the grease had puddled on the plate right under the fries so they were extremely soggy and nasty.
The prices were right on with every other bar & grille in that area. The wings were $ 9.99 and the beers were in the $ 2-​$ 3 range. My mixed drinks were around $ 7 and the burger n fries were on the special of the day for $ 7.99. The server was quick to come around and drop the checks off, before we were even half-​way done with our food. I had to go back inside, yet again, to get another round of drinks before leaving.
All in all, it’s just OK. I mean, I would go back again but, only because its right across the street from my work. HA!

Not the best place to eat for vegetarians — they have some overpriced salad, onion rings, fried pickles, potato, and fries, most likely previously frozen like at most bars. Upstairs there’s a dimly lit bar that has pool tables and TVs, but it is rather smokey. This place wouldn’t be a terrible place to come to for drinks, I guess.
On the plus side, it’s super close to Vanderbilt — probably the closest place to walk to from the esteemed Medical Center.

Bad review time — I always start out with four stars and add or subtract accordingly. This place was my hang-​out in the 70s and 80s when it was called Spats — I went there somewhat until 1992 when I went on a 9 year hiatus from alcoholic beverages. Went back in tonight after not visiting Sportsman’s in about three years — the restaurant had been upgraded and looked much roomier, gone were the out of date ferns and dusty feel that the old place had.
We were seated fairly quickly and after about five minutes of no attention the power went out. After power was restored the waitress came back in and took the other table in the room’s order and looked at us — still no acknowledgement. By this time we’d looked at the menu to exhaustion. I noticed immediately that the prices had climbed significantly since my last visit; $ 11.99 for a Reuben and fries in Nashville? Other items were priced comparably. When I was ready to leave my father went up front and asked for service; the young man up there came in and took our order and about 25 minutes later our food came. The Reubens were cooked well and the cole slaw was simply okay. The server apologized for the delay and was very attentive during service.
We probably won’t be going back any time soon because of the makeover pricing; if I want big city pricing for a sandwich I’ll go down the street to Noshville.