Monell's in Germantown (Nashville, TN)

We recently had dinner in a new-to-us restaurant in Nashville.  Monell’s has four locations… three of them are in old houses that have been refurbished.  It seems to be only street parking and that is slim.  

It seems to be a very popular eatery.  The line was already long before the doors opened.

 Its menu is all-you-can-eat family style with different offerings each day.  The big tables hold 10 – 15 people and each table is filled before service starts.  Our table had 15 and that was about 3 too many for the size.  No elbow room whatsoever.  That’s kind of awkward when sitting with strangers. 

Fried chicken is featured every day and was delicious.  The other meats listed for Saturday dinner were meat loaf, pulled BBQ pork, and fried catfish.  The catfish was also delicious, didn’t try to meat loaf as it was full of onions, and the BBQ never made it to our table. 

Opps… I need to go back to the start.  After our table was filled, the waitress brought out biscuits and tiny corn muffins, peach preserves, white gravy, pistachio ‘fluff’, and cole slaw.  About 5 minutes later the mains were served.  Besides the meats, there were veggies of pole beans, white beans, mac and cheese, mashed potatoes, and corn pudding.  The mac and cheese was not homemade and the mashed potatoes were watery.  The rest was average.  Dessert was an apple brown betty that was very sweet.  Drinks were lemonade, sweet & unsweet tea, and water.

The ‘all you can eat’ was questionable.  We had to ask several times for refills on the chicken and by the time it did get served, several people had already had their plates taken away!  The catfish never was refilled.  And we were never offered the BBQ on the menu.  Drinks were replenished quickly, as were the breads.  

I personally think $17.39 plus an 18% tip for a waitress we rarely saw is a bit much.  I don’t think I’d go back for dinner but at $12.77 for lunch… with basically the same meal… that might be a possibility.