Lemongrass Sushi and Thai
7108 Hwy 70 South
Nashville, TN
During a recent trip to Nashville, we were trying to figure out an interesting place to go for Saturday lunch that would satisfy the palates of both my vegetarian in-laws and my chicken-nuggetarian son. (Our other restriction was that we didn’t want Mexican, since we already had sweet potato burritos planned for the next day.) My mother-in-law came up with the perfect solution: Lemongrass, a Thai and Sushi restaurant that was located directly behind a McDonald’s!
Chip and I hit the drive-thru and then joined the rest of the family at the restaurant. It was clear from the minute we walked in that this place was a little too sterile for our children. Their simple greeting of “Mom! Dad! McDonald’s!” reverberated through the nearly empty dining room. “Inside voices!” I stage-whispered, for the first of about a thousand times. But even my stage whisper seemed loud in this place, so I tried not to worry too much about it.
The kids went about the task of clogging their arteries while the rest of us looked over the menu. One side was all Thai food, and the other all Japanese. It was hard to decide! My in-laws both picked something Thai featuring tofu, but I didn’t catch exactly what. Roy liked his better than Sherri liked hers, that’s all I can really tell you. They also got an order of spicy tuna rolls, which were delicious. Chip ordered a sushi sampler platter, which featured simple rolls made with very fresh ingredients. I got a crabstick and an avocado nigiri from the a la carte sushi menu, and Pad Thai noodles with chicken from the other side of the menu. All of it was great. Chloe tried the tofu, ate all the avocado nigiri, and had a significant helping of the pad thai noodles. For the Thai dishes we ordered, they brought us a selection of spices, peppers and oils so that we could tailor the heat in each dish to our individual tastes. This also provided the afternoon’s entertainment, since Chip ate some sort of pepper that almost caused his head to explode. Hee!
But aside from the food, how was the experience? Well, our waiter was definitely new and more than a little on the slow side. Since it was kind of a quiet restaurant, my kids’ normal voices really stood out. By the end of the meal, made a bit too long by our slow server, my kids really seemed disruptive. If we had been in a noisy chain restaurant they would have blended in fine, but in this environment their restlessness was really conspicuous. However, since it was a Saturday afternoon and the service was iffy, I didn’t feel guilty about it. The kids did the best they could.
I’d speak to the prices, but my generous father-in-law picked up the tab so I don’t really know if it was reasonable or not. (From what I remember of the menu, nothing seemed too expensive.) Lemongrass is definitely a place we will visit again. There is something for everyone to enjoy, even if some of it came from the drive-thru next door.
1 comment:
Monkey Mom,
I read an old entry about your dining experience at Sakura. I am trying to pick the best Japanese restaurant in Memphis to celebrate my own monkey's birthday. My oldest primate will be 19 and he wants sushi to celebrate this last teenage birthday. We've been to Osaka and Sato's and my husband has eaten at Sakura's, but I can't quite decide. I read the review of Wasabi in the CA which was favorable, but another review in Memphis magazine was not quite as positive. I enjoyed your recent article in the CA about breakfast with the monkeys. I also have jumped on the blog cultural bandwagon at mealmaker.blogspot.com/. I am always comfortably behind the curve.
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