Thursday, July 16, 2009

The Cuckoo’s Nest

Posted by Heather / 2 comments » / breakfast, lebanon, lunch

In the smaller suburbs of Nashville there can be good local food options, but they can be a little hard to find. The Cuckoo’s Nest is one of those, in Lebanon, TN. I stopped there recently on a weekday for lunch. It’s a breakfast-and-lunch kind of place with a feel similar to Bridges Cafe but in a smaller town.

I feel like my experience there was a back-and-forth of things I liked and things I found bizarre. When I first drove up to the restaurant, I was pleased to see that it was located in a converted older home. But then I walked in and found that the decor was stuck in the early 90s: sponge-painted walls in teal and pink, dated hotel-type dining chairs with the vinyl still on them.

I was seated at a table and given a menu. I noticed that the tables were decorated with a bizarre combo of fake flowers in vases filled with coffee beans. But then I was given fresh bread that was quite tasty. However, the bread plate was placed by the server on top of a large candle holder (to warm it up?). The accompanying compound butter was tasty with its incorporation of orange rind, but it was served in a chipped votive candle holder.

The menu had great depth but some oddly-titled menu items: ravioli with “seafood” sauce (no indication of the type of seafood) and beef and potato casserole with confetti topping (confetti of what?) were among the oddities. There were many of the usual salad and sandwich offerings, as well as meat-and-three combos (but the “-and-three offerings” were more like Southern potluck items, like congealed salads). I focused on the inserted daily special menu and ordered the Cuckoo’s Cuban and a side salad of what the menu called “asian” cole slaw. I added fruit tea to my meal as well.

I truly enjoyed the food. While the Cuban wasn’t pure in its form it was a satisfying combo of sliced pork loin, Gruyere cheese, and whole mustard. The side “salad” included cabbage, carrots, and ramen noodles and was actually okay too. I really liked the fruit tea, which the server described as a combo of strawberries, pineapple, and apples. But then I noticed that it was served in dime-store plastic glasses.

Overall, I had a good lunch at The Cuckoo’s Nest, and for its price (less than $9 with tax) I went away pretty happy. However, I get the feeling that this place might be one of those small restaurants that caters mainly to the owner’s friends, and thus hasn’t had a discriminating eye towards decor and customer experience. When I was there, there was a large contingent of mothers eating and their children were walking around everywhere. It was as though the restaurant was an arranged location by the owners for a mother’s day out. And when you read this, I want to be very clear in the fact that I really like children (and mothers!) but the entire time I was eating, a child kept walking over and staring at me and was never asked to come back to the group. I of course have no clue if the mother’s group was directly associated with the owners, but the whole scenario felt just a little too casual and homey. At times I felt like I was eating in someone’s home dining room, having been accidentally invited to come over to eat when the host had a group meeting there of some sort.

I do plan on going back to try out the breakfast menu and the dessert offerings. My overall feeling is that this restaurant has some very good food offerings, unique ones that should be played up. However, it could use a good external critical eye to sharpening up the decor, maybe do some purposeful marketing in the Lebanon area, and maybe have a weekend where someone comes in and paints over all the sponge painting in a solid color, trains the staff on professionalism, and neatens things up a bit. The Cuckoo’s Nest has a lot to offer the Lebanon area and should play up on its strengths!

The Cuckoo’s Nest
120 North Greenwood Street
Lebanon, TN
Open Monday-Friday
Breakfast 7am-10am
Lunch 10:30am-2pm
615.444.1398

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