A few weeks ago I was given the opportunity to try Blake Shelton’s new restaurant and bar in downtown Nashville. Blake joins other fellow country music stars like Alan Jackson, John Rich and Jason Aldean who have all opened restaurant and bars on lower Broadway. However, this is not Blake’s first experience opening a bar and restaurant. Blake has opened his first Ole Red location in his hometown of Tishomingo, OK and also plans to open his third location in Gatlinburg, TN.
Upon walking in the front doors you will find a gift shop, a dance floor area that will have tables set up during the day to get your grub on and will open up to dance off your dinner at night, and a large stage for live music to go along with it. There is a second floor balcony that will offer more room for dancing and eating and a third floor rooftop bar.
The decor throughout is very Shelton-esque: very rustic with neon signs, a red tractor hanging upside down from the ceiling because…well, Nashville, and a bottle cap mural of the Ole Red logo.
To show off your experience, stop by the bottle cap mural on the first floor, but also stop up to the second floor to show your friends and followers how much fun you really had with the mugshot wall background.
Ladies you will also *LOVE* the glittery wallpaper in the bathrooms!
When it comes to food, I strongly recommend going in hungry. The portions are huge! I tried the biscuit appetizer, which comes with two biscuits and a house-made lemon marmalade, blackberry beer jam and bourbon smoked salt raw honey butter. I wasn’t exactly a fan of the beer jam but the other two were great! If you plan on ordering the biscuits, which you should, plan on sharing them with your friends. You will need to enlist their help to finish them. I felt like I could’ve have gotten an arm work out in doing curls with them!
For my main course, I kept things plain and simple. Literally. I ordered the Ole Red Onion Burger, which is apparently an Oklahoma tradition, according to their menu. The burger came with a side of house-made tots as well. There is one thing I have to make note of….I am a VERY picky eater so I got my cheeseburger plain. Being a picky eater, unfortunately, comes with knowing your food will probably arrive incorrect and will have to be sent back. Even with my food being sent back a couple times, the staff was very accommodating. The portion, again, was very large and I ended up taking my burger, the tasty house-made tots and one of the biscuits home with me.
One of the highlights was the Cherry Limeade I ordered. It was absolutely delicious! The Cherry Limeade consists of Ole Smokey Hunch Punch Moonshine, sierra mist, cherry juice, and is garnished with an Ole Smokey moonshine cherry and lime wedge. Honestly, I really couldn’t taste the alcohol and could’ve had a few more. It was THAT good.
Overall, I really enjoyed my experience at Ole Red and would stop back again. My only regret was not saving room to try one of their desserts. Next time I’m down exploring lower broadway I will have to make a trip in to try some other options that they have available.
Interested in trying Ole Red for yourself? You can find them at 300 Broadway!
