Amerigo's on West End

First of all, mad apologies in advance for falling behind on Groupon posts. Cate has been super duper busy and I have been running around (literally running) and so I wasn’t able to pick up the slack by going anywhere. Now I have, and it is time to suffer! On Monday, the boy and I went to Amerigos for his birthday. We both like Italian food, and Amerigo was the first Groupon I actually purchased. I had been once before back when I was still in school, but didn’t remember hating it so therefore it must be good, right?

The two of us headed out to the location on West End. The restaurant seemed pretty crowded for a Monday evening, but I don’t know if that is normal or abnormal for the restaurant itself. The lay out is nice with classic pictures of Italy and wallpaper made to look like a plastered wall. We were sat in the back corner, which was a little dark and very loud. Once again, I don’t know if the restaurant is loud by design or just our corner but I had difficulty hearing conversation. I generally prefer places a little quieter as I use dining out as a social engagement.

We only ordered one drink since it was a Monday. I purchased the Siren, which was a light rum based drink. There was something sweet but light added to it along with lime, but I can’t remember now and it is not on their online menu. If anyone wants to go order one and let me know I will be more than happy to edit the information in!

Overall the food was very good. As this was a birthday celebration the two of us went all out. We ordered two appetizers in the small portion, the Calamari and the Crab Cake. First I have to say having a smaller portion for some of the appetizers is really excellent. Sometimes you just want something to hold you over that isn’t bread. The Calamari was the perfect size to meet this goal. It tasted good, both the red and pesto sauces were good, and I could taste the calamari and not just the breading. The crab cake was also good, although different. The small portion is one cake and comes on a delicious bean and corn sweet salsa which I could have devoured just by itself. The crab cake was probably the softest I’ve ever tasted personally. It was a little different but seemed to melt and tasted good.

For our food, I ordered the Fettuccini Imperial with a Caesar salad and the birthday boy ordered the Cedar Roasted Fish of the Day in Salmon. The Caesar salad was meh as far as side salads go as it tasted very watery. I don’t mind salads with less dressing but it seemed to lack much of the flavor that makes a Caesar salad so unique. Our meal came with bread which I liked because it was very soft, but if you, like my date, prefer crunchier crusty bread you won’t care very much for it.

Our food was delicious. The Cedar Roasted Salmon came out on a piece of cedar wood with potatoes and leeks. I don’t eat roasted food or fish very often so I only tried the potatoes. However, the birthday boy really enjoyed all of it and ate every last bit! My Fettuccini Imperial was also delicious. The Fettuccini Imperial is roasted chicken, ham, garlic, and mushrooms in a creamy alfredo sauce. It was perfect. There was just enough garlic for a little kick but did not overpower in any way and you could taste all of the flavors. In fact the next time I go to Amerigos I may have to order it again because it was really that good. My mouth is drooling just thinking about it.

Also since it was a celebration we ordered dessert as well. We went with the pecan butter crunch cake. Although I am not normally a pecan person I really enjoyed this. The cake was served crunchy and warm with what appeared to be restaurant made vanilla ice cream. It was really delicious. Even with absolutely no room left in our stomachs we ate it all.

Overall I really enjoyed Amerigo. I wasn’t a fan of the salad and he wasn’t a fan of the bread, but the rest of our food was really pretty spectacular and I am surprised how much we liked it. Amerigo is not overly expensive but not cheap. Groupon excluded our tab came to about $70 for quite a bit of food and in that sense it is really quite affordable. I would definitely recommend Amerigos for any special occasion when you are on a budget because I don’t feel the lower prices compared to other nicer Italian restaurants has any effect on the quality of the food there. I will most definitely be going back.

Amerigo on West End
1920 West End Avenue
Nashville, TN 37203
Hours: Sun-Thur 11 am-10 pm
Fri-Sat 11 am-10:30 pm
Reservations: Seated Upon Arrival. Reservations available for large groups.
Private dining also available.
Dress: Upscale Casual
Telephone: (615) 320-1740

The Red Pony in Franklin Tennessee

A few weeks back, my sister and I headed out to Franklin to check out the Red Pony. I was a little nervous purchasing this Groupon as the restaurant is a bit higher end than I am used to and was a good 40 minutes away, but the Red Pony has such a wonderful reputation I figured a Groupon was as good of an excuse as any. My sister works out there, but this was my first epic journey into town and it was a pleasant surprise. Downtown Franklin is adorable, and although there were roaming bands of adolescent boys yelling inappropriate things to people in cars, seemed cute safe and friendly.

The Red Pony was located on the main thoroughfare. We could not find street parking but there is a nearby parking garage about a block walk from the restaurant. The interior of the restaurant has a nice look, a little bit rodeo but still modern and high end looking. However, it is very dimly lit so if you are afraid the dark you might need to bring a nightlight. We had a reservation and were sat almost immediately. They placed us on the first floor next to the kitchen which might sound bad at first, but the wall to the kitchen has a large clear window allowing us to watch the chef prepare the food. Let me tell you, everything we saw the kitchen staff put together looked absolutely delicious. The spot was a little loud. I did not have much problems hearing my sister across from me, but hearing the waiter was a bit difficult at times. You can check out the menu HERE.

We started out with two appetizers – one which we ordered and one which arrived magically in advance much to our delight. The first to arrive was a flour gnocchi. I apologize in advance because I am going to butcher the ingredients, but oh my gosh it was wonderful. The gnocchi were in a white crème sauce with herbs that had almost a blue cheese kick to it. We had also ordered the Crispy Calamari which was very good. It was large pieces and the flavor was not overpowered by frying like many calamari dishes are these days. However, I have to admit it was not as good as the gnocchi.

For our main courses, I ordered the Shrimp & Grits and my sister ordered the Wood Grilled Beef Tenderloin. The serving sizes are significant and if you order an appetizer each of our dishes were large enough to share between two people. I had a small taste of her meal and it was good. I don’t normally eat a lot of beef tenderloin, but I did find it enjoyable. The asparagus and blue cheese sweet corn risotto that came with it – DELICIOUS - which of course means it was probably horrifically bad for me! My Shrimp & Grits was amazing. As in, so amazing I ate all of it and didn’t have room for dessert which for me is a huge deal. The Shrimp & Grits has apple bacon, green onions, mushrooms and wine all sautéed together and served on top of garlic cheese grits. The shrimp was perfectly cooked, the mushrooms were delicious, the bacon was good but not too much and it didn’t overpower the other flavors. You serve that on top of cheese grits that are wonderfully creamy and its food heaven. I was completely sated by the end of our meal.

The waiter brought out a small plate with thin apple slices and cheese that cleansed the palate. We had planned to order dessert, mainly because we watched the items being prepared in the kitchen and they looked delicious, but we were too stuffed. I will have to make a return trip mainly because I hear the guacamole is delicious and I really love guac so I need to try it. Perhaps next time I will manage to save room for the Chocolate Demise baked lava cake. Our Groupon was for $50 and made the dinner more affordable.

I really enjoyed the Red Pony. The food was incredible. Our service was good and I liked the atmosphere, although as I said before it was a little dark. Without the Groupon our bill was probably around $75, which is not horrible but should be noted in case you are on a tight budget or dining with a large number of children. However, I think the high food quality makes the Red Pony definitely worth the price. I would recommend heading out with foodies or on a nice date. Even with the restaurant being all the way out in Franklin, I will definitely make a return trip back.