My Aquarium Restaurant visit

[reewik]

The food was fantastic to start. There are 3 aquariums. The first one is located in the front. It is a two story tank. Very nice loaded with reef fish and lots of look downs. The next tank is a tunnel tank woth lots of tanks and other nice reef fish. The centerpiece is a 200,000 gallon tank. That is the shot I am including. The shot does not do it justice. Hint, get there at 11:00 when they first open for less wait. We waited 15 min tops to be seated. If you go the food is a decent price. (depending on what you consider decent)

[fishdoc11]

Very cool, I can't wait to go.
Chris

[danieljames]

I found the food to be a bit expensive (over twenty bucks for a ribeye?), but the tanks where cool and the service was as well.

[aquaman67]

I took the kids and just dessert for 5 was over $35...yikes.

The tanks were cool and they let us sit there for a long time even though we just had ice cream!

[Countzer0]

i know there was talk of the club going but it would be cool for those that can to get together and go ...

[fishdoc11]

Well I finally went tonight. The food was good but a bit pricey(to pay for those tanks and the rent I'm sure). All in all well worth a trip if you are a fish nut.
Chris

[aquaman67]

I went again the other day and it looked like some of the fish weren't doing so hot. One shark had a big chunk missing from his tail and the moray eel was laying on it's side gasping...

[reewik]

I am going tomorrow. Hope they are open on Sunday. Well I better make a call real quick.

[fishdoc11]

Everything looked fine a little while ago. The moray was swimming out in the open and eating like a pig. The only damage I noticed to anything was a chunk out of a stingray but rays and sharks heal so quick that will probably be healed in a day or two. I wonder if they lost power before you went aquaman?
Chris

[imsqueak]

I went there 2 months ago. 8 of us had a bill that split 3 ways and my third was $180. It was company money so I didnt mind. And nobody skimped! Company money made it taste much better!

Not looking at the prices... priceless....

Really cool tank, wish I saw them feeding.

[reefstyle]

where is this? I would be coming from knoxville.D:)

[fishdoc11]

Opry Mills mall, The behemouth that replaced our beloved Opryland.
Chris

[jslomo420]

SHOPRYLAND USA

[reewik]

Just got back. The tanks looked great. Food was good and the service was great once again.

[Countzer0]

not to be negative but i found the food to be overpriced my shrimp was chewy and tough ... the portions were small and the service was awfull i did not get any sauce after asking nor did i ever get offered a refill. The tanks rocked ...but overall i would rather have eaten somewhere nice and had dessert at the Aquarium.

[PhoenixINX]

Originally posted by Countzer0
not to be negative but i found the food to be overpriced my shrimp was chewy and tough ... the portions were small and the service was awfull i did not get any sauce after asking nor did i ever get offered a refill. The tanks rocked ...but overall i would rather have eaten somewhere nice and had dessert at the Aquarium.

Sounds like a one-off...

I've been several times now, and been top notch EACH and EVERYTIME.

If it was THAT bad, you might have advised a manager. Shame a single server, etc can ruin the experience.

[fishdoc11]

My shrimp was tough but it's really hard to get properly cooked shrimp in a restaurant. For that matter it's hard to get properly cooked shrimp anywhere. It takes a lot of practice and a lot of eating shrimp and .................mmmmmmm.......shrimp.........

[EvilMel]

That's hysterical that you just went on Saturday night Chris. We went on Saturday night as well! We saw the Moray Eel out swimming too.

That's so crazy.

I have to saw our food was freaking awesome. I had Lobster Bisque and man was it fabulous. It was a tad salty, but sooooo good. I also had Mahi Mahi with shrimp (that weren't chewy at all) and Brent had the BEST Sake marinated Sea Bass ever. It was freaking awesome. My brother had coconut battered shrimp that I didn't think was chewy at all either.

Yeah it was overpriced, but Brent I got out of there for $65 (plus a tip) having 2 entrees, an appetizer and a drink each. That's not much worse than anywhere else nicer.

I am still laughing that Chris was probably there at the same time as us.

[fishdoc11]

That is funny. I thought about getting the sake marinated sea bass. Maybe I'll get it next time. I was just thinking... 20,000 gallons for a 10% water change... Yikes!
Chris

[TN_sledge]

Do you have to make reservations? Or can you?

[gflat65]

You can call ahead, but as far as I know, no reservations.

I was in restaurants for 6 years through college (and for a short while post college) and know how things like that happen. There may have been a newish cook that night. He/she knows how to do a lot of things good, but not everything. Boom, the slam hits and every station could use a little help because someone didn't come in that night (probably a hangover or something along those lines). All of a sudden, the newish cook, who loves shrimp, but just hasn't made them too many times helps the saute cook that just got 24 orders with special comments/requests on them in the last 4 minutes. The newish cook thinks, "Huhm, if I don't cook these things enough, someone is probably going to get sick. I think these need just a little longer." Two club sandwiches later... "Oh Yeah, these things are just right... Well, at least no one will get sick. Order up." That or the server went on an extended 'smoke break' and the order sat under the warming lamp for several minutes longer than it was ever intended to. There are thousands of other fun possibilities, but I think enough people have skipped ahead to the next post. (Sorry kids:))

I haven't been yet and I have a gift certificate. Pretty sad. Any opinions on time/day of week? How bad was Saturday night, Mel and Chris? I'm excited about it.:)

[EvilMel]

Saturday night was horrendous for us because we had not called days ahead of time to get "call-ahead seating". If I were you I'd call about a week in advance and get in on the call ahead seating thing. We had to wait nearly 2 hours, which gets tedious even in a mall. We should have put our names on the list and then gone to the movies, then come by the restaurant. But hind sight...

We were originally told 1-1.5 hours. Then at 1.5 hours we were told it would be another 30 minutes, then I asked my mom to go over there and raise a little hell (her specialty) and then it was 15 more minutes. So about 2 hours 15 minutes total without call ahead seating. Let me tell you, I don't wait that long for any restaurant, but I really wanted to try it and we had been talking about it for days.

[fishdoc11]

We got there at 3:30 because we knew we would have to wait and they don't take reservations. The wait AT 3:30!! was 1.5 to 1.75 hrs. So we walked around the mall and went to Bass Pro(my favorite non aquarium related store), Barnes and Noble etc...while we waited. Barnes and Noble is close so you can go in there and read all the aquarium magazines without buying them if you like:-)
Chris

[reewik]

The key is to go at 11am when they open. I had to wait 10-15 min tops both times I have gone.

[EvilMel]

Yeah I was thinking lunch might be better.

Is there lunch menu the same as the dinner one? Or would you maybe not know if you've only been there at lunch.

[sunamoon]

chris,
it's nice to know that somebody else misses opryland! i spent many happy sumer there. then when kenny and i married we spent one of our honeymoon days there with all our friends. truly a blast.. we really loved that place. would have been great to be able to share it with our grandkids now. :(

Suna