Monell's - The Sunday Meal

If you're looking for a home cookin' eat-until-it-hurts restaurant, Monell's is the way to go. We visited Monell's on a Sunday afternoon to partake in the SUNDAY MEAL. The restaurant is located in Germantown, in a historic brick victorian-style home. The outside is beautifully landscaped with numerous flowers, a goldfish pond, and comfortable seating, since you run the risk of a long wait. But good things indeed come to those to wait in this case. As a point of reference, we arrived at the restaurant around 12:30, and had to wait about 30 minutes to be seated.

We came to eat with a group of 8 people, which is actually perfect for Monell's, because they seat everyone at long tables of 12. If you're an extrovert, you could arrive with only a party of 2, however I think to get the fullest experience, you should bring a group of friends. There is no menu, as the family style menu is set by the day,The long tables are pre-set with plates, flatware, dessert, and water. The middle of the table is equipped with a large lazy susan, which allows the entire table to share the endless pitchers of fruit tea and unsweet tea. I was famished by the time we were seated, and so quickly filled my plate with broccoli salad and went to work on the fruit tea. When the main entrees were delivered, I realized that I had made a huge mistake. So my advice--pace yourself!

The Sunday dinner on our visit consisted of the following:

• 2 Salads: broccoli and pea, and coleslaw
• Bread: biscuits and cornbread
• Stewed fruit compote
• Breakfast hash (eggs, sausage, and cheese)
• Mashed potatoes
• Macaroni n'cheese
• Green Beans
• Roast Beef with vegetables
• Barbequed Pork (with vinegar based sauce)
• Fried Chicken
• Dessert: Pecan Pie

This list may vary according to season and popularity of side dishes, because we noticed that as they were setting the next table for diners to begin, the salads were changed to a cucumber & onion and a pea salad. The southern smorgasboard proved to be overwhelming, even to a group of 12. My favorite element was the pork barbeque with what I can best classify as a western North Carolina-style vinegar based sauce. I could have eaten one plate of the pork combined with the thick-as-butter mac n' cheese and been a perfectly happy camper. There was really no dish that was less than great but the pecan pie seemed a bit out of season for a mid-summer's meal.

Monell's is defintely a difficult place to accomadate vegetarian diets, mostly because the southern style cooking featured at a restaurant like this usually seasons all the vegetable sides with meat. Therefore, Megan had some difficulties finding a full meal, however she loved the green beans, as she claimed, "they taste just like my grandmother's." Strict vegetarians should probably look elsewhere, unfortunately, because it is likely that everything from Monell's kitchen has been touched with a meat or dairy product. The price per person was around $18 with tax.

1235 6th Ave N

Nashville, TN 37208

Lunch: Mon-Fri 10:30-2:00

Dinner: Tues-Sat 5:00-8:30

Country Breakfast: Sat 8:30-1:00 and Sun 8:30-11:00

Sunday Meal: 11:00-4:00

http://monellsdining.ypguides.net/