Wonderful wine menu and recommendations by the waiter. We enjoyed oysters, burrata, and shared a few sides. All of it was incredible!! Can’t forget the house bread. I’d come back just for that and service alone. Love this place. Great for any occasion.

Overall experience was really good and the raw bar items were the star of the show. We got The Refuge to start off and the oysters, lobster, and shrimp were outstanding. The tuna poke and ceviche were good but didn’t taste super fresh or made to order (not to say they weren’t made to order, just didn’t taste it). Got the Halibut, Salmon, and Lobster Roll for entree’s which were all very good. I think our server split a section between the dining room and bar which made it difficult for him to keep up. Although very pleasant and knowledgable, you could see he was overwhelmed at times. If we needed something or we were ready for some table maintenance, it was difficult to track him down but he would show up just before it became annoying. It didn’t seem like there was a lack of overall staff as you could see a handful or more at all times congregating at the service bar waiting for drinks/chatting. Just need to tighten a few things up but the overall experience was really good and we will return in the future!

Took a bit for the waitress to come to the table for drinks.

The wait staff was wonderful! Very attentive, helpful & particular about every detail. The food was delicious. Would highly recommend

Service wonderful. Loved the ambiance. Not sure what’s up with parking but that’s ok. We’ll know what to expect next time. Looking forward to the next time!

Fantastic dining experience. Will return.

Food and staff was absolutely amazing

Amazing. Cory was our server the swordfish with the gravy…WOW! We are so happy with our date night 🥂

Very cool atmosphere. Great menu if you love seafood. Extensive wine list with many unusual choices.

The food NEVER disappoints. All the servers are incredibly knowledgeable, but like everywhere they seemed to be slightly short staffed. Have patience, because the food is so worth it!

I had the skate wing which I believe is related to a sting ray of some sort. Whatever they topped it with was a little too tangy and took away the flavor of the white meat. The meat was good and would have been better without whatever they topped it with but that doesn't mean you should steer away from trying it. It just means be prepared for a strong punch of flavor. The service was slow.

Good drinks, cool vibe but the food was underwhelming.

Amazing oysters!

We loved this restaurant. The wait staff was so well informed and helped us with our food and drink selections. It was a charming, beautiful ambiance. The only thing I wouldn’t do next time is have dessert. It was a little disappointing and really you have eaten so much by that time you can’t enjoy it. Will definitely return and have already told our friends about it.

Hands down the best - consistent food in Nashville.

You can't go wrong with a single item on this menu! I've tried just about every menu item over the past two years, and nothing disappoints. Definitely recommend trying out whatever Opportunities are on the menu.

Food was delicious, service was great!

Best fresh oysters in Nashville! Service was wonderful. Can't wait to return

Great service great food

Great fresh seafood and fish. Par Excellence

Great food great service

The waiter was very good but obvious there was. A Shortage of staff, cooks etc. very slow service with not a crowded restaurant. Sure there was a shortage of staff but as our 1st visit it would have been nice to know the status of our meal. Ford was very good once finally arrived, yet a very limited menu. Atmosphere was great. L.

Everything about the experience was perfect. Favorite place to go dinner. Looking forward to Valentine’s Day dinner here.

Service started off great. Then 2 issues. First, they asked if they could de-bone my fish. I made a mistake and said “sure”. The person doing it did not know what he was doing and made a mess of the fish and still left bones behind.... kind of the worst of both worlds. Then it took 35 minutes from the end of the meal to even get the check.

Excellent red snapper, plateux plate, rolls, cocktails. Mahi had too much breading so it overwhelmed the fish.

Again, I love this place!

Wonderful food and service! We started with the oysters and burrata, which were both excellent. The burrata is probably the best I’ve ever had, loved the grapefruit in it. For entrees we had the halibut and mahi, perfectly prepared and both excellent. The mahi was more flavorful, but I liked the simplicity of the halibut, it felt light but was also a large portion and very filling. We had the sweet potatoes for our side which were so flavorful, and a huge portion (way too much for 2 people). Not fans of coconut, but we both enjoyed the coconut pie. It’s sort of like a chess pie, but not overwhelmingly sweet. The sorbet was hibiscus ginger, and was also a very large portion. That was just okay to me, but I’m not a huge sorbet fan. Taylor (I believe) was our waiter and he was great, very attentive and helpful. Overall, I was impressed by everything, especially the portion sizes! I will definitely return here, the food was just so good!

Great atmosphere and great service from beginning to end. The staff was excited about what they were selling and for great reason. Great experience for my wife’s birthday

Brian was great! Food was amazing as well. Will be back for the coconut pie again!

Always awesome! Beat service and seafood in Nashville

Excellent food and atmosphere. The new additions will probably be great as well.

Service was great; lighting was dim; food was good but not spectacular.

I dined in at the optimist on 01/01/22 and was extremely disappointed in the quality of service and food. I have dined many times with the optimist in the past and have never had an unpleasant experience. To start, drink orders were not put in and after waiting a period of time I asked the server if drinks would be out shortly and it turned out the drink order was never put in. Then the food was served cold- highly unlike my previous experiences. I have always recommended the optimist to friends and coworkers and am very hesitant in doing so, especially since I had brought friends with me whom it was their first time dining there.

Simple Perfect! Food, service, ambiance!

The fixed price menu for NYE was quite tasty.

The service was spot on. Our server Colin knew how to be just present enough to wait on our needs but never oppressive about it.

I think it’s definitely worth us eating there one night when the menu isn’t fixed.

The space is quite nice and the sound system was awesome. I was so convinced there was a band hidden somewhere that I had to ask.

Went for NYE and the menu was phenomenal. My girlfriend and I really enjoyed the beef tartare, deviled crab, and oysters. I’m just pointing those out because everything was excellent.

Really awesome ambiance in the building too and the service was spectacular. Everyone there seemed to be very nice and extremely knowledgeable!

Very bad and loud background music and very poor and cheap dessert from Kroger (new years prefix menu)

I was annoyed that I was required to spend $125 on a New Years menu. That was not disclosed when I made the reservation. I enjoyed the shrimp, maybe $30 worth.
Waitress, bartender were great. Nice setting. Never returning.

Went for a fixed menu dinner and The Optimist seemed very over their head. Seated an hour after our reservation with slow and unreliable service/attention. Everyone was very friendly and food was good but overall the place just couldn't keep up. For these kinds of prices the end-to-end experience left much to be desired.

NYE 2022 impeccable service and delicious dinner and cocktails. I would highly recommend this restaurant to anyone who enjoys seafood with a innovative and new approach. This my second time eating here and it did not disappoint.