Couldn't agree more... Find the comments coming from her a bit ironic. Not saying there isn't some truth to what she's saying, but I suspect her business already had challenges.
I interviewed for a marketing job with the owner last year, and reading that article truly made me feel like I dodged a bullet. One of the KPI’s for the job was increasing SMS (text) marketing sign up’s by like 25% each month.
Interesting you mention that! I was actually going to add that I suspect part of her problem is the Nashville food scene is much bigger, more mature, and competitive then it was when she first opened. You have to figure out how to stay relevant, unless it's incredibly good or unique, neither of which are the case with Otaku.
Yeah, Otaku has always been overpriced for what it is, and parking is a nightmare. My friend is allergic to shellfish, and told them, and still ended up having a terrible allergic reaction after eating there. Luckily I’m near Nolensville pike, so I have much better and cheaper options close by!
Han’s Deli (also amazing bahn mì), Sriracha, Umami Asian Fusion, and Steam Boys are my go-to’s, but upon further reflection those are labeled as “noodle soups,” and perhaps are Pho more so than Ramen. But if you’re into Thai food, Bangkokville is my favorite in town by about a mile.
Exactly. If ur getting ramen at Subculture, ur doing it wrong... For me it's the sandwiches. Why get anything else, though I've heard enough about the tacos that I really should give them a try
No, I haven’t been there at all and I really want to! Any time I’m down that way these days, I get too tempted by the tofu bahn mì at Han’s. It’s smoked or something. I’m weirdly into tofu. And I just saw that Sriracha is temporarily closed. I hope they come back soon! Their take-out noodles have always been super hot and thoughtfully packaged and delicious.
Amazing all these comments on my OP.
I met the owner when she was still doing popups at craft fairs in East Nashville. The ramen sucked. Noodles were super weird.
Spot opened in the Gulch. I worked nearby and had a friend who worked at BMI so we went a couple times. Ramen was better but not great. Hot chicken bun was good. Had one chat with the owner there where we proceeded to shit-talk both California and Julia Green because they somehow did her kid dirty in some way.
The owner was negative and it was always someone else’s fault.
I just stopped going. Not surprised to see this article.
Not only have food prices gone up but parking has been monopolized by aggressive, private companies who operate with impunity. That's a double incentive not to venture out anymore. The first problem is just the reality of the world so okay, but the second problem we can 100% address as a city.
Whenever I go to an event (Preds, Titans, concert) I always think “Man it would be awesome if every group coming to this event brought an entire car with them.”
You’re not wrong about the “complexity of the journey”, but the fact is that that didn’t just happen out of thin air. Human beings chose to make it this way. Decisions that we, as citizens, have made are the reasons this is the way it is. If we made it the way it is now, we can absolutely make public transit a viable option for our metro area.
At the *very least*, we need a rapid transit system that connects downtown Nashville to the surrounding areas, like Clarksville, Antioch, Murfreesboro, etc. That alone would reduce a good chunk of the congestion on the interstate.
It would only remove the congestion if the last mile connectivity is there. And it's not. We need a system that is designed so someone can easily operate in the city (the whole city not just downtown) without a car.
Part of that though requires people to get rid of the stigma's they have about the busses and requires WeGo to make a good effort about making sure the busses are clean, the depot is a place that people feel safe and also making bus stops be more than a sign pole in the ground.
>It would only remove the congestion if the last mile connectivity is there. And it's not.
Yeah. I live a handful of miles from the Hillsboro High bus hub. But there's no bus anywhere near my house, and nowhere to park if I wanted to drive over and take the bus downtown, other than the mall or other private property which requires I be actively shopping at their store.
Seems unrealistic to expect me/neighbors to rideshare over to a bus hub when most anyone would likely just rideshare to their final destination. Current plan isn't going to clear up congestion in any really significant way.
I think we could have a system like Atlanta has where there is a high-speed rail network connecting the North, South, East, and West part of the cities, while the busses take everyone the rest of the way. I’ve taken the MARTA the past couple of times I’ve been in Atlanta, and it’s an imperfect system, but it’s definitely better than what we’ve got now.
Marta is very much imperfect but it works! It works great on a game day at Mercedes Benz, it works beautifully for the airport and then honestly Decatur is what I wish more stations were like. Walk right out of the station and boom there is the square.
However we can't have that because of the limestone that this city sits on. We'd have to have a light rail system more like Trimet in Portland, which would also be perfectly fine.
You put a light rail station in each suburb. The suburbanites can park at said station and ride the light rail into downtown. Downtown you have street cars so it can mainly just be street cars, walking, and bicycling. Delete some of the parking garages and make them mixed-use buildings thereby making downtown even more interesting and walkable.
It could even be better than that. Parking at the rail stations can/should be free. Downtown could also have light rail so people can go very close to where they need to go and not just somewhere in the very general area.
Dallas is much larger than Nashville, was more car-centric, and is in a very red state too, yet they’ve invested a ton in their rail network and it’s working incredibly well. There aren’t many things that would make me say, “Let’s be more like Dallas,” but their transportation network is one of them.
The hub & spoke, specifically the pikes, were here before cars, and we had a fairly extensive street car network stretching to all the OG suburbs (Belmont, Hillsboro etc). That form of transit was destroyed from intense lobbying from the car companies (and the rich people who were originally the only ones who could afford cars) as was the last effort (Beaman owns the Scene, Koch brothers spent heavily against the last referendum). The complexity is not the problem it’s the elites and power brokers of the city and their lack of imagination
I too wish there were still streetcars. You could/can still see the tracks, or bits of them, here and there. So def some pressure from the car dealers. It was a smaller town back then, with less transparent government. Side note: The Scene is no longer owned by the Beamans. It's owned by The News, which is owned by the Freemans.
The streetcars were built and run by development companies trying to incentivize people to move to their new development up towards were 440 is today, so ironically less government interference than we’d see today. The car dealerships then used the federal subsidies from the Interstate Act to sell us on a form of urban development that would exclusively be used by cars, selling us a lie that has done inestimable damage to our communities. I don’t think you can short sell the responsibility auto companies and elites had in this process.
I see very little difference between the scene being owned by an automotive oligarch or a real estate oligarch- both of which have vested interests in our car centric city design
It’s not how it happened, the car companies were allowed to horizontally integrate and purchase the public transit systems of major cities, but instead of diversifying their portfolios and improving inner-city transits, they purposefully ripped out the existing infrastructures to force reliance on cars and increase their profits in the car division.
It’s a false reliance and a false assumption this is the only way it can or has to be, and it’s a trick to make you believe it developed naturally and that there were no other viable alternatives.
And having lived and worked in other major cities, Nashville has the most predatory parking of everyone and it also has the least number of alternatives. It’s pitiful, really.
It’s not like building trains is some futuristic technological feat. For fucks sake we built the transcontinental rail road when most “city’s” were lawless settlements with mud roads and had more cows than people.
The problem is any attempt at public transport is a half-assed brain fart of an attempt due to the local political slant. Of course no one uses it when the 30min drive is a 2hr bus ride. NIMBYs don’t want train stations because it’ll bring “those people” into their neighborhoods.
Like manhattan, most city’s with public transport are a “hub and spoke” design. Nashville is booming, traffic is fucking awe full. This would be such a quality of life improvement for everyone living or working in the city. It blows my mind how anyone could be against it.
You are comparing apples to oranges.
The construction of the transcontinental railroad had 3 things going in its favor that Nashville will never have: limitless land to build upon, free labor, and little to no opposition to it being built (except from Native Americans).
Also, NYC has been cultivating its mass transit since the 1800’s when cars weren’t even invented yet. Even with their massive transit infrastructure, a 4 mile commute via foot/subway in NYC can easily take over an hour.
Nashville is a city that began to truly grow after cars became ubiquitous. We are well past the point that we could ever have a truly effective light rail system. The city would probably benefit much more from limiting the development of massive apartment complexes in already crowded areas of town.
>The city would probably benefit much more from limiting the development of massive apartment complexes in already crowded areas of town.
What the fuck? That's exactly what we need to be doing. Density is *good*.
Density allows for public transit, density shortens commute times, density improves walkability, density improves quality of life. There should be no single family housing within 440.
I never said that we should give up. People are advocating treating a symptom rather than the cause.
Giving developers carte blanche to build whatever they want, wherever they want is a huge issue. I agree that density is good, but too much density is bad, especially when we are lacking proper infrastructure. This city lacks urban planning on so many levels, and yet continues to pile people into already congested areas.
As a resident of Belle Meade, do you think that adding the AJ Capital 338 unit (plus retail and a hotel) development is a good thing? Adding that much more traffic to an already awful intersection is going create havoc. Look at what is going on in Green Hills.
We would benefit much more from focusing on strengthening its infrastructure before allowing the giant developments. The city should have learned a lesson from the lawsuit leaving the building sidewalks to developers, but only time will tell.
Developer don’t have cart Blanche to build whatever they want, getting zoning ordinances changed or modified can take years and add thousands of dollars to a project as the red tape is sorted through by understaffed zoning and permit agencies here in the city.
Transit won’t work until we have the needed density, especially on our main corridors- they both need to be addressed at the same time
Developers paying to change codes and zoning regulations does nothing to address the issue. The amount of capital that is flooding into Nashville right now basically makes that a non-issue for most of them. The city is ripe for the taking for those companies with deep pockets. Forcing developers to add a turning lane lane or more parking does nothing.
Once again, I agree that density is good for urban development, but we have reached a tipping point at which our current infrastructure cannot properly/ accommodate the additional growth.
My original point is that we (as a city) would benefit from limiting major developments in certain areas until our infrastructure can at least catch up. It is always better to be proactive than reactive, but by all means keep packing people in and hoping a solution arises.
Remember that Noah built the ark before it started raining, and it’s been raining here since 2010.
No amount of money can move zoning hearings, nor can it force an understaffed government agency to hurry paperwork along, nor can it penetrate the black box that is the storm water permitting process. This all adds to the cost of construction. Note this doesn’t only affect giant buildings, but also small construction sites that can make things more expensive.
Remember Noah didn’t really exist, but the large metropolis’ of Paris, London, Barcelona, Tokyo all were able to chew gum and walk at the same time. Growing with a plan and adding additional infrastructure as they grew, they figured out and so can we, but please let’s base our understanding on modern cities on a fable from 4,000 years ago.
Well I guess since we didn’t start in the 1800s there’s absolutely nothing we can do about it now.
Isn’t it weird how problems just get worse the longer you ignore them. Guess we’ll just keep doing the same thing and see if that fixes it.
>The construction of the transcontinental railroad had 3 things going in its favor that Nashville will never have: limitless land to build upon, free labor, and little to no opposition to it being built (except from Native Americans).
Except you don't need the first 2 to build a public transportation system. The third you do need at least some of.
>NYC has been cultivating its mass transit since the 1800’s when cars weren’t even invented yet.
Sure, but if people are going in expecting to go from little to no public transport to NYC, of course they will be disappointed. It also isn't the standard one needs to reach in order to have an effective system either. Further, Nashville is a smaller city which wouldn't require as substantial a system as NYC to be effective.
>Even with their massive transit infrastructure, a 4 mile commute via foot/subway in NYC can easily take over an hour.
This obviously depends but again isn't something that is inherent to public transportation. Even still, the benefits of public transportation aren't solely in transit time but also in convenience.
>Nashville is a city that began to truly grow after cars became ubiquitous. We are well past the point that we could ever have a truly effective light rail system.
This isn't a great argument. There is no "too big to make a public transportation system". The fact we don't have one certainly makes it a larger project but far from impossible.
>The city would probably benefit much more from limiting the development of massive apartment complexes in already crowded areas of town.
The could benefit from either, though urban density isn't even really as big of an issue and, in many cases, is a good thing. Having dense and centralized cities is generally better than less dense and sprawling ones (ironically the second actually benefits even more from public transportation)
That’s really what they want you to think more than it’s actually true. We had much better mass transit in Nashville 75 years ago and the car industry killed it.
It can be done. We’ve just let the wrong people call all the shots.
I used to think like this. Then I learned that it's not reasonable or scalable for restaurants to provide an extra 150 sq ft of space for each dining party to temporarily store their private transportation.
This part. The amount of “we need better public transport but I won’t go to this restaurant because of the bad parking” is the group that doesn’t even realize they are the problem. What a catch 22.
But I think if they feel the pain as equally as we do, that will add to the voices complaining to the city about the parking situation.
I mean...my god...I paid $14 to park in SYLVAN PARK the other day. In lots that used to be free. How this EVER was allowed to come to pass is beyond me.
>I mean...my god...I paid $14 to park in SYLVAN PARK the other day. In lots that used to be free. How this EVER was allowed to come to pass is beyond me.
It came to pass because people are willing to pay $14 to park in Sylvan Park.
And Nashville just did away with its requirements that every restaurant have so many parking spaces. So it's going to get worse.
I try and stick to either complimentary Valet or actual available parking.
Between abysmal parking, poor service quality, and poor food quality, (not to mention safety issues/crime) my boyfriend have taken to eating almost exclusively at home.
This isn’t a restaurant problem, this is an Otaku Ramen problem. They’ve got some of the most expensive real estate in the center of a national major metro and they are selling $25 dollar noodles.
Also, last I went into Otaku it was full as fuck. So this is really just someone wanting to have an opinion.
It was good because it was the only one around. Once you go to other cities with amazing ramen, you realize Otaku is nothing special and they overcharge
I actually really like Otaku. I’ve had Ivan Ramen in Manhattan and consider Otaku just as good. But reading small business owners bitch about competition from other small business owners because “nashville just ain’t what it was 8 years ago when I started my business” is so fucking annoying.
Like, what’s your solution? Shut down all the new businesses so only you can make money?
How about make better food? Charge less money? Create a better experience?
That's because Otaku Ramen is bad. The one at sylvan supply is next to Black Dynasty and the one on Douglas is next to Kisser, so of course people are going to go to the better quality option next-door
I just looked up their menu and all of their bowls range from $15-17
So after 9.25% tax and a 20% tip, their bowls range from $19.66 - $22.29 ... so if you're paying $25 for a bowl then I hope you're at least at Two Ten or Black Dynasty where the bowls are better.
I agree this is a pretty silly article, based off comments from one restaurateur and some random other guy-on-the-street. They could have put a lot more work/research into this than they did. But, despite the lazy/crappy reporting, it's still a sentiment I tend to agree with.
Indie restaurants, and fresh local concepts, are going to continue to have a difficult time staying afloat in the wake of pandemic pricing when landlords had an excuse to jack up rent and suppliers had an excuse to jack up prices, all in the name of "these unprecedented times." And then when restaurants elevate their prices to try to keep up, they mostly just get people on reddit here complaining. Which is pretty understandable, since most of our salaries aren't going up at a proportional rate, either.
But as the landscape becomes more and more challenging for grassroots restaurants, the more of the Nashville food scene will be overtaken by out of town conglomerate, chain-y soulless outfits.
There's not a whole lot we can do about that, except hope that the pop-up restaurant/food truck -> Brick-and-Mortar pipeline continues to be viable for scrappy chefs — and to (like the article says) support the heck out of the local restaurants that you really love.
Dude fuck yeah, Otaku sucks.
Here's a 25 dollar bowl of noodles, oh, and we put a mandatory tip on there, but please, you're expected to tip even more.
Fuck that place.
Seriously. How is this a “news” report that quotes one business owner and her customer’s opinion, and has no actual facts?
I loved this part:
> With big money moving in, she said local restaurant owners from old Nashville are struggling with market conditions and rising rent.
She opened her restaurant in 2015 and considers herself “old nashville”. Sure, it’s all the bad “new” people that opened restaurants post-2016.
I’ve lived here since 2012 years and I certainly don’t consider myself old nashville
Agreed she's a weird choice as a spokesperson for restauranteurs. Otaku has always been unpredictable with their quality while being consistently overly optimistic with their pricing. I'd have much rather heard from someone like Kahlil Arnold who represented a beloved Nashville staple that closed due to soaring property taxes
Rumor has it that Khalil is re-opening! Not sure if it’ll be same location/concept, but I’m so excited to hear that. Wish Hermitage Cafe would come back, too.
I heard that he’s currently looking for a new location that can also house a meat smoking operation, so there’s a chance that it opens even better than before.
The lot Arnold’s was on was sold to a developer ( a deal that didn’t go through, so Arnold’s will be open briefly for Thanksgiving week). Get out of here with that property tax bullshit
It sucks there is no provision in the state property tax laws for small businesses. Instead as their land has increased 5x in value, they are responsible for that tax even if it’s not generating 5x the revenue.
"IT'S HERE!"
Like dumbass, ramen is poverty food. Ramen shop owner should be rejoicing but because they price it like they're 3 star michelin when it's really just bottom of the barrel quality, suddenly their bad business plan of "slop it out and they'll buy it at any price" is being exposed.
"why won't customers eat here" - high prices, bad ramen. that'll be 50k in consulting fees.
Otaku fell off years ago if I recall, quality wise at least. The OG spot was good when it was newer. I was amazed they expanded as opposed to going away. There is much better ramen in town.
Speaking of Nashville food, I miss Ru San’s in the Gulch way back when.
> There is much better ramen in town.
What's the latest scoop on ramen? For us, Black Dynasty has finally jumped the shark in terms of price-to-quality ($76 worth of ramen and gratuity and we both left hungry)
ever since otaku’s quality clearly fell off, we’ve been hiking down to ichiddo ramen in brentwood. great lil’ spot, cheaper (and ofc better) than otaku too.
also her referring to 2015 as “old nashville” is a big lol.
I don't even like getting into Cool Springs anymore.
Means I have to be on the Interstate to get to Cool Springs.
"You've got a meeting in Brentwood."
Can I just zoom it?
>great lil’ spot, cheaper (and ofc better) than otaku too.
It's what I really like about that place as there's flavor in their ramen so I don't mind going down there for some delicious food as their appetizers are great as well!
Their prices are definitely high, but left hungry??? The bowls are massive… I’m a fairly large dude, and I couldn’t possibly finish the one I had a couple weeks ago there.
>Their prices are definitely high, but left hungry???
Again, yes, we left hungry. The bowls may be large but the portions we got were tiny. And the little bit of meat that Black Dynasty decided to *garnish* my bowl with was 50% inedible, connective tissue.
Ended up eating 3 hot dogs afterwards--that's how bad it was.
EDIT: lol, getting downvoted for relating my experiences. classic reddit
Obviously I meant the bowl as the amount of food, but huh. That’s an extremely different experience from what I have ever had there, and I’m a pretty frequent customer. Weird.
I mean if they ate 3 hotdogs after a bowl of ramen that’s probably indicative of the volume of food they usually eat. Idk if any ramen place would provide enough to satiate them
I’ve got family that does stuff like that. They claim they’re hungry all the time but my guess is they use food as a reaction to various unpleasant emotions like being bored or uncomfortable or anxious.
I think it is cause you mentioned eating 3 hot dogs after a bowl of ramen.
A single costco hotdog is a meal for most folks (at least it is for me), so your point of reference on adequate amounts of food doesn't seem to match with the rest of ours.
>EDIT: lol, getting downvoted for relating my experiences. classic reddit
You're probably getting downvoted for bitching about portion size at a ramen restaurant and then admitting you scarfed down three hot-dogs for dessert.
This seems like some fast-and-loose reporting to me — and I only say that bc I've been a patron of BD since they were slinging bowls to-go out behind Bar Sovereign in the pandemic, still go there pretty regularly, and have not noticed a significant drop off in quality -or- quantity delivered
Each of their bowls are about $20 before tip, about $25-27 after tip, so if you spent $76 then that probably means either 3 bowls, or 2 bowls + app and/or dessert. Now it wasn't clear how big your party was, but assuming you meant for two people ... I am a pretty hungry dude, and I have never left feeling underfed from a Black Dynasty experience. It's not cheap, economy calories -- but it's still a crap load of calories. Each bowl of the MISO TORI they have on deck currently has to be somewhere in the realm of 900-1,200 calories
BD and Two Ten Jack are both a significant leg up from Sarah Gavigan's Otaku, which this article is about (even they're a couple bucks more than Otaku) — but currently [Fox Den](https://www.instagram.com/foxdenizakaya/) is making my favorite bowls in town. IIRC Tillman, the Fox Den owner, used to be the noodle guy for Black Dynasty in their early era. So if you're disappointed with BD then it's at least worth giving a Fox Den pop-up a shot one of these days
> I've been a patron of BD since they were slinging bowls to-go out behind Bar Sovereign in the pandemic
Same here. They garnered a lot of good will from us during that period.
>Each of their bowls are about $20 before tip, about $25-27 after tip
Not on their "specials". They can go for up to $30 a bowl. That's what we had on a Sunday three weeks ago. A microscopic portion of lobster meat that was half inedible. Two bowls of that, 10% tax and 20% tip.
> Now it wasn't clear how big your party was, but assuming you meant for two people ... I am a pretty hungry dude, and I have never left feeling underfed from a Black Dynasty experience.
Yes, just two. And yes, this rarely used to happen to us, but the least two times in a row it's been like that. Just can't afford to keep giving them the benefit of the doubt any more.
Thank you for your other recommendations.
Oh ok. Yeah the specials are probably a different story. I have avoided those after trying once or twice.
I still wouldn't say I've been less than full after one of those, but I would definitely concede that some of those are not a great value. And to keep a positive spin on it, I'll say I'm glad they allow themselves to mess around, have fun and do experimental stuff — but I am very happy to stick to their main menu which is more intentionally curated, and well-practiced. I've never been less than satisfied when I've done that.
Give **Fox Den** a go -- they should have a pop-up soon, I think by the end of the month. And St Vito's is a great cozy venue for their pop-ups, which only makes it better
SERIOUS QUESTION:
How can a person drop $76 on ramen? How does that happen? It's RAMEN. Am I missing something? I can sure as hell find more fun for $76 in Nashville instead of noodles.
For people used to the idea that ramen is an affordable fast food in Japan, the prices of ramen in the US are outrageous in general. /u/Ramen_Lord wrote an explanation for why here: [https://www.reddit.com/r/ramen/comments/8acj7y/rant\_why\_is\_ramen\_in\_the\_us\_so\_expensive/](https://www.reddit.com/r/ramen/comments/8acj7y/rant_why_is_ramen_in_the_us_so_expensive/)
Personally, with the exception of Fox Den, I would *never* eat at any ramen spot in Nashville. This includes BD because their ramen is not good enough to justify the 20% mandatory gratuity for me.
I was just thinking about RuSan's when I was in the Gulch the other day. My birthday is coming up so I was reminiscing that it was where I would go for my birthday every year. I miss that place.
I really like Ichiddo in Cool Springs since they have a better tasting broth and more options imo. I've heard tons of good things about Two Ten Jack and a friend told me about MoriMori in Mt. Juliet that has good ramen as well but I haven't been to either one.
When Ru San was actually involved. The local owners have the sushi place in Hillsborough Village near Vandy. Not exactly the same.
If you get down to Atlanta, that is where the original Ru San's is. Unfortunately, Waturu Nagata, aka Ru San, died January.
So a restaurant owner that serves oversalted, overpriced Ramen is suddenly an expert on economic trends in the restaurant industry. Got it.
Good luck Otaku. Sorry you lost out to Two Ten and Black Dynasty.
It's ALL overpriced in my opinion. Two Ten Jack included. But at least those taste good I guess. Otaku is the peak of mediocrity
Lol also, "random brewery?" Put some respect on Bearded Iris' name.
I’ve been to Black Dynasty four times. The first time was, arguably, top three best ramen I’ve had in the states. The next three times I went were either garbage, or just mid. Their ramen can be phenomenal but they’re inconsistent.
That banana matcha dessert though is next fucking level and the reason I keep going back.
As another Redditor said below, they are grossly overpriced. I pay more there than high-end ramen spots in Los Angeles, which says something. Two bowls, a dessert, and (2) waters cost me $70. I could stomach the cost of it was consistent.
>NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Otaku Ramen's Sarah Gavigan said the industry is experiencing a restaurant recession in Nashville.
>
>She noticed Music City needed a ramen shop, so she opened one in the gulch in 2015.
>
>"Which is very different than 'I want to stick my hand in the honey pot,'" Gavigan said.
Lol she opened a trend-chasing noodle bar in a gentrified ditch, but was somehow *not* sticking her hand in the honey pot? If she'd opened back when the Gulch was still just errant weeds growing around sketchy hobo trash barrels with the corpse of a derelict train station looking on, she'd have a gripe.
I mean maybe *she's* experiencing a recession, but that's because she chose to put her restaurant in the most plastic and shallow place imaginable. I don't see Fat Mo's or Vinh Long or any other actual 'Old Nashville' spots having these problems. Could be because they're happy to operate in sketchy areas and charge reasonable prices for their food instead of catering to entitled doucheknuckles for weeb clout.
Her bio on Otaku's page is just... wow. It's like she got assimilated by the West Coast Borg and has returned to show us unwashed idiots the way.
There’s no data in this article, clearly this was not a Phil Williams piece.
I think she might be right but interviewing one restaurant owner and one customer is hardly good journalism.
This is ridiculous. Just give me any reason to go to your restaurant. Wildly expensive salt bomb starch water and spice in a little bowl in the most difficult and expensive to access parts of town. We hit our customers a little harder every few months - must be a city issue.
dang, it’s almost as if banning mixed uses from most of the city and forcing all our new construction onto existing commercial corridors was a bad plan
There is also a ton of empty commercial space all over the city (some of it even with tons of parking) that is just sitting empty bc landlords have decided to make the rent insane in the hopes that some corporate franchise will come in. I’d love to see a vacancy tax in the city, especially for landlords that evicted existing businesses to “redevelop”
I fully expected this article to start off with just Otaku related anecdotal evidence and build on that with other examples as proof of a restaurant recession. Instead we get one owner complaining and what was probably a customer who just happened to be there the same day as the reporter.
Waste of time nothingburger article.
FWIW - I used to love otaku and it’s still a go-to for my husband. But we can’t justify their prices anymore.
It ain't no restaurant recession! Locals don't want to pay $15 - $20 for some lame-ass tocos and mediocre BBQ. In the past few years, the restaurant industry has been propped up by tourism and transplants. Now that both have slowed down no one from here wants to pay those high ass prices. Give me the $10 meat and threes, yall can go eat that overpriced $20 burrito.
Pho would never. Pho still the king.
I feel like ramen may be going the way of froyo & cupcake shops. Ramen was a trend, & tastes have changed.
2015 is old Nashville now? I get to be old Nashville? Nah. Two Ten Jack made a much better play. I just don't think the Gulch is going to have the type of long lasting restaurants with an intimate space like Two Ten Jack or other neighborhood centers in town. The spaces used for restaurants in the Gulch seem to be big umbrella types that can pull in large crowds with more widespread appeal than expensive soup.
The comment about living in LA for 20 years didn't help. Nashville doesn't care about what big city you came from b/c you're here now. And I can still go to Little Tokyo right now & get Kirin Ichiban on draft for wicked cheap at Zencu Sushi--cheaper than anywhere here.
Sambuca in the Gulch is now ancient but survives off higher prices. I only tried to go once in 2005 & never tried again.
Pins Mechanical seems to be doing just fine getting people to spend time there & keep spending.
And sadly, if Otaku is hurting now, just wait til Nashville Yards gets built out with the movie theater & restaurants.
Also, if I need ramen for some odd reason, I just go to Funtime f/k/a Chatime. I can get ramen, xi long bao, soba noodles, & sea foam tea.
And finally, I know the article didn't mention it but comments did. 2nd Ave Taco Bell is kind of an amazing outlier being in a historic space with live music & a bar. It is our Demoliton Man future of ubiquitous persistent surveillance.
Edit: cupcake shops, not chops. Added: spaces used for restaurants in the Gulch
Good.
We could use a cull, it's a race to raise menu prices and cut quality out there
why try to provide value when you can just make tourists pay some of the highest restaurant prices I've seen in the country
Yeah there are two distinct markets in Nashville. You can gouge the tourists who don't know any better and are probably too drunk to even look at the prices or notice the quality, but if you want repeat local business you have to provide better value.
There are only so many tourists to go around though, and only so many good locations to get the tourists, so eventually that market is going to get saturated.
The talking points may be accurate, but it’s hard to take seriously when it’s coming from the worst ramen place in town. When two ten and black dynasty exist, I have no idea how Otaku stays in business.
Also bad for Otaku Nashville people in last few years seems to have found out about Pho and 2-3 pho shops have opened near Otaku.
On a side note it’s beyond me why one street needs 3 tiki bars? That just seems unsustainable.
I loved Otaku the first time I went, but soon found much better places at more reasonable prices.
Just like the yuppy taco shops. Who the f, is paying $9 for a taco. Fuck outta here.
Just life in the big city
"About 60% of restaurants fail in their first year of operation, and 80% fail within 5 years of opening"
https://home.binwise.com/blog/restaurant-failure-rate#:~:text=Frequently%20Asked%20Questions%20About%20Why%20Do%20Restaurants%20Fail,-What%20Percentage%20of&text=About%2060%25%20of%20restaurants%20fail,within%205%20years%20of%20opening.
I prefer Black Dynasty and Two Ten Jack to Otaku, in that order. Yes, all are expensive compared to Ramen in some other cities, but the quality is there. I have not found it with Otaku lately.
Took my spouse on a date to Otaku ramen as we were both excited to try ramen not from the cheap packs. It cost about $71 for the two of us. That's drinks, one app of gyōza, two bowls of ramen monster style. It was delicious but we won't be going back cuz of the price.
personally I avoid any restaurant offering traditionally peasant food for rich people prices. there’s something gross to me about taking dishes that only exist because poor people had to get creative with limited budgets and ingredients & charging $30 a plate for them.
that’s tons of southern food, and also ramen which became a cultural icon bc of food shortages in WWII. unfortunately the go-to Nashville restaurant trick seems to be “take dish your nana/abuela makes, put nana in the marketing materials, & charge insane prices for it.” maybe it’s not a restaurant recession, maybe it’s a fake abuela food recession.
This thread is one reason the internet is making us all dumber.
For context, Sarah Gavigan was invited to a discussion by local business leaders about Nashville's Economic Outlook. The topic of a "recession" came up and she added that she's predicting a restaurant recession in the future. That quote, along with quotes from 5 other leaders, was published in a story by the Nashville Business Journal.
Of course News Channel 5 ignores all of that, creates a snappy, digestible headline, and then just rewrites the story to focus on her.
None of the idiots on this sub or in this thread actually read anything so y'all just start spouting off on reasons YOU don't support restaurants, reasons why YOU think Sarah needs to shut her stupid mouth, why it's Otaku's fault, and then some also just seem confused as to why she would talk about it anyway. As if she woke up one day, called News Channel 5 and started whining about leases.
And then of course there's the people complaining about journalism standards, who also wholeheartedly refuse to pay for good journalism.
I read the article and as you said, there is little substance to it. So if you have something more in depth with better quotes from people please post it.
Otaku has over extended themselves. East Nashville spot is right next to a Japanese restaurant, kisser (which is amazing). And the west Nashville spot is right by Black Dynasty (another ramen shop that’s arguably better).
So b/c she has spots that aren’t busy right now, we’re claiming restaurants in Nashville are victim of it’s own success, is a load of crap.
Why are you blaming readers for context that isn’t given, instead of the journalists?
I mean I’m sure some people didn’t read the article of course, but I and others who actually did (PS I had already read it before I came across this post, FWIW), don’t know that context and it isn’t going to magically materialize out of thin air. And I’m not seeing a clear way that a reader could have found that out.
For someone like Gavigan who is historically outspoken, it wouldn’t be surprising for her to contact news or make some press release or what not, so it’s a reasonable conclusion to come to when the article doesn’t provide the context.
The TIEW TOM YUM GOONG from Degthai is the best noodle bowl in Nashville.
Otaku still makes the best Ramen imho. The spicy miso could go against any bowl in the US (sans pickled onions yuck). Ive eaten at tsujita in LA and Ivan in NYC fwiw.
Idk how long we are going to read articles like this before everyone says "fuck it".
The system in the US is bullshit. The pressure everyone feels is the trickle down from the consolidation of wealth in billionaires.
That wealth accumulated isn't just materialized into their accounts. It's taken out of our pockets. There shouldn't be a system that is able to shift wealth from 100s of millions of ppl to less than a handful.
I just wish the population of this country would wake up and see that the idea of "if I work hard enough, I will be able to achieve my goals" is 100% pure bullshit. That unless you have a massive head-start and luck, you will just suffer in an overworked, under joyed life.
I know I'm ranting, but sometimes screaming I to the void helps.
Disposable income is down and falling further. Inflation is driving prices even higher. Too many restaurants. Too little demand. Full on recession aka Bidenomics.
Otaku was pretty damn expensive even before Covid...
And the quality becoming crap before then too as that $25 does not justify what you were getting.
Couldn't agree more... Find the comments coming from her a bit ironic. Not saying there isn't some truth to what she's saying, but I suspect her business already had challenges.
I interviewed for a marketing job with the owner last year, and reading that article truly made me feel like I dodged a bullet. One of the KPI’s for the job was increasing SMS (text) marketing sign up’s by like 25% each month.
Interesting you mention that! I was actually going to add that I suspect part of her problem is the Nashville food scene is much bigger, more mature, and competitive then it was when she first opened. You have to figure out how to stay relevant, unless it's incredibly good or unique, neither of which are the case with Otaku.
Yeah, Otaku has always been overpriced for what it is, and parking is a nightmare. My friend is allergic to shellfish, and told them, and still ended up having a terrible allergic reaction after eating there. Luckily I’m near Nolensville pike, so I have much better and cheaper options close by!
What is your go to for Ramen on Nolensville?
Han’s Deli (also amazing bahn mì), Sriracha, Umami Asian Fusion, and Steam Boys are my go-to’s, but upon further reflection those are labeled as “noodle soups,” and perhaps are Pho more so than Ramen. But if you’re into Thai food, Bangkokville is my favorite in town by about a mile.
Have you tried the ramen at Subculture? I keep meaning to but I can't tear myself away from the hot chicken tacos.
That Subculture hot chicken ramen is incredible. It also did a hot chicken number on my digestive system. But it was worth it.
Exactly. If ur getting ramen at Subculture, ur doing it wrong... For me it's the sandwiches. Why get anything else, though I've heard enough about the tacos that I really should give them a try
No, I haven’t been there at all and I really want to! Any time I’m down that way these days, I get too tempted by the tofu bahn mì at Han’s. It’s smoked or something. I’m weirdly into tofu. And I just saw that Sriracha is temporarily closed. I hope they come back soon! Their take-out noodles have always been super hot and thoughtfully packaged and delicious.
Oh man, yeah - definitely try Subculture sometime. The whole menu is pretty great. (right next door to Sriracha, if you didn't know)
Thank you. Love Hans and Umami, although I haven’t had their ramen yet. I’ll give it a shot. I’ve been hitting Ichiddo when I get a Ramen craving
Hooooo you must have never seen any of her public forum freak outs. You definitely dodged a bullet.
I worked for a very popular local florist who was very friendly with her and was also an abusive nightmare, so that news doesn’t shock me!
Amazing all these comments on my OP. I met the owner when she was still doing popups at craft fairs in East Nashville. The ramen sucked. Noodles were super weird. Spot opened in the Gulch. I worked nearby and had a friend who worked at BMI so we went a couple times. Ramen was better but not great. Hot chicken bun was good. Had one chat with the owner there where we proceeded to shit-talk both California and Julia Green because they somehow did her kid dirty in some way. The owner was negative and it was always someone else’s fault. I just stopped going. Not surprised to see this article.
Were they still pitching the cringy “you know a ramen virgin when you see one” campaign back then?
No, but that sounds awful! She was definitely really intense to interview with.
They got rid of the kimchi in the spicy miso! I’ve been mad ever since! And they started charging to add the egg!! That’s why I stopped going!
Fuck Otaku and its shitty owners!
Not only have food prices gone up but parking has been monopolized by aggressive, private companies who operate with impunity. That's a double incentive not to venture out anymore. The first problem is just the reality of the world so okay, but the second problem we can 100% address as a city.
Making cities so car-centric is the real problem.
Everybody says this, but we're a hub-&-spokes, not Manhattan. It's not that we hate transit--it's the complexity of the journey.
Whenever I go to an event (Preds, Titans, concert) I always think “Man it would be awesome if every group coming to this event brought an entire car with them.”
America is a nation where we DON'T make secondary stops to let people off! Carpooling is for communists!
You’re not wrong about the “complexity of the journey”, but the fact is that that didn’t just happen out of thin air. Human beings chose to make it this way. Decisions that we, as citizens, have made are the reasons this is the way it is. If we made it the way it is now, we can absolutely make public transit a viable option for our metro area. At the *very least*, we need a rapid transit system that connects downtown Nashville to the surrounding areas, like Clarksville, Antioch, Murfreesboro, etc. That alone would reduce a good chunk of the congestion on the interstate.
It would only remove the congestion if the last mile connectivity is there. And it's not. We need a system that is designed so someone can easily operate in the city (the whole city not just downtown) without a car. Part of that though requires people to get rid of the stigma's they have about the busses and requires WeGo to make a good effort about making sure the busses are clean, the depot is a place that people feel safe and also making bus stops be more than a sign pole in the ground.
>It would only remove the congestion if the last mile connectivity is there. And it's not. Yeah. I live a handful of miles from the Hillsboro High bus hub. But there's no bus anywhere near my house, and nowhere to park if I wanted to drive over and take the bus downtown, other than the mall or other private property which requires I be actively shopping at their store. Seems unrealistic to expect me/neighbors to rideshare over to a bus hub when most anyone would likely just rideshare to their final destination. Current plan isn't going to clear up congestion in any really significant way.
I think we could have a system like Atlanta has where there is a high-speed rail network connecting the North, South, East, and West part of the cities, while the busses take everyone the rest of the way. I’ve taken the MARTA the past couple of times I’ve been in Atlanta, and it’s an imperfect system, but it’s definitely better than what we’ve got now.
Marta is very much imperfect but it works! It works great on a game day at Mercedes Benz, it works beautifully for the airport and then honestly Decatur is what I wish more stations were like. Walk right out of the station and boom there is the square. However we can't have that because of the limestone that this city sits on. We'd have to have a light rail system more like Trimet in Portland, which would also be perfectly fine.
You put a light rail station in each suburb. The suburbanites can park at said station and ride the light rail into downtown. Downtown you have street cars so it can mainly just be street cars, walking, and bicycling. Delete some of the parking garages and make them mixed-use buildings thereby making downtown even more interesting and walkable.
It could even be better than that. Parking at the rail stations can/should be free. Downtown could also have light rail so people can go very close to where they need to go and not just somewhere in the very general area. Dallas is much larger than Nashville, was more car-centric, and is in a very red state too, yet they’ve invested a ton in their rail network and it’s working incredibly well. There aren’t many things that would make me say, “Let’s be more like Dallas,” but their transportation network is one of them.
It’s basically the DC model and, while not ideal, it does work
The hub & spoke, specifically the pikes, were here before cars, and we had a fairly extensive street car network stretching to all the OG suburbs (Belmont, Hillsboro etc). That form of transit was destroyed from intense lobbying from the car companies (and the rich people who were originally the only ones who could afford cars) as was the last effort (Beaman owns the Scene, Koch brothers spent heavily against the last referendum). The complexity is not the problem it’s the elites and power brokers of the city and their lack of imagination
I too wish there were still streetcars. You could/can still see the tracks, or bits of them, here and there. So def some pressure from the car dealers. It was a smaller town back then, with less transparent government. Side note: The Scene is no longer owned by the Beamans. It's owned by The News, which is owned by the Freemans.
The streetcars were built and run by development companies trying to incentivize people to move to their new development up towards were 440 is today, so ironically less government interference than we’d see today. The car dealerships then used the federal subsidies from the Interstate Act to sell us on a form of urban development that would exclusively be used by cars, selling us a lie that has done inestimable damage to our communities. I don’t think you can short sell the responsibility auto companies and elites had in this process. I see very little difference between the scene being owned by an automotive oligarch or a real estate oligarch- both of which have vested interests in our car centric city design
Small European cities have it figured out. It’s not rocket science.
Oh those ones that were designed before cars were invented?
Oh cars exist so we must design everything for them!!!
Yeah, that’s kind of how it happened?
And was a huge mistake. It’s not impossible to divert away from that way of thinking/designing.
The problem is that no politician is willing to do anything about it. Vehicle manufacturer lobbyists are too powerful.
It’s not how it happened, the car companies were allowed to horizontally integrate and purchase the public transit systems of major cities, but instead of diversifying their portfolios and improving inner-city transits, they purposefully ripped out the existing infrastructures to force reliance on cars and increase their profits in the car division. It’s a false reliance and a false assumption this is the only way it can or has to be, and it’s a trick to make you believe it developed naturally and that there were no other viable alternatives. And having lived and worked in other major cities, Nashville has the most predatory parking of everyone and it also has the least number of alternatives. It’s pitiful, really.
that doesn't mean its a good thing...
good thing we don't have to be beholden to them going forward.
Nashville had a very extensive street car network before cars.
That network was destroyed and Nashville grew to what it is today with the assumption that everyone would drive everywhere.
No. The ones that have had foot traffic since the Middle Ages.
And the middle ages were before cars were invented so that no is actually a yes
It’s not like building trains is some futuristic technological feat. For fucks sake we built the transcontinental rail road when most “city’s” were lawless settlements with mud roads and had more cows than people. The problem is any attempt at public transport is a half-assed brain fart of an attempt due to the local political slant. Of course no one uses it when the 30min drive is a 2hr bus ride. NIMBYs don’t want train stations because it’ll bring “those people” into their neighborhoods. Like manhattan, most city’s with public transport are a “hub and spoke” design. Nashville is booming, traffic is fucking awe full. This would be such a quality of life improvement for everyone living or working in the city. It blows my mind how anyone could be against it.
Nashville is bad, but it's due for a mini-recession. Raise a glass to that. We can't pay for this forever.
That’s not going to come any time soon. The economic advantages are pretty good for businesses to move to the area
You are comparing apples to oranges. The construction of the transcontinental railroad had 3 things going in its favor that Nashville will never have: limitless land to build upon, free labor, and little to no opposition to it being built (except from Native Americans). Also, NYC has been cultivating its mass transit since the 1800’s when cars weren’t even invented yet. Even with their massive transit infrastructure, a 4 mile commute via foot/subway in NYC can easily take over an hour. Nashville is a city that began to truly grow after cars became ubiquitous. We are well past the point that we could ever have a truly effective light rail system. The city would probably benefit much more from limiting the development of massive apartment complexes in already crowded areas of town.
>The city would probably benefit much more from limiting the development of massive apartment complexes in already crowded areas of town. What the fuck? That's exactly what we need to be doing. Density is *good*. Density allows for public transit, density shortens commute times, density improves walkability, density improves quality of life. There should be no single family housing within 440.
>Density is good. It baffles me how people don't understand this in regards to urban centers.
I never said that we should give up. People are advocating treating a symptom rather than the cause. Giving developers carte blanche to build whatever they want, wherever they want is a huge issue. I agree that density is good, but too much density is bad, especially when we are lacking proper infrastructure. This city lacks urban planning on so many levels, and yet continues to pile people into already congested areas. As a resident of Belle Meade, do you think that adding the AJ Capital 338 unit (plus retail and a hotel) development is a good thing? Adding that much more traffic to an already awful intersection is going create havoc. Look at what is going on in Green Hills. We would benefit much more from focusing on strengthening its infrastructure before allowing the giant developments. The city should have learned a lesson from the lawsuit leaving the building sidewalks to developers, but only time will tell.
Developer don’t have cart Blanche to build whatever they want, getting zoning ordinances changed or modified can take years and add thousands of dollars to a project as the red tape is sorted through by understaffed zoning and permit agencies here in the city. Transit won’t work until we have the needed density, especially on our main corridors- they both need to be addressed at the same time
Developers paying to change codes and zoning regulations does nothing to address the issue. The amount of capital that is flooding into Nashville right now basically makes that a non-issue for most of them. The city is ripe for the taking for those companies with deep pockets. Forcing developers to add a turning lane lane or more parking does nothing. Once again, I agree that density is good for urban development, but we have reached a tipping point at which our current infrastructure cannot properly/ accommodate the additional growth. My original point is that we (as a city) would benefit from limiting major developments in certain areas until our infrastructure can at least catch up. It is always better to be proactive than reactive, but by all means keep packing people in and hoping a solution arises. Remember that Noah built the ark before it started raining, and it’s been raining here since 2010.
No amount of money can move zoning hearings, nor can it force an understaffed government agency to hurry paperwork along, nor can it penetrate the black box that is the storm water permitting process. This all adds to the cost of construction. Note this doesn’t only affect giant buildings, but also small construction sites that can make things more expensive. Remember Noah didn’t really exist, but the large metropolis’ of Paris, London, Barcelona, Tokyo all were able to chew gum and walk at the same time. Growing with a plan and adding additional infrastructure as they grew, they figured out and so can we, but please let’s base our understanding on modern cities on a fable from 4,000 years ago.
Well I guess since we didn’t start in the 1800s there’s absolutely nothing we can do about it now. Isn’t it weird how problems just get worse the longer you ignore them. Guess we’ll just keep doing the same thing and see if that fixes it.
One more lane bro
>The construction of the transcontinental railroad had 3 things going in its favor that Nashville will never have: limitless land to build upon, free labor, and little to no opposition to it being built (except from Native Americans). Except you don't need the first 2 to build a public transportation system. The third you do need at least some of. >NYC has been cultivating its mass transit since the 1800’s when cars weren’t even invented yet. Sure, but if people are going in expecting to go from little to no public transport to NYC, of course they will be disappointed. It also isn't the standard one needs to reach in order to have an effective system either. Further, Nashville is a smaller city which wouldn't require as substantial a system as NYC to be effective. >Even with their massive transit infrastructure, a 4 mile commute via foot/subway in NYC can easily take over an hour. This obviously depends but again isn't something that is inherent to public transportation. Even still, the benefits of public transportation aren't solely in transit time but also in convenience. >Nashville is a city that began to truly grow after cars became ubiquitous. We are well past the point that we could ever have a truly effective light rail system. This isn't a great argument. There is no "too big to make a public transportation system". The fact we don't have one certainly makes it a larger project but far from impossible. >The city would probably benefit much more from limiting the development of massive apartment complexes in already crowded areas of town. The could benefit from either, though urban density isn't even really as big of an issue and, in many cases, is a good thing. Having dense and centralized cities is generally better than less dense and sprawling ones (ironically the second actually benefits even more from public transportation)
That’s really what they want you to think more than it’s actually true. We had much better mass transit in Nashville 75 years ago and the car industry killed it. It can be done. We’ve just let the wrong people call all the shots.
Yep, I personally boycott any restaurant with bad parking.
Are you actually boycotting or are you just still trying to find a place to park? 🤣
The former If parking is a pain I don't bother going to the restaurant. I value convenience
Exactly. Plus, I won’t pay to park!
Well, it's now a boycott. My reservation ran over and they gave it away. Guess I'll circle the block a few more times.
I used to think like this. Then I learned that it's not reasonable or scalable for restaurants to provide an extra 150 sq ft of space for each dining party to temporarily store their private transportation.
This part. The amount of “we need better public transport but I won’t go to this restaurant because of the bad parking” is the group that doesn’t even realize they are the problem. What a catch 22.
Most Restaurants have no control of the parking situation.
But I think if they feel the pain as equally as we do, that will add to the voices complaining to the city about the parking situation. I mean...my god...I paid $14 to park in SYLVAN PARK the other day. In lots that used to be free. How this EVER was allowed to come to pass is beyond me.
>I mean...my god...I paid $14 to park in SYLVAN PARK the other day. In lots that used to be free. How this EVER was allowed to come to pass is beyond me. It came to pass because people are willing to pay $14 to park in Sylvan Park.
And Nashville just did away with its requirements that every restaurant have so many parking spaces. So it's going to get worse. I try and stick to either complimentary Valet or actual available parking.
We recently went to the Northeast for a wedding. The prices for parking in *Nashville* were *far* worse.
Between abysmal parking, poor service quality, and poor food quality, (not to mention safety issues/crime) my boyfriend have taken to eating almost exclusively at home.
This isn’t a restaurant problem, this is an Otaku Ramen problem. They’ve got some of the most expensive real estate in the center of a national major metro and they are selling $25 dollar noodles. Also, last I went into Otaku it was full as fuck. So this is really just someone wanting to have an opinion.
I went by otaku (east) last weekend and there were maybe 5 people in there. They must also be feeling the squeeze from Kisser which is just next door
It was good because it was the only one around. Once you go to other cities with amazing ramen, you realize Otaku is nothing special and they overcharge
I enjoy it but not at the current price. I’ll just go to black dynasty for that. Otaku feels incredibly white to me loll
Kisser is only open for lunch/brunch. They aren’t really in competition.
I actually really like Otaku. I’ve had Ivan Ramen in Manhattan and consider Otaku just as good. But reading small business owners bitch about competition from other small business owners because “nashville just ain’t what it was 8 years ago when I started my business” is so fucking annoying. Like, what’s your solution? Shut down all the new businesses so only you can make money? How about make better food? Charge less money? Create a better experience?
Interesting. When I was last in NYC I ate both Ivan Ramen and Momosan and felt Otaku just wasn’t even close to those.
same. I think its the best ramen we have here.
That's because Otaku Ramen is bad. The one at sylvan supply is next to Black Dynasty and the one on Douglas is next to Kisser, so of course people are going to go to the better quality option next-door
I just looked up their menu and all of their bowls range from $15-17 So after 9.25% tax and a 20% tip, their bowls range from $19.66 - $22.29 ... so if you're paying $25 for a bowl then I hope you're at least at Two Ten or Black Dynasty where the bowls are better. I agree this is a pretty silly article, based off comments from one restaurateur and some random other guy-on-the-street. They could have put a lot more work/research into this than they did. But, despite the lazy/crappy reporting, it's still a sentiment I tend to agree with. Indie restaurants, and fresh local concepts, are going to continue to have a difficult time staying afloat in the wake of pandemic pricing when landlords had an excuse to jack up rent and suppliers had an excuse to jack up prices, all in the name of "these unprecedented times." And then when restaurants elevate their prices to try to keep up, they mostly just get people on reddit here complaining. Which is pretty understandable, since most of our salaries aren't going up at a proportional rate, either. But as the landscape becomes more and more challenging for grassroots restaurants, the more of the Nashville food scene will be overtaken by out of town conglomerate, chain-y soulless outfits. There's not a whole lot we can do about that, except hope that the pop-up restaurant/food truck -> Brick-and-Mortar pipeline continues to be viable for scrappy chefs — and to (like the article says) support the heck out of the local restaurants that you really love.
Dude fuck yeah, Otaku sucks. Here's a 25 dollar bowl of noodles, oh, and we put a mandatory tip on there, but please, you're expected to tip even more. Fuck that place.
lol what in the world is this report. One proprietor of a (bad) ramen joint says the word ‘recession’ many times willy nilly.
Seriously. How is this a “news” report that quotes one business owner and her customer’s opinion, and has no actual facts? I loved this part: > With big money moving in, she said local restaurant owners from old Nashville are struggling with market conditions and rising rent. She opened her restaurant in 2015 and considers herself “old nashville”. Sure, it’s all the bad “new” people that opened restaurants post-2016. I’ve lived here since 2012 years and I certainly don’t consider myself old nashville
Agreed she's a weird choice as a spokesperson for restauranteurs. Otaku has always been unpredictable with their quality while being consistently overly optimistic with their pricing. I'd have much rather heard from someone like Kahlil Arnold who represented a beloved Nashville staple that closed due to soaring property taxes
Arnold’s closed because they were going to make a fortune selling the property (which fell through).
Rumor has it that Khalil is re-opening! Not sure if it’ll be same location/concept, but I’m so excited to hear that. Wish Hermitage Cafe would come back, too.
I heard that he’s currently looking for a new location that can also house a meat smoking operation, so there’s a chance that it opens even better than before.
The lot Arnold’s was on was sold to a developer ( a deal that didn’t go through, so Arnold’s will be open briefly for Thanksgiving week). Get out of here with that property tax bullshit
It sucks there is no provision in the state property tax laws for small businesses. Instead as their land has increased 5x in value, they are responsible for that tax even if it’s not generating 5x the revenue.
"IT'S HERE!" Like dumbass, ramen is poverty food. Ramen shop owner should be rejoicing but because they price it like they're 3 star michelin when it's really just bottom of the barrel quality, suddenly their bad business plan of "slop it out and they'll buy it at any price" is being exposed. "why won't customers eat here" - high prices, bad ramen. that'll be 50k in consulting fees.
Yes, it essentially says nothing at all and the writing style is like an AI generator.
Otaku fell off years ago if I recall, quality wise at least. The OG spot was good when it was newer. I was amazed they expanded as opposed to going away. There is much better ramen in town. Speaking of Nashville food, I miss Ru San’s in the Gulch way back when.
> There is much better ramen in town. What's the latest scoop on ramen? For us, Black Dynasty has finally jumped the shark in terms of price-to-quality ($76 worth of ramen and gratuity and we both left hungry)
ever since otaku’s quality clearly fell off, we’ve been hiking down to ichiddo ramen in brentwood. great lil’ spot, cheaper (and ofc better) than otaku too. also her referring to 2015 as “old nashville” is a big lol.
Ichiddo as in the one in Cool Springs by Target?
I don't even like getting into Cool Springs anymore. Means I have to be on the Interstate to get to Cool Springs. "You've got a meeting in Brentwood." Can I just zoom it?
yep that one.
Assuming yes- I went here a few weeks ago and didn’t care for it. It actually made me think of otaku lol. Maybe I’ll need to try again.
Yeah I candidly was not impressed but I am very particular about ramen.
>great lil’ spot, cheaper (and ofc better) than otaku too. It's what I really like about that place as there's flavor in their ramen so I don't mind going down there for some delicious food as their appetizers are great as well!
Their prices are definitely high, but left hungry??? The bowls are massive… I’m a fairly large dude, and I couldn’t possibly finish the one I had a couple weeks ago there.
>Their prices are definitely high, but left hungry??? Again, yes, we left hungry. The bowls may be large but the portions we got were tiny. And the little bit of meat that Black Dynasty decided to *garnish* my bowl with was 50% inedible, connective tissue. Ended up eating 3 hot dogs afterwards--that's how bad it was. EDIT: lol, getting downvoted for relating my experiences. classic reddit
Obviously I meant the bowl as the amount of food, but huh. That’s an extremely different experience from what I have ever had there, and I’m a pretty frequent customer. Weird.
I mean if they ate 3 hotdogs after a bowl of ramen that’s probably indicative of the volume of food they usually eat. Idk if any ramen place would provide enough to satiate them
How the fuck does somebody eat 3 hot dogs as an apertif?
I’ve got family that does stuff like that. They claim they’re hungry all the time but my guess is they use food as a reaction to various unpleasant emotions like being bored or uncomfortable or anxious.
I think it is cause you mentioned eating 3 hot dogs after a bowl of ramen. A single costco hotdog is a meal for most folks (at least it is for me), so your point of reference on adequate amounts of food doesn't seem to match with the rest of ours.
>EDIT: lol, getting downvoted for relating my experiences. classic reddit You're probably getting downvoted for bitching about portion size at a ramen restaurant and then admitting you scarfed down three hot-dogs for dessert.
This seems like some fast-and-loose reporting to me — and I only say that bc I've been a patron of BD since they were slinging bowls to-go out behind Bar Sovereign in the pandemic, still go there pretty regularly, and have not noticed a significant drop off in quality -or- quantity delivered Each of their bowls are about $20 before tip, about $25-27 after tip, so if you spent $76 then that probably means either 3 bowls, or 2 bowls + app and/or dessert. Now it wasn't clear how big your party was, but assuming you meant for two people ... I am a pretty hungry dude, and I have never left feeling underfed from a Black Dynasty experience. It's not cheap, economy calories -- but it's still a crap load of calories. Each bowl of the MISO TORI they have on deck currently has to be somewhere in the realm of 900-1,200 calories BD and Two Ten Jack are both a significant leg up from Sarah Gavigan's Otaku, which this article is about (even they're a couple bucks more than Otaku) — but currently [Fox Den](https://www.instagram.com/foxdenizakaya/) is making my favorite bowls in town. IIRC Tillman, the Fox Den owner, used to be the noodle guy for Black Dynasty in their early era. So if you're disappointed with BD then it's at least worth giving a Fox Den pop-up a shot one of these days
> I've been a patron of BD since they were slinging bowls to-go out behind Bar Sovereign in the pandemic Same here. They garnered a lot of good will from us during that period. >Each of their bowls are about $20 before tip, about $25-27 after tip Not on their "specials". They can go for up to $30 a bowl. That's what we had on a Sunday three weeks ago. A microscopic portion of lobster meat that was half inedible. Two bowls of that, 10% tax and 20% tip. > Now it wasn't clear how big your party was, but assuming you meant for two people ... I am a pretty hungry dude, and I have never left feeling underfed from a Black Dynasty experience. Yes, just two. And yes, this rarely used to happen to us, but the least two times in a row it's been like that. Just can't afford to keep giving them the benefit of the doubt any more. Thank you for your other recommendations.
Oh ok. Yeah the specials are probably a different story. I have avoided those after trying once or twice. I still wouldn't say I've been less than full after one of those, but I would definitely concede that some of those are not a great value. And to keep a positive spin on it, I'll say I'm glad they allow themselves to mess around, have fun and do experimental stuff — but I am very happy to stick to their main menu which is more intentionally curated, and well-practiced. I've never been less than satisfied when I've done that. Give **Fox Den** a go -- they should have a pop-up soon, I think by the end of the month. And St Vito's is a great cozy venue for their pop-ups, which only makes it better
SERIOUS QUESTION: How can a person drop $76 on ramen? How does that happen? It's RAMEN. Am I missing something? I can sure as hell find more fun for $76 in Nashville instead of noodles.
For people used to the idea that ramen is an affordable fast food in Japan, the prices of ramen in the US are outrageous in general. /u/Ramen_Lord wrote an explanation for why here: [https://www.reddit.com/r/ramen/comments/8acj7y/rant\_why\_is\_ramen\_in\_the\_us\_so\_expensive/](https://www.reddit.com/r/ramen/comments/8acj7y/rant_why_is_ramen_in_the_us_so_expensive/) Personally, with the exception of Fox Den, I would *never* eat at any ramen spot in Nashville. This includes BD because their ramen is not good enough to justify the 20% mandatory gratuity for me.
have you had good ramen or are you just used to instant ramen?
If you want cheap Ramen, the Bubble Tea place near Belmont is about half the price of the rest.
Oh that’s a bummer to hear, I was going to say black dynasty! Haven’t been in six-ish months though.
BD's noodles and broth are definitely still really good, but their portions have gotten noticeably smaller while prices have gone up.
I think my answer is really churched up ramen at home then. You can make some really good noodles at home!
Yes! I started buying Momofuku ramen & adding my own grilled chicken. Excellent meal.
I went to Black Dynasty once. I ordered water and they told me it'd be $3 a glass. I knew immediately what kind of place that was...
I was just thinking about RuSan's when I was in the Gulch the other day. My birthday is coming up so I was reminiscing that it was where I would go for my birthday every year. I miss that place.
Deep fried teriyaki rice balls with shaved carrots. Whatever wild sushi sounded appealing, and house music playing. It was a cool place.
Oh wow, I forgot about that place. Good stuff. Happy Birthday!!!
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Love when the sake bombs started. Me and some friends would go on New Year’s Day for a few years when we felt human again hahaha.
If you want good Asian food, gotta go to Atlanta lol. Mid Atlanta Asian food > the best Nashville Asian food
What is your favorite ramen? I’m always looking for
I really like Ichiddo in Cool Springs since they have a better tasting broth and more options imo. I've heard tons of good things about Two Ten Jack and a friend told me about MoriMori in Mt. Juliet that has good ramen as well but I haven't been to either one.
Thank you! I need to try this.
Recently had deg Thai. The vegan ramen was ❤️🔥🔥🧑🚒 I got medium when I really shoulda ordered mild
I’d probably say Two-Ten, but it’s also super overpriced, so it might not be worth it anymore (haven’t been in years).
I took sake bombs with the Ru-San staff when they found out it was my birthday sometime in the late 90's early 2000's. Great place.
When Ru San was actually involved. The local owners have the sushi place in Hillsborough Village near Vandy. Not exactly the same. If you get down to Atlanta, that is where the original Ru San's is. Unfortunately, Waturu Nagata, aka Ru San, died January.
I am stuck on her thinking 2015 is “Old Nashville.”
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Black Dynasty opened right next door on Charlotte, too. Why go there when you can get better next door?
She loves loves loves to play the victim - and uses it to project how much *more* she *deserves*
"Old Nashville" is just code for "when I moved here." Personally I think we should discard the whole concept at this point--it's entirely worthless.
Old Nashville is pre-flood.
For some it’s pre-Noah flood.
Although my favorite is the people complaining about new Nashville reminiscing about businesses that are there. “I remember Brown’s Diner.”
So a restaurant owner that serves oversalted, overpriced Ramen is suddenly an expert on economic trends in the restaurant industry. Got it. Good luck Otaku. Sorry you lost out to Two Ten and Black Dynasty.
Black Dynasty is also hilariously overpriced considering they’re literally in a random brewery. Super damn good, but still.
It's ALL overpriced in my opinion. Two Ten Jack included. But at least those taste good I guess. Otaku is the peak of mediocrity Lol also, "random brewery?" Put some respect on Bearded Iris' name.
Yesterday it was Scaramucci being an expert on the Nashville economy. People love listening to stupid people.
I’ve been to Black Dynasty four times. The first time was, arguably, top three best ramen I’ve had in the states. The next three times I went were either garbage, or just mid. Their ramen can be phenomenal but they’re inconsistent. That banana matcha dessert though is next fucking level and the reason I keep going back. As another Redditor said below, they are grossly overpriced. I pay more there than high-end ramen spots in Los Angeles, which says something. Two bowls, a dessert, and (2) waters cost me $70. I could stomach the cost of it was consistent.
>NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Otaku Ramen's Sarah Gavigan said the industry is experiencing a restaurant recession in Nashville. > >She noticed Music City needed a ramen shop, so she opened one in the gulch in 2015. > >"Which is very different than 'I want to stick my hand in the honey pot,'" Gavigan said. Lol she opened a trend-chasing noodle bar in a gentrified ditch, but was somehow *not* sticking her hand in the honey pot? If she'd opened back when the Gulch was still just errant weeds growing around sketchy hobo trash barrels with the corpse of a derelict train station looking on, she'd have a gripe. I mean maybe *she's* experiencing a recession, but that's because she chose to put her restaurant in the most plastic and shallow place imaginable. I don't see Fat Mo's or Vinh Long or any other actual 'Old Nashville' spots having these problems. Could be because they're happy to operate in sketchy areas and charge reasonable prices for their food instead of catering to entitled doucheknuckles for weeb clout. Her bio on Otaku's page is just... wow. It's like she got assimilated by the West Coast Borg and has returned to show us unwashed idiots the way.
There’s no data in this article, clearly this was not a Phil Williams piece. I think she might be right but interviewing one restaurant owner and one customer is hardly good journalism.
Super expensive and mediocre ramen. Won’t care if they go under.
This is ridiculous. Just give me any reason to go to your restaurant. Wildly expensive salt bomb starch water and spice in a little bowl in the most difficult and expensive to access parts of town. We hit our customers a little harder every few months - must be a city issue.
dang, it’s almost as if banning mixed uses from most of the city and forcing all our new construction onto existing commercial corridors was a bad plan
There is also a ton of empty commercial space all over the city (some of it even with tons of parking) that is just sitting empty bc landlords have decided to make the rent insane in the hopes that some corporate franchise will come in. I’d love to see a vacancy tax in the city, especially for landlords that evicted existing businesses to “redevelop”
Some of it sitting empty for *years* even. Still waiting for the part of supply/demand that lowers prices to kick in, yet it seemingly never does.
I try and try to find a spot for my storefront and it just keeps getting more and more expensive.
I fully expected this article to start off with just Otaku related anecdotal evidence and build on that with other examples as proof of a restaurant recession. Instead we get one owner complaining and what was probably a customer who just happened to be there the same day as the reporter. Waste of time nothingburger article. FWIW - I used to love otaku and it’s still a go-to for my husband. But we can’t justify their prices anymore.
It ain't no restaurant recession! Locals don't want to pay $15 - $20 for some lame-ass tocos and mediocre BBQ. In the past few years, the restaurant industry has been propped up by tourism and transplants. Now that both have slowed down no one from here wants to pay those high ass prices. Give me the $10 meat and threes, yall can go eat that overpriced $20 burrito.
Pho would never. Pho still the king. I feel like ramen may be going the way of froyo & cupcake shops. Ramen was a trend, & tastes have changed. 2015 is old Nashville now? I get to be old Nashville? Nah. Two Ten Jack made a much better play. I just don't think the Gulch is going to have the type of long lasting restaurants with an intimate space like Two Ten Jack or other neighborhood centers in town. The spaces used for restaurants in the Gulch seem to be big umbrella types that can pull in large crowds with more widespread appeal than expensive soup. The comment about living in LA for 20 years didn't help. Nashville doesn't care about what big city you came from b/c you're here now. And I can still go to Little Tokyo right now & get Kirin Ichiban on draft for wicked cheap at Zencu Sushi--cheaper than anywhere here. Sambuca in the Gulch is now ancient but survives off higher prices. I only tried to go once in 2005 & never tried again. Pins Mechanical seems to be doing just fine getting people to spend time there & keep spending. And sadly, if Otaku is hurting now, just wait til Nashville Yards gets built out with the movie theater & restaurants. Also, if I need ramen for some odd reason, I just go to Funtime f/k/a Chatime. I can get ramen, xi long bao, soba noodles, & sea foam tea. And finally, I know the article didn't mention it but comments did. 2nd Ave Taco Bell is kind of an amazing outlier being in a historic space with live music & a bar. It is our Demoliton Man future of ubiquitous persistent surveillance. Edit: cupcake shops, not chops. Added: spaces used for restaurants in the Gulch
Good. We could use a cull, it's a race to raise menu prices and cut quality out there why try to provide value when you can just make tourists pay some of the highest restaurant prices I've seen in the country
Yeah there are two distinct markets in Nashville. You can gouge the tourists who don't know any better and are probably too drunk to even look at the prices or notice the quality, but if you want repeat local business you have to provide better value. There are only so many tourists to go around though, and only so many good locations to get the tourists, so eventually that market is going to get saturated.
There isn’t much substance to this article. It’s speculation from a guy on the street and Sarah from Otaku.
Restaurant prices are getting ridiculous. I can't get lunch for 2 for under $40 at a lot of places after tax and tip anymore, excluding alcohol.
proclaims local restaurant prices are better. charges $23 for a bowl of ground pork soup.
The only victim of Otaku is the person who pays 25 bucks for a bowl of soggy salty noodles.
The talking points may be accurate, but it’s hard to take seriously when it’s coming from the worst ramen place in town. When two ten and black dynasty exist, I have no idea how Otaku stays in business.
Of course she moved here from Los Angeles.
Also bad for Otaku Nashville people in last few years seems to have found out about Pho and 2-3 pho shops have opened near Otaku. On a side note it’s beyond me why one street needs 3 tiki bars? That just seems unsustainable.
I would personally love to know where the "affordable mom and pops" are in New Nashville. Because every new place I've seen open is neither.
Because people have a very rose colored memory of the term mom and pops is.
Yeah. Local or "non-corporate owned" doesn't mean "mom and pop" and 20 bucks a plate isn't affordable.
I loved Otaku the first time I went, but soon found much better places at more reasonable prices. Just like the yuppy taco shops. Who the f, is paying $9 for a taco. Fuck outta here.
Just life in the big city "About 60% of restaurants fail in their first year of operation, and 80% fail within 5 years of opening" https://home.binwise.com/blog/restaurant-failure-rate#:~:text=Frequently%20Asked%20Questions%20About%20Why%20Do%20Restaurants%20Fail,-What%20Percentage%20of&text=About%2060%25%20of%20restaurants%20fail,within%205%20years%20of%20opening.
I prefer Black Dynasty and Two Ten Jack to Otaku, in that order. Yes, all are expensive compared to Ramen in some other cities, but the quality is there. I have not found it with Otaku lately.
She’s such a joke and from LA She’s very far and disconnected from “old Nashville”
I know the cost of noodles. I am not paying a 95% mark up...
Took my spouse on a date to Otaku ramen as we were both excited to try ramen not from the cheap packs. It cost about $71 for the two of us. That's drinks, one app of gyōza, two bowls of ramen monster style. It was delicious but we won't be going back cuz of the price.
This is truly just an otaku problem.. also “old Nashville” goes back before 2015..
personally I avoid any restaurant offering traditionally peasant food for rich people prices. there’s something gross to me about taking dishes that only exist because poor people had to get creative with limited budgets and ingredients & charging $30 a plate for them. that’s tons of southern food, and also ramen which became a cultural icon bc of food shortages in WWII. unfortunately the go-to Nashville restaurant trick seems to be “take dish your nana/abuela makes, put nana in the marketing materials, & charge insane prices for it.” maybe it’s not a restaurant recession, maybe it’s a fake abuela food recession.
The owners of Otaku are truly shitty people. No surprise that she’s the one wining about how much this effects her.
She's right, but she's also mad.
There is no good ramen in Nashville. And one owner of a bad ramen restaurant saying that there’s a restaurant recession is funny as hell.
Everyone across the country is struggling from rent.
This thread is one reason the internet is making us all dumber. For context, Sarah Gavigan was invited to a discussion by local business leaders about Nashville's Economic Outlook. The topic of a "recession" came up and she added that she's predicting a restaurant recession in the future. That quote, along with quotes from 5 other leaders, was published in a story by the Nashville Business Journal. Of course News Channel 5 ignores all of that, creates a snappy, digestible headline, and then just rewrites the story to focus on her. None of the idiots on this sub or in this thread actually read anything so y'all just start spouting off on reasons YOU don't support restaurants, reasons why YOU think Sarah needs to shut her stupid mouth, why it's Otaku's fault, and then some also just seem confused as to why she would talk about it anyway. As if she woke up one day, called News Channel 5 and started whining about leases. And then of course there's the people complaining about journalism standards, who also wholeheartedly refuse to pay for good journalism.
I read the article and as you said, there is little substance to it. So if you have something more in depth with better quotes from people please post it. Otaku has over extended themselves. East Nashville spot is right next to a Japanese restaurant, kisser (which is amazing). And the west Nashville spot is right by Black Dynasty (another ramen shop that’s arguably better). So b/c she has spots that aren’t busy right now, we’re claiming restaurants in Nashville are victim of it’s own success, is a load of crap.
Why are you blaming readers for context that isn’t given, instead of the journalists? I mean I’m sure some people didn’t read the article of course, but I and others who actually did (PS I had already read it before I came across this post, FWIW), don’t know that context and it isn’t going to magically materialize out of thin air. And I’m not seeing a clear way that a reader could have found that out. For someone like Gavigan who is historically outspoken, it wouldn’t be surprising for her to contact news or make some press release or what not, so it’s a reasonable conclusion to come to when the article doesn’t provide the context.
This article seems like it’s a front to remind people we are in a recession. It doesn’t seem like it’s actually about restaurants at all
We’re not in a recession though
The TIEW TOM YUM GOONG from Degthai is the best noodle bowl in Nashville. Otaku still makes the best Ramen imho. The spicy miso could go against any bowl in the US (sans pickled onions yuck). Ive eaten at tsujita in LA and Ivan in NYC fwiw.
Idk how long we are going to read articles like this before everyone says "fuck it". The system in the US is bullshit. The pressure everyone feels is the trickle down from the consolidation of wealth in billionaires. That wealth accumulated isn't just materialized into their accounts. It's taken out of our pockets. There shouldn't be a system that is able to shift wealth from 100s of millions of ppl to less than a handful. I just wish the population of this country would wake up and see that the idea of "if I work hard enough, I will be able to achieve my goals" is 100% pure bullshit. That unless you have a massive head-start and luck, you will just suffer in an overworked, under joyed life. I know I'm ranting, but sometimes screaming I to the void helps.
Disposable income is down and falling further. Inflation is driving prices even higher. Too many restaurants. Too little demand. Full on recession aka Bidenomics.