Once upon a time a group of us decided we wanted to show
support for Planned Parenthood the same day that protests were organized
nationwide. We made signs and set a time
to meet at the Capitol. The forecast
called for 100% of rain ALL morning. We taped our signs and bought ponchos. Not surprisingly, many of the people did not
show up to stand on the street corner in the heavy rain. It was so much rain that our phones kept going
off for emergency alerts of flash flooding. About 10 of us stuck it out for a
couple of hours on the corner of Beretania and Punchbowl through some of the
heaviest rain I have experienced. Even
though we were soaked, it was awesome to be there supporting what we believe
in. To reward ourselves, we headed to
Aloha Tower to try the BBQ nachos at Paniolo Smokehouse inside the new Nashville's. We were so soaked when we got there and it
was air conditioned inside which meant we were freezing. Since HPU is located there too, we walked to
the campus bookstore to try and find a sweatshirt or something to warm up. They were ridiculously expensive but we found
blankets instead. Just picture our group
of wet nacho friends huddled around a table with blankets, drinking margaritas and noshing on nachos.
When we arrived we were practically the only people in the
place. Our server/bartender Kat was
awesome at getting us drinks and food. We ordered a bunch of nachos to share and had
some drinks to try to warm up. Even with
the blankets, we never really dried off.
And then 40 people in red dresses invaded the bar. I knew instantly they must be hashers doing
their annual red dress run. It was quite
comical to see all the women (and men) in their red dresses and sneakers having
drinks before they started their run across town. One man had a unicorn backpack covered in glitter that totally should belong to me.
The nachos were tasty and the group enjoyed them overall,
especially the Kiluaea fire sauce. Honestly I wonder what kind of rating they
would have received without that magical sauce.
At first I liked Nashvilles because some buttrock song from the 80s was
playing on the video screen and it brought me back to my childhood. Then the country started and I remembered we
were in a country bar. I don’t know that I could hang out at that place very
much and tolerate all the crappy music. It doesn’t just play on the speakers,
there are tvs everywhere playing the accompanying crappy music video. Double dose of lame. I will say that the place was much nicer
than the old location in Waiks that always smelled like a sweaty frat house with
a hint of vomit.
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| That presentation! |
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| BBQ Pulled Pork Nachos - $9.99: our slow smoked pulled pork on top of warm tortilla chips, served with shredded cheese, sour cream and spicy kiauea fire bbq sauce |
Chick808 (3.5) – PRESENTATION: They looked nice (but looks can be deceiving).
RAD: They were BBQ-ey!
And spicy! I like spicy!
LAME: Not enough meltyness.
Beans on all the nachos!
TOPPING TO CHIP RATIO: Sad, many bare chips.
I may come back. The pork and
brisket and beans were good.
Connie (3.5) – PRESENTATION: Super
pretty when out, mix of colored sauces, sauce is caramely looking.
RAD: Kiluea sauce.
LAME: Needs more cheese or layered cheese?? TOPPING
TO CHIP RATIO: 2,
more chips than toppings. Good service.
Bad Bobby (3) –
PRESENTATION: The presentation looks great. I like how the chips are nice and spread out
with toppings evenly spread out. RAD: I like how many onions were on the pork nachos, the bbq
sauce was also nice. LAME: I wasn't a big fan of all the beans on the veggie
nachos. TOPPING TO CHIP RATIO: 3,
It had good coverage on the top, but nothing toward the bottom and no salsa to
dip the rest of the chips in. Service was good.
Shananigans (3.5) – PRESENTATION: Wow! The
presentation is gorgeous. So pretty,
brought out with style and flair by the cook.
RAD: Kilauea fire sauce makes these sweet and spicy onolicious. Real cheese, fresh jalapenos, not a single
tomato on them I have to pick off.
LAME: Beans should be on all the nachos.
TOPPING TO CHIP RATIO: 3.5, When you pull chips up, the cheese/toppings come
with the chip and leave the bottom chips naked and shivering. Kat is rad. The red dress run was a surprise.
Nacho Libra (4) – PRESENTATION: Huge! So
pretty! Loving all the sauces!!
RAD: Real cheese!!! The smokey meat is FANTASTIC! So ono!
The baked beans are sooooo yummy!
LAME: Lots of empty chips, need a pico de gallo. Should add those baked beans to the meat
ones.
TOPPING TO CHIP RATIO: 3.5, definitely need a sauce to dip the empty chips
in. The toppings provided were
delicious. Do need the baked beans on
the meat nachos. next time I am getting
a side of beans to top the nachos. Kat
is awesome!
Kate (3.5) – PRESENTATION: Beautiful! The
green onions and sour cream look awesome!
RAD: Kiluaea Sauce….mmmmmmm. Good flavors. LAME: It would be nice to have cooked and raw jalapenos for
a side, not just raw. Where the tomatoes at?
Plastic cutlery???? Just no. I ate a baked potato with a plastic knife. TOPPING
TO CHIP RATIO: 3, empty chips = sad.
Also, more beans! Good serve,
friendly and hospitable. Need salsa.
Tango Tango (4) – PRESENTATION: Rustic presentation of nachos piled on a baking
sheet. Lined with paper and ordered
brisket special, very good!
RAD: Whoa! Decent
brisket and sweet spicy BBQ sauce. Real
cheese too. Enough for 2 people, only
$10.
LAME: Raw red onions aren't my taste, but at least they are
large slices and easily picked out.
TOPPING TO CHIP RATIO: 3.75, layering could be improved, as well as the
amount. We had some naked chips at the
end. Solid BBQ nachos! Great flavor, would recommend. Hurricane weather and the red dress crowd made
for a weird atmosphere.
Miss Stupendous (3.7) – PRESENTATION: Nice drizzle of sauces.
RAD: Brisket! Need I
say more, I am from Nevada.
LAME: Would be better with homemade chips. No beans!
TOPPING TO CHIP RATIO: 4, all chips had something on it. Hate raw onions, but sauce to brisket was
delicious. I love country music! #NVROOTS
Nacho Beach (2.5) – PRESENTATION: Great color offset with green onions, sour cream and BBQ
sauce.
RAD: Green onions, sour cream! Shannon and Connie bought blankets.
LAME: Ate nachos, still craving cheese. WE ARE SOAKING WET. No tomatoes.
TOPPING TO CHIP RATIO: Needed way more cheese, more evenly distributed
cheese. Green onions and sour cream
rock. Happy server, good service from
Kat.
Brando (3) – PRESENTATION: They brought the nachos on a cookie sheet. I am a fan of nachos on cookie sheets. Although, it did make me wish my shitty black
and decker toaster that only works when I whisper sweet nothing to it had enough
space to accommodate these.
RAD: The BBQ Sauce.
Pulled pork nachos with BBQ sauce should be on your bucket list. It was a tangy twist that I enjoyed.
LAME: No beans unless you ask for them. The vegetarian selection has beans but the
regular ones do not. Beans, beans, the
magical fruit, the more you eat, the more you…want cheese with them.
TOPPING TO CHIP RATIO: Could've used more toppings . I like a stack of nachos falling over from
too many condiments. The toppings were
sparse on these, kind of like rational thinkers at at Trump rally. Good nachos, but not the best I've had out here. 3 is still a magical number in certain Kabailah
circles, so at least they've got that.
Nashville's is a cowboy bar. I am
a punk rocker. I've tried not to let the
atmosphere taint my interpretation, but inevitably I am sure some unconscious
shit filtered out somewhere in this review.
I could use less "saving horses and riding cowboys" or hearing music about keying your ex-boyfriends truck because he cheated your sister and a
little more….toppings.
Nacho Man (4) – PRESENTATION: Looks delicious!
Toppings look evenly distributed on top of the sheet of nachos.
RAD: The kilauea fire sauce on the nachos, the meat in
these nachos is so good!
LAME: Beans were only on vegetarian nachos.
TOPPING TO CHIP RATIO: 3.5 on the toppings ratio. The real cheese wasn't layered so none of the
lower chips had enough toppings. The
quality of the toppings were great. The food is good but all the nacho toppings
disappeared too quickly for my liking.
The bartender Kat was great. Very
helpful and friendly.
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| So cheesy |
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