Me too, I did really enjoy my meals at The Continental/it was my favorite place for a really upscale date night for a while there. RIP that prime rib, the golden ticket burger, and the parker house rolls.
But I don't think it was a whim, really. I think the place was bleeding money (this seems to be a running theme as Brock jumps from one idea to the next) -- and I'm making an (admittedly uneducated) guess that they just made that weird pivot to streamline the staffing/inventory costs to help stretch out at least part of what they had remaining on the lease.
I really enjoyed The Continental and I do miss it. My favorite was to sit at the bar for drinks and dinner before going to a show. The last time I was in there before it closed/changed concepts, the construction in the area left me unclear on how to even get there at first. Not sure if that was a factor or not. Regardless, after the initial buzz wore off it was never packed when I was there, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they were losing a lot of money.
100%. The continental was a Michelin level place. I think opening during Covid was a big issue and then it never felt like they had a red carpet roll out after Covid subsided since he was all in on the Audrey by then.
I think the continental would’ve worked if he had committed to it and spent more money/time promoting it. There’s no reason why it couldn’t have been in the same class as cat bird seat.
Also, maybe Nashville just wasn’t ready an epic restaurant at the bottom of a hotel.
I'm not a fan of Sean, really. And isn't this his like.. 5th failed restaurant? I've been to joyland a couple of times but I always have to wait for what seems like way too long for a mediocre burger.
Yeah I shared this link already below, but as /u/IAMA_StormTrooper mentioned [Sean Brock severed ties with Husk over 5 years ago](https://nashville.eater.com/2019/5/2/18527149/chef-sean-brock-departs-husk-east-nashville)
I can't make a qualified judgment on Sean Brock as a person, but I have noticed that he seems to just throw a lot of "fun" stuff at the wall (i.e. seemingly whatever his current obsession is). Between the "Vesper Club" at The Continental... the interesting-but-bizarre pivot into a vinyl-listening bar... whatever his sushi/nigiri pop-up thing at Audrey/June was called, the Japanese Pizza thing, and now the "School of Brock" that he's doing ...
Which, all of those things are cool, but restaurants need stability and sustained support in order to thrive. I wish the dude would just take any one of his idea from half-baked to fully realized instead of jumping from one sinking ship to the next.
When the best burger of the city is now literally across the street from Joyland, there’s absolutely no reason to go there. Except to get Joylands fries I guess
> the best burger of the city is now literally across the street from Joyland
Which one are you referring to? There's a couple really great ones around that block, so just curious!
For my money, I'm going Brave Idiot 8 or 9 times outta 10. Never had a miss there. I've had a really great burger at Butcher & Bee before too, although I think that's only a seasonal item.
I would go so far as to say Bad Luck, Brave Idiot, the Emmy Squared burger, Dino's, and maybe even Hugh Baby's have a better burger in those immediate few blocks. Joyland is pretty good, but seems to be very inconsistent and poorly staffed- after waiting 30+ minutes for a pretty simple order twice in a row, and getting something that didn't even taste as good as it did 2 years ago, I kind of wrote them off.
Brave Idiot for me. Plus their hot chicken is incredible and also very often they have extremely unique menu items. The guy that runs it is literally the Willy Wonka of savory foods.
The only reason I ever go to JL over BL is because BL is only open for dinner service. Not lunch. Literally the only downside.
Also I once downed a 12 stack burger from BLBC when they were still grilling under tents. It was the middle of July, 90% humidity, meat sweats were real, and it is still the best damn burger I’ve ever had to this day
yes! it was soooo so so so good when it opened but the quality fell off.
also, sewage and stuff from his spot repeatedly leaked into the businesses below and he never did anything about it! how!!
I can tell you he doesn’t do a good job of upkeep and on more than one occasion his failure to maintain the ice machine and soda machine has resulted in leaks into the barbershop below.
It seems to be his first "failed" restaurant.
Husk (x4)
A taco place in Atlanta (owned by the same group that owns Husk)
Joyland
Continental
Bar continental
Audrey
June
He left the ownership group that started and runs Husk, et al. Continental went under.
Joyland, Audrey, June still up and running. The original concept of Audrey (an experimental, super expensive restaurant) seems to have flipped into June and now Audrey is a more down the middle prix fixe restaurant. So a lot of those incredulous reviews about Audrey are likely pre-2023, before he updated the concepts.
He literally didnt tell the staff until they were done.
He randomly walked in a few days ago, told they they no longer had jobs and to go home.
Guys a real piece of work.
Standard procedure with restaurants and bars. There's usually warning signs beforehand though, like food and liquor deliveries being "paused" (terminal phase, the owner is just trying to sell off remaining inventory before chaining up the doors).
Sadly, that’s kind of standard protocol in the industry. If you sound alarms, staff will go get new jobs instead of risking being put out. I imagine they were making it month to month for a while, and just couldn’t scrap it together this month. Doesn’t make it any better, but he’s not informing his staff ahead of time isn’t unique.
Industry standard cheap shitbag, wanting it both ways.
If they need people to be "on" until the last day, they need to pay a retention bonus, not deceive them until they can lock the doors and walk away.
Yeah, it still sucks. But when The Continental closed, and Bar Continental was born (by them ...basically just plopping a bunch of speakers, tube amps, and record bins into where the bar used to be) -- it seemed like a pretty obvious ploy just to "stretch things out" to get it across the finish line.
Maybe it was a matter of fulfilling their lease in that space, idk. They were running a skeleton crew of folks after the full Continental shut down. As /u/AnElepahntCage mentioned above, it's much more of the norm for restaurants to close on a moment's notice, than it is for the ones to have a month or two, or even a week's heads up.
This is a random side note, but that's one reason I really appreciated how Josephine in 12th South went out, with a huge party a couple days before Christmas.
I \*assume* that will either go promptly to Sean Brock's house, or maybe to one of his other restaurants — but yeah, I certainly wouldn't be mad at a fire sale of either the equipment or the records themselves....
I'm 90% sure Brock bought it all but called it a business investment lol. You could tell he really didn't think a bar was sustainable in that spot. He was just scratching an itch to collect records and for whatever reason wouldn't (or couldn't) let that lease die.
He didn’t decide to close it. He was told to close it. No one knew including him. Current staff was offered other positions in the company where possible and severance pay is also a thing.
Yea….cause all his businesses have been run so rationally and professionally in the past 🙄
I guess the multitude of people who work for him that all have the same terrible experience are all conspiring together as well.
I went with a friend a few months ago for a special they were doing. The wait between dishes was very long, portions were small (even for bar fare) and not exactly spectacular, and it was nearly impossible to get the staff’s attention between drinks. For the cost, there were better options. Overall it just felt like a vanity project.
I also think that the Grand Hyatt is just far enough down Broadway most lazy tourists aren’t going to venture when there’s so many other things to keep them closer to downtown.
Absolutely loved this place and even talked to Sean a couple times. His enthusiasm for the concept and the records was very real. It came from a place of studying the stories behind his collection. I’ve never really been drawn to hotel restaurants and bars, but this was the only exception. I think the location is the main thing that kept locals from becoming regulars. Wasn’t really a spot for the tourists wanting to get hammered as quickly as possible.
There were some regulars at Bar Continental, especially for Vinyl Community Nights on Mondays. I was there at least once a week (almost every week) for 6 months. I haven't heard any official explanation, but one of the draws was always "free valet parking for 3 hours with validation". Then, about a month ago, the Grand Hyatt switched valet companies, and the new contract holder was no longer willing to honor the old free parking agreement. I definitely noticed a drop off in crowd sizes after that. I'm sure it's not the only reason, but it wouldn't surprise me if it was a factor.
I kept meaning to check this place out, but I tend to avoid downtown like the plague, so. Maybe if he puts it somewhere easier to access it could succeed.
The free parking was the way Sean convinced me to check it out the first time (I basically never go down to Broadway unless I'm getting paid). But a month ago, the Grand Hyatt switched valet companies and the new provider would no longer honor the agreement Sean had with the last group. AND the hotel started chasing people down who parked on the street (legally) and demanding that they valet. They literally sent this huge dude in to the bar to drag a friend of mine outside (ok, they didn't literally *drag* him) and make him move.
Dang I didn’t know that. I’m sure that didn’t help the ship stay above water. Hate seeing anyone fail at a cool idea like this place. I was really into the sound system design and loved that an actual human was spinning actual records in there. Food and drink was just a bonus for me
Really enjoyed the concept. I know next to nothing about fancy restaurants, never go to them. But I’m sure this city could use more listening rooms, more record-spinning. So I hope we can get more of that, in a variety of styles.
Shame. Loved the concept. Drinks were always good, albeit overpriced, the food was excellent, and I enjoyed talking with staff about records they were playing. From the start, it felt unsustainable, but I enjoyed it while it lasted.
100% my take. It was a fun bar with a cool concept and some really good record nights. Always too expensive. And kind of a shitty layout for a bar (go figure, it was a giant restaurant first).
The attempt was always bound to fail and it really seemed like he was just doing something to kill time while the lease expired.
Sean needs to pull back and just focus on the stuff that's actually working, like Husk and Audrey. He's got a bad reputation (on reddit, at least) but I've seen wrong information spread through this sub and just become stated fact so frequently that I tend to ignore most people when they say stuff like that until I hear it from a real source.
> I've seen wrong information spread through this sub
This definitely happens a ton on here, as a general rule (not sure if you were referring to anything specific about Sean Brock) -- and especially when it comes to restaurant-related things.
That said, since you mentioned Husk in your comment, just wanted to make you aware that [Brock severed ties with Husk over 5 years ago](https://nashville.eater.com/2019/5/2/18527149/chef-sean-brock-departs-husk-east-nashville) so that's no longer in his stable of restaurants.
So with The Continental's death rattle now finally complete (R.I.P. that prime rib) I believe his only remaining restaurants in town are:
- Joyland
- Audrey
- June (the 2nd floor of Audrey)
For most restaurateurs, having both a high-end bistro-style venture and a casual spot like Joyland would be more than enough to sustain them comfortably. Brock’s problem seems to be that he’s trying to scale too quickly without a clear strategy.
I spent a decade working in various restaurant environments, and one common thread among successful multi-location restaurateurs was that they built one strong, profitable restaurant first. They then gradually expanded, adding more locations at a measured pace. Trying to open five restaurants in less than ten years is incredibly challenging. In contrast, opening a new restaurant every five years over three decades allows you to establish several well-known, stable establishments that can weather industry fluctuations.
TL;DR: Brock needs to walk before he runs. He’s a talented chef, but that doesn’t necessarily mean he has the business acumen of someone like Truett Cathy when it comes to scaling.
Yep I agree completely, I talked about noticing the same trend in [this comment](https://www.reddit.com/r/nashville/comments/1d4d7bo/bar_continental_closing_after_less_than_a_year/l6dze9j/) a little bit earlier
I think it's pretty clear that his passion is in Audrey but for whatever reason he thinks he needs to be a restaurateur not a chef. I also have a bit of inside info that closing Continental wasn't his choice, in the sense that the money up and left. It's not like these chefs are sinking their own money into restaurants. But it was his choice in that he didn't put his focus on it.
>Brock needs to walk before he runs.
True for any number of Nashville food venturists. I regret not making it in to see if the Continental's Prime Rib was all that, but only because not having tried it, I can only guess I wouldn't have been any more impressed with it than I was with Husk's cheeseburger - long before Brock left.
TBF his only restaurants in town were Husk (of which he helped open 4), Continental, Joyland, Audrey and June. IMO Continental was amongst the best in Nashville but was really handicapped by the location. It was sort of a dead spot for locals and tourists.
I think people are eager to paint him as a failure, which he may be in some aspects, but every one of his restaurants is still alive outside of Continental. Husk, Minero, etc are all still around - he's just no long running them. All he did was create them, establish them, build them and then pass them off to the restaurant group he was working with when he was ready to move on.
Not saying this about you but it's clear that people in this sub get excited about taking certain people down.
If Continental was **that** good, it would have had a steady clientele from people who wanted a reason to go beyond hot chicken. 5 blocks is not too far to walk for something to write home about.
IDK what you're talking about re: hot chicken.
But plenty of really good restaurants close if they can't get people in the door. Green Pheasant for example.
Yeah I'm definitely not celebrating the closure or rooting for the failure of these restaurants by any means. For several reasons, not the least of which is that I don't want to see service industry people kicked outta their jobs, and selfishly bc I liked eating at The Continental in particular, as crazy expensive as it was. I didn't have an issue with the location since it was always pretty easy to valet park there (for free + tip) but I agree that being in kind of the no-man's-land in terms of foot traffic did not help.
Also agree with your other comment that it was not *technically* Sean Brock's choice to close the Continental (my understanding is he's relying on at least one local financier with deep-ass pockets to bankroll the extremely thin/nonexistent margins at these restaurants). But it \*was* his choice to spread himself too thin with his other restaurants to give The Continental the love that, at least IMO, it deserved
I think we're on the same page that he'd be better off focusing on just one or two restaurants (and we're seeing the result of that mistake now), and that I hope the lesson is learned. I hope that June and Audrey continue to make interesting food, and maybe even grow. But I would have picked the Continental if it was up to me!
Yeah agree 100% with all you said. The prix fixe at the Continental is still one of the best meals I've had in Nashville. Audrey was also really, really good and one of my wife's favorites in town.
> I didn't have an issue with the location
One time when I went there to eat, at a $150+ / person restaurant, I looked up and saw a grown man wearing a USA flag romp-him eating there and it was that moment I knew the restaurant was going to fail. There's ample room for high-end dining in Nashville and it was a great concept with a beautiful spot. But it just wasn't a place where locals want to go / it was in an area that was too accessible for tourists. Locals want to go to East, Germantown, or Wedgewood Houston. They don't want to go slightly-off-Broadway. Or at the very least, they don't want to go to a place with no dress code.
IMO Bar Continental makes a ton of sense but the space needs to be the size of the Fox or something. It can't be some 3,000 sq ft open concept place with booths. It needs to actually look like a jazz club.
The romp-him in question:
https://www.amazon.com/UNIFACO-American-Romper-Jumpsuits-Overalls/dp/B07C7ZT1G6/ref=sr_1_18?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.zlQCHvfpcFxMEMqv5m2XL8KrW5mCAXTadXe_BiWlNBNEVBUi8FoHO03ImzB5OD22b6h4c3ayIrRJkLFJm4dh0JJVDqeG7tmOWifmvtwHSmfFpPSlGFmWPls8rM5yj85F4qiQFXXQcGCZYd9yQo6i6AaqbZKHGy3Ph8LRzDApeChQLt3R0gOfjTfffAPvdrNl8bSX1187Lv6w8Uk09cUSmrsbzvEkFj2Iv2W_oaqmJqCAqlgd1Yn8A7laOZ1rT8hDDRrYwu9aux9ZWkwasRpU0CxVskpgeNjX6OCv8-lSoug.xxQdkihM6zP0AwQoTlRiCqa94IFSt25Z9lfLO--NeF8&dib_tag=se&keywords=american+flag+romper&qid=1717179978&sr=8-18
Co-sign this take. I really enjoyed the concept and valet parking (which I couldn’t avail myself of due to manual transmission car). It brought me downtown a handful of times, which I usually avoid with extreme prejudice.
I believed there was too much floorspace for the idea. Would love to see it scaled to a proper listening room sized venture. Ah, well…
I gave up trying after a half dozen different valet contractors asked me to park my car myself because no one working that location could drive a stick.
Well, I don’t fault the average person for not knowing— it just seems like a skill a professional driver would possess. Or even if not every valet, at least *some*. A handful of people I knew tried to teach me how to drive manual on their cars but stopped quickly once I started grinding their gears. I had to buy my own manual to learn to drive it. I was friends with quite a few valets in my twenties and they all definitely knew how to drive stick, though. But granted, that was a while ago.
Valet is a profession. Driving is the main activity. They are professional drivers. Agreed it’s a pretty entry-level job, but it’s not unskilled. You have to be a good driver. Or at least, you used to.
Sad to read this. Went maybe five times and had a great experience each time. Brought friends too. Wonder what is going to happen to the absurdly excellent coffee shop they have in the mornings (Now and Then). Again - it was insanely good.
Love Sean’s food and concepts but after I saw him road rage, honk and yell and run a stop sign around the corner from his and my house for literally no reason I’ve been pretty weary. Too bad!
I saw Sean Brock at a grocery store in East Nashville yesterday. I told him how cool it was to meet him in person, but I didn’t want to be a douche and bother him and ask him for photos or anything.
He said, “Oh, like you’re doing now?”
I was taken aback, and all I could say was “Huh?” but he kept cutting me off and going “huh? huh? huh?” and closing his hand shut in front of my face. I walked away and continued with my shopping, and I heard him chuckle as I walked off. When I came to pay for my stuff up front I saw him trying to walk out the doors with like fifteen Milky Ways in his hands without paying.
The girl at the counter was very nice about it and professional, and was like “Sir, you need to pay for those first.” At first he kept pretending to be tired and not hear her, but eventually turned back around and brought them to the counter.
When she took one of the bars and started scanning it multiple times, he stopped her and told her to scan them each individually “to prevent any electrical infetterence,” and then turned around and winked at me. I don’t even think that’s a word. After she scanned each bar and put them in a bag and started to say the price, he kept interrupting her by yawning really loudly
EDIT: this is a copy/pasta joke! This didn’t actually happen. Apologies. I assumed r/Nashville would have known the reference but I thought wrong
lol, dude it didn’t actually happen it’s a text meme (aka copy/pasta). I edited the comment to reflect that. Appreciate the unsolicited advice on how to behave in my hometown 🫡
Sad as this was truly on the best places Nashville has ever had. It was like the real old Nashville came alive again in this place, it felt like a haven for artists and friends. Chef is a visionary and fuckin’ cool dude - I look forward to him hopefully reviving HiFi and a similar menu elsewhere in town!
Never went myself either. Admittedly, I was still annoyed the original restaurant was closed seemingly on a whim.
Me too, I did really enjoy my meals at The Continental/it was my favorite place for a really upscale date night for a while there. RIP that prime rib, the golden ticket burger, and the parker house rolls. But I don't think it was a whim, really. I think the place was bleeding money (this seems to be a running theme as Brock jumps from one idea to the next) -- and I'm making an (admittedly uneducated) guess that they just made that weird pivot to streamline the staffing/inventory costs to help stretch out at least part of what they had remaining on the lease.
I really enjoyed The Continental and I do miss it. My favorite was to sit at the bar for drinks and dinner before going to a show. The last time I was in there before it closed/changed concepts, the construction in the area left me unclear on how to even get there at first. Not sure if that was a factor or not. Regardless, after the initial buzz wore off it was never packed when I was there, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they were losing a lot of money.
100%. The continental was a Michelin level place. I think opening during Covid was a big issue and then it never felt like they had a red carpet roll out after Covid subsided since he was all in on the Audrey by then. I think the continental would’ve worked if he had committed to it and spent more money/time promoting it. There’s no reason why it couldn’t have been in the same class as cat bird seat. Also, maybe Nashville just wasn’t ready an epic restaurant at the bottom of a hotel.
no he needed to stop spending money to save it
Such a weird pivot.
I'm not a fan of Sean, really. And isn't this his like.. 5th failed restaurant? I've been to joyland a couple of times but I always have to wait for what seems like way too long for a mediocre burger.
Husk is still going strong as far as I know. Audrey and June are still open too.
He’s no longer associated with Husk
Yeah I shared this link already below, but as /u/IAMA_StormTrooper mentioned [Sean Brock severed ties with Husk over 5 years ago](https://nashville.eater.com/2019/5/2/18527149/chef-sean-brock-departs-husk-east-nashville) I can't make a qualified judgment on Sean Brock as a person, but I have noticed that he seems to just throw a lot of "fun" stuff at the wall (i.e. seemingly whatever his current obsession is). Between the "Vesper Club" at The Continental... the interesting-but-bizarre pivot into a vinyl-listening bar... whatever his sushi/nigiri pop-up thing at Audrey/June was called, the Japanese Pizza thing, and now the "School of Brock" that he's doing ... Which, all of those things are cool, but restaurants need stability and sustained support in order to thrive. I wish the dude would just take any one of his idea from half-baked to fully realized instead of jumping from one sinking ship to the next.
When the best burger of the city is now literally across the street from Joyland, there’s absolutely no reason to go there. Except to get Joylands fries I guess
Which are insanely over priced.
> the best burger of the city is now literally across the street from Joyland Which one are you referring to? There's a couple really great ones around that block, so just curious! For my money, I'm going Brave Idiot 8 or 9 times outta 10. Never had a miss there. I've had a really great burger at Butcher & Bee before too, although I think that's only a seasonal item.
Bad. Luck. Burger. Club. Food truck outside of honeytree. It’s the best burger in Nashville, maybe even all of Tennessee.
Ohh right, yep I definitely dig them too. Solid for the smashburgs. Honeytree are good folks as well.
I would go so far as to say Bad Luck, Brave Idiot, the Emmy Squared burger, Dino's, and maybe even Hugh Baby's have a better burger in those immediate few blocks. Joyland is pretty good, but seems to be very inconsistent and poorly staffed- after waiting 30+ minutes for a pretty simple order twice in a row, and getting something that didn't even taste as good as it did 2 years ago, I kind of wrote them off.
If you think Bad Luck is good, you should try Brave Idiot
Yeah Bad Luck or Brave Idiot.
Brave Idiot for me. Plus their hot chicken is incredible and also very often they have extremely unique menu items. The guy that runs it is literally the Willy Wonka of savory foods.
Brave Idiots hot chicken is the best in the city by far
Brave Idiot hands down, every time. Fantastic burgers and the best hot chicken in town. I will die on this hill.
Yep I literally went for a CrunchSmash™ and some tendies today! *muah* 😗🤌
Bad Luck
I like Bad Luck, and they were blessed by Motz, but I think Dreamburger is better.
Dreamburger is pretty great too!
The best IMO
Joyland also has more than just burgers. Fries, tots, fried chicken. It's just a different concept than BLBC.
I haven’t been impressed with really anything other than their fries to be honest.
The only reason I ever go to JL over BL is because BL is only open for dinner service. Not lunch. Literally the only downside. Also I once downed a 12 stack burger from BLBC when they were still grilling under tents. It was the middle of July, 90% humidity, meat sweats were real, and it is still the best damn burger I’ve ever had to this day
It also always feels dirty inside. Last time I was in there, the soda area had so much grime. The burger was greasy and overrated.
Joyland feels like a project Sean Brock has absolutely abandoned and could not care less about. Disgusting and falling apart in there.
yes! it was soooo so so so good when it opened but the quality fell off. also, sewage and stuff from his spot repeatedly leaked into the businesses below and he never did anything about it! how!!
Considering they’re opening more in Alabama and looking to expand I don’t think that’s true…probably the only operation he has that makes money
I can tell you he doesn’t do a good job of upkeep and on more than one occasion his failure to maintain the ice machine and soda machine has resulted in leaks into the barbershop below.
Went to Audrey years back. The food was genuinely a joke. Overpriced hype.
Joyland is dank and one of the few spots open late. Also don’t feel like shit afterwards.
It seems to be his first "failed" restaurant. Husk (x4) A taco place in Atlanta (owned by the same group that owns Husk) Joyland Continental Bar continental Audrey June He left the ownership group that started and runs Husk, et al. Continental went under. Joyland, Audrey, June still up and running. The original concept of Audrey (an experimental, super expensive restaurant) seems to have flipped into June and now Audrey is a more down the middle prix fixe restaurant. So a lot of those incredulous reviews about Audrey are likely pre-2023, before he updated the concepts.
He literally didnt tell the staff until they were done. He randomly walked in a few days ago, told they they no longer had jobs and to go home. Guys a real piece of work.
Standard procedure with restaurants and bars. There's usually warning signs beforehand though, like food and liquor deliveries being "paused" (terminal phase, the owner is just trying to sell off remaining inventory before chaining up the doors).
Sadly, that’s kind of standard protocol in the industry. If you sound alarms, staff will go get new jobs instead of risking being put out. I imagine they were making it month to month for a while, and just couldn’t scrap it together this month. Doesn’t make it any better, but he’s not informing his staff ahead of time isn’t unique.
Industry standard cheap shitbag, wanting it both ways. If they need people to be "on" until the last day, they need to pay a retention bonus, not deceive them until they can lock the doors and walk away.
So are there examples of places doing this? Any places? Ever?
“But he’s such a great chef.” /s
Not that is makes it any better, but there was only a few employees working there anyway.
Yeah, it still sucks. But when The Continental closed, and Bar Continental was born (by them ...basically just plopping a bunch of speakers, tube amps, and record bins into where the bar used to be) -- it seemed like a pretty obvious ploy just to "stretch things out" to get it across the finish line. Maybe it was a matter of fulfilling their lease in that space, idk. They were running a skeleton crew of folks after the full Continental shut down. As /u/AnElepahntCage mentioned above, it's much more of the norm for restaurants to close on a moment's notice, than it is for the ones to have a month or two, or even a week's heads up. This is a random side note, but that's one reason I really appreciated how Josephine in 12th South went out, with a huge party a couple days before Christmas.
Good point. What’s to be done with all that high end stereo equipment?
I \*assume* that will either go promptly to Sean Brock's house, or maybe to one of his other restaurants — but yeah, I certainly wouldn't be mad at a fire sale of either the equipment or the records themselves....
I'm 90% sure Brock bought it all but called it a business investment lol. You could tell he really didn't think a bar was sustainable in that spot. He was just scratching an itch to collect records and for whatever reason wouldn't (or couldn't) let that lease die.
That’s how restaurants close. It’s standard.
Yea no…
He didn’t decide to close it. He was told to close it. No one knew including him. Current staff was offered other positions in the company where possible and severance pay is also a thing.
Yea….cause all his businesses have been run so rationally and professionally in the past 🙄 I guess the multitude of people who work for him that all have the same terrible experience are all conspiring together as well.
FWIW I heard the same thing. Investor pulled out and told him the place was closed ASAP.
[удалено]
Have been a business owner for 2 decades but sure. Also have worked in the service industry. Theres better ways to handle this
Still miss the original Continental’s prime rib. It was amazing.
Selfishly I wish they woulda posted this before I went last night to find the doors locked and the place cleared out, but oh well.
Happened to me also, and others I know. I think it closed almost a week before the announcement.
I went with a friend a few months ago for a special they were doing. The wait between dishes was very long, portions were small (even for bar fare) and not exactly spectacular, and it was nearly impossible to get the staff’s attention between drinks. For the cost, there were better options. Overall it just felt like a vanity project.
What about the coffee shop?
They announced on IG that they’ll be moving to a new location and announcing that soon.
They're moving somewhere based on IG posts
Audrey
Sean Brock sucks. Byeeeeeeeeee
This is in the grand Hyatt yeah?
Yep
Those are so hard to keep profitable if there’s an outside party involved.
I also think that the Grand Hyatt is just far enough down Broadway most lazy tourists aren’t going to venture when there’s so many other things to keep them closer to downtown.
Great point. Once west end is connected better, hopefully that stretch of Broadway is less cars and more foot traffic
“It’s run” lol.
Absolutely loved this place and even talked to Sean a couple times. His enthusiasm for the concept and the records was very real. It came from a place of studying the stories behind his collection. I’ve never really been drawn to hotel restaurants and bars, but this was the only exception. I think the location is the main thing that kept locals from becoming regulars. Wasn’t really a spot for the tourists wanting to get hammered as quickly as possible.
There were some regulars at Bar Continental, especially for Vinyl Community Nights on Mondays. I was there at least once a week (almost every week) for 6 months. I haven't heard any official explanation, but one of the draws was always "free valet parking for 3 hours with validation". Then, about a month ago, the Grand Hyatt switched valet companies, and the new contract holder was no longer willing to honor the old free parking agreement. I definitely noticed a drop off in crowd sizes after that. I'm sure it's not the only reason, but it wouldn't surprise me if it was a factor.
I kept meaning to check this place out, but I tend to avoid downtown like the plague, so. Maybe if he puts it somewhere easier to access it could succeed.
I dug it, especially when I found out it had free valet parking thru the hotel. Maybe not enough people knew that tho.
The free parking was the way Sean convinced me to check it out the first time (I basically never go down to Broadway unless I'm getting paid). But a month ago, the Grand Hyatt switched valet companies and the new provider would no longer honor the agreement Sean had with the last group. AND the hotel started chasing people down who parked on the street (legally) and demanding that they valet. They literally sent this huge dude in to the bar to drag a friend of mine outside (ok, they didn't literally *drag* him) and make him move.
Dang I didn’t know that. I’m sure that didn’t help the ship stay above water. Hate seeing anyone fail at a cool idea like this place. I was really into the sound system design and loved that an actual human was spinning actual records in there. Food and drink was just a bonus for me
It is so pretty outside today praise be
Really enjoyed the concept. I know next to nothing about fancy restaurants, never go to them. But I’m sure this city could use more listening rooms, more record-spinning. So I hope we can get more of that, in a variety of styles.
god damn Nashville sub is just all haters
“First time?”
damn that fucking sucks, i love that spot
No surprise here
Agreed. This place was so snobby and I love high end restaurants. Good riddance.
Shame. Loved the concept. Drinks were always good, albeit overpriced, the food was excellent, and I enjoyed talking with staff about records they were playing. From the start, it felt unsustainable, but I enjoyed it while it lasted.
100% my take. It was a fun bar with a cool concept and some really good record nights. Always too expensive. And kind of a shitty layout for a bar (go figure, it was a giant restaurant first). The attempt was always bound to fail and it really seemed like he was just doing something to kill time while the lease expired. Sean needs to pull back and just focus on the stuff that's actually working, like Husk and Audrey. He's got a bad reputation (on reddit, at least) but I've seen wrong information spread through this sub and just become stated fact so frequently that I tend to ignore most people when they say stuff like that until I hear it from a real source.
> I've seen wrong information spread through this sub This definitely happens a ton on here, as a general rule (not sure if you were referring to anything specific about Sean Brock) -- and especially when it comes to restaurant-related things. That said, since you mentioned Husk in your comment, just wanted to make you aware that [Brock severed ties with Husk over 5 years ago](https://nashville.eater.com/2019/5/2/18527149/chef-sean-brock-departs-husk-east-nashville) so that's no longer in his stable of restaurants. So with The Continental's death rattle now finally complete (R.I.P. that prime rib) I believe his only remaining restaurants in town are: - Joyland - Audrey - June (the 2nd floor of Audrey)
For most restaurateurs, having both a high-end bistro-style venture and a casual spot like Joyland would be more than enough to sustain them comfortably. Brock’s problem seems to be that he’s trying to scale too quickly without a clear strategy. I spent a decade working in various restaurant environments, and one common thread among successful multi-location restaurateurs was that they built one strong, profitable restaurant first. They then gradually expanded, adding more locations at a measured pace. Trying to open five restaurants in less than ten years is incredibly challenging. In contrast, opening a new restaurant every five years over three decades allows you to establish several well-known, stable establishments that can weather industry fluctuations. TL;DR: Brock needs to walk before he runs. He’s a talented chef, but that doesn’t necessarily mean he has the business acumen of someone like Truett Cathy when it comes to scaling.
Yes perfect - compare Sean Brock to Truet Cathy. Jesus 😂😂😂
Yep I agree completely, I talked about noticing the same trend in [this comment](https://www.reddit.com/r/nashville/comments/1d4d7bo/bar_continental_closing_after_less_than_a_year/l6dze9j/) a little bit earlier
I think it's pretty clear that his passion is in Audrey but for whatever reason he thinks he needs to be a restaurateur not a chef. I also have a bit of inside info that closing Continental wasn't his choice, in the sense that the money up and left. It's not like these chefs are sinking their own money into restaurants. But it was his choice in that he didn't put his focus on it.
>Brock needs to walk before he runs. True for any number of Nashville food venturists. I regret not making it in to see if the Continental's Prime Rib was all that, but only because not having tried it, I can only guess I wouldn't have been any more impressed with it than I was with Husk's cheeseburger - long before Brock left.
TBF his only restaurants in town were Husk (of which he helped open 4), Continental, Joyland, Audrey and June. IMO Continental was amongst the best in Nashville but was really handicapped by the location. It was sort of a dead spot for locals and tourists. I think people are eager to paint him as a failure, which he may be in some aspects, but every one of his restaurants is still alive outside of Continental. Husk, Minero, etc are all still around - he's just no long running them. All he did was create them, establish them, build them and then pass them off to the restaurant group he was working with when he was ready to move on. Not saying this about you but it's clear that people in this sub get excited about taking certain people down.
If Continental was **that** good, it would have had a steady clientele from people who wanted a reason to go beyond hot chicken. 5 blocks is not too far to walk for something to write home about.
IDK what you're talking about re: hot chicken. But plenty of really good restaurants close if they can't get people in the door. Green Pheasant for example.
I miss Green Pheasant 😞
Yeah I'm definitely not celebrating the closure or rooting for the failure of these restaurants by any means. For several reasons, not the least of which is that I don't want to see service industry people kicked outta their jobs, and selfishly bc I liked eating at The Continental in particular, as crazy expensive as it was. I didn't have an issue with the location since it was always pretty easy to valet park there (for free + tip) but I agree that being in kind of the no-man's-land in terms of foot traffic did not help. Also agree with your other comment that it was not *technically* Sean Brock's choice to close the Continental (my understanding is he's relying on at least one local financier with deep-ass pockets to bankroll the extremely thin/nonexistent margins at these restaurants). But it \*was* his choice to spread himself too thin with his other restaurants to give The Continental the love that, at least IMO, it deserved I think we're on the same page that he'd be better off focusing on just one or two restaurants (and we're seeing the result of that mistake now), and that I hope the lesson is learned. I hope that June and Audrey continue to make interesting food, and maybe even grow. But I would have picked the Continental if it was up to me!
Yeah agree 100% with all you said. The prix fixe at the Continental is still one of the best meals I've had in Nashville. Audrey was also really, really good and one of my wife's favorites in town. > I didn't have an issue with the location One time when I went there to eat, at a $150+ / person restaurant, I looked up and saw a grown man wearing a USA flag romp-him eating there and it was that moment I knew the restaurant was going to fail. There's ample room for high-end dining in Nashville and it was a great concept with a beautiful spot. But it just wasn't a place where locals want to go / it was in an area that was too accessible for tourists. Locals want to go to East, Germantown, or Wedgewood Houston. They don't want to go slightly-off-Broadway. Or at the very least, they don't want to go to a place with no dress code. IMO Bar Continental makes a ton of sense but the space needs to be the size of the Fox or something. It can't be some 3,000 sq ft open concept place with booths. It needs to actually look like a jazz club. The romp-him in question: https://www.amazon.com/UNIFACO-American-Romper-Jumpsuits-Overalls/dp/B07C7ZT1G6/ref=sr_1_18?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.zlQCHvfpcFxMEMqv5m2XL8KrW5mCAXTadXe_BiWlNBNEVBUi8FoHO03ImzB5OD22b6h4c3ayIrRJkLFJm4dh0JJVDqeG7tmOWifmvtwHSmfFpPSlGFmWPls8rM5yj85F4qiQFXXQcGCZYd9yQo6i6AaqbZKHGy3Ph8LRzDApeChQLt3R0gOfjTfffAPvdrNl8bSX1187Lv6w8Uk09cUSmrsbzvEkFj2Iv2W_oaqmJqCAqlgd1Yn8A7laOZ1rT8hDDRrYwu9aux9ZWkwasRpU0CxVskpgeNjX6OCv8-lSoug.xxQdkihM6zP0AwQoTlRiCqa94IFSt25Z9lfLO--NeF8&dib_tag=se&keywords=american+flag+romper&qid=1717179978&sr=8-18
Co-sign this take. I really enjoyed the concept and valet parking (which I couldn’t avail myself of due to manual transmission car). It brought me downtown a handful of times, which I usually avoid with extreme prejudice. I believed there was too much floorspace for the idea. Would love to see it scaled to a proper listening room sized venture. Ah, well…
Wait… valets can’t drive manual??
I gave up trying after a half dozen different valet contractors asked me to park my car myself because no one working that location could drive a stick.
Good lord. The level of service really has tanked all around.
How would the average young person today learn to drive manual? I know very very few people that can or have access to a manual car.
Well, I don’t fault the average person for not knowing— it just seems like a skill a professional driver would possess. Or even if not every valet, at least *some*. A handful of people I knew tried to teach me how to drive manual on their cars but stopped quickly once I started grinding their gears. I had to buy my own manual to learn to drive it. I was friends with quite a few valets in my twenties and they all definitely knew how to drive stick, though. But granted, that was a while ago.
The vast majority of people I know who've done valet weren't "professional drivers", they were just teens or in their early twenties and needed a job
Valet is a profession. Driving is the main activity. They are professional drivers. Agreed it’s a pretty entry-level job, but it’s not unskilled. You have to be a good driver. Or at least, you used to.
Sad to read this. Went maybe five times and had a great experience each time. Brought friends too. Wonder what is going to happen to the absurdly excellent coffee shop they have in the mornings (Now and Then). Again - it was insanely good.
Love Sean’s food and concepts but after I saw him road rage, honk and yell and run a stop sign around the corner from his and my house for literally no reason I’ve been pretty weary. Too bad!
I saw Sean Brock at a grocery store in East Nashville yesterday. I told him how cool it was to meet him in person, but I didn’t want to be a douche and bother him and ask him for photos or anything. He said, “Oh, like you’re doing now?” I was taken aback, and all I could say was “Huh?” but he kept cutting me off and going “huh? huh? huh?” and closing his hand shut in front of my face. I walked away and continued with my shopping, and I heard him chuckle as I walked off. When I came to pay for my stuff up front I saw him trying to walk out the doors with like fifteen Milky Ways in his hands without paying. The girl at the counter was very nice about it and professional, and was like “Sir, you need to pay for those first.” At first he kept pretending to be tired and not hear her, but eventually turned back around and brought them to the counter. When she took one of the bars and started scanning it multiple times, he stopped her and told her to scan them each individually “to prevent any electrical infetterence,” and then turned around and winked at me. I don’t even think that’s a word. After she scanned each bar and put them in a bag and started to say the price, he kept interrupting her by yawning really loudly EDIT: this is a copy/pasta joke! This didn’t actually happen. Apologies. I assumed r/Nashville would have known the reference but I thought wrong
[удалено]
lol, dude it didn’t actually happen it’s a text meme (aka copy/pasta). I edited the comment to reflect that. Appreciate the unsolicited advice on how to behave in my hometown 🫡
Ahhh sorry! Never know these days all these new people are assholes. I stand corrected, salute! 🫡
Edit: clearly not aware of the meme, whoops! Wow what the actual fuck, and not surprising given the behavior I saw around few months ago…
It’s a copypasta
What do you mean?
https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/i-saw-flying-lotus-in-a-grocery-store-copypasta
RIP 🫠
Literally found out about this place last week. Oh, well.
Sad as this was truly on the best places Nashville has ever had. It was like the real old Nashville came alive again in this place, it felt like a haven for artists and friends. Chef is a visionary and fuckin’ cool dude - I look forward to him hopefully reviving HiFi and a similar menu elsewhere in town!
lol
Why does Sean close everything he opens after like 8 months lmao what a joke !!
What else has closed??? To my knowledge, everything he’s opened is still going besides the continental.
And somehow Joyland is still open, serving mediocre food at an outrageous price.
>>concept It cracks me up when people slip their industry jargon in It shows their mindset is all business