We stumbled on this spot and what a delightful surprise!!! Our drinks were so good, and the fish sandwich was the best fish I've ever eaten! I don't even normally like fish! Highly recommend reservations if you can because they book out a while for lunch. We went for dinner and there happened to be an open table!

My husband and I went here because I saw they specialized in dumplings and noodles. They didn't have those today but I did a little research prior so knew it was a unique restaurant with a changing menu and they might not be served. Keep in mind we are from northern MN where these kinds of foods don't exist and my husband is very picky about food. He'll try anything though. And it was about the experience. And what an experience! The entire staff were so bubbly and friendly. They all said hi from the open kitchen as you walked in. The open kitchen was great and allowed us to watch. (It was also fun to watch the other guests' food arrive to see what everything was.) The chef comes to your table to explain the menu. We decided to get: Razor clams, oysters, beef tartare, potato bread with caramelized butter, crab omelet, and the dessert (not the shaved ice) that I can't recall the name of. We are big on no phones and being present in the experience so I didn't take pictures. My husband doesn't do raw but did today! I was impressed! Razor clams: nope, no, not for us. Excellent flavor but the texture was too much for our MN raised palates. Oysters: amazing! Warm. Buttery, fresh crisp greens! Beef tartare: Very good! Rice was cooked perfectly. Horseradish was not overpowering. My husband had a second serving! So that speaks volumes. Potato bread: a must. So good. My husband said it was the "best toast" he's ever had. Crab omelet: Good but not my thing. Husband actually really liked the runny omelet style of prep which surprised me. Dessert: the best part of the entire meal!! A soft chewy Finnish pancake style inside with a crisp chewy outer shell. The Brie like cheese and honeycomb you put on it made it the most amazing combo! We each got an Italian soda to drink and they too were very good! Go here just for the experience if you're a picky eater and then be prepared to actually like food you maybe thought you'd never try! Totally worth it!

Legendary Steamed dumplings传奇蒸饺 Locust Steamed dumplings reached the peak of perfection. Delicious and unparalleled. It can be said that it is the best among human dumplings. Steamed dumplings are exquisitely carved. Like a peerless beauty draped in a veil like mist, covering her peerless appearance. The dumpling wrapper is as transparent as a cicada's wing, and is crystal clear. It is almost as thin as the thinnest Japanese "washi" in the world. Japanese "washi" is only 0.02 mm thick. The hidden green and soft white interweave to create a rich and dense meat filling, but one can only smell the fragrance of the meat without seeing its shadow. The rich broth in the dumpling filling reminds people of the endless brilliant scenery of spring, and also brings the coolness of summer like a shy girl. The production process of first-class Steamed dumplings is extremely exquisite ，which shows the superb skills of top masters. Music Chef Genius音乐厨师天才 Trevor Moran, the head chef of Locust restaurant and music genius, has served as the deputy head chef of NOMA, the world's No 1 restaurant, and the head chef of The Catbird seat, among other extremely dazzling world--star roles，and has been praised and loved all over the world. In 2020, Trevor Moran founded Locust. Dinner focuses on Steamed dumplings, a precise and focused business positioning. In September 2022, Locust was named the Best Restaurant of the Year by Food and Wine magazine and was selected for the New York Times Restaurant List for 2022. In January 2023, Trevor Moran was nominated by the James Beard Foundation as the Best Chef in America。 The touching legend of dumplings 饺子的感人传说 "Dumplings" originated in Nanyang, China during the Eastern Han Dynasty in 1840. It was first created by Zhang Zhongjing, a famous medical sage in ancient China, and has a history of 184 years. Zhang Zhongjing, with his compassionate heart of loving the people, invented dumplings to treat people's illnesses and won a lasting reputation. Dumplings have been passed down to this day and are a classic staple food that more than one billion Chinese people must eat during the New Year. They represent happiness for the entire family, festive reunion, and good luck. Music Culture of Steamed dumplings 蒸饺的音乐文化 Trevor Moran, who graduated from the music department, with his passionate musical talent and over 20 years of interdisciplinary and treasure trove culinary experience, has planted traditional Chinese cuisine dumplings like seeds in the elegant and romantic city，city of gastronomy，and Music city， Nashville，Tennessee. Every night when the dumplings are on stage, the rock music of Locust Restaurant accompanies the steaming dumplings and the enthusiastic shouts. The freedom and innocence of everyone in the restaurant play the most powerful core force of Nashville, the music city. The steamed dumplings in Locust closed their eyes and opened their arms, their souls immersed in the dual nourishment of music and cooking, and quickly grew into towering trees one after another; the magnificent canopy and dense shade nourished the life taste of the entire city and even the entire world. Trevor Moran traveled all over the world, from Ireland to Denmark and then to the United States. His rich and diverse transnational life experience allowed him to perfectly combine his two talents of music and cooking. This perfect combination of talents provided him with an inexhaustible source of material for thought. With this, he created a dumpling culture that soared to the top of the world，integrating its uniqueness into the musical universe of rock. He is rooted in the fertile land of music in Nashville and has creatively transformed the dining trend in Nashville. He created the city of music in dumplings, the country of dumplings in music.

Finally made it to Locust for their a la carte lunch and it was an incredible experience! From the moment you walk in, you are greeted with the warmest welcome into the cozy space. You can watch the chefs creating fantastic dishes in the open kitchen & then they'll bring it to your table to tell you all about it. The food was so unique & tasty. The raspberry earl grey dessert was an explosion of flavor and the best way to end a phenomenal experience. This is a Nashville gem & I can't wait to go back!

I've had a lot of good meals in my life, great meals, life altering food I shall never forget. But during my travels to 79 countries and all seven continents, I've been lucky to have a few culinary moments that were much mere than meals, they were an experience. A Michelin-starred restaurant overlooking the French Riviera outside of Monaco, a 15-course meal in a Japanese ryokan in the shadow of Mount Fuji, and yes, lunch at Locust in my own backyard! The critical acclaim, the James Beard nomination, the honor of best new restaurant in the United States, notching a spot on America's best restaurant lists in both the New York Times and USA Today, all that hype is backed up by a five-star meal with superb combinations of flavors, meticulous culinary creations, and tremendous attention to detail. Even the way the chefs methodically clean the open kitchen speaks to a higher calling, a dedication to absolute perfection. It's almost impossible to put into words what I experienced at Locust, a secretive restaurant in a nondescript building amongst the popular spots of the 12 South neighborhood. You'll find no signage other than small yellow lettering on the door if you know where to look, the gateway to an exclusive club that anyone can join. There isn't a sign board displaying the daily specials or someone beckoning passersby to give them a try. Their bare minimum website is a no-frills window into this opportunity. But Locust doesn't need gawdy signage, or publicity, or a slick website. Because the only way to get here is to have done your research, studied up on Nashville's greatest dining experience, and made your mandatory reservation well in advance with a $100 down payment intended for those who are serious about snagging that coveted table for precisely 1.5 hours on one of the three days they're open! Their reputation speaks for itself. And running just over $150 per person including tax and tip, this is far more affordable than similar experiences I've had around the world. And when they recently ditched their dinner menu in favor of only offering their famous dumplings, when one reader asked why Locust retorted "Why not?". This is not your typical eatery by any stretch of the imagination. And Nashville is truly lucky to have Irish chef Trevor Moran - from the world's most heralded eatery Noma (Copenhagen) - gracing our city with his culinary genius, creating unimaginably clever collections of flavor and texture. It's difficult to describe the experience of Locust's ever-changing menu. Just imagine placing ground beef tartare, sticky rice with a delicate horseradish, and dried capers on seaweed, rolling it up, and savoring a mind-bending amalgamation of flavors. Picture an enormous mushroom the size of your fist with a light tempura batter that even this self-professed mushroom hater devoured with enthusiasm. Imagine a foamy soup with large bits of seafood and crisp cheesy potatoes in a rich broth like you've never tasted before. Attempt to comprehend a tower of finely shaved ice heavily dusted with an intense raspberry powder with delicate flecks of shaved sea salt impossibly balanced atop a thick cream. And then you bathe the remaining shaved ice with a caramel cookie flavored sauce that hardens into brittle bits of sugary magic. This is only a glimpse into what you'll experience at Locust. And I concur with the experts that it is easily the best restaurant in town.

Finally snagged a lunch reservation here on a Sunday after trying for so long! We had to wait a bit to get seated while another table is finishing up. I was disappointed to see on the menu that they weren't serving dumplings that day since that was the main reason I wanted to come in. I know they are switching up their service a bit and being dumpling and drinks only in the evening, but didn't think this would mean dumplings would come off the main menu. Our waitress was extremely knowledgeable about the menu and recommended a few of her favorite things. We ordered the beef tartare hand rolls, crab omelette, and potato bread and butter to share. They also brought us some oysters to try (presumably because I was disappointed about the dumplings), but I don't like oysters so I didn't get to try. The hand rolls were my favorite thing we tried! It was surprising filling and very flavorful. The omelette was also incredible and the texture of the egg mixed with the creamy crab was to die for. The bread and butter was also the best i've ever had. We also tried the Irish coffee which had a thick cream with salt on it and was so yummy. All in all the service was great and so was the food, but it was a little pricier than I feel was worth it. I will hopefully be back for the dumplings and drinks in the future!

It's rare when each and every aspect of a meal is 5 star excellent--it's rare but it's true for Locust. This place is truly a gem and we are lucky to be able to experience it in Nashville. Located in 12 south it's a reservations only place for lunch time (dinner is first come first served). From my minute you walk in the staff is attentive, kind and informative. We opted to try the entire menu amongst 4 people with a couple of double orders for some smaller dishes--we left full. Each and every course was wonderful--but if I would've had room for seconds I'd have ordered the beef tartare and the potatoe bread again! Get on it and make reservations as soon as you can!

Locust is also a repeat experience for me. We snagged a lunch reservation. Make reservations ahead. I trolled the online portal and signed up 2 min after it opened and still didn't get a "lunch" time slot. I thought that was weird but it worked out. The menu was totally different than the time I went and I was sad to see neither dumplings nor Dover sole on it. Happily, the dumplings ended up being on special so we had those at least. The last time I came, our waiter was actually the owner and we didn't know it until we were leaving. Not to say service was poor this time, just not as special. We did wait 15 min before someone came over to take our order. Our waitress suggested we get the toast with scallop butter and that was SO GOOD. Here's a run down of what we ate and my thoughts: Tuna crisp - really fine quality tuna, clearly. My husband loved it. I personally didn't because of the texture of raw fish. So I'm still giving it a 9/10 Beef Tartare - another thing where I had to put the texture aside. The rice with wasabi mayo at the bottom was bomb. Appreciated the nori for contrast. 10/10 Dumplings - yes. Give me all of them. 8/order with 3 sauces. My fav was the chili oil. The wrapper was paper thin and easy to eat. 10/10 Potato Bread with scallop butter - why do we only get one piece of bread? It was so good. Smart that was our last course because it was deliciously fatty and heavy. 10/10 Shave ice: I think the flavors of this change depending on the week. Today it was earl gray with strawberry. Super special because each bite had a surprise. They don't just pile on ice and some syrup. The entire dish is thought through: the experience of eating. I really, really liked that. There was condensed milk at the bottom, ice studded with mochi and dried strawberries, topped with earl gray cream and strawberry powder. Then, once you eat through the top layer, there was a vial of cookie butter to pour over and this hardened on the ice. Like seriously, heaven. I'm writing this and truly sad I don't live in Nashville just to eat this regularly. I appreciated how every item came out right when it was finished: meaning my potato bread was warm and piping hot and the shave ice got its finishing touches seconds before we ate it. A very thoughtful concept and menu.

An incredible experience, when you're in the mood for a splurge! I've been to Locust during each of its iterations: pandemic dumplings and shaved ice (takeout only), reservations only dine-in experience, (and I'm excited to come in March when they do evenings dumplings and drinks only.) Each time the food has been unique and incredible, but mostly this is just a very fun food experience for the somewhat adventurous. I like to describe their menu as seafood-forward, Asian-inspired small plates. (I would not recommend this restaurant for vegetarians or vegans, there are very few items you would be able to eat and it's not really a place to ask for substitutions.) Unlike a lot of other small plates/dining restaurants, when I come to Locust I know I'm going to be super full by the end of my meal and I plan to skip breakfast so that I can really enjoy and try everything they have to offer. My friend told me the best advice here is to order, if at all possible, everything, and that advice has not disappointed. Some of my must-order items: razor clams (the sweet Maui onion sauce makes it unreal refreshing), the beef tartare (I've literally had dreams of how perfect the horseradish sauce and custardy-cream at the bottom of the rice container makes this dish!), the potato bread (would get multiple of this if I had room for it), the dumplings, and honestly if they have any dish with crab, it's been divine. The quality of the food is just insane and I've even enjoyed coming and doing this menu just by myself. You cannot leave Locust without getting dessert, as they always have some of the most unreal and one-of-a-kind desserts (the shaved ice is always a favorite, no matter the flavor combination!) Service here has always really blown me away: they are thoughtful and attentive to any details you left in your reservation (dietary restrictions, etc). On a recent visit, they sat me by the chef's prep area and I loved watching them work, just seeing the fun they had putting on this restaurant experience for folks. You can tell these are people who really have a high bar for what they do but also equally want guests to enjoy themselves. I cannot recommend this place enough but also will name that it's pricey and that won't be for everyone (or an all the time experience.) My bill was $250-300 each time I went, which included most, but not all of the menu items and 3 drinks (20% gratuity is included on your check, which I appreciated because I didn't want to math after all that food.) This is a perfect treat-yourself meal and just an overall really special restaurant experience.