Once Upon a Time in France, the French bistro that opened in East Nashville in late 2019, is under new ownership.
Two former OUATIF customers, Ramy Habib and Majed Mikhail, purchased the restaurant from the Arnt family in October. Neither Habib nor Mikhail has owned a restaurant before, and the two were only interested in purchasing their favorite restaurant if its current manager and staff stayed on. That’s according to Keren Mabury, the manager who spoke to the Scene on the new owners’ behalf.
The new OUATIF will look much like the old OUATIF, from the inside and out. The idea is an authentic French bistro where diners are literally elbow-to-elbow with other diners, feasting on French dishes while sipping cocktails and sharing French wines. Save for some building improvements, the interior space looks as it always has — like a French bistro, with 19 cozy tables and a long bar and lots of French decor on the walls. (The Arnts took family photos and left the rest of the art on the walls. Melvil Arnt now owns Renaissance, a French restaurant in Santa Rosa, Fla.)
Habib and Mikhail “have been really good listeners, wanting to understand the things that we’ve noticed that we might want to change as staff, because we’re here day-in, day-out,” Mabury says. The new team does not own the building (Robert Beck of Beck & Beck Real Estate is the landlord), but they’ve made upgrades, including roof repairs and a new grill in the kitchen.
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The Nashville dining scene has changed since OUATIF first opened in 2019. Pastis Nashville opened in Wedgewood Houston, and Cocorico! in Midtown. The Authentique, once owned by the Arnts, now serves crepes in addition to drinks and is planning a second location. Yellow Table Café and Creperie opened in East Nashville.
Mabury was raised in Paris. She moved to Nashville 12 years ago and has been working at OUATIF since 2023. She believes there is room for more French and French-inspired dining in Nashville.
“We hope East Nashville and Nashville as a whole gets excited with us about this new chapter,” she says. “We’re just really happy to be that authentic French bistro, because it’s unique to us.”
The team is in the process of hiring a new French chef. Several leading candidates have experience in small, locally owned restaurants rather than hotels or chains, Mabury says. Favorite dishes of regulars will stay on the menu, such as the French onion soup, boeuf Bourguignon and steak frites, and she hopes the new chef will also bring some French specialty dishes and lean more into seasonality, depending on local produce and area farmers more than the previous owners. (Not all ingredients can be sourced locally, she says: Belgian chocolate has to come from Belgium, and French cheeses … well, they have to come from France. The wine list is 99 percent French wines.)
The press release announcing new ownership promises “transparency and the highest standards of food safety” and a “safe, respectful, and thriving workplace.” While such language is unusual in a restaurant press release, Mabury says it underscores the owners’ interest in overcoming associations with previous health code and other allegations of misconduct under the previous owners’ tenure. They’ve also posted their new Metro Health inspections on their Instagram account.
“We’re just really excited to have to reconnect with those who maybe had lost interest in this place, and reconnect with old clientele,” Mabury says. Once the new chef is in the kitchen, the restaurant plans to have a grand reopening event.
Once Upon a Time in France is located at 1102 Gallatin Ave. and is open for dinner Monday through Saturday. Reservations are accepted online and walk-ins are welcome.
Dining and Cooking