House of Cards might be one of Nashville’s best hidden treasures — and hidden it is. Located underneath the Johnny Cash Museum in the heart of Music City, House of Cards offers an upscale dining experience, and a first-rate magic show, all under one roof.
“You can dine anywhere in Nashville,” Joey Martinez, General Manager of House of Cards, told Everything Nash. “What makes us so special is that we have a total body experience. What I mean by total body is, when you sit down and you have a drink, your mouth is happy to get those flavors from that drink. The juices are freshly squeezed here. The syrups are made here. So we take the same amount of passion that we have for alcohol, and we put those into the drinks.
“When you sit down and you have our food here, our chef and his team have a passion for food,” he added. “So they want to make sure that everything has the right flavors and nothing mixes in between. They want to make sure that your belly, or your body, gets that, ‘Oh my goodness, that was delicious. I’ve never had anything better.'”
The menu, which offers choice steak options, along with seafood, duck, pork and more, is only part of what draws people to House of Cards. Following dinner, guests are treated to a magic show from some of the country’s top-rated magicians, a perk that is included with the purchase of an entree.
“We bring magicians in from all over the world,” Joey boasted. “The first gift is that it has no language barriers. It’s a universal language. If I found a deck of cards, you know that you’re going to pick one, and it’s going to magically appear somewhere. Whether it be a lemon, whether it be in your wallet, whether it be anywhere. And so, it gives you that universal language, It also has no financial barriers. You can be broke. There’s a homeless guy in Florida. He makes tip money off of making cigarettes, disappear through shirts. The people are flipping out. And they give him tip money. Although he’s homeless, he’s able to share that gift for people.”
House of Cards just received one of the highest honors, giving owner Bill Miller the Presidential Citation Award, honoring House of Cards’ “historical preservation of magic and created a unique magical experience of both stage and close-up magic, melding magic with fine dining and exquisite libations for the perfect experience of the magical arts,” according to a press release. It’s a rarely-given acknowledgement, which shows how hard all of the House of Cards’ staff work to make guests’ experience at House of Cards unforgettable, especially now.
“We have the unique opportunity to give someone a very unique experience, and perhaps one that they’ll never forget,” Operating Partner Blake Miller, son of House of Cards’ founder, explains. “I have so many tools at my disposal, to give someone a unique experience every single night, It’s different than just coming in and having a great steak, which is also great. This is different. This is the kind of experience that people need right now.
“They’ve been stuck in their houses for two or three months,” he continued. “This is a place where they can come and have their mind blown and experience all sorts of joy. The things that they’ve been missing out on, if they’ve been cooped up in their house and they’re ready to go out for a night, this is the perfect place for them to come.'”
House of Cards intentionally doesn’t advertise, choosing to trust word of mouth from their loyal customers, who continue to help spread the word about all that House of Cards has to offer.
“The way that we handle marketing for House of Cards is so, so different than any other place,” Senior Vice President , Angela Daeger, shares. “You can walk past this building and never know that House of Cards is here. And that’s the idea; it’s like this special speakeasy. You come down the secret entryway into this other world. It isn’t being advertised, and you’re not seeing it the way that the Johnny Cash museum has this big sign in front of your face when you walk past it.
“We rely on these wonderful experiences that we are giving the guests,” she concluded, “and that word of mouth of these people saying, ‘This was so amazing. I have to tell all my friends, I have to go on open table. I have to go here.'”
House of Cards also offers plenty of historical magician memorabilia, including clothing and other items, for guests to view. A dress code is required, and reservations are encouraged. Find more information at HOCNashvile.com.