It’s hard to imagine a sadder replacement for Opryland than an outlet mall, but that’s what we’ve got. And just like the mall it lives in, The Aquarium is, indeed, depressing. Like Planet Hollywood and Rainforest Cafe, this aquatic-themed restaurant is a relic of its time. It’s where flounder has come to die—literally and metaphorically. As you might expect, there are a fair amount of tourists here, along with parents celebrating their kids’ birthdays. And they come for the giant 200,000-gallon tank in the middle of the restaurant filled with large fish, sharks, and a few stingrays that like to press their cloaca against the glass. But The Aquarium lives in this weird limbo between Planet Hollywood and Rainforest Cafe. It doesn’t have the cartoon theme park aesthetic that makes it appealing for kids, but it’s also not that much fun to grab an (ironic) drink with a friend here—even with its full bar. The food is also dismal. Case in point: The Castaway Combo that has a variety of gator bites, quesadillas, cheese curds, and shishito peppers that somehow all taste the same. If you time your visit right, you can catch the resident mermaids performing a show in the tank with all the other marine life. Which sounds interesting enough, but not at all worth a stomachache.