41 Best Restaurants in Nashville, Tennessee

Fresh, open, airy, and never too buttoned-up, Adele's is a favorite for business lunches and date-night dinners alike. This high-end Southern eatery was an early part of the neighborhood's revitalization, and James Beard–winning chef Jonathan Waxman continues to dazzle with his accessible but polished cuisine.

This classic ice cream and burger stand feels like a blast from the past with retro decor, classic diner fare, ice cream, and milk shakes that can be enjoyed on their covered patio. This family-friendly staple embraces their throwback energy, even naming their delicious signature shake flavors after 1950s rockers.

You know the offerings are good when the hours include a "or till sold out" proviso, and that's the case with this bakery located just off 12th Avenue South. They serve pastries and cookies, but the large, beautifully decorated gourmet doughnuts are what people talk about most. It is locally owned and named for the family's five daughters.

Southern charm abounds in both decor and flavors at Husk, located in a converted historic home. With seasonal ingredients sourced from in and around Tennessee, the menu at this must-try restaurant staple (with other locations in Charleston and Savannah) is elevated and dynamic.

Celebrity chef and actor Billy Dec has brought his Chicago-based Sunda to Nashville with the recent splashy opening of this new sister restaurant, and the neighborhood is all the better for it. Characterized as "Southeast Asian fusion," you can find a menu of shareable plates that includes twists on classic Filipino dishes, a selection of dim sum, a full sushi bar, crispy rice topped with tuna, and quite a few expertly cooked pork dishes. Don't miss their unique weekend brunch.

Tempered Café is unlike any other café in Nashville, serving an extensive selection of handcrafted chocolates alongside a full menu of espresso drinks, breakfast and lunch plates, and, yes, homemade hot chocolate and drinking chocolate. Tempered also has a full bar, and offers chocolate and beverage pairings that are unlike anything you've ever tried before.

Opened in fall 2018, this Houston Station coffee shop, or rather, lounge, has baked goods made fresh in its tiny kitchen, a large selection of syrups that are used in its house-made Italian sodas, and, of course, hot and iced coffee. The atmosphere is old-school cozy, even more so on Saturday afternoons when there is live jazz.

This open yet cozy space, with woven baskets as light fixtures, serves upscale bites influenced by the street food and beach cultures of Southern California, Uruguay, and Brazil. Tacos and rice bowls dominate the menu, as well as fresh-squeezed juice and cocktails.

Opened in February 2016, this small restaurant (and bar) seats only 24 diners (RSVPs are encouraged; walk-ins are welcomed when space is available). Parties of four to six are offered a five-course, prix fixe meal; smaller groups may order à la carte from a selection of American fare.

A long-standing staple of Sylvan Park, Caffe Nonna serves Italian dinner in an inviting and intimate café setting. Pizzas are baked fresh in a brick oven, pasta is served with house-made sauces, and the wine list rounds out the experience.

You can’t miss the bright red facade or the window where you can order the signature chocolate chip or oatmeal raisin cookies; sometimes there's a tray of samples at the window. This location opened in the summer of 2018, but the bakery has been around since 1985 and tins of the cookies are familiar and beloved holiday and celebratory gifts.

Part grocery market, part travel agency, part restaurant, Coco’s Italian Market is dedicated to and passionate about all things Italian. Their house specialities remain proudly authentic to original Italian recipes that won't break the bank.

This steak house has major chops: if an exquisite cut of beef isn’t epicurean enough for you, you can pair your steak with lobster, crab, scallops, or shrimp. And with a long, luxurious cocktail menu and plenty of aperitifs, desserts, and even a port flight, your meal can drag on all evening with no end to indulgences in sight.

This small space is airy and bright, and maintains a bit of its pop-up-shop origins. Serving breakfast and lunch items—including soups and sandwiches—the best options are the cookies and pastries made on-site and also sold at a number of Nashville eateries. Marble-topped tables and black café chairs inside; outdoor seating in warmer months. The baking room is cloaked in a wooden shell that also wraps the counter. Only basic coffee, but it’s from local coffee shop Crema.

Located inside the Factory, this dreamy bakery seems to glow with soft pink light. They specialize in donuts, but not just any old donuts—these are 100-layer croissant-donut hybrids, cream-filled and glazed in flavors like spiced honey cheesecake and maple bacon (they also have a wide selection of paleo and vegan donuts).

This coffeehouse opens first thing in the morning and stays open through breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and there’s plenty of porch space to enjoy your rosemary honey latte outside; in the evening, they expand their drink menu to include craft beer and wine. The menu is Southern comfort food with a New South twist (like johnnycakes with house-pickled okra and bacon-onion marmalade), but coffee is still the main event at Frothy Monkey. All their coffee is locally roasted by their own roasting company, and you can buy it by the bag from the café.

Before Gray’s signature neon sign signaled innovative cocktails and comfort food, it was the sign for the pharmacy that occupied that space for 72 years. When Gray’s the restaurant moved into the building in 2012, they kept all the discarded memorabilia from the pharmacy and decorated the place with handwritten prescriptions and vintage pill bottles.

Franklin’s first coffee roasting company is an honest-to-goodness great place to get a cup of coffee. Located inside the Factory, Franklin’s converted industrial shopping complex, it’s also a great place to get an honest day’s work done on your laptop, and in addition to their ethically sourced and roasted coffees and selection of teas, there’s usually an assortment of croissants, scones, and donuts available.

Jeni's has become such a popular presence in Nashville that many people, locals included, forget the string of ice cream shops is actually based in Ohio. No matter, though, as the colorful shop and its artful flavors of ice cream and sorbet fit right in here in Music City, particularly in East Nashville. Stop by for dessert after dinner at Rosepepper, which is conveniently located just across the street.

If you're craving artfully marbled cuts of meat, then Kayne Prime boasts the best selection in town with top-notch cuts from some of the best ranches in the United States and abroad. The huge interior is filled with raw wood planks, private leather booths, and three different bars, and the starters consistently win top marks from diners. For those serious about their steaks, this acclaimed steak house has a strip steak made with genuine Japanese Wagyu beef.

This Mexican bakery serves up fresh tres leches, bread pudding, cheesecake, and a host of other pastries so flaky you’ll get almost as much on your shirt as in your mouth. Grab a Mexican Coca-Cola made to complete your sugary snack.

Southwest of Nashville on Highway 100, the Loveless Café serves up its famous scratch-made biscuits and country ham every day of the week. Long waits for a table are typical, so be prepared to do some shopping and play a round of cornhole while you wait. When the café opened in 1951, it was just chicken served at picnic tables on Lon and Annie Loveless’s front porch. But over the years, the restaurant has expanded to include every iteration of Southern breakfast and supper. In 2004 the remainder of the on-site motel was converted into quaint country shops—chief among them the Hams & Jams Country Market, where you can get free coffee all day, Southern-inspired home goods and gifts, and barbecue to go.

If you need some place snug to get out of the rain, stop into McCreary’s for shepherd’s pie and a pint of Harp. Their selection of seafood fare, like the Galway fish sandwich, will give you that Irish coastal feeling even as far inland as Tennessee. If you’re feeling especially decadent, stop by between 9 and noon on the weekend and give the bread pudding French toast a try.

It’s impossible to overstate how cozy this Irish pub is. There’s live music every night of the week, but on Friday through Sunday, you can catch the owner himself performing traditional Irish tunes with his band, Nosey Flynn. After dinner, Finn McCool's Ice Cream Pie is an unbeatable treat, but you’ll need at least four people to finish a slice. Or, if you’re after something a little stronger, McNamara’s serves every Irish whiskey you can get in Nashville. If there’s a long wait downstairs, they also serve the full menu upstairs in the semi-secret sports bar.

As soon as you squeeze through the front door of Meridee’s Breadbasket, you’ll feel at home. The shelves are stocked with fresh baked bread, and the cabinets are full of peanut butter pie and butterscotch bars. There are quilts on the walls and baskets hanging from the ceiling, helping the jumble of tables to feel more neighborly than crowded, and the service is as charming as the setting: ask any employee which bread you should order with your chicken salad sandwich, and they'll discuss it with you for as long as you like.

A downtown Nashville staple for many years, Mike’s reminds you of a classic 1950s soda parlor, complete with vintage murals. Featuring classics like perfectly dipped cones and tall sundaes covered in chocolate, it’s a great way to end a day walking around downtown.

The inside of this ritzy Italian restaurant can be a bit of a maze (it's so much bigger on the inside than expected from its small entrance on a side street), but thankfully it just means there's plenty of seating inside for hungry diners to dive into rich, decadent homemade pastas and gnocchi.

For a neighborhood joint that takes diner fare to the next level, Nadeen’s balance of folksy and classy won’t disappoint. The rolls for their Philly cheesesteaks actually come from Philadelphia, and their biscuits are fresh every morning.

Half café (pressed juices, coffee, and wraps) and half restaurant (tacos, burrito bowls, and a full bar), Nectar Urban Cantina is great whether you’re in a hurry or have more time to kill. Inside an updated Tudor-style house, they offer fresh Mexican-inspired cuisine in a bright, casual space. If the weather’s nice, check out their beer garden and outdoor margarita bar.