The Top 100 Places to Eat and Drink Near Frothy Monkey
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Rank 2. Bad Idea
Wine Bar
A converted church sanctuary in East Nashville holds a 100-bottle wine program and a sprawling bar built for conviviality. The kitchen moves easily between playful appetizers—whipped pimento cheese, reimagined chicken nuggets—and more substantial plates of grilled steak and spinach-stuffed quail. The result is a place that takes wine seriously but doesn't take itself too seriously.
- Food & Wine 2025 · Colby Rasavong · Best New Chefs
- The New York Times 2024 · The Restaurant List
- Wine Enthusiast 2024 · Forward 50 Restaurants
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- James Beard Awards 2025 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: Southeast · Julio Hernandez
- Nashville Scene 2023 · Best Perma-Pop-Up · Best of Nashville
- Nashville Scene 2025 · Best Symbiotic Food Truck/Bar Relationship · Best of Nashville
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- The New York Times 2025 · Asparagus Tostada · The Best Restaurant Dishes We Ate Across the U.S.
- Nashville Scene 2025 · Best Tacos · Best of Nashville
- Nashville Scene 2024 · Best Chef Getting Bigger By Staying Small · Best of Nashville · Edgar Victoria
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Rank 6. Noko
Asian-Inspired
- James Beard Awards 2025 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: Southeast · Dung "Junior" Vo
- Nashville Scene 2024 · Best Restaurant Bar Experience · Best of Nashville
- Nashville Scene 2023 · Best Truffle Dish: The District Sando · Best of Nashville
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Rank 7. Peninsula
Modern Spanish
In a plain East Nashville apartment building sits a restaurant where Iberian traditions meet global improvisation. Fried endive arrives under koji foam and burnt onion dust; beets pair with roasted garlic in ways that feel both playful and precise. The cooking trades predictability for character, culminating in mochi doughnuts glazed in vivid marzipan.
- James Beard Awards 2025 · Winner · Best Chef: Southeast · Jake Howell
- Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand
- Nashville Scene 2025 · Best Chef · Best of Nashville · Jake Howell
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- Punch 2025 · Best New Bartenders · Matthew Izaguirre
- Spirited Awards 2025 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best New U.S. Cocktail Bar – U.S. East
- Nashville Scene 2024 · Best New Cocktail Bar · Best of Nashville
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- Nashville Scene 2025 · Best New Restaurant · Best of Nashville
- The Infatuation #7 · The Best Restaurants In Nashville
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- Nashville Scene 2025 · Best New Wine Bar · Best of Nashville
- The Infatuation #16 · The Best Restaurants In Nashville
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- Nashville Scene 2023 · Best Silver Lining · Best of Nashville
- Nashville Scene 2024 · Best Sandwich Shop · Best of Nashville
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Rank 17. S.S. GAI
Street-style Thai
A converted car wash in Nashville's industrial sprawl houses vendors hawking Thai street-style fried chicken that arrives impossibly crisp and fragrant with fish sauce and lime. The two- or four-piece gai tod comes with sticky rice and tamarind chili, a formula so focused it leaves no room for distraction.
- Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand
- Nashville Scene 2024 · Best Chicken · Best of Nashville
- Nashville Scene 2025 · Best Mango Sticky Rice · Best of Nashville
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- The New York Times The 25 Best Restaurants in Nashville Right Now
- Eater 38 Essential Restaurants in Nashville
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Rank 23. Pearl Diver
Tropical
- Spirited Awards 2024 · Regional Honoree · Best U.S. Cocktail Bar – U.S. East
- Spirited Awards 2025 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best U.S. Cocktail Bar – U.S. East
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- Nashville Scene 2025 · Best Restaurant · Best of Nashville
- Nashville Scene 2023 · Best Seasonal Menus · Best of Nashville
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- Nashville Scene 2023 · Best Bar · Best of Nashville
- Nashville Scene 2024 · Best Shot: Espresso Martini Shot · Best of Nashville
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Rank 37. Cafe Roze
New American
Cafe Roze operates across daylight and dark on Porter Road as a shape-shifter: coffee spot at dawn, wine bar by afternoon, dinner destination by night. The kitchen's vegetable-driven small plates and oysters carry surprising complexity—grilled long beans with zhouk, watermelon radish in urfu vinegar, a pork schnitzel that reinterprets tradition with brown butter and heat.
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Rank 38. Kisser
Japanese
Brian Lea and Leina Horii run a no-reservation spot that moves fast and trades fussy plating for the warm, unpretentious spirit of a Japanese tea house. The menu—onigiri with snow crab and cod roe, grilled yellowtail collar in bright ponzu, miso crème brûlée—proves that restraint and ingredient quality need no fanfare.
- James Beard Awards 2024 · Nominee · Best New Restaurant
- Food & Wine 2024 · Best New Chefs · Leina Horii and Brian Lea
- James Beard Awards 2025 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Restaurateur · Benjamin Goldberg, Max Goldberg, and Josh Habiger - Strategic Hospitality
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- Nashville Scene 2023 · Best Brewery for Last-Minute Gatherings · Best of Nashville
- Nashville Scene 2024 · Best Under-the-Radar Business Magnate · Best of Nashville · Wesley Keegan
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- Nashville Scene 2025 · Best Float: Root Beer Float · Best of Nashville
- Nashville Scene 2023 · Best Gumbo · Best of Nashville
- Nashville Scene 2023 · Best Frozen Drink: Painkiller · Best of Nashville
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Rank 41. Audrey
Southern
In a converted East Nashville space, Audrey channels Appalachian tradition through a shareable menu that feels both ancestral and composed. Fried green tomatoes arrive with chow-chow-laced buttermilk; chicken and dumplings emerge tableside as theater and comfort in one breath. Regional ingredients—paw paws, benne seeds—anchor dishes that shift with seasons but never lose their roots.
- AAA Four Diamonds
- Eater 2022 · The Best New Restaurants in America
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
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Rank 42. The Catbird Seat
Contemporary
A U-shaped counter on the fifth floor where Andy Doubrava and Tiffani Ortiz work in full view, building a frenetic tasting menu around Nashville ingredients preserved and transformed—smoked, grilled, reduced to powder and puree. The small courses arrive restless and inventive: stuffed chicken wings, charred mushrooms, potatoes buried in whipped cheese. Nothing to hide here, and nothing held back.
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Rank 43. Bastion
Contemporary Southern
Pass through the cocktail bar to reach this Wedgewood-Houston dining room, where a single tasting menu explores playful Southern cooking with unlikely flourishes like mozzarella marshmallows and sake lees. The kitchen balances risk-taking with genuine product focus, as seen in a black cod poached in champagne butter that justifies each carefully composed plate.
- AAA Four Diamonds
- Michelin Guide 1 Star
- James Beard Awards 2025 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Restaurateur · Benjamin Goldberg, Max Goldberg, and Josh Habiger - Strategic Hospitality
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- Nashville Scene 2025 · Best Place for a Coffee Date · Best of Nashville
- Eater The Best Coffee Shops in Nashville
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Rank 49. Folk
Seasonal New American
Philip Krajeck's East Nashville restaurant trades formality for warmth, anchoring its menu to seasonal produce and wood-fired instinct. Stracciatella with peaches, naturally leavened pizza, and focaccia ice cream with rhubarb jam arrive as unpretentious gestures toward local pleasure.
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
- The Infatuation #11 · The Best Restaurants In Nashville
- The New York Times The 25 Best Restaurants in Nashville Right Now
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Rank 52. Tiger Bar
Cocktail Bar
- The Pinnacle Guide 1 Pin
- Esquire 2024 · The Best Bars in America
- Nashville Scene 2025 · Best Fried Cheese: Flamin' Hot Mozz Sticks · Best of Nashville
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- Nashville Scene 2023 · Best Hangover Bite: Egg and Cheese Bao · Best of Nashville
- Nashville Scene 2023 · Best Comfort Food · Best of Nashville
- The Infatuation #23 · The Best Restaurants In Nashville
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Rank 55. Yolan
Italian
- Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Four Star
- James Beard Awards 2023 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Pastry Chef or Baker · Noelle Marchetti
- Wine Enthusiast 2024 · Forward 50 Restaurants
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- Esquire 2025 · Mushroom Martini · The Best Martinis in America
- James Beard Awards 2025 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Restaurateur · Benjamin Goldberg, Max Goldberg, and Josh Habiger - Strategic Hospitality
- Nashville Scene 2025 · Best Restaurant and Bar Relocation · Best of Nashville
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- James Beard Awards 2025 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Restaurateur · Benjamin Goldberg, Max Goldberg, and Josh Habiger - Strategic Hospitality
- James Beard Awards 2025 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Restaurateur · Benjamin Goldberg, Max Goldberg, and Josh Habiger - Strategic Hospitality
- Nashville Scene 2025 · Best Ballpark Food · Best of Nashville
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- James Beard Awards 2024 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Bakery
- Time Out The best bakeries in America
- Nashville Scene 2025 · Best Beautiful Pastries · Best of Nashville
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- James Beard Awards 2025 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Restaurateur · Benjamin Goldberg, Max Goldberg, and Josh Habiger - Strategic Hospitality
- Nashville Scene 2025 · Best New Cafe and Bakery · Best of Nashville
- The Infatuation #24 · The Best Restaurants In Nashville
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Rank 62. Maíz de la Vida
Upscale Mexican
- James Beard Awards 2023 · Semifinalist · Emerging Chef · Julio Hernandez
- USA Today 2026 · Restaurants of the Year
- James Beard Awards 2025 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: Southeast · Julio Hernandez
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Rank 63. Locust
Japanese
Trevor Moran's compact Japanese hotspot thrums with controlled chaos, each dish—beef tartare rolls, scallops with apple, crab omelet—designed for sharing with quiet precision. The kakigori, a constantly evolving shaved ice confection, justifies the nearly impossible reservation.
- 50 Best 2025 · #20 · North America's 50 Best Restaurants
- Michelin Guide 1 Star
- James Beard Awards 2025 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Restaurateur · Benjamin Goldberg, Max Goldberg, and Josh Habiger - Strategic Hospitality
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Rank 65. Tailor
Southern-influenced Indian
Chef Vivek Surti's tasting menu at this Germantown showroom braids his Indian heritage with Southern tradition—tomato sandwiches crowned with masala onion aioli, short ribs kissed by warm spices—in a dining room of bold color and open kitchen theater. The meal closes with Gujarati saffron yogurt and mango, chai and cardamom cookies: a statement of arrival.
- James Beard Awards 2026 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Hospitality
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
- The Infatuation #10 · The Best Restaurants In Nashville
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- Nashville Scene 2024 · Best Hot Sauce · Best of Nashville
- Nashville Scene 2023 · Best Sandwich: Lomo Sandwich · Best of Nashville
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Rank 70. St. Vito Focacceria
Sicilian Pizza
Chef Michael Hanna's Sicilian focaccia arrives thick and custard-soft, topped with fontina, breadcrumbs, and pecorino in rotating combinations that suggest pizza's older, more generous cousin. Watch the dough fold in the open kitchen while you debate whether the spicy tomato with burrata or roasted potato cream deserves a second square.
- Esquire 2024 · The Best New Restaurants in America
- Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand
- Nashville Scene 2023 · Best New Italian · Best of Nashville
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Rank 71. iggy's
Italian
The Poli brothers' Wedgewood-Houston Italian restaurant showcases house-made pastas like shells with peekytoe crab and sea urchin butter in a sleek space anchored by a glass pasta room. Soft serve sundaes—lemon huckleberry with brown butter cake—are the nonnegotiable finale.
- Nashville Scene 2024 · Best Chef · Best of Nashville · Ryan Poli
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
- The Infatuation #6 · The Best Restaurants In Nashville
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- James Beard Awards 2025 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Restaurateur · Benjamin Goldberg, Max Goldberg, and Josh Habiger - Strategic Hospitality
- The New York Times The 25 Best Restaurants in Nashville Right Now
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- Nashville Scene 2025 · Best thing on Toast: Whipped Feta and Prosciutto Toast · Best of Nashville
- Eater The Best Coffee Shops in Nashville
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Rank 75. Redheaded Stranger
Tex-Mex Mexican
A Willie Nelson–named spot in Cleveland Park where flour tortillas spin in the open kitchen and lines form before lunch. Bryan Lee Weaver's Tex-Mex menu ranges from straightforward (bacon, egg, cheese taco) to the audacious (poblano with whipped feta and crispy rice), while house-made hot sauces and a pork green chili crunch wrap deliver the kind of casual confidence that comes from genuine care.
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- Spirited Awards 2026 · Top 10 Nominee · Best U.S. Hotel Bar
- Spirited Awards 2024 · Regional Honoree · Best U.S. Hotel Bar – U.S. East
- Spirited Awards 2025 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best U.S. Hotel Bar – U.S. East
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Rank 78. Rolf and Daughters
Contemporary New American
Philip Krajeck's Germantown spot draws locals with earnest, seasonal cooking built for the table—delicate housemade pastas like corn agnolotti in beurre blanc, refined proteins, a vanilla ice cream finale with poached peach. The menu reads like a love letter to what's in season, executed without pretense.
- James Beard Awards 2026 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: Southeast · Philip Krajeck
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
- James Beard Awards 2022 · Nominee · Best Chef: Southeast · Philip Krajeck
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- The New York Times The 25 Best Restaurants in Nashville Right Now
- Eater 38 Essential Restaurants in Nashville
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Rank 80. Arnold's Country Kitchen
Southern
Nashville locals queue at this cafeteria-style counter for the platters that define meat and three: a protein like pork chop or brisket paired with sides of turnip greens studded with smoky pork, collards, cornbread. Since 1982, Arnold's has served uncomplicated Southern cooking that reads as an institution precisely because it never tries to be anything else.
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- The Infatuation Our Favorite Bakeries In The Country Right Now
- Nashville Scene 2025 · Best Beignets · Best of Nashville
- Eater 38 Essential Restaurants in Nashville
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- Nashville Scene 2025 · Best Under-the-Radar Coffee Empire · Best of Nashville
- Eater The Best Coffee Shops in Nashville
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- Nashville Scene 2025 · Best Under-the-Radar Coffee Empire · Best of Nashville
- Eater The Best Coffee Shops in Nashville
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- Nashville Scene 2024 · Best New Sandwich: Fennel Sausage Sandwich · Best of Nashville
- Nashville Scene 2025 · Best Cheese Thing · Best of Nashville
- Nashville Scene 2023 · Best New Pizza · Best of Nashville
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A family project spanning five decades, International Market opens at lunch as a humble steam-table operation—fried rice, curry, the reliable Thai standards—then transforms each evening into a full-service dining room where Chef Arnold elaborates on tradition with fried trout laab and locally sourced chicken. The formula works because neither version pretends to be the other.
- James Beard Awards 2024 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: Southeast · Arnold Myint
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
- The Infatuation #18 · The Best Restaurants In Nashville
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- Nashville Scene 2024 · Best Coffee-on-the-Go · Best of Nashville
- Eater The Best Coffee Shops in Nashville
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Rank 88. Sho Pizza Bar
Neapolitan Pizza
Sean Brock's pizza bar in Riverside Village takes its name from the Japanese concept of artisanal mastery, an ethos evident in the cold-fermented dough and wood-fired results. Pale walls and concrete floors frame an Italian oven and an open kitchen where the sourcing of every ingredient—cheese, cured meat, vegetable, wood—becomes part of the meal itself.
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- Nashville Scene 2025 · Best Coffee Shop Glow-Up · Best of Nashville
- Nashville Scene 2023 · Best Micro Cafe · Best of Nashville
- Eater The Best Coffee Shops in Nashville
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- Nashville Scene 2024 · Best Coffee-on-the-Go · Best of Nashville
- Eater The Best Coffee Shops in Nashville
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Rank 97. Shotgun Willie's BBQ
Texas-style Barbecue
A former food truck now settled in a casual Nashville space, Shotgun Willie's serves Houston-style barbecue—brisket with blackened bark, jalapeño sausage, pulled pork—beneath Texas road signs and memorabilia. The real draw is the sides: green beans studded with smoked brisket and mac and queso threaded with chili, best experienced with a guide from the staff who know every station by heart.
- Nashville Scene 2024 · Best Barbecue · Best of Nashville
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
- The Infatuation #22 · The Best Restaurants In Nashville
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