The Best Places in Nashville

Inglewood Lounge is an East Nashville bar where the booths are tucked away and the lighting forgives everyone, which is the whole pitch for a first date. There's a covered patio, a dance floor for when things go well, and a bar menu with a piri piri chicken sandwich you can take to go when they don't. The U-shaped parking lot makes the exit easy. Nashville Scene voted it Best Place for a First Date in 2025.

1. Nashville Scene 2025 · Best Place for a First Date · Best of Nashville

1. Nashville Scene 2025 · Best Breakfast Burrito · Best of Nashville

Margot is a neighborhood cafe and bar in East Nashville, the kind of dinner spot where the staff has clearly been to school for this and then politely hidden the diploma. It's been running for ages without turning fussy, which in this city is its own small feat. Nashville Scene gave it Best Service Staff, and the evidence is that nobody at your table ever feels processed.

1. Nashville Scene 2025 · Best Service Staff · Best of Nashville

1. Nashville Scene 2025 · Best Breakfast Bagel · Best of Nashville

1. Nashville Scene 2025 · Best Specialty Sandwich · Best of Nashville

Music City Tea is a loose-leaf Chinese tea shop in an unassuming house in Murfreesboro, with shelves and tables crowded with pouches, bins, and tins. The owner sits you down and pours round after round through a gaiwan while explaining oolong versus green versus black, so plan on an hour and a mild caffeine tremor. Nashville Scene named it Best Intro to Tea in 2025, and you'll probably leave with a colorful gaiwan of your own.

1. Nashville Scene 2025 · Best Intro to Tea · Best of Nashville

Punk Wok is a casual sushi counter tucked into a corner of the Sylvan Supply complex on Charlotte, the kind of spot that predates the recent flood of sushi openings and has never felt the need to mention it. Happy hour runs three hours, every day, with half-price maki, nigiri, and sashimi and $2 domestic beers. Nashville Scene gave it Best Happy Hour in 2025, which the math on that deal mostly explains.

1. Nashville Scene 2025 · Best Happy Hour · Best of Nashville

1. Nashville Scene 2025 · Best Nepalese/Bhutanese Restaurant and Grocery Store · Best of Nashville

Retrograde is a bright, clean coffee shop in City Heights, and by midmorning it fills with the laptop crowd, the same remote workers who lost their last roost when a beloved Nations spot closed. They're easy to pardon, since the whipped feta and prosciutto toast tastes like a Germantown brunch with the reservation and the markup removed. Nashville Scene named it the best thing on toast in 2025.

1. Nashville Scene 2025 · Best thing on Toast: Whipped Feta and Prosciutto Toast · Best of Nashville

1. Nashville Scene 2025 · Best Cozy Pizza Spot · Best of Nashville

1. Nashville Scene 2025 · Best Facelift · Best of Nashville

Sperry's Mercantile is a gourmet market and prepared-foods shop out in Bellevue, where the casseroles are fancy enough to bring to a dinner party and pass off as your own. Beyond the grab-and-go case you'll find a wine section, full meat and seafood counters, and a dining room next door. There's also a drive-thru for breakfast and lunch, a thing the Belle Meade original has the good sense not to attempt.

1. Nashville Scene 2025 · Best Grab-and-Go Expansion · Best of Nashville

Sperry's Mercantile is a gourmet market and prepared-foods shop, the kind where dinner arrives in a container and you take the credit. The Bellevue outpost has a full seafood and meat counter, a curated wine wall, and a drive-thru for breakfast and lunch, which is not a sentence you expect about a place with fancy chicken casseroles. It took Nashville Scene's Best Grab-and-Go Expansion. Eat in the dining room or carry it home.

1. Nashville Scene 2025 · Best Grab-and-Go Expansion · Best of Nashville

Studio Mama is a supper club in a recording studio, where about thirty people share a multicourse meal cooked by a former studio chef, then watch a songwriter play from a few feet away. The $550 ticket buys dinner, conversation with strangers, and a set that feels like it was written for your table. It's a house concert that happens to have a proper kitchen. Nashville Scene gave it a Best of Nashville nod for Best Reason to Splurge.

1. Nashville Scene 2025 · Best Reason to Splurge · Best of Nashville

SuperNormal is a burger counter in Sylvan Park, and the move here is the packaging. Your burger and fries ride side by side in a bright orange cube with three vent holes punched in the lid, so the steam escapes and nothing goes limp on the drive home. It's fast-ish food with the design instincts of a gallery gift shop. Nashville Scene gave it Best Presentation/Packaging in 2025, which tells you where the effort went.

1. Nashville Scene 2025 · Best Presentation/Packaging · Best of Nashville

1. Nashville Scene 2024 · Best New Brunch · Best of Nashville

Tabla Rasa Cafe is a neighborhood spot on Greenwood Avenue, and its calling card is a sprinkle-and-peanut-brittle ice cream topping that Midwestern kids grew up shaking out of a Dairy Queen cup. Transplants who spent years hunting for it south of the Mason-Dixon line can now stop. It's casual and cheap, a stop for a cone or a cup, and Nashville Scene gave the sprinkle crunch its Best Throwback to Childhood nod.

1. Nashville Scene 2025 · Best Throwback to Childhood: Sprinkle Crunch · Best of Nashville

TailGate is a brewery taproom with pizza, a patio, and a surprisingly large footprint, since the owner has quietly built it into nine locations without investors. It's the kind of place where the beer, the cider, and a painting class can share a Tuesday, and nobody finds that odd. Dogs and kids are welcome, so the crowd skews toward people who left the house with a leash or a stroller.

1. Nashville Scene 2024 · Best Under-the-Radar Business Magnate · Best of Nashville · Wesley Keegan

1. Nashville Scene 2024 · Best Under-the-Radar Business Magnate · Best of Nashville · Wesley Keegan

1. Nashville Scene 2024 · Best Under-the-Radar Business Magnate · Best of Nashville · Wesley Keegan

1. Nashville Scene 2025 · Best Rooftop Bar · Best of Nashville

The Iberian Pig is a fine-dining Spanish restaurant on Overton Street that treats ham as a legitimate afternoon activity. From 4 to 6 every day, the bar serves a board of jamón and cheese with pickles and funky mustards, plus a cheap sangria, so you can feel European on a Tuesday. Dinner runs more formal, and the burnt Basque cheesecake with black garlic dulce de leche is the dessert that talks you out of ordering something safe.

1. Nashville Scene 2024 · Best Happy Hour: Jamón Happy Hour · Best of Nashville
2. Nashville Scene 2025 · Best Fancy Dessert: Burnt Basque Cheesecake · Best of Nashville

The Loading Dock is a coffee shop that lost its lease, went looking for a new home, and came back in the Buchanan Arts District with more room than before. Expect fun coffee creations next to the classics, High Garden teas, local art and plants for sale, and seating spread across two floors and a patio. Nashville Scene gave it Best Comeback, which is a fair category for a place that refused to just become condos.

1. Nashville Scene 2025 · Best Comeback · Best of Nashville

The Optimist is a polished seafood restaurant on Nashville's Adams Street, the kind of place where the wood-roasted oysters arrive before you've decided how much of the bill you're willing to think about. The room leans nautical in a restrained, postmodern way, and the menu rotates often enough that regulars can't coast on habit. Outside, a seasonal bar called Jacqueline serves cocktails when the weather cooperates. Nashville Scene named it Best High-End Seafood in 2025.

1. Nashville Scene 2025 · Best High-End Seafood · Best of Nashville

The Southern Steak & Oyster is a downtown Nashville steakhouse and raw bar, the sort of place where the menu leads with oysters and the wine list leads with your expense account. It's the flagship of a family restaurant empire that has since passed to the founder's daughters. Nashville Scene gave it a Best of Nashville nod for Best Ballsy Real Estate Move, after the family locked in a 20-year lease extension.

1. Nashville Scene 2025 · Best Ballsy Real Estate Move · Best of Nashville

1. Nashville Scene 2024 · Best Seasonal Coffee Concoctions · Best of Nashville

Up-Down is an arcade bar in East Nashville, which means you can lose to a teenager at a cabinet game and then order a drink about it. Retro movies play on the walls, theme nights come around regularly, and the rooftop has its own bar and a skyline view. Nashville Scene named it Best Arcade Bar in 2024. The crowd skews toward grown-ups reclaiming their childhoods, quarters optional, regrets not.

1. Nashville Scene 2024 · Best Arcade Bar · Best of Nashville

Upbeet is a fast-casual counter in the Gulch where you build a grain bowl or smoothie assembly-line style, like a sandwich shop that has taken a vow of wellness. Everything is organic and gluten-free, and dairy shows up only if you ask for the cheese. The menu flags allergens plainly, so the person at the table with seven restrictions can finally order without a ten-minute interrogation of the server.

1. Nashville Scene 2024 · Best Option for Diners with Dietary Needs · Best of Nashville

1. Nashville Scene 2025 · Best Shawarma · Best of Nashville

1. Nashville Scene 2024 · Best (Mostly) Unchanged Bar · Best of Nashville

1. Nashville Scene 2025 · Best Bellevie Hang · Best of Nashville

1. Nashville Scene 2023 · Best Cookie: Brownie Cookie · Best of Nashville
2. Nashville Scene 2025 · Best South Nashville Sweets · Best of Nashville

1. Nashville Scene 2025 · Best Downtown Lunch You Forgot About · Best of Nashville

1. Nashville Scene 2023 · Best OG Craft Beer Emporium · Best of Nashville

1. Nashville Scene 2023 · Best Dive · Best of Nashville

1. Nashville Scene 2023 · Best Bar for Babies (and the People Who Have Them) · Best of Nashville

Drusie & Darr is the Hermitage Hotel's dining room, a Jean-Georges Vongerichten production that took over from the old Capitol Grille without scaring the regulars off. The vaulted rathskeller ceiling is now painted in pinks and peaches, and the open kitchen has a wood-fired oven doing smoky things to pizzas and vegetables. Dinner here is a proper hotel-restaurant occasion, and the ladies' room is aggressively pink.

1. Nashville Scene 2023 · Best Restaurant · Best of Nashville

Game Terminal is an arcade bar in Berry Hill with more than 200 games, nearly 100 of them pinball machines that cost a single token each, plus rows of others that cost nothing at all. You buy tokens at the door, order a drink, and lose track of time while a low-key birthday party unfolds two machines over. Trivia Tuesdays are on the calendar. Nashville Scene named it Best Arcade Bar in its 2023 Best of Nashville.

1. Nashville Scene 2023 · Best Arcade Bar · Best of Nashville

Golden Pony is a cocktail bar in East Nashville's Highland Yards, done up in midcentury modern with a bohemian streak and a queer-centric bent. The drinks are bespoke, the snacks are there to keep you upright, and the room is cozy enough for a first date or a long overdue catch-up with an old friend. Nashville Scene named it Best New Bar in 2023, and the bathroom mirrors keep getting mentioned, so budget a minute for them.

1. Nashville Scene 2023 · Best New Bar · Best of Nashville

Lakeside Lounge is a neighborhood dive in East Nashville with real cocktail training behind the bar, a frozen scotch-and-honey drink among them, plus darts and cheese fries. The TVs might be showing Terminator 2 and a dog show at once, and nobody blinks. The bartenders will debate your favorite Nicolas Cage movie, so pick a side first. Nashville Scene gave it Best Bar in 2023, and the menu spells espresso with an X.

1. Nashville Scene 2023 · Best Bar · Best of Nashville
2. Nashville Scene 2024 · Best Shot: Espresso Martini Shot · Best of Nashville

1. Nashville Scene 2023 · Best Brunch · Best of Nashville

1. Nashville Scene 2023 · Best Uzbek Restaurant · Best of Nashville

The Cafe at Thistle Farms is a daytime counter-service cafe on Charlotte Pike, run by a nonprofit that employs women survivors of trafficking, addiction, and prostitution, so the sandwich arrives with a mission statement attached. A teacup chandelier hangs overhead, and the menu leans toward BLTs, breakfast bowls, and a case of cakes. Nashville Scene named it Best Cafe in its 2023 Best of Nashville, if that helps you decide on lunch.

1. Nashville Scene 2023 · Best Cafe · Best of Nashville

1. Nashville Scene 2023 · Best Restauranteur in the Face of Adversity · Best of Nashville · Austin Ray
2. Nashville Scene 2023 · Best Place to Go With a Big Party · Best of Nashville

1. Nashville Scene 2024 · Best Irish Latte · Best of Nashville

1. Nashville Scene 2024 · Best Carryout Supper for Weeknights · Best of Nashville

Bill's is a counter-service sandwich shop in Lockeland Springs that took over a beloved bakery's space after a stretch as a pop-up, and the menu rotates, so you're ordering on faith. Expect big, sloppy sandwiches, from meatloaf under a coat of sauce to roasted pork on focaccia, plus fried duros sold as Cheddy Ranch Puffs. Nashville Scene named it Best Sandwich Shop in 2024, so bring napkins and no plans for the afternoon.

1. Nashville Scene 2023 · Best Silver Lining · Best of Nashville
2. Nashville Scene 2024 · Best Sandwich Shop · Best of Nashville

Black Rabbit is a casual downtown Nashville spot with a menu built around one slightly awkward fact about its name. The signature order is the Rabbit Roll, a griddled terrine of sliced rabbit tucked into a buttery roll with Swiss, mustard, and pickled onions. It's a slider, technically, and the Nashville Scene named it the city's best in 2024. Order it knowing that your inner child may file a complaint.

1. Nashville Scene 2024 · Best Slider: Rabbit Rolls · Best of Nashville

Cal's Country Kitchen is a meat-and-three on Dickerson Road, run by a son who shut down his own chicken-in-a-waffle-cone operation to take over his mother's old spot. The original sign made the move too, which is the kind of loyalty you can't fake. The menu lives on a handwritten board that changes daily, so plan on a line and a lunch you can't fully predict. Nashville Scene gave it Best Comeback in 2024.

1. Nashville Scene 2024 · Best Comeback · Best of Nashville

1. Nashville Scene 2024 · Best Revival of a Local Staple · Best of Nashville

1. Nashville Scene 2024 · Best Contemporary Indian Restaurant · Best of Nashville

Edessa Burger & Pizza is a casual counter spot on Nolensville Pike, from the people behind the Kurdish and Turkish restaurant Edessa. The signature is a seasoned burger wrapped in pizza-dough bun, which settles an argument nobody should have to have at dinner. Nashville Scene gave it a Best of Nashville nod for decadent bite. Come hungry, wear stretchy pants, and plan to skip the salad.

1. Nashville Scene 2024 · Best Decadent Bite: Pizza Burger · Best of Nashville

1. Nashville Scene 2024 · Best Fried Thing: Bavarian Pretzels and Beer Cheese · Best of Nashville

K&S World Market is an international grocery on Charlotte Pike, and the drink aisle is where it gets away from you. Cans and bottles in shapes and colors you can't read line the shelves, from yogurt-and-melon Calpico to grape juice with actual pulp in it. Some come with gelatin bits that pop in your mouth, which is a fine surprise if you were braced for a normal Tuesday. Nashville Scene named it Best Non-Boozy Drink Selection in 2024.

1. Nashville Scene 2024 · Best Non-Boozy Drink Selection · Best of Nashville

K&S World Market is a sprawling international grocery on Nolensville Pike, and the drink aisle is where it gets away from you. Cans and bottles in shapes and languages you can't read, from fermented-milk soda to grape juice with the pulp left in, plus the occasional drink with little gelatin pieces that pop in your mouth. Nashville Scene gave it Best Non-Boozy Drink Selection, which seems fair given the competition is mostly water.

1. Nashville Scene 2024 · Best Non-Boozy Drink Selection · Best of Nashville

Leche de Tigre is a Peruvian counter tucked inside The Wash, the Nashville food hall where you can order a ceviche and carry it to a seat near the car-wash bays. The lomo saltado sandwich, sirloin and huancaina on buttery French bread, stays neatly contained, which is not a given in this city. Pair it with fries and a beer, order casually, and bring your own napkin discipline anyway.

1. Nashville Scene 2023 · Best Sandwich: Lomo Sandwich · Best of Nashville
2. Nashville Scene 2024 · Best Hot Sauce · Best of Nashville

Leche de Tigre is the Peruvian counter tucked inside The Wash in Smyrna, which means you order at a window and then carry your food toward a beer like you're leaving a gas station with a very good plan. The lomo saltado sandwich keeps its sirloin, onions, and huancaina tidy on buttery French bread, a rare feat in a city of sloppy sandwiches. Ceviche and fried rice are there for the second visit, and the first one comes with fries.

1. Nashville Scene 2023 · Best Sandwich: Lomo Sandwich · Best of Nashville
2. Nashville Scene 2024 · Best Hot Sauce · Best of Nashville

1. Nashville Scene 2024 · Best Spot to Emulate 'The Bear' Season 1 · Best of Nashville

1. Nashville Scene 2024 · Best Spot to Emulate 'The Bear' Season 1 · Best of Nashville

1. Nashville Scene 2024 · Best Base for Tuna Tartare: Seaweed Sourdough · Best of Nashville

Sabell's is a brightly colored bungalow in Riverside Village that works as both a bar and a casual restaurant, with a dog-friendly patio and a salad-and-cocktail menu that skips the tweezers. There are no reservations and the volume stays low enough that you can finish a sentence. Kids are welcome until happy hour ends at 6, after which it belongs to adults, with za'atar fries. Nashville Scene named it Best Place to Eat Without the Kids.

1. Nashville Scene 2024 · Best Place to Eat Without the Kids · Best of Nashville

1. Nashville Scene 2024 · Best Butcher and Provisions · Best of Nashville

1. Nashville Scene 2024 · Best Weekend Meal to Emulate a Texas Roadhouse Steak Night Experience · Best of Nashville

1. Nashville Scene 2024 · Best Burrito: Mission Burrito · Best of Nashville

The Yorkshire Deli is a British tea room in Kingston Springs, about half an hour from downtown Nashville, and it commits to the woodland-fairy bit with seasonal blooms everywhere you look. You email ahead to book one of four tea experiences, which come with scones, clotted cream, and finger sandwiches. There's a Mad Hatter tea party for kids, dress-up props included, and Nashville Scene named it a Best Worth-the-Drive Treat.

1. Nashville Scene 2024 · Best Worth-the-Drive Treat: Afternoon Tea · Best of Nashville

1. Nashville Scene 2024 · Best Cold Brew · Best of Nashville

1. Nashville Scene 2023 · Best Hot Chicken · Best of Nashville

1. Nashville Scene 2023 · Best Hot Chicken · Best of Nashville

1. Nashville Scene 2023 · Best Hot Chicken · Best of Nashville

1. Nashville Scene 2023 · Best Hot Chicken · Best of Nashville

615Chutney is an Indian restaurant on Highway 70 South where the headliner is a robot named Singam, who rolls out curries and rice on a stack of shelves, wears electronic cat ears, and meows on approach. Only the half-booth, half-table seats get the robot service, so regulars know to ask when they sit down. Nashville Scene gave Singam Best Food-Serving Robot in 2023, which is a category I did not know I needed.

1. Nashville Scene 2023 · Best Food-Serving Robot · Best of Nashville

Bare Bones is a neighborhood butcher shop in the Nashville neighborhood of The Nations, where you go for good cuts of meat and leave with a tub of pimento cheese you didn't plan on. They pickle the pimentos themselves, which is why the spread runs sharp and zippy, and it won Nashville Scene's Best Pimento Cheese in 2023. Grating cheese by hand is a good way to lose a knuckle, so buying theirs is just self-preservation.

1. Nashville Scene 2023 · Best Pimento Cheese · Best of Nashville

1. Nashville Scene 2023 · Best Civilized Way to See a Show · Best of Nashville

1. Nashville Scene 2023 · Best Franklin Restaurant · Best of Nashville

1. Nashville Scene 2023 · Best Fried Rice · Best of Nashville

Dumpling House is a casual neighborhood spot in Hillsboro Village where the dumplings are made fresh and the dress code is whatever you walked in wearing. The pan-fried chicken and coriander ones get the most talk, though the menu has plenty of company. It reads like a place you could have been going to for years, even if tonight is your first visit. The Nashville Scene gave it Best Dumpling Menu, which is a very specific honor to hold.

1. Nashville Scene 2023 · Best Dumpling Menu · Best of Nashville

1. Nashville Scene 2023 · Best Rice Bowl: Chicken Hai Nam · Best of Nashville

1. Nashville Scene 2023 · Best Marg/Queso Combo · Best of Nashville

Flat Tire Diner is a no-frills breakfast and lunch spot in Old Hickory, the kind of place where the wait for a table is part of the experience and the staff turn tables so briskly you forget you stood there. Bread for the sandwiches and burgers is baked in-house, and the French toast gets a corn-flake crust and a pile of fresh fruit. Nashville Scene once named it the Best Reason to Go to Old Hickory, which is a narrow field, admittedly.

1. Nashville Scene 2023 · Best Reason to Go to Old Hickory · Best of Nashville

Gabby's is a no-frills burger counter that was smashing patties onto a hot griddle back when that wasn't yet a personality trait for every new restaurant in town. The menu stays short: grass-fed burgers, hot dogs, fries, and shakes, with a secret menu named after regulars, though you'll have to know the password. Nashville Scene gave it a Best of Nashville for Best Burger. Order at the counter, wear whatever you like.

1. Nashville Scene 2023 · Best Burger · Best of Nashville

Gio's Chicago Pizza is a deep-dish operation run out of a commissary kitchen in the Nations, which makes it a little like finding Chicago hiding in a warehouse. The chef came up through fine dining and a suburban Chicago pizzeria, so the deep dish arrives properly tall and heavy. There's also a thinner tavern-style pie cut into squares, for those who think a knife and fork are overkill. Nashville Scene named it Best Deep Dish in 2023.

1. Nashville Scene 2023 · Best Deep Dish · Best of Nashville

1. Nashville Scene 2023 · Best Pairing · Best of Nashville

1. Nashville Scene 2023 · Best Pairing · Best of Nashville

1. Nashville Scene 2023 · Best Fried Potato Dish: Crazy Fries · Best of Nashville

1. Nashville Scene 2023 · Best Expansion · Best of Nashville

1. Nashville Scene 2023 · Best Tea · Best of Nashville

1. Nashville Scene 2023 · Best tongue-in-Cheek Tiki · Best of Nashville

1. Nashville Scene 2023 · Best Pasta Dish: Lamb Ragu · Best of Nashville

1. Nashville Scene 2023 · Best Caribbean · Best of Nashville

1. Nashville Scene 2023 · Best Milkshake: Cold Brew Milkshake · Best of Nashville

1. Nashville Scene 2023 · Best Milkshake: Cold Brew Milkshake · Best of Nashville

Killjoy is a small nonalcoholic bottle shop in East Nashville, shelves lined with zero-proof spirits, wines, and beers. Since nothing in the building will get anyone in trouble, you can taste before you buy, which is how you find out if alcohol-free sparkling rosé is for you. It also hosts trivia nights, book clubs, and dating events, so the name is doing a lot of ironic work. Nashville Scene gave it Best Proof That Zero-Proof Isn't Boring.

1. Nashville Scene 2023 · Best Proof That Zero-Proof Isn't Boring · Best of Nashville

Killjoy is a small, sparkly bottle shop where every spirit, wine, and beer on the shelves has had the alcohol removed, which makes it legal to sample before you buy. That's handy for deciding whether a nonalcoholic sparkling rosé is your thing. It also hosts trivia nights, book clubs, author talks, and dating events, all sober. The name is a joke the place keeps telling by being good company. Nashville Scene gave it a Best of Nashville nod.

1. Nashville Scene 2023 · Best Proof That Zero-Proof Isn't Boring · Best of Nashville

1. Nashville Scene 2023 · Best Day-to-Night Taproom · Best of Nashville

1. Nashville Scene 2023 · Best Day-to-Night Taproom · Best of Nashville

1. Nashville Scene 2023 · Best Late-Night Bar · Best of Nashville

1. Nashville Scene 2023 · Best Christian Pop-Up: Saint Nicky's · Best of Nashville

1. Nashville Scene 2023 · Best Pulled-Pork Sandwich · Best of Nashville

Pinky Ring Pizza is a casual pizzeria in Madison, set up in a former Sir Pizza, which means the building already knew what it was getting into. The pies run from pepperoni and a New York-style cheese to stranger company like lamb with pistachio pesto, or one topped with dill pickles. There's garlic focaccia, a deep beer list, and half-and-half ordering for the undecided. Nashville Scene gave it Best New Pizza in 2023.

1. Nashville Scene 2023 · Best New Pizza · Best of Nashville

1. Nashville Scene 2023 · Best Fried Thing: Lumpia · Best of Nashville