Hot chicken, meat-and-three, and the city writing Southern food right now.
Nashville eats with conviction. The city's defining plate is hot chicken, born at Prince's in the 1930s as a punishment that turned into a craving, now standardised in shops across Music City and franchised globally. The meat-and-three remains its lunch institution: a protein with three vegetables, sweet tea included, ordered at counters like Arnold's and Monell's that have run the format since the 1980s. Black-owned restaurants in North Nashville and the Bordeaux corridor anchor the city's soul food and barbecue heritage. Newer arrivals push the city upmarket: Bastion, Locust, The Catbird Seat and Sean Brock's Audrey hold Michelin stars from the Guide's first American South edition in November 2025. East Nashville's blocks trade in natural wine, tacos, ramen and pizza. Germantown reads as the new fine-dining axis around Rolf and Daughters, Henrietta Red and The Optimist. The constant is hospitality: rooms still refill your tea without asking and tell you what to order.
Every restaurant, cafe, market and bar we cover in Nashville, pinned. Click a pin for the page.
The plates that define eating in Nashville.
Bone-in fried chicken painted with a cayenne paste, served on white bread with pickles. The lacquered red crust hides serious heat; bread soaks the oil.
Where: Prince's Hot Chicken, Hattie B's Hot Chicken, Bolton's Spicy Chicken and Fish, Pepperfire Hot Chicken
A plate-lunch tradition: one Southern protein plus three vegetable sides, with cornbread and sweet tea. Counter ordering, cafeteria lines, lunch hours only.
Where: Arnold's Country Kitchen, Monell's Dining and Catering, Elliston Place Soda Shop
Scratch buttermilk biscuits, halved and topped with country ham slices and redeye gravy: pan drippings deglazed with strong black coffee.
Where: Loveless Cafe, Biscuit Love, Monell's Dining and Catering
Tennessee-style barbecue: pulled whole-hog pork over hickory, served with vinegar sauce or Alabama white. Slow-cooked overnight, served on a soft roll.
Where: Martin's Bar-B-Que Joint, Peg Leg Porker, Edley's Bar-B-Que
A round chocolate-coated candy of caramel, marshmallow nougat and peanuts, invented in Nashville in 1912. The first ever combination candy bar in America.
Salt-cured, smoke-cured and aged Tennessee ham, sliced thin and pan-fried. The signature pork product of the region, with redeye gravy as its match.
Where: Loveless Cafe, Husk Nashville, Monell's Dining and Catering
Cornmeal-dredged catfish fillets, deep-fried until the coating shatters. Plated with hush puppies and cole slaw, dipped in tartar or hot sauce.
Where: Loveless Cafe, Arnold's Country Kitchen, Monell's Dining and Catering
Layered dessert of vanilla wafers, banana slices and from-scratch vanilla custard, topped with meringue or whipped cream. Cold service.
Where: Arnold's Country Kitchen, Hattie B's Hot Chicken, Loveless Cafe
Slow-smoked pork shoulder pulled into tender shreds, piled on a soft white bun with creamy slaw and a thin Tennessee-style tomato-vinegar sauce.
Where: Martin's Bar-B-Que Joint, Edley's Bar-B-Que, Peg Leg Porker, Husk Nashville
True Tennessee cornbread: white cornmeal, buttermilk, bacon fat, baked screaming-hot in a cast-iron skillet with a crackling crust. No sugar, no flour added in the meat-and-three tradition.
Where: Loveless Cafe, Arnold's Country Kitchen, Husk Nashville, Monell's Dining and Catering, Folk
A laminated croissant-donut hybrid: 100 layers of laminated dough fried to a crisp shell, then filled with pastry cream and topped with house glazes.
Where: Five Daughters Bakery, Dozen Bakery, Biscuit Love, Proper Bagel
The South's caviar: sharp cheddar, pimento peppers, mayonnaise, and a kick of cayenne, served as a dip with crackers or spread thick in a sandwich.
Where: Husk Nashville, Arnold's Country Kitchen, Folk, Loveless Cafe, City House, The Mockingbird
Whole catfish or whiting fillets cornmeal-fried and basted in a heavy cayenne-and-lard slick, stacked on white bread with pickles. The North Nashville hot-fish answer to hot chicken.
Where: Bolton's Spicy Chicken and Fish
A short stack of sweet-potato pancakes with cinnamon-brown-sugar syrup and whipped butter, served in the queue-out-the-door Hillsboro Village diner since 1961. The Nashville breakfast institution.
Where: The Pancake Pantry
Where to eat Pancake Pantry stack (Sweet potato pancakes) in Nashville →
A handful of the places we send friends to when they are in Nashville.
Chef Philip Krajeck's Germantown Italian-American kitchen in Nashville opened in 2012 inside the Werthan factory and runs handmade pastas and wood-fired.
Signature: Squid ink chitarra, Wood-fired pork chop
Chef Tandy Wilson's Germantown room in Nashville serves blue-collar Italian and Southern cooking since 2007. Kitchen leans italian southern.
Signature: Belly ham pizza, Catfish with chickpeas
Chef Julia Sullivan's Germantown seafood room in Nashville opened in 2017 with a raw bar, wood-grill program and a wine list built around growers.
Signature: Oyster tower, Wood-grilled fish
Ford Fry's Atlanta-born seafood concept landed in Nashville's Germantown Hammer Mill in 2023, anchoring a seafood tower programme and Le Loup cocktail lounge.
Signature: Seafood tower, Oysters and grilled fish
Sean Brock's Rutledge Hill institution in Nashville cooks ingredient-driven Southern food on a wood hearth, run today by chef de cuisine Brian Baxter.
Signature: Cornbread skillet, Pork belly with peas
Sean Brock's East Nashville Appalachian fine-dining room opened 2021, named for his grandmother and in the 2025 Michelin Guide. Sam Jett runs day-to-day.
Signature: Heritage pork, Cornmeal and grits
Nashville's most polished restaurant row: Rolf and Daughters, Henrietta Red, City House and The Optimist run a four-block stretch north of downtown.
Best for: Fine dining, Italian, Seafood, Brunch
The city's creative core. Five Points anchors Lockeland Table, Margot Cafe and Mas Tacos; Gallatin and Eastland run natural wine, ramen and pizza.
Best for: Tacos, Natural wine, Cafes, Pizza, Brunch
Glass towers, BBQ, the Mockingbird and Adele's. Walking-friendly, expensive, and where most first-time visitors end up eating downtown.
Best for: BBQ, Steakhouses, Brunch, Bars
A walkable retail strip with Locust, Edley's BBQ, Five Daughters donuts and Bartaco. Sunday brunch lines stretch around the block.
Best for: BBQ, Brunch, Tacos, Bakeries
Belmont University territory: Pancake Pantry's morning line, Bongo Java's coffee, Proper Bagel on Belmont Boulevard. A college-town pace.
Best for: Brunch, Cafes, Bagels, Casual dining
Lower Broadway honky tonks and SoBro hotel restaurants. Husk on Rutledge, Drusie and Darr at the Hermitage, plus the Assembly Food Hall.
Best for: Fine dining, Hotel restaurants, Bars
Peak food season: April to October for peak Tennessee tomatoes, corn and peaches at the farmers markets. May for the Music City Food and Wine Festival, July 4 for the Hot Chicken Festival, August for Tomato Art Fest. Avoid mid-summer heat for outdoor events.
Local dining hours: Lunch 11:30-14:00, meat-and-three counters often close at 14:30. Dinner 17:30-22:00, last seating typically 21:30. Sundays many neighbourhood rooms close; hot chicken shops and downtown bars run latest.
Tipping: Tip 18 to 22 percent on the pre-tax total at sit-down restaurants. Bars and counters get $1 to $2 per drink or 15 to 20 percent. Some Lower Broadway rooms add an automatic service charge; check the bill before adding more.
Nashville's signature dishes include Nashville hot chicken, Meat-and-three, Biscuits with redeye gravy, Tennessee whole-hog pork, Goo Goo Cluster. See our signature dishes chapter for where to eat each.
TableJourney editors map Nashville by district. Germantown, East Nashville, The Gulch, 12 South are among the strongest for food, each with its own guide.
Editor picks in Nashville include The Catbird Seat, Bastion, Locust, plus the full fine dining chapter on TableJourney.
TableJourney covers 5 editor-picked food tours in Nashville, with what each shows you and how much to budget.
TableJourney's Nashville dietary chapter covers vegan, vegetarian, gluten_free, halal, kosher venues, each editor-picked with what to order and how to ask.