Eating in and around Nashville
 

In May, I am accompanying my husband to a conference being held at the Opryland Hotel. Most meals will be provided by the group, but we have one night there on our own. Any thoughts about the Cascades Restaurant which serves seafood or the Italian restaurant?

We will be extending our stay for four nights over in the West End. So far, we have reservations at the Sunset Grill and Zola. Has anyone been to Cabana or Boundry? Any other suggestions?

We will be seeing the main sights in and around town, but have been motivated by several of you to visit the towns of Franklin and Leiper's Fork. I received info. from the chamber and it does look lovely. We don't want to stray too far from Nashville so these towns fit the bill. Where should we eat lunch that day?
Also, is a stop in Brentwood worth our time?

Thanks!

If you have one night off, I wouldn't waste it on a restaurant at Opryland Hotel. There are much nicer places in town. My current favorite is Bricktop's on West End Ave. They have a grilled artichoke appitizer that is to die for. And they do great fish. Also Tayst on 21st ave across from Army/Navy Store is wonderful.

I haven't been, but Cabana is known as a see-and-be-seen sort of place. I'll leave it to others to rate the food, but the atmosphere is different than Sunset Grill (which has excellent desserts, by the way). I've heard fabulous things about Zola. Sambuca is another place similar in atmosphere to Cabana, I believe; it's in the 12South area, which is not too far from West End.

I'm sitting here trying to think what a tourist would do in Brentwood... and can't come up with a thing! Other than look at fancy houses. Personally, I'd stick with Franklin and Leiper's Fork. As far as lunch, downtown Franklin has some good places (McCreary's Irish pub, the Mercantile Deli, Puckett's Grocery). Others may be able to steer you somewhere more out of the way if that's what you'd like.

The food at Cabana is great but it is very noisy unless you have one of the private booths. If you go there, you must have the homemade potato chips with gorganzola cheese!

I also like Tayst, and it's smokefree. At Boundry and Cabanas, your clothes will smell like smoke just from walking past the bar to get to your non-smoking table. Never seen so much active smoking.

A stop in Brentwood isn't worth your time. No town center to speak of, nothing but the same chain places you see everywhere.

Hillsboro Village, East Nashville, 12 South areas or Franklin/Liepers Fork are good walking around places. On a nice day Cheekwood Gardens, Percy Warner Park (both in Belle Meade) are nice.

A great restaurant downtown is Capitol Grill, the main restaurant in the Hermitage Hotel (6th and Union)

In the "Gulch" (12th Avenue S, about 3 blocks south of Broadway) is the Watermark restaurant, next to Sambuca and has received rave reviews.

Thanks everyone! Ok, Brentwood is off the list.

Cabana looks nice and the sound of "homemade potato chips with gorganzola cheese" is wonderful, even though we normally don't eat potato chips. However, after hearing about all of the smoke in Cabana and Boundry, we are going to rethink our decisions. Neither of us smoke and we are REALLY spoiled as we live in California where smoking is banned just about everywhere. Thanks for the heads-up although I am sure that we will be faced with the smoking situation at a lot of places.

We are definitely going to take in Cheekwood and Belle Meade. They have a special exhibit at Cheekwood of the Faberage eggs which I have always wanted to see.

We are staying downtown, but driving to the Grand Ole OPry one evening. Are there any recommnended restaurants that would be on the way?
Thanks!

Is Midtown Grill a good choice for a Southern menu for a special occassion?

I haven't actually been to Midtown, although it's definitely on my list, so hopefully someone will see this who has. But it has gotten great reviews from friends who have been there, and it's close to downtown. My impression is that the atmosphere is very nice but not incredibly formal.

Do you mean Midtown Cafe? It is very nice but I wouldn't officially call it Southern in the downhome sense. But very delicious food is available and it has a nice atmosphere.

Also try Sunset Grill. It has been around a long time but the food is very good.

We were at the Sunset Grill about a month ago (myself, husband and in-laws) and were very disappointed in the quality. We hadn't been in a while and thought it had really gone downhill.

Sorry to hear that about Sunset Grill. I haven't been there in a few months since I keep wanting to go to Bricktop's! Also had a nice lunch at Amerigo's the other day and I hadn't been there in a year or so.

Yes, I mean Midtown Cafe--same owner as Sunset , right? I'm not looking for downhome but more like food you'd get in Charleston --creative Southern cooking. Thanks!!

Midtown should do the trick. I had an incredible lobster macaroni and cheese there a few months ago.

a big YES for Midtown Cafe!

Also, Bricktops is really good spot.

If you want a knock-your-socks off steak, then try The Stock-Yard www.stock-yardrestaurant.com for a great meal...and they even offer complimentary shuttle service from your hotel!

I live in Atlanta, but make a point to eat there every time I'm in Nashville.

This may be too late for the OP, but for others looking for great restaurants in Nashville, don't worry about the smoke! Nashville restaurants are now required to be smoke free. There is an exception for bars that are 21 & over all the time. A few restaurants which have converted to 21 & over in order to allow smoking are Bailey's and Broadway Brewhouse (downtown). Almost all good restaurants are now smoke free though.

As far as the restaurants mentioned, Sunset Grill and Bricktops are both great. We're going to Brocktops today for our firm Christmas lunch! Another great place which is only open for dinner is Park Cafe.

We did eat at Midtown Cafe while in Nashville in October--loved it. Try the tasing menu.
We were wondering about the smoking--all the bars downtown were smoke free--it was smoky outside on the sidewalks!

That's great news. Hopefully NC will make this change soon. But I'm not holding my breath.