15 Best Restaurants in Nashville, Tennessee

Tucked away in nearby Salemtown is Big Al's Deli, a neighborhood deli in every sense of the word. Owner Alfonso Hamilton serves home-cooked Southern food out of an otherwise nondescript converted house, making for a dining experience that feels like you're right at home. Seating is limited inside but the food, especially the breakfast, is well worth the wait.

James Beard Award–winning chef Tandy Wilson has built a Nashville institution with City House, one of the first restaurants to take hold in Germantown. The menu changes seasonally but always features thoughtful salads, unusually delicious pizzas, and creative protein options, most of which lean heavily on pork. Visitors on Sunday are treated to the special Sunday Supper menu, which changes each week.

Chef Philip Krajeck has devised a simple, innovative menu at Rolf and Daughters, a pillar of dining in both the Germantown neighborhood and greater Nashville. Menu staples include assorted seasonal, house-made pastas, like guest favorite garganelli verde, and creative takes on small plates and vegetable salads. Don't skip bread, either—the house-made sourdough with seaweed butter is to die for.

Slim and Husky's Pizza Beeria was one of the first new restaurants to open in the burgeoning Buchanan Arts District neighborhood. Owned and operated by neighborhood residents, Slim and Husky's serves a variety of freshly made pizzas, and also offers the option to design your own. They serve an eclectic array of local beer and also offer up homemade cinnamon rolls, which guests can take home in large batches at the operation's nearby retail store, the Roll Out.

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.

Housed in a large, artsy space, 5th and Taylor is a culinary playground for chef Daniel Lindley to push the boundaries of modern American cuisine. The menu often includes a number of Southern favorites, like tomato pie and beer can chicken, all elevated by Lindley's finesse and knowledge of flavor. The center sculpture, which serves as a focal point in the dining room, is a depiction of General Francis Nash, for whom the city is named.

The original East Nashville Barista Parlor was such a hit that the hip shop has since expanded to several locations around town. One of those is in Germantown, conveniently located right next to popular dinner joint City House. Barista Parlor puts an extraordinary amount of care into each cup of coffee it brews, and you can taste that attention to detail each time you visit.

One of the early restaurants to open in the now-bustling Germantown neighborhood was Germantown Café. Now a pillar of the neighborhood, the popular dining spot serves inventive takes on an eclectic Southern menu, serving up meals for lunch, dinner, and brunch (on the weekends). Don't miss the bar's happy hour, either, as it's one of the city's most generous.

New restaurants have popped up all over Nashville in recent years, but few are as promising as Henrietta Red. The project of chef Julia Sullivan and sommelier Allie Poindexter, the hip Germantown spot is a new go-to destination for creative seafood and craft cocktails. Bonus: their happy hour tends to include Jell-O shots.

Much of the dining in Germantown is high-end and experimental, making longtime local favorite Monell's Dining and Catering a welcome dose of Southern comfort food, all served family-style. Visit for breakfast, lunch, or dinner to fill up on Southern favorites like skillet-fried chicken and home-style meatloaf. Just be sure to save room for dessert.

There are a lot of coffee shops in Germantown, but only Red Bicycle has an extensive menu of sweet and savory crepes. The neighborhood café also serves a variety of sandwiches, tacos, pastries, and small snacks, all complemented by a menu of seasonally rotating coffee and espresso drinks and served by one of the friendliest staffs in town.

Germantown's Steadfast Coffee offers up the usual assortment of espresso drinks and café-style food options, but they also have some tasty menu items you'll be hard-pressed to find anywhere else. Their coffee soda, for example, is an unusual blend of espresso, soda water, and orange peel, and has to be tried to be understood, while their "rested" coffee drinks bring out new flavors in old classics.

A trip to Nashville isn't complete without a Christie Cookie (or six). The Nashville-based bakery makes gourmet cookies with real ingredients, with recipes that have earned the brand national recognition. Their Germantown bakery now boasts a storefront where you can pick up a variety of cookies, milk, coffee and Christie-branded goodies.

Who doesn't love a good cupcake? Germantown bakery The Cupcake Collection is a locally beloved cupcake shop, serving a variety of tasty, creative cupcakes both for advance order and for walk-in pickup at their storefront. Classic flavors like red velvet and chocolate are always on hand, while seasonal cupcakes pop up throughout the year.

Von Elrod's Beer Garden and Sausage House was a welcome addition to the Germantown neighborhood when it opened in 2017. Housed in a large, group-friendly space, the restaurant offers a casual alternative to the neighborhood's more-elevated offerings, serving house-made sausages and sides alongside a truly extensive beer menu. As a plus, it's right next to First Tennessee Park, making it the perfect spot for dinner before a baseball game.