Nashville, Tennessee, rewards diners who venture beyond Broadway and make room for more than hot chicken. A day of eating can move from a family-run meat-and-three to Japanese comfort food, handmade pasta, or a chef-led tasting menu. These 15 restaurants span neighborhood favorites and special-occasion destinations, with choices across East Nashville, Germantown, 12 South, and the neighborhoods south of downtown.
#15 S.S. Gai
Cuisine: Thai street food
Neighborhood: East Nashville / The Wash
Price: $
Best For: A casual chicken meal assembled with rice, herbs, and sauces
Must Order: Gai tod fried chicken with sticky rice and fresh herbs
Why It Made the List:
S.S. Gai offers a different Nashville chicken experience by making herbs, sticky rice, and sharp sauces integral to each bite. Its hands-on lettuce-wrap format brings variety to a focused menu, turning a casual counter-service meal into an engaging mix of crisp, fresh, and savory elements.
Known For:
- Gai tod Thai fried chicken
- Sticky rice and herbs for building lettuce wraps
- Tamarind-chile fish sauce and aromatic chile vinegar
#14 Bad Idea
Cuisine: Contemporary American wine bar
Neighborhood: East Nashville / Five Points
Price: $$
Best For: A wine-focused dinner in a converted church
Must Order: Chicken ballotine with gnocchi and Fino sherry
Why It Made the List:
Bad Idea makes the wine-bar dinner a full evening through its converted-church room and a menu that reaches well beyond snacks. Diners can keep the meal light with vegetables and small plates or choose a substantial main, giving the wine selection several different culinary directions to follow.
Known For:
- Sweet-corn risotto with Parmigiano-Reggiano
- Chicken ballotine with vegetables, gnocchi, and Fino sherry
- A broad artisan-wine selection in a former church
#13 International Market
Cuisine: Thai
Neighborhood: Belmont / Hillsboro Village
Price: $$
Best For: A Thai dinner that connects family tradition with new dishes
Must Order: Smoked-duck khao soi
Why It Made the List:
International Market connects Nashville’s established Thai dining history with a contemporary dinner menu. The familiar steam-table lunch and more elaborate evening dishes serve different occasions, allowing the restaurant to retain its neighborhood role while giving diners reasons to explore beyond their usual order.
Known For:
- Smoked-duck khao soi
- Miang khao tod crispy-rice lettuce wraps
- The family’s long-running steam-table lunch tradition
#12 Prince’s Hot Chicken
Cuisine: Nashville hot chicken
Neighborhood: South Nashville / Nolensville Pike
Price: $
Best For: A classic bone-in Nashville hot-chicken meal
Must Order: A hot-chicken leg quarter with greens and mac and cheese
Why It Made the List:
Prince’s belongs here for its foundational place in Nashville hot chicken and its continued focus on the dish itself. Ordering bone-in pieces with a chosen heat level and a couple of Southern sides keeps the meal connected to the tradition behind a food now found far beyond the city.
Known For:
- Bone-in hot chicken with a choice of heat levels
- Leg quarters, breast quarters, and whole wings
- Greens, mac and cheese, and baked beans
#11 Arnold’s Country Kitchen
Cuisine: Southern meat-and-three
Neighborhood: The Gulch / Eighth Avenue South
Price: $
Best For: A traditional cafeteria-style Southern lunch
Must Order: Roast beef with three sides from the daily selection
Why It Made the List:
Arnold’s preserves the rhythm of a Southern cafeteria lunch, where the vegetables matter as much as the meat at the center of the tray. Its rotating daily selection and long family history give visitors a useful introduction to Nashville’s everyday dining traditions, with enough variety to make repeat lunches different.
Known For:
- Roast beef available throughout the weekday menu
- A rotating selection of Southern vegetables
- Chess pie and banana pudding
#10 Peninsula
Cuisine: Contemporary Iberian
Neighborhood: East Nashville / Eastland Avenue
Price: $$$
Best For: An intimate dinner of inventive shared plates
Must Order: Octopus with black pepper, sherry, and lemon
Why It Made the List:
Peninsula builds a compelling shared meal from an unusually concise menu, using a few named ingredients to produce very different textures and flavors. Vegetables receive as much attention as seafood and Iberico pork, while the small dining room and extensive aperitif choices encourage an unhurried evening.
Known For:
- Spanish tortilla
- Octopus with sherry and lemon
- Eight variations on the gin and tonic
#9 Kisser
Cuisine: Japanese comfort food
Neighborhood: East Nashville / Highland Yards
Price: $$
Best For: A focused Japanese meal of noodles, sandwiches, and sweets
Must Order: Beef tataki udon followed by miso crème brûlée
Why It Made the List:
Kisser gives everyday Japanese dishes the attention usually reserved for a longer restaurant meal. Fresh noodles, milk-bread sandwiches, and savory-sweet desserts offer several distinct paths through a compact menu, making it a worthwhile destination for diners who want precision without a tasting-menu commitment.
Known For:
- Fresh handmade udon
- Chicken katsu sandwiches on milk bread
- Miso crème brûlée
#8 Henrietta Red
Cuisine: Seafood and seasonal American
Neighborhood: Germantown / Fourth Avenue North
Price: $$
Best For: Oysters and a varied dinner of shared plates
Must Order: Poppy’s Caviar with Tennessee paddlefish roe and crackers
Why It Made the List:
Henrietta Red gives seafood and vegetables equal room to shape the table, so dinner can progress from oysters to roasted produce and a larger fish or pasta dish. The flexible shared-plate format suits diners who want to compare several preparations without committing to a fixed tasting menu.
Known For:
- Poppy’s Caviar with spring-onion vinaigrette and crème fraîche
- Wood-fired bread with anchovy butter
- Parisian gnocchi with sweet corn and Calabrian chiles
#7 Husk
Cuisine: Contemporary Southern
Neighborhood: Rutledge Hill
Price: $$$
Best For: A regional Southern dinner in a historic house
Must Order: Shrimp and grits with green gumbo
Why It Made the List:
Husk makes the Southern pantry the organizing idea of the meal, from heritage grains and country ham to vegetables and regional seafood. Its historic-house setting gives the dinner a sense of occasion, while the daily menu offers a more detailed account of Southern cooking than a collection of familiar comfort-food staples.
Known For:
- Heritage cornbread and buttermilk-cheddar biscuits
- A plate of Southern vegetables
- Shrimp and grits with green gumbo
#6 Folk
Cuisine: Seasonal American and wood-fired pizza
Neighborhood: East Nashville / McFerrin Park
Price: $$
Best For: A shared pizza dinner with vegetables and natural wine
Must Order: Clam pizza with parsley, bonito, and lemon
Why It Made the List:
Folk treats pizza as the foundation of a varied dinner, with vegetables and small plates contributing as much interest as the toppings. The combination of a clam pie, seasonal produce, and a comfortable communal setting makes it easy to assemble a meal that feels distinctly more considered than a routine pizza stop.
Known For:
- Clam pizza with parsley, bonito, and lemon
- Pepperoni pizza with pickled jalapeño and hot honey
- Seasonal vegetables alongside naturally leavened pies
#5 Rolf and Daughters
Cuisine: Seasonal American and handmade pasta
Neighborhood: Germantown / Taylor Street
Price: $$
Best For: Handmade pasta and seasonal plates in a lively room
Must Order: Rigatoni with heritage-pork ragu
Why It Made the List:
Rolf and Daughters builds its appeal around the relationship between seasonal produce and handmade pasta. That combination gives diners a dependable reason to return while letting the kitchen change the details, and the range of vegetables, pasta, and larger plates makes sharing particularly rewarding.
Known For:
- House-made pasta with seasonal sauces
- Sourdough bread with seaweed butter
- Wines from small, family-run producers
#4 Tailor
Cuisine: South Asian American tasting menu
Neighborhood: Germantown / Taylor Street
Price: $$$$
Best For: A dinner-party-style tasting with a personal point of view
Must Order: The seasonal dining-room tasting menu
Why It Made the List:
Tailor makes the tasting-menu format feel personal by connecting each course to the ingredients and experiences behind it. Vivek Surti’s cooking places Gujarati dishes alongside Southern products, creating a coherent dinner that offers more than a sequence of technically elaborate plates.
Known For:
- Gujarati dal and kansar
- Bacon bhel with tamarind, herbs, peanuts, and sev
- Dad’s chai served with nankhatai cookies
#3 Locust
Cuisine: Contemporary seafood with Japanese influences
Neighborhood: 12 South
Price: $$$
Best For: A lively shared meal of seafood and precise small plates
Must Order: Beef tartare followed by the kitchen’s seasonal rice dish
Why It Made the List:
Locust combines the informality of a compact neighborhood dining room with exacting seafood preparations and playful contrasts of temperature and texture. Trevor Moran’s restaurant holds one Michelin star in the 2025 American South selection, but its shared plates and shaved-ice finish encourage a relaxed, conversational meal.
Known For:
- Beef tartare with crisp accompaniments
- Changing seafood and rice preparations
- Shaved-ice desserts with seasonal flavors
#2 The Catbird Seat
Cuisine: Contemporary American tasting menu
Neighborhood: The Gulch / Eighth Avenue South
Price: $$$$
Best For: A chef-counter occasion built around an evolving menu
Must Order: The seasonal chef’s tasting menu
Why It Made the List:
Andy Doubrava and Tiffani Ortiz bring a shared interest in preservation and fermentation to a restaurant designed around watching a meal take shape. Their approach gives a changing tasting menu a coherent point of view, rewarding diners who enjoy following a kitchen’s decisions across several courses.
Known For:
- A counter arranged around the working kitchen
- Seasonal courses using preserved and fermented ingredients
- One Michelin star in the 2025 American South selection
#1 Bastion
Cuisine: Contemporary American tasting menu
Neighborhood: Wedgewood-Houston
Price: $$$$
Best For: An intimate tasting-menu dinner with a view of the kitchen
Must Order: The seasonal six-course tasting menu
Why It Made the List:
Bastion gives its changing tasting menu the intimacy of a small working kitchen, with only 24 seats and dishes assembled close to the diners. Chef Josh Habiger’s restaurant holds one Michelin star in the 2025 American South selection, and its compact format lets seasonal ingredients set the pace of the evening.
Known For:
- A seasonal six-course tasting menu
- Counter seating overlooking the open kitchen
- A separate Big Bar serving loaded nachos
How we chose
We selected these restaurants for distinctive cooking, a clear sense of place, and a dining experience worth seeking out. Our editorial review considered current menus, official restaurant information, and local dining coverage, with attention to both special occasions and everyday meals. The ranking reflects editorial judgment rather than a numerical score.
Planning your next meal
Menus and seasonal preparations change; use the restaurant links to check the latest offerings and make reservations where available.
More dining advice
For help choosing a bottle with dinner, read our guide to ordering wine at a restaurant.
