Where To Go Eat, Drink, & Enjoy Nashville

Where To Go Eat, Drink, and Enjoy Nashville

Here’s some places I have been to, and would recommend.  I’m sure I missed a few, so if you have any recommendations, just email me with the place and I’ll put it on the list and check out next time I’m in town.

West End/Music Row

Bobby’s Idle Hour Tavern – 9 Music Square S. – Local live music and they do serve food in the last standing neighborhood bar in Music Square.  Moved from it’s original location on 16th Ave.

Hutton Hotel – 1800 West End Ave – offers Four-Star-Diamond Hutton Hotel Service. With ANOLOG – a live music venue inside and dine at the West End Kitchen and Bar.

Patterson House – 1711 Division St. – This is a a great upscale cocktail bar (actually Nashville’s first cocktail bar) with very small bites, in a mellow, cozy atmosphere.

Springdale Supper Club & Lounge – 115 27^th Ave S. – there has been a bar here since 1897 in arguably the oldest bar in Tennessee. Featuring live music and entertainment and lively regulars with cheap beer and open til 3am 365 days a year.

3^rd and Lindsley – 818 3^rd Ave S. – Live music venue. Check out upcoming shows at www.3rdandlindsley.com but don’t miss the Time Jumpers who appear every Monday night at 8pm (it sells out so get tickets early) featuring a very large band of award winning artists like Vince Gill, Cowboy Ranger Doug Green, Paul Franklin on steel guitar, Brad Albin on bass, Larry Franklin-Kenny Sears-Joe Spivey on fiddles, Andy Reiss on guitar, Jeff Taylor on accordion and keyboards, and Billy Thomas on drums. Each are true masters of their instruments!

Ember’s Ski Lodge – 2410 12th Ave. S. – when you walk in you might think you’re in Breckinridge or Aspen Colorado but you’re right off Music Row in Nashville.  Gastropub and nice whiskey and beer selection.  Good place that’s close enough to all the action, but just off the beaten path.

 

Downtown

21c Museum Hotel – 221 2^nd Ave N. – This is the boutique hotel chain started our of Louisville, KY championing artists of the 21^st Century (21c get it?). Almost every room including the bathrooms are art exhibits, with a great restaurant and bar with a very nice bourbon selection.

Husk – 37 Rutledge St. – out of Charleston, SC and James Beard Award winning chef; Sean Brock, with a menu that frequently changes with what the region’s producers provide daily, redefining what it means to cook and eat in Nashville.

Jeff Ruby’s Steakhouse – 300 4^th Ave – Jeff Ruby’s is out of Cincinnati, but has a few locations in the region now, and features upscale steak and seafood, but also fun with a casual feel and live music nightly.

Old Glory – 1200 Villa Place Suite 103 – Craft Cocktail Bar located in in the former largest dry-cleaning facility in Nashville, so it’s industrial and damn cool inside. Old Glory does not have a sign, but look for the golden triangle surrounding their front door off Edgehill Avenue in Villa Place.

Pinewood Social – 33 Peabody St – A trendy restaurant, a comfortable coffee shop, a welcoming work space and a craft cocktail bar all in one, Pinewood is a place to be morning, noon or night. Large outdoor area, and even a bowling alley inside, whether you come to bring your laptop to work, or come to socialize, this is the spot anytime.

The Gulch

404 Kitchen & Gerties Bar – 507 12^th Ave S. – is a modern take on classic European cuisine with emphasis on local, seasonal fare. Gerties Bar inside the restaurant has one of the largest American Whiskey selections in the state.

Arnold’s – 605 8^th Ave – Have been serving up home cooked “Meat plus 3” for over 30 years. You will not be disappointed…good solid home cooked food in a casual homey atmosphere.

Whiskey Kitchen – 118 12^th Ave. S – Popular watering hole with warm-wood decor, a menu of tavern grub & a global selection of whiskeys.

Station Inn – 402 12^th Ave S. – is one of the most famous live music venues in town (and one of my personal favorites) founded in 1974 by 6 bluegrass pickers. Bluegrass legend Bill Monroe (the Father of bluegrass music) and others have played this historic intimate venue, where each night is first come first served on seats. You really don’t have to check who’s here, just come, but they do have a website; www.stationinn.com but I’d personally check out the Doyle & Debbie Show which is every Tuesday at 7pm. It’s beer only, and fresh cooked frozen pizza for a snack if ya like.

 

East Nashville

Attaboy – 8 Mcferrin Ave – Attaboy is an award winning cocktail bar out of New York City credited with the craft cocktail movement. They operate on a first come-first serve policy with parties of 6 people or less only. Attaboy was awarded as the #8 bar in the Worlds 50 Best Bar List!

Dino’s – 411 Gallatin Ave – an icon in the area, and with the new owners who took over in 2014, people worried it would lose it’s charm and dive bar status, but they kept it but just expanded it’s menu and locals and several national folks say that this is the best burger in town and they do have weekend brunch.

Edgefield Sports Bar & Grill – 921 Woodland St. – a local dive bar with darts, pool tables, and a jukebox and their featured Jameson Irish Whiskey Burger. There is smoking indoors here.

Mickeys Tavern – 2907 Gallatin Pike – no smoking, and no karaoke and no bands and no DJ’s dive bar in East Nashville. Just good people hanging out and drinking reasonably priced beer and drinks and some are playing pool.

No. 308 – 407 Gallatin Pike – is a trendy late night hang out with DJ’s til 3am usually, but they also have a very tasteful spirits selection, and is a true craft cocktail bar in a laid back casual, almost dive-bar atmosphere, with patio seating in front and back.

Turn One – 3208 Gallatin Pike – no liquor, but with $2.25 domestic beer, $2.50 PBR tallboys, and $3 imports (cash only so bring a 10 spot), pool tables, live music on some nights, and a place to watch NASCAR, this is a true dive bar with a lot of character and some damn decent food too, and if you smoke, you can do so inside here.

Urban Cowboy Public House – 1603 Woodland St. – Rustic cocktail bar/hangout behind their Bed & Breakfast with seasonal bites and large outdoor patio.

Broadway

You really can’t go wrong here on Broadway, which has become it’s own “Bourbon Street” type of walk in to bars and enjoy all the live music anywhere basically for free.  You’ll find your own places you like the best, but here are a few of mine:

Legends Corner – 428 Broadway – This place is on the corner directly behind the Ryman, and my favorite performer here or you might see him in other locations on the strip, but Vince Moreno and his band I think are the best when it comes to not only his musicianship and vocals, but interacting with the crowd and making sure everyone has a great time. Legends has classic country album covers and records all over the walls and bars, and it’s visual walk down memory lane if you know your country music history.

Roberts Western World – 416 Broadway – Live country bands, cold beer, with a special of a fried bologna sandwich, chips and a PBR for $6… draw fans to this prototypical honky-tonk. One of my all time favorite spots to stop by for consistently some of the best live music in town.

The Stage on Broadway – 412 Broadway – they describe themselves as a little bit of Texas and a whole lot of Nashville; check out the famous original oil painting of the Highwaymen over the front door that once belonged to Waylon Jennings and used to hang in his Nashville home. This bar sometimes has bands that play MoTown and some Stevie Wonder and Tina Turner, so not allllll country, but sometimes the girls wanna dance right?

Bar Sovereign – 514 5th Ave. S. – just behind Bridgestone Arena, Bar Sovereign is one of the coolest cocktail bars in town.  The is where the locals hang out but you’re still in the mix and just a couple blocks off Broadway.  The bathroom is cool and ahead of it’s time.  It’s all one room…we’re all adults right?

Primings Cigar Bar – 701 4th Ave S. – Located in what was a den of iniquity just 25 years ago; a bawdy house, cat house, bordello, or a house of Ill Repute, Primings is now a spacious cigar bar with leather couches, good whiskey selection and humidor.  Come watch a ballgame (sound isn’t turned up but its’ on) and just smoke a cigar with your friends in between all the music on nearby Broadway.

Tootsies Orchid Lounge – 422 Broadway – This historic watering hole and prototypical honky-tonk is across the alley from the Ryman…the bar you might remember from the movie about Loretta Lynne, “The Coal Miner’s Daughter”. Awesome live music 7 nights a week.