10 Places Where Locals Love to Eat in Nashville

Butcher & Bee began as a sandwich restaurant, but quickly expanded to offer a wide range of dishes. All ingredients are sourced from local farms and growers in order to deliver the utmost flavour, but also to support the local economy.

Choose from a number of different plates and combination options here. The Picnic For Two includes a full meal for 2 diners, while the house-made pickle plate features pickled vegetables that change seasonally. Tagliatelle pasta, shrimp and grits, and Israeli-spiced ribs are among the favourites here, but you can also find familiar dishes like fried chicken sandwich and pulled pork sandwich.

Founded in 2008, Mitchell’s Deli crafts East Nashville’s best sandwiches from high-quality, delicious ingredients. With a focus on natural, locally sourced foods, this deli offers a little something for everyone. The hot breakfast bar and soup du jour are popular with locals.

Beyond the long list of delectable traditional sandwiches, which notably includes one of the best-rated banh mi options around, you’ll also find breakfast (including lox), a large salad bar, and vegan options, like the seitan supreme sub. There’s a kids’ menu featuring mainstays like PB&J, grilled cheese, and ham and cheese.

Husk Restaurant sits in the middle of Rutledge Hill, one of Nashville’s historic neighbourhoods. Located just minutes from Historic Broadway, the restaurant is established by Chef Katie Coss, who has made it her mission to reinvent and reinterpret classic Southern fare, fuelled by heirloom products and locally sourced ingredients.

Husk’s menu changes frequently and is seasonally based. Some of the menu items featured in the past include shrimp and grits, chicken with spinach and mushrooms, beef with green peppercorns, and pork chops with sweet potatoes and arugula. Other options have included catfish with shrimp head gravy and Carolina-grown rice.

Who doesn’t love gooey, glorious cheese? That’s exactly what you’ll find at The Grilled Cheeserie, which started out as a food truck and evolved into a permanent restaurant. It’s even been featured on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives, as well as Eat St. on The Cooking Channel.

The menu here is gloriously cheesy, from speciality melts like the pimento mac & cheese sandwich to the Buffalo South, and the B&B of Tennessee. However, you can also make your own melt beginning with 4 different cheese options, and then progressing to proteins, extras, and 4 types of bread. You’ll also find plenty of soups and sides to expand your meal.

Nicky’s Coal Fired offers authentic Italian food and features the first coal-fired pizza oven in Tennessee. Dubbed “Enrico”, it is used to cook pizzas, but also meat, seafood, and veggies. You’ll find all of those and so much more on the menu here, too.

Pizza is the main draw at Nicky’s, and you’ll find everything from a daily pie to a classic Margherita, Nicky’s supreme, and the St. Pasquale, which comes topped with pepperoni, pecorino, garlic, and chilli flakes. You can also indulge in pasta dishes, salads, or satisfy a sweet tooth with a gelato or sorbet.

Nashville hot fried chicken lives up to its name, and Hattie B’s is one of the original 2 restaurants to offer it. While the restaurant has expanded to multiple locations in the city, the Charlotte Avenue outlet is the place it all started.

You can choose to eat your chicken almost any way you want. Opt for a hot chicken sandwich or go big with any of 8 different plate choices, including one that comes with a full half-chicken. The tenders plate is also a great choice. Slake your thirst with some of Hattie B’s homemade sweet tea, and finish with peach cobbler or banana pudding.

Two Ten Jack is an authentic izakaya experience in the heart of the South. However, there’s more here than just amazing ramen. You’ll also find a range of cocktails, draft and bottled beer, sake, shochu, and more.

For your dining pleasure, start with a small plate, like the edamame or tsukemono. Or go with the 2-10-salad, or the sunomono (cucumber salad). Two Ten Jack also offers several speciality sashimi plates, a range of yakitori options, and, yes, ramen. The tonkatsu is particularly good, but you may also enjoy the tori paitan shoyu (chicken-based ramen), yasai shoyu (vegetable ramen), or the abura soba. Finish the night off with mochi, miso fudge pie, or ginger peach crumble.

Martin’s Bar-B-Que Joint is located not far from Hillsboro Village and Belmont University, providing easy access to some of the most delicious barbeque in Nashville. It all begins with a whole hog, roasted over coal and hickory chips for 20 hours. However, there’s more to love here than just pork.

For BBQ lovers, you’ll find a range of sandwiches, including beef brisket, turkey, and even fried chicken. If you’ve got a bigger appetite, go for one of the trays like the spareribs or baby back ribs. Combo platters, smoked wings, and Southern-style sides are also available. Martin’s Bar-B-Que Joint also offers family suppers that will feed the whole crowd.