Uzbegim Halal Restaurant
Midtown
Middle Eastern
Uzbegim is a Michelin Bib Gourmand Uzbek restaurant tucked into a Midtown building, serving Central Asian cooking that Nashville had no right to have this good.
The lamb and beef kebabs off the charcoal grill are smoky and immediate. The Uyghur lagman — hand-pulled noodles with beef, peppers and egg — is the dish to order. The plov is properly made. The honey cake is the exit.
Chef:
Awards:
James Beard
Nashville
3
Sperry's Cool Springs
Franklin
$$$
Seafood, Steakhouse
Sperry's Cool Springs is a strip mall dungeon with no windows, fine steaks, and everything else not up to standard.
The Belle Meade location has a room and a legacy. This one has a parking lot and the same menu. The steaks are acceptable. The rest of the food doesn't justify the trip.
Chef:
Awards:
James Beard
Nashville
5
Zaytinya
The Gulch
$$$
Mediterranean, Greek, Lebanese, Turkish
Zaytinya is Jose Andres doing Eastern Mediterranean in The Gulch. Better than it has any obligation to be.
The mezze format is the move — hummus, labneh, spreads, and vegetable dishes that show real kitchen thinking. The team here is cooking with genuine care.
Chef:
Awards:
James Beard
Nashville
3
Luogo
The Gulch
$$$
Italian, Pasta
Luogo is Anthony Scotto's coastal Italian restaurant in The Gulch — seafood-forward, pasta-driven, with a 4.8 rating on nearly 1,000 OpenTable reviews. The pasta program is the real thing.
The paccheri bolognese, duck ragu pappardelle, and spaghettini with Manila clams are the kitchen's signature moves. Executive Chef Nicola Bauchi's pasta program has earned serious local loyalty since opening.
Chef:
Awards:
James Beard
Nashville
3
Bob's Steak & Chop House
SoBro
$$$$
Seafood, Steakhouse
Bob's Steak & Chop House is a national steakhouse chain in SoBro. The steaks are properly cooked. The experience is interchangeable with every other Bob's.
Competent steakhouse execution in a downtown location. The beef is handled correctly and the sides are reliable. Nothing distinguishes it from the other locations.
Chef:
Awards:
James Beard
Nashville
4
400 Degrees
North Nashville
$
Hot Chicken
400 Degrees is a North Nashville hot chicken institution that predates the trend and doesn't care about it.
The heat levels are serious, the chicken is properly fried, and the location keeps the tourist traffic low. One of the most authentic hot chicken experiences in the city.
Chef:
Awards:
James Beard
Nashville
4
Bolton’s Spicy Chicken & Fish
East Nashville
$
Fried Chicken, Hot Chicken
Bolton's is the hot chicken spot that time forgot to commercialize. Older than Hattie B's, less famous, better for it.
The fish sandwich is the sleeper. The hot chicken is the real thing — funkier and less polished than the chains, which is exactly why it's worth seeking out.
Chef:
Awards:
James Beard
Nashville
4
All'Antico Vinaio
The Gulch
Deli, Italian, Sandwiches
All'Antico Vinaio has been making sandwiches in Florence since 1991. The Gulch location brings the same format: schiacciata bread, imported Italian product, long lines that move fast.
Schiacciata bread, proper Italian cured meats and cheeses imported from Italy, a counter operation that has been running the same play since 1991. This is Florentine street food, not a Nashville Italian concept.
Chef:
Awards:
James Beard
Nashville
4
Koshō by Tabu
SoBro
$$$
Japanese, Omakase, Sushi
Koshō by Tabu is serious omakase sushi in SoBro. The fish quality and precision put it in a different category.
Counter omakase with real product quality and precise technique. A kitchen doing the real thing for people who know what they're eating.
Chef:
Awards:
James Beard
Nashville
3
Eleven11
East Nashville
Cocktail Bar, Vietnamese
Eleven11 is an 11-seat Vietnamese-inspired fine dining counter on Dickerson Pike with a dance floor in the back. The garlic noodles and the ribeye are the reason to book.
Hand-cut garlic noodles in butter and fish sauce, local ribeye cooked in front of you, tomato rice that eats like a hash brown, ginger tofu ice cream. Chef Son Pham (ex-Catbird Seat) is doing real work at a counter that seats 11.
Chef:
Awards:
James Beard
Nashville
3
SS Gai
East Nashville
$
Fried Chicken, Thai
SS Gai is Thai fried chicken done at a level that made Michelin pay attention. One of the most exciting things happening in Nashville right now.
The Thai fried chicken is the whole point — aggressively seasoned, properly fried, with heat and funk that most Nashville Thai kitchens won't commit to. Everything else on the menu keeps up.
Chef:
Awards:
James Beard
Nashville
3
Noôsh
Sylvan Park
Middle Eastern, Persian
Noôsh is Persian-Middle Eastern cooking in Sylvan Park done with real conviction. The best food in a neighborhood that doesn't get enough credit.
Saffron, dried lime, pomegranate, herbs used properly rather than decoratively. A kitchen that knows the cuisine and isn't softening it.
Chef:
Awards:
James Beard
Nashville
3
Golden Prawn #3
East Nashville
Chinese
Golden Prawn #3 is the East Side Banh Mi team doing Chinese takeout. The orange chicken has actual orange zest. The fortune cookies write their own jokes.
Classic Chinese-American takeout done by people who actually cook — Mongolian beef, Kung Pao chicken, sweet and sour pork off a hot bar that moves fast. The format is honest and the food is better than you expect.
Chef:
Awards:
James Beard
Nashville
3
Craig's Nashville
The Gulch
$$$
American
Craig's Nashville has a great room and an inconsistent kitchen. The vibe delivers. The food doesn't always.
The pasta is genuinely good. The cioppino was inedible. The gap between best and worst on this menu is too wide for the price point — but the room makes it worth knowing about.
Chef:
Awards:
James Beard
Nashville
4
Philippe Chow
The Gulch
$$$
Chinese
Philippe Chow is a New York Chinese import in The Gulch. Polished, competent, and unnecessary given what else is in this city.
The food is technically accomplished and entirely generic. There is nothing here that Nashville needed and nothing that couldn't be found better elsewhere.
Chef:
Awards:
James Beard
Nashville
4
Sirocco
East Nashville
$$
Cocktail Bar, Mediterranean
Sirocco is a Mediterranean restaurant and cocktail lounge in Five Points that's doing more food work than the nightlife framing suggests.
The octopus and the za'atar glazed salmon are the standouts. The cocktail program is theatrical and solid. This is a real restaurant that also happens to turn into a club on weekends.
Chef:
Awards:
James Beard
Nashville
4
Shotgun Willie's BBQ
East Nashville
$$
BBQ
Shotgun Willie's BBQ is East Nashville's backyard BBQ operation that figured out how to scale without losing the point.
The ribs and brisket are properly smoked with real bark and real smoke penetration. Casual as hell. Genuinely good.
Chef:
Awards:
James Beard
Nashville
3
Prince's Hot Chicken
Woodbine
$
Fried Chicken, Hot Chicken
Prince's Hot Chicken is where Nashville hot chicken started. Not the most convenient location. The most important one.
Operating since 1945. More edge, more history, and more heat than anything Hattie B's will ever produce.
Chef:
Awards:
James Beard
Nashville
3
Culaccino
Franklin
$$$
Italian, Pasta, Pizza
Culaccino is Franklin Italian done correctly — pasta made with care, a room worth sitting in.
The pasta is properly made and properly sauced with the restraint Italian cooking requires. The kitchen is cooking for people who know Italian food.
Chef:
Awards:
James Beard
Nashville
3
Hattie B’s
Midtown
$$
Fried Chicken, Hot Chicken
Hattie B's made Nashville hot chicken famous. It also made it a tourist attraction. Those two things are not the same.
Consistent, well-fried chicken with a heat scale that works. Also: multiple locations, lines around the block with visitors, and a brand that has grown bigger than its original purpose.
Chef:
Awards:
James Beard
Nashville
5
Central BBQ
Capital Hill
$$
BBQ
Central BBQ is a Memphis chain in Nashville doing the Memphis dry-rub tradition competently. Good ribs, forgettable everything else.
The dry-rub ribs are the reason to come. The bark is real, the smoke penetrates correctly, and the meat pulls at the right resistance. Everything else on the menu serves its purpose without distinguishing itself.
Chef:
Awards:
James Beard
Nashville
5
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