Virago
The Gulch
$$$
Cocktail Bar, Japanese, Sushi
Virago has been doing Asian fusion since before it was the format. It's coasting now. The city has moved on.
The sushi is properly handled and the cocktail program is solid. Everything else is a restaurant running on its original reputation without updating what earned it.
Chef:
Awards:
James Beard
Nashville
5
Eastside Banh Mi
East Nashville
$$
Deli, Sandwiches, Vietnamese
Eastside Banh Mi is East Nashville's Vietnamese sandwich operation. The banh mi here is the reason the East Side Banh Mi team has a reputation worth building on.
Proper banh mi on good bread with quality proteins, pickled daikon and carrots, cilantro, jalapeño. Inexpensive, fast, and made by a team that cares about Vietnamese food.
Chef:
Awards:
James Beard
Nashville
4
DeSano Pizzeria Napoletana
Wedgewood-Houston
Pizza
DeSano Pizzeria Napoletana is a Nashville pizzeria focused on traditional Neapolitan-style pizza. The menu centers on certified preparations and a casual dining format.
DeSano is Nashville's most authentic Neapolitan pizza — certified VPN, 900-degree wood-fired ovens, and a crust that collapses correctly. This is the real thing.
Chef:
Awards:
James Beard
Nashville
4
City House
Germantown
$$
Italian, Modern American, Pizza
City House is Tandy Wilson's Germantown restaurant — Italian technique, Southern ingredients, in-house charcuterie, wood-fired pizza, and a place that has been shaping Nashville's food identity for over a decade.
One of Nashville's most important restaurants — Italian-Southern cooking from Tandy Wilson that has been setting the standard in this city for over a decade.
Chef:
Awards:
James Beard
Nashville
2
Tailor
Germantown
$$$$
Indian, Modern American
Tailor is a tasting menu restaurant in Germantown helmed by chef Vivek Surti — Indian heritage filtered through global culinary training, one of the best cocktail programs in the South, and a Michelin Recommended dining experience that feels genuinely like a dinner party.
One of Nashville's most genuinely exciting restaurants and a Michelin Recommended dining experience — Indian-rooted cooking that feels like a dinner party, a cocktail program in a class of its own, and a final course of chai from a recipe Vivek's father spent 10 years perfecting.
Chef:
Awards:
James Beard
Nashville
2
Tantísimo
Sylvan Park
Latin American, Mexican
Tantísimo is Nashville's most serious Mexican restaurant — regional cooking, proper mole, nixtamalized corn, and a level of technique the cuisine rarely receives in this city.
The mole program alone justifies the visit. The tortillas are made from scratch on nixtamalized corn. This is regional Mexican cooking done with genuine depth and technical ambition.
Chef:
Awards:
James Beard
Nashville
3
Greko Greek Street Food
East Nashville
$$
Greek, Mediterranean
Greko is fast-casual Greek food that does the basics correctly. In a city with more interesting options, correct basics aren't a sufficient reason to send someone.
The gyros and falafel are solid. The operation runs efficiently. Nothing here is bad, which is different from anything here being worth seeking out.
Chef:
Awards:
James Beard
Nashville
5
Marsh House
The Gulch
$$$
Seafood, Southern
Marsh House is a restaurant in Nashville serving Southern-influenced American cuisine in a full-service setting. The menu emphasizes composed dishes and sit-down dining.
Marsh House is a beautiful hotel seafood restaurant with real ambitions and mostly real execution. The oysters alone justify the visit; the rest of the menu gives you reason to stay.
Chef:
Awards:
James Beard
Nashville
3
The Optimist
Germantown
$$$
Oyster Bar, Seafood
The Optimist is a seafood-focused restaurant in Nashville offering coastal-inspired dishes in a full-service setting. The menu emphasizes fish and shellfish.
The Optimist is Nashville's best seafood restaurant — a James Beard–nominated kitchen doing Southern coastal cooking that makes you forget you're a thousand miles from the water.
Chef:
Awards:
James Beard
Nashville
4
Locust
12 South
$$$
Modern American
Locust is a Michelin-starred tasting menu restaurant in 12 South helmed by chef Trevor Moran — Japanese, Irish, and British influences, wood-fired technique, a menu that changes constantly, and some of the most emotionally resonant cooking in Nashville.
One of the best restaurants in Nashville and one of its three Michelin stars — a wood-fired tasting menu from the former head chef of The Catbird Seat that consistently surprises without losing sight of what food is for.
Chef:
Awards:
James Beard
Nashville
1
The Loveless Café
Bellevue
$$
Southern
The Loveless Café is a gift shop that serves biscuits. The biscuits are good. Everything else is a twenty-mile drive to stand in line with tourists.
The biscuits are legitimately good. The country ham is properly salty. The rest is mythology sold at full price to people who drove out Highway 100 because a travel guide told them to.
Chef:
Awards:
James Beard
Nashville
5
St. Vito’s Focacceria
The Gulch
$
Italian
St. Vito’s Focacceria is a Nashville restaurant focused on Italian-inspired sandwiches built on house-made focaccia. The menu emphasizes casual dining.
St. Vito's Focacceria is East Nashville's single-ingredient obsession done right — thick, olive oil-kissed focaccia with seasonal toppings that make you understand why bread can be a meal.
Chef:
Awards:
James Beard
Nashville
3
Two Ten Jack
East Nashville
$$
Ramen, Japanese
Two Ten Jack is Nashville's best izakaya — binchotan yakitori, hand-rolled ramen, a serious Japanese whisky list, and a room built for the long evening.
The yakitori program is the anchor — skewers off a binchotan charcoal grill with the char and fat render the method produces. The ramen is limited and worth ordering. The Japanese whisky selection is one of Nashville's strongest.
Chef:
Awards:
James Beard
Nashville
4
Skull’s Rainbow Room
Downtown
$$$
American, Dive Bar, Southern
Skull’s Rainbow Room is a restaurant and live music venue in Nashville offering classic cocktails and American fare. The experience blends dining with performance.
Skull's Rainbow Room is a genuine piece of Nashville history brought back to life — great jazz, an intimate room, solid supper club cooking, and an atmosphere you can't manufacture. This one matters.
Chef:
Awards:
James Beard
Nashville
4
Onda
Midtown
Mexican
Onda is Italian-inspired coastal cooking in 12 South that earns the comparison to a Riviera escape without overselling it.
The pasta is the anchor. Wood-fired preparations add smoke and char. A wine list that skews Italian and interesting. The right room for a long dinner.
Chef:
Awards:
James Beard
Nashville
4
The Catbird Seat
The Gulch
$$$$
Modern American
The Catbird Seat is a Michelin-starred tasting menu restaurant in The Gulch helmed by chefs Andy Doubrava and Tiffani Ortiz — Nashville's most acclaimed restaurant, now in a spectacular new multi-floor space, with 13-16 courses and the most coveted reservation in the city.
The hardest reservation in Nashville and the most worth getting — Nashville's highest-rated restaurant, Michelin-starred, now in a spectacular new space that's somehow even better than before.
Chef:
Awards:
James Beard
Nashville
1
Chauhan Ale & Masala House
Capital Hill
$$
Indian, Gastropub
Chauhan is Maneet Chauhan's Indian-Southern fusion restaurant in The Gulch, and it has been consistently great for over a decade.
The whipped paneer, saag mac and cheese, pork shank vindaloo, and gol guppa shots are the moves. Menu hasn't changed much in ten years because it doesn't need to.
Chef:
Awards:
James Beard
Nashville
4
Noko
East Nashville
$$
Fusion, Japanese, Modern American
Noko is a wood-fired Japanese-Southern small plates restaurant in East Nashville — robata cooking, precise raw preparations, a strong sake and whisky program, and some of the most focused Japanese-influenced cooking in the city.
Bold flavors, sharp technique, and a robata program that's among the best things happening in Nashville right now. This one's the real deal.
Chef:
Awards:
James Beard
Nashville
2
Sonobana
Sylvan Park
$$
Japanese
Sonobana is classic Japanese in West Nashville. Properly executed sushi and traditional preparations in a room that respects the cuisine.
The sushi is handled correctly. The cooked Japanese dishes follow the same standard. An honest traditional Japanese experience without the omakase format or the premium pricing.
Chef:
Awards:
James Beard
Nashville
4
The Southern Steak & Oyster
SoBro
$$$
Oyster Bar, Seafood, Steakhouse
The Southern Steak & Oyster is downtown Nashville's reliable fallback. Decent steaks, decent oysters, a room that handles tourists without losing its footing.
The raw bar is solid. The steaks are cooked correctly. The service runs efficiently under downtown volume. Nothing here will surprise you, and nothing will disappoint you either.
Chef:
Awards:
James Beard
Nashville
5
Rolf and Daughters
Germantown
$$$
Italian, Modern American, Pasta, Pizza
Rolf and Daughters is Philip Krajeck's Michelin Recommended Germantown pasta and small plates restaurant — handmade pasta with serious texture, wood-fired dishes, one of Nashville's best wine lists, and a restaurant that has been shaping the city's serious dining identity for over a decade.
Philip Krajeck's pasta and small plates restaurant helped build Nashville's serious dining identity — handmade pasta, sourdough with seaweed butter, wood-fired dishes, and one of the best wine lists in the city. Michelin Recommended.
Chef:
Awards:
James Beard
Nashville
2
Kayne Prime
The Gulch
$$$$
Seafood, Steakhouse
Kayne Prime is a steakhouse in Nashville offering prime beef, seafood, and classic steakhouse service. The menu blends traditional formats with a modern dining environment.
Kayne Prime is Nashville's definitive modern steakhouse — exceptional beef program, inventive sides, and a room that somehow makes prime rib feel fresh.
Chef:
Awards:
James Beard
Nashville
3
Oak Steakhouse
SoBro
$$$
Seafood, Steakhouse
Oak Steakhouse is a steak-focused restaurant in Nashville offering prime beef and traditional steakhouse service. The menu follows a formal dining structure.
Oak Steakhouse is a Charleston import that arrived in Nashville with its reputation intact — prime steaks, an exceptional raw bar, and service that makes the price tag feel appropriate.
Chef:
Awards:
James Beard
Nashville
4
Bad Idea
East Nashville
$$$
French, Wine Bar
Bad Idea is a cocktail bar with a kitchen. The drinks have a genuine point of view. The food is a reason to stay seated, not a reason to show up.
The cocktail menu is deliberately off-center and occasionally delivers something genuinely memorable. The food is serviceable bar snacks that exist to extend the evening.
Chef:
Awards:
James Beard
Nashville
5
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