What Are the Best Restaurants in East Nashville?

February 19, 2026

East Nashville has the densest concentration of serious, independently-owned restaurants in Nashville. These are the ones that are actually worth your time.

Bad Idea

1021 Russell St. The most nationally recognized restaurant in East Nashville right now, and for good reason. Bad Idea operates inside a former church sanctuary that was partially destroyed by the 2020 tornado and rebuilt. Chef Colby Rasavong cooks with Laotian-influenced French technique; sommelier Alex Burch built a wine list that operates at a level the rest of Nashville has not caught up to. The New York Times named it one of the 50 Best Restaurants in America in 2024. It was a James Beard Award semifinalist for Best New Restaurant in 2025. The late-night menu runs until 12:30 a.m. every night, which local chefs use as an excuse to drop in after their own services end. Reservations: 629-729-4332.

Margot Cafe & Bar

1017 Woodland St. still earns its place on any list. French-Italian-Southern in approach, seasonal in execution, set in a building from the 1930s that’s been updated with care. The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and Time Magazine have all written about it. The fact that it’s been around long enough to feel like a neighborhood institution rather than a destination is part of what makes it essential.

Folk

823 Meridian St. Italian-inspired, wood-fired, seasonal menu. Folk is the kind of restaurant where the food is excellent without demanding your attention at every course, which makes it ideal for extended dinners with people you like. The menu rotates. Reservations are a good idea, but walk-ins occasionally work last minute.

Cafe Roze

1115 Porter Rd. Open 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily. The all-day format makes it versatile: good for breakfast, good for brunch (opened by New York chef Julia Jaksic in 2017), good for dinner. The Roze Latte (rose and cardamom, topped with rose petals) is not just an Instagram fixture; it’s actually delicious. Country ham toast with soft scrambled egg and parmesan is the breakfast standard. The Michelin Guide lists it.

Lockeland Table

1520 Woodland St. A community kitchen and bar with indoor and outdoor seating in a converted storefront. The “Community Hour” each evening dedicates a portion of small plate sales to local organizations, which makes the restaurant feel embedded in the neighborhood in a way that’s not performative. Wood-fired cooking, good cocktails.

Five Points Pizza

1012 Woodland St. The walk-up window for pizza by the slice is one of the better deals in East Nashville. The weekday lunch special, two slices and a drink for around $10, is legitimately one of the best value lunches in Nashville. New York-style execution. The garlic knots are not negotiable.

Mas Tacos Por Favor

732 McFerrin Ave. Cash only. Counter service. Chalkboard menu. Started as a food truck and has been an East Nashville staple ever since. The tacos are simple and correct.

The Pharmacy Burger Parlor & Beer Garden

731 McFerrin Ave. Nashville’s best burger situation. A serious beer garden attached to a restaurant that takes both the burgers and the beer program seriously. Outdoor seating is genuinely pleasant in good weather.

Pelican & Pig

1010 Gallatin Ave. Open kitchen with a wood-burning hearth. Seasonally driven, fine-casual. Owned by husband-and-wife team Nick and Audra Guidry. Wednesday through Thursday 5-9 p.m.; check current hours before going.

Butcher & Bee

902 Main St. Middle Eastern-inflected Southern ingredients. The whipped feta with black pepper, spicy fermented honey, and pita has its own following. Small plates format, experimental kitchen culture.

What to Skip

You don’t need to visit every brunch spot with a line. East Nashville has enough genuinely excellent restaurants that waiting ninety minutes for mediocre eggs is unnecessary. If a wait exceeds what you’re willing to do, there is always another option within two blocks.

Sources

Related posts:

  1. How Is The Gulch Different from Broadway? Broadway is a strip of honky-tonks where the drinks are cheap, the live music never stops, and the crowd skews loud. The Gulch is a mixed-use neighborhood with serious restaurants,......
  2. What is the vibe of Germantown? Germantown is what Nashville looks like when it is not trying to perform Nashville. There are no bachelorette sashes here, no pedal taverns, no cover bands playing Florida Georgia Line......
  3. What Is the Vibe of 12 South? 12 South has a split personality depending on when you show up. On a Tuesday morning, it's a quiet residential neighborhood of 1900s bungalows where people walk their dogs and......
  4. Why Is Nashville Considered the Capital of Meat-and-Three Dining? The answer starts in 1930s Nashville, inside the employee cafeteria of the May Hosiery Mill. Workers lined up and paid 25 cents for a choice of meat, three vegetables, and......
  5. What Is the Most Expensive Restaurant in Nashville? The Catbird Seat at $165 per person before beverages, tax, and gratuity is Nashville's most prestigious and most expensive tasting menu experience. Including a beverage pairing and mandatory 20% gratuity,......
  6. What Are Nashville’s James Beard Nominated Restaurants? Nashville's James Beard history splits into two eras: the long-running American Classics recognition for places like Arnold's Country Kitchen, and the post-2018 wave of chef-driven restaurants that have put Nashville......
  7. Is There Good Vegan and Vegetarian Food in Nashville? The honest answer changed around 2015 and has continued improving every year since. Nashville was not an easy city for plant-based eating in 2010. It is a reasonably good one......
  8. What Is the Best Steakhouse in Nashville? Nashville's steakhouse scene is crowded with options ranging from national chains operating inside hotel lobbies to chef-driven rooms that treat beef like a fine dining ingredient. The answer to which......
  9. Where Do Locals Hang Out in East Nashville? The question assumes a useful distinction: places where locals actually go versus places that have become sufficiently famous that locals have largely ceded them to the visiting crowd. In East......
  10. What Is the Easiest Neighborhood to Park In? The honest answer is that parking difficulty in Nashville correlates almost perfectly with how much you want to go there. The more restaurants, bars, and things to do in a......
  11. Which Nashville Neighborhood Is Most Expensive? Belle Meade is the most expensive neighborhood in Nashville by median home value, and it isn't particularly close. But the relevant answer depends on whether you're buying, renting, or just......
  12. Which Nashville Neighborhoods Should You Avoid? The honest version of this answer is narrower than internet forums suggest. Most of Nashville is safe for normal behavior during normal hours. The neighborhoods that require genuine caution are......
  13. What is the most famous restaurant in Germantown? City House is the most famous restaurant in Germantown, and arguably the restaurant most responsible for establishing the neighborhood as a dining destination in the first place. Chef Tandy Wilson......
  14. What Is East Nashville Known For? East Nashville built its reputation the old-fashioned way: musicians moved there because it was cheap, brought their friends, and over twenty years turned it into the neighborhood Nashville residents are......

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *