What are the best restaurants in Germantown?

February 19, 2026

Germantown punches well above its weight for a neighborhood of 18 city blocks. The concentration of seriously good restaurants here (including multiple James Beard Award winners and nominees) makes it the strongest single dining destination in Nashville. Here are the places that matter.

City House

Chef Tandy Wilson opened City House in 2007, before Germantown’s current renaissance was in full swing. Wilson won the James Beard Award for Best Chef: Southeast in 2016, the first Nashville chef to win that award. The menu has always leaned Italian-Southern handmade pastas, wood-oven meats, unusually good pizzas with toppings like belly ham and kale. The Sunday Supper is a rotating prix fixe that has become a Nashville institution. If you are eating one meal in Germantown, City House has the strongest claim to your reservation.

Rolf and Daughters

Philip Krajeck opened Rolf and Daughters in 2012, and it was named one of America’s Best New Restaurants by both Bon Appétit and Esquire in its first year. More than a decade later, it still holds up. The menu rotates seasonally around handmade pastas, market vegetables, and shareable plates, all anchored by an extensive natural wine list. The sourdough with seaweed butter has developed enough of a following that removing it from the menu would be a neighborhood event. Located in the historic Werthan factory building, the communal tables and patio create a warm, unpretentious room for serious food.

Henrietta Red

Julia Sullivan opened Henrietta Red in 2017 and was named one of Food and Wine Magazine’s Best New Chefs in 2018. The restaurant made Bon Appétit’s list of America’s 50 Best New Restaurants and was a James Beard Best New Restaurant semifinalist the same year. The raw bar is the anchor oysters from multiple coasts, shucked to order but the dinner menu of seasonal seafood and shared plates is consistently excellent. The happy hour with discounted oysters is one of the better deals in the neighborhood.

5th and Taylor

Chef Daniel Lindley’s space in a converted warehouse is built for groups and large appetites. The wood-fired grill defines the menu, and the banquet-style tables and large-scale art installations give the room a communal energy. The patio is one of the better outdoor dining spots in the neighborhood.

Butchertown Hall

The concept is Central Texas meat market culture transplanted to Germantown, with wood-smoked brisket, house-made sausage, and craft cocktails. The building is a beautiful historic brick structure on the corner of Morgan Park. On game days for the Nashville Sounds, it functions as the neighborhood’s anchor.

Tailor

The most unusual restaurant in Germantown: a South Asian-inspired prix fixe tasting menu by chef Vivek Surti, served over a leisurely two and a half hours. Tables book out quickly and the experience requires actual commitment. Worth it.

Monell’s

If the neighborhood’s fine dining options are intimidating, Monell’s offers Southern comfort food in a Victorian house, served family-style at communal tables in the all-you-can-eat tradition. Fried chicken, meat loaf, biscuits, corn pudding. It opened in 1905 and the building still has original features. For a different kind of memorable meal.

Sources

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