What Is the Wait Time Like at East Nashville Brunch Spots on Sunday?

February 19, 2026

On Sunday mornings in East Nashville, the wait at the most popular brunch spots begins before the doors open. This is not hyperbole. At Cafe Roze on Porter Road, people show up before 8 a.m. on weekends because the restaurant is small, the food is good enough that people will wait for it, and Nashville collectively decided sometime around 2017 that Sunday brunch is a competitive sport.

The Realistic Numbers

Cafe Roze, which opens at 8 a.m. daily and runs brunch service through mid-afternoon, sees waits of 45 minutes to over an hour on busy Sunday mornings during peak season (spring through fall). The marble bar interior and the distinctive pink design mean it functions simultaneously as a brunch spot and a photo opportunity, which multiplies the demand. It is in the Michelin Guide. It does not take reservations for weekend brunch.

Marche Artisan Foods at Five Points, a European bakery and all-day restaurant, is explicitly known for waits that regulars describe as worth it. The menu is seasonal, the space is small, and Sunday is its busiest day.

Snooze, an A.M. Eatery at 969 Main Street near Five Points, is a Colorado-based chain with a devoted following and weekend waits that reliably run 30 to 60 minutes. It is the most visitor-friendly option in terms of predictable quality and process, but it is also the most likely to have a line stretching onto the sidewalk.

Mitchell Delicatessen in Riverside Village (Inglewood) is a local institution that opens at 7 a.m. on Sundays and draws residents from across East Nashville. Waits are real but shorter than the Five Points cluster because it’s slightly off the tourist trail.

Why the Waits Are This Long

East Nashville has more restaurants worth eating at per block than anywhere else in Nashville, but the specific subset of brunch destinations that are both excellent and Instagram-legible is small. That narrow intersection, high quality plus visual appeal plus neighborhood identity, concentrates demand into a handful of rooms. The neighborhood also draws weekend visitors from across Nashville who treat the East Side as a destination, adding external demand to the existing local hunger for tables.

The open format of most East Nashville brunch spots, where a two-hour table occupancy is not unusual because nobody is rushing, extends the effective time each table is out of rotation.

How to Avoid the Worst of It

Arrive at opening, 8 a.m. at Cafe Roze and Snooze. The 8 to 9 a.m. window at Cafe Roze is meaningfully more manageable than 10 a.m. on a Sunday in May. Alternatively, arrive late: by 1:30 p.m. at most East Nashville brunch spots the crush has thinned and service is faster.

Weekdays are categorically different. Tuesday through Thursday brunch at Cafe Roze is essentially walk-in friendly. The quality of the food is identical. The wait is near zero. If you have flexibility in your schedule, this is the actual answer.

The Pharmacy Burger Parlor at 731 McFerrin Ave offers a more casual format that absorbs demand more gracefully: order at the counter, take a seat in the beer garden, the system is designed for volume. No ninety-minute wait for a burger.

Sky Blue Cafe on Fatherland Street has a smaller profile and a loyal local following with weekend waits that rarely exceed 20 minutes, partly because it closes at 2 p.m. and doesn’t attract the same evening-before-it-even-opens crowd.

The Honest Calculation

East Nashville brunch is genuinely good. The best spots have earned their waits. But the specific Sunday 10 a.m. window at the most popular spots involves standing outside for an hour in a line that includes a significant number of people who are visiting the East Side as an experience rather than seeking a specific meal. If you have no flexibility, arrive early. If you have any flexibility at all, use it.

Sources

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