The original Skull’s Rainbow Room from the 1940s, a legendary hangout and performance venue, shuttered in 1999. The Printers Alley icon reopened in 2015 with nightly live jazz, late-night weekend burlesque, and many of the vintage touches of the original. The revamped dinner menu features luscious lobster bisque, prime rib empanadas, and an excellent garlic honey-glazed pork chop.

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The Hermitage Hotel is packed with stories – it was a key location during the suffrage movement and has been frequented by U.S. presidents and notable celebrities (Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash) through its 115-year history. In 2021, the hotel debuted restaurant, Drusie & Darr, backed by famed chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten. Seated beneath mother-of-pearl chandeliers and grand arches, diners can choose between wood-fired pizzas, fish dishes like black sea bass or prime beef tenderloin.

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Nashville native David Andrews moved back from NYC in 2016 and opened his first shop downtown. At D’Andrews, a 2024 James Beard Award semifinalist, you can grab an espresso, nitro cold brew, or latte with homemade syrups to go with rotating pastries like double-butter croissants, blueberry corn muffins, and brioche pecan cinnamon buns. The breakfast and lunch cafe also makes an assortment of salads, soups, and sandwiches, including a BLT, a pimento grilled cheese, and egg sandwiches, all on their focaccia.

Massive mixed-use development Fifth + Broadway added dozens of excellent dining options for those visiting the popular honky-tonk strip. Standalone highlights include locally grown chains Hattie B’s Hot Chicken and Slim & Husky’s (the pizzeria made history as the first-ever Black-owned restaurant to open on Broadway), plus the wine-soaked Sixty Vines and the glamorous Twelve Thirty Club, which offers live music and food across several floors. The Assembly Food Hall here also offers a staggering variety of stalls and seating areas across multiple levels, including local favorites like Thai Esane, Saffron the Indian Kitchen, Steam Boys, Donut Distillery, and Prince’s Hot Chicken — creator of the iconic Nashville hot chicken.

Once upon a time, this was one of the only places in town with an oyster bar. Today, it remains a local and tourist favorite for its refined Southern dining options and top-notch street-level patio — even as other oyster bars have cropped up around town. Chase the briny bivalves with traditional dishes like fish and grits, fried chicken with collards and country ham gravy, and steak blue cheese biscuits.

This downtown steakhouse stuns in every way: gorgeous interiors, beautifully plated dishes, and service lauded as some of the best in town. Kick off an evening in Music City with an $8 martini and a dozen oysters on the half shell during weekday happy hour from 4 to 6 p.m., or gussie up for a special occasion over a decadent steak dinner.

ISkip the ribeye in favor of Chilean sea bass oscar, or elk tenderloin. Make sure to save room for dessert.

Martin’s is an easy place to recommend to folks with a hankering for Southern barbecue. Pitmaster Pat Martin is keeping the West Tennessee tradition of whole-hog barbecue alive and well, growing his Nolensville-based restaurant into a chain spread across several states. The downtown Nashville location has a mammoth beer garden in the back, providing tons of seating, games, and a stage for live music. Don’t miss Martin’s quintessential pulled-pork barbecue sandwich; other hits include wings, wet or dry ribs, brisket sandwiches, barbecue bologna sandwiches, and Redneck Tacos on cornbread hoecakes.

The Nashville location of Michael Mina’s Bourbon Steak chain boasts 280 seats on the 34th floor of the JW Marriott hotel downtown, so the views are top-notch. The more-is-more approach carries through one of the city’s most extensive whiskey lists and opulent dishes ranging from black truffle mac and cheese to lobster pot pie to a 40-ounce wagyu tomahawk rib-eye carved tableside.

Yes, it’s a chain, but Mina has a knack for establishing consistency across this brand, which also is a standout in other cities such as D.C.

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