Melrose: 8th Ave South, Hattie B's, and Where Locals Actually Spend Saturdays

First, let's fix the address everybody gets wrong, including the version of this article that used to live here. The strip is 8th Avenue South. Not Franklin Pike. Franklin Pike is the road 8th Ave turns into a little farther down, and somewhere along the way somebody decided the two were interchangeable. They are not. If you tell a local you're meeting them on Franklin Pike for burgers, they will drive right past you. So: 8th Ave South, the Melrose stretch, roughly between Wedgewood and Berry Hill. That's where we're eating today.

Here's the honest framing, because it sets your expectations the right way: Melrose is a strip, not a district. It does not have the restaurant density of 12 South next door. What it has instead is a small, tight run of places that each happen to be genuinely good at the one thing they do — the best Thai in town by a lot of people's count, the second-ever Hattie B's, a diner that takes its coffee seriously, a burger pub that's been the neighborhood living room for years. You're not navigating forty options. You're learning maybe seven, and then you're set for years. We walk a lot of buyers down this stretch, and the food is part of why they fall for it, so here, plate by plate, is where the locals actually go and what to order when you get there.

If You're Moving Here From Out of State

Here's the orientation, because a list only helps if you can picture where things sit. Almost everything worth eating is on 8th Ave South itself, strung along a walkable mile or so. Coming from the Wedgewood end, you hit Baked on 8th first (1512), then 8th & Roast across from the comedy club (2108), the Smiling Elephant (2213) and Hattie B's (2222) almost facing each other, M.L.Rose a bit farther up (2535), and Fenwick's 300 in the old Melrose building on the Berry Hill side (2600). You could park once and walk the whole thing, though most locals don't — they drive to the one they came for and grab the spot out front.

Two scheduling gotchas are worth burning into memory now, because they're the difference between dinner and a locked door. The Smiling Elephant, the best food on the strip, is closed Sunday and Monday — lunch and dinner Tuesday through Friday, dinner only on Saturday. And Fenwick's 300, the brunch pick, runs 7am to 2pm on weekdays and 7am to 3pm on weekends, then reopens as Fenwick's Later, Thursday through Saturday, 5pm to 10pm. Plan a Saturday-night dinner around either of those without checking and you'll be improvising in the car. Ask me how I know.

Where to Eat

The Smiling Elephant

The one I send people to first is the Smiling Elephant, a family-owned hole-in-the-wall at 2213 8th Ave S that locals will quietly tell you is the best Thai in Nashville and then watch your face to make sure you understood. The menu leads with the Pad Thai and it earns the placement, but the move regulars make is the curry of the day, which changes daily, paired with the Pad See Ew — those wide rice noodles come out almost melt-in-your-mouth, soft and a little smoky from the wok. The kitchen rotates its daily curries — Karee, Green, Masaman, Red and Panang — and states plainly on its own site that it uses no MSG, with the curries made in coconut milk and dairy-free. The portions are generous enough that ordering family-style across a couple plates leaves you with lunch tomorrow. Close with the hot coconut custard — warm, eggy, just sweet enough. It's walk-in and takeout only, no reservations, and again: closed Sunday and Monday.

Hattie B's Hot Chicken

If you're new to Nashville, this is the one you've already heard of without knowing it's right here: Hattie B's Melrose — the brand's own locations list calls it exactly that — sits on the 8th Ave South strip almost directly across from the Smiling Elephant, one of four Nashville rooms from the hot-chicken shop that opened just off Broadway in August 2012. The whole experience is built around a heat ladder — pick a cut (breast, tenders, or wings), then pick a level, running Southern (no heat), Mild, Medium, Hot, Damn Hot, and Shut the Cluck Up!!!, which the shop's own FAQ describes as cayenne, habanero and ghost peppers, three times as spicy as Damn Hot. Medium is the crowd-pleaser, Hot is where the regulars actually live, and the chicken underneath the burn is the point: crispy outside, juicy inside, the cayenne-paste crust soaked in just enough to glow. The non-negotiable side is the pimento mac and cheese, gooey with a little pepper kick, with the cool red-skin potato salad as the counterweight; white bread and pickles come standard to tame things. It's counter service with a near-constant line and a big patio, so go in knowing you'll wait a few minutes for it.

Fenwick's 300

For a seven-days-a-week breakfast or brunch, Fenwick's 300 sits in the Melrose building at 2600 8th Ave S on the Berry Hill side — a modern diner concept (inspired partly by the movie Diner) and a Bongo Java spot, so the coffee is legit, with a separate coffee bar pouring real lattes while you wait. The Melrose burger gets the to-die-for reviews, but the sleeper order is the corned beef Kimchi Reuben, which locals call as good as any Reuben in town — the kimchi adds a bright, funky bite the classic version never had. For breakfast, skip the obvious and get the hash or the bacon-and-egg fried rice, the two sleeper picks, then round it out with the mascarpone French toast or the whipped goat cheese with biscuits and house jams. The bar is built from one of the lanes of the bowling alley that used to sit on this spot — the restaurant's own telling — and the '300' is a nod to a perfect game, which is the detail you'll point at every single time you bring someone new. It runs 7am to 2pm weekdays and to 3pm on weekends, then reopens as Fenwick's Later, Thursday through Saturday, 5pm to 10pm.

Coffee

8th & Roast

8th & Roast at 2108 8th Ave S is the 8th Avenue room of the local roaster, which has been roasting in Nashville since 2009, sitting right across from Zanies, and it's the daily-driver stop on the strip — a calm, quiet room with community tables and bar seating that doesn't blast music at you while you're trying to read an inspection report. That last part is me; the room is just quiet, and that's a feature. The honest move is to order it black or as a pour-over and taste why people rate the beans; the roaster's own page calls the vanilla latte rich and well-balanced if you want milk in it. Ask what the baristas are pouring that week, and grab a pastry with it. Open seven days, roughly 7am to 6pm.

Drinks

M.L.Rose Neighborhood Pub

The signature locals' hangout is M.L.Rose at 2535 8th Ave S, recently rebranded from 'Craft Beer & Burgers' to 'Neighborhood Pub,' same place, same address, don't let the new sign throw you. The burger to order is the signature smash: two thin patties griddled crisp, American cheese, onions caramelized in bacon fat, iceberg, tomato, pickles, and awesome sauce, the kind of burger that's better than the sum of its parts. Spice-seekers go for the Five-Alarm — house hot sauce, jalapenos, cheddar — and either one comes alongside the waffle fries the place is genuinely known for, crisp-edged and built for the Thicc Ranch that arrives with the fried pickle chips you should start with. There's a covered, heated patio with a fire pit, and it's dog-friendly — all three listed on the pub's own page — plus a rotating craft tap list. The pub's Neighbor Hour runs 3 to 6pm Monday through Wednesday, the 2-for-1 on the whole drink menu is Thursdays all day, and weekend brunch runs Saturday and Sunday until 2pm.

Dessert

Baked on 8th

The strip's dessert anchor is Baked on 8th, a sweet-Southern bakery at 1512 8th Ave S down on the Wedgewood end, and it's the one to know when you need to bring something or just end the day right. Go for the thick signature cookies first — the chocolate chip is the standout, dense and a little underbaked in the best way — then the Southern bars, the Chess Bar and the Hello Dolly, which are exactly the kind of buttery, gooey squares Nashville grandmothers have been making forever. The indulgent picks are the millionaire shortbread, a cookie-dough-like shortbread base under a layer of creamy caramel, and the galaxy brownie, while the peach bourbon pie gets called flat-out delicious. They also do genuinely strong gluten-free cakes (German chocolate, strawberry) and full custom celebration cakes for birthdays and showers, so it doubles as the neighborhood cake shop. Open Monday through Saturday from 8am and Sunday from 10am — the bakery lists two different closing times on its own site, so check before a late run.

Beyond the Plate

Two non-food anchors round out a day on the strip, and they're worth knowing. Zanies Comedy Night Club at 2025 8th Ave S has been booking stand-up for over forty years — a small room, which is the whole appeal, because you're close enough that the comedian can see you not laughing, so you'd better laugh. And for daylight, walk or drive east toward 12 South and you hit Sevier Park, the Metro park at 3021 Lealand Lane that wraps the historic Sunnyside mansion, with outdoor playgrounds and a walking track, and grounds that are friendly to a dog with opinions. It is close enough to the strip that a good-weather Saturday can hold coffee, a walk and lunch.

Recently Closed (So You Don't Go Looking)

A quick honesty pass, because the internet hasn't caught up and nothing makes you look more out-of-touch than recommending a place that locked its doors two years ago. If a 'top things to do in Melrose' page sends you to any of these, you'll be standing in front of a closed building wondering if you have the wrong address. You don't. The place is just gone.

• •Craft Brewed at 2502 8th Ave S — the bottle-shop and taproom with the craft taps and the covered patio — is closed. Travel listicles still show it open; its website is gone. For that kind of night now, M.L.Rose up the block is your answer.
• •Sinema, the upscale restaurant in the restored Melrose Theater space, is closed. Aggregators still list it; it is not open.
• •The Sutler Saloon — the live-music anchor that the old version of this very guide led with — is closed. Also still floating around on travel sites as 'open.' It isn't.

What's Missing (Honestly)

Melrose eats well for its size, but it isn't trying to be everything, and you should know the gaps before you move in expecting them filled. None of this is a knock — it's just the honest shape of a strip that does a few things very well rather than everything at once.

• •Restaurant density at the level of 12 South — Melrose is a strip, not a district. For twenty cuisines in walking distance you'll be driving to 12 South, the Gulch, or West End for some of them.
• •A walkable grocery run; most errands here mean a short drive.
• •A live-music anchor on the strip itself since The Sutler closed, though Zanies still carries the nighttime energy.
• •A late-night scene — the kitchens here close at neighborhood hours, not bar-district hours, and two of the best spots (the Smiling Elephant's Sunday/Monday dark days, Fenwick's morning-only hours) need checking before you build a plan around them.

Quick Questions People Actually Ask

What's the best restaurant in Melrose?

For the food a lot of locals would put first, it's the Smiling Elephant — order the curry of the day with the Pad See Ew, and the Pad Thai if it's your first time. For the Nashville-bucket-list answer, it's Hattie B's hot chicken at Medium or Hot with the pimento mac and cheese. The two sit almost across from each other on 8th Ave S, so you really can't lose.

Where's the best brunch?

Fenwick's 300 in the Melrose building is the strip's brunch pick — get the Melrose burger or the corned beef Kimchi Reuben, or for breakfast the hash or the bacon-and-egg fried rice, with a Bongo Java latte from the coffee bar. It runs 7am to 2pm weekdays and to 3pm on weekends, then reopens as Fenwick's Later, Thursday through Saturday, 5pm to 10pm.

Which spots work with a stroller and a short attention span?

A few work. M.L.Rose has a covered patio, waffle fries, chicken tenders, and is dog-friendly. Baked on 8th is a cookie-and-cake bakery. And Sevier Park a few minutes east has playgrounds and open grounds.

Where's good coffee in Melrose?

8th & Roast at 2108 8th Ave S, no real debate — it's the local roaster's 8th Avenue room, across from Zanies, with a quiet room you can actually sit in. Order it black or as a pour-over to taste the beans, or get the vanilla latte, and grab a pastry with it. Fenwick's coffee bar (Bongo Java) is the other strong cup on the strip if you're there for breakfast.

Where do locals go for a drink?

M.L.Rose at 2535 8th Ave S — the signature pub on the corridor, with a rotating craft tap list, a fire-pit patio, and a Neighbor Hour that runs 3 to 6pm Monday through Wednesday. It rebranded from 'Craft Beer & Burgers' to 'Neighborhood Pub,' but it's the same place.

Where's the best dessert or bakery?

Baked on 8th at 1512 8th Ave S on the Wedgewood end. Get the thick chocolate chip cookie and a Southern bar (the Chess Bar or Hello Dolly); the millionaire shortbread and peach bourbon pie are the indulgent picks. They also do strong gluten-free cakes and full custom celebration cakes.

Read Next

• •Living in Melrose: An Honest Local's Guide — daily life on and around 8th Ave South, who thrives here, and the trade-offs worth knowing before you write an offer.
• •Buying in Melrose: What Different Price Points Actually Get You — the housing stock, the older-home realities, and the nearby developments an agent on our team will pull the permits on before you sign anything.