Midtown: Where Locals Actually Eat, Drink, and Spend Saturdays

Midtown has been feeding Nashville since before half the city's hot new restaurants had a liquor license. The neighborhood wraps around Vanderbilt, Music Row, and Centennial Park, and the food scene reflects all three — a soda fountain from 1939, the hot chicken spot that arguably launched the whole national craze, a Thai family institution running for fifty years, and a songwriter pub where the guy at the next table might have written a song you sang in your car this morning. This is the honest list of what to order, dish by dish, written by people who have eaten here too many times to pretend otherwise.

A note before we start: a couple of longtime favorites have closed, and one or two beloved spots that everybody files under "Midtown" are technically a short drive away. We'll be straight about all of it. The point of this list is that you walk in already knowing what to get.

Where to Eat

Hattie B's Hot Chicken (Midtown original)

This is the original Midtown location, which Hattie B's has listed among its Nashville stores since it opened on August 9, 2012 — a no-frills room where you order at the counter and the line out the door is not a suggestion, it's a tradition. Get the bone-in dark meat at Medium, which is a real sweat-on-the-brow heat that still lets you taste the chicken instead of just regretting it; the cayenne crust comes out crackly, deep red, and on the hotter levels practically paste-thick. The heat ladder climbs Southern (no heat), Mild, Medium, Hot, Damn Hot!!, and finally Shut the Cluck Up!!, which is ghost-pepper territory and mostly ordered by people trying to prove something to their friends. Round it out with the pimento mac and cheese, the black-eyed pea salad, and a scoop of banana pudding, and keep the white bread and pickle chips close — they are not garnish, they are the fire extinguisher.

If the line looks brutal, that's because it usually is. Locals come on a weekday afternoon and walk right up. I have stood in that line on a Saturday at one o'clock and I have only myself to blame.

International Market

The Myint family's International Market has been part of this stretch of Nashville's food identity for decades, and reopened on Belmont Blvd after the original closed. Order the five-spice Thai fried chicken with sticky rice, cucumber salad, and chili sauce — the dish that put the reboot on the map, with a shatter-crisp skin and a five-spice depth you keep going back into.

At lunch, the steam-table specials over fried rice are the move and the better deal; at dinner, lean into the newer plates. One honest note: it is a short drive south of Midtown proper, but this place has been part of the area's food identity for so long it would be strange to leave it off.

Midtown Cafe

Open since 1987, this is the polished, take-the-parents-to-dinner option, tucked just off West End near Music Row. The kitchen runs eggs and biscuits in the morning and black Angus steaks, seafood, veal and pasta at night, and brunch is served Saturday and Sunday from 10:30 to 2. Read the board when you sit down — the menu turns over.

The Row Kitchen & Pub

A Music Row songwriter hangout on Lyle Ave, with live music most nights and Nashville-inspired Southern fare on the plate. The site is hard to reach, so call ahead for tonight's menu and lineup.

Jasper's

Right in the heart of Midtown at 1918 West End Ave, Jasper's is the lively, all-day New American room with a big bar and a menu that wanders happily across wings, flatbreads, burgers, hot chicken, and salads. The kitchen's steak plate is the Steak Frites — an 8-ounce beef tenderloin with parmesan fries and J-sauce — and you can add two sunny-side eggs to it. The Firecracker Salmon arrives as a bowl: blackened salmon over stir-fried cauliflower rice and red quinoa with edamame under a red chili glaze. The wings come tossed in your choice of buffalo, bang bang, BBQ, garlic parmesan or a smoky red dry rub, and the Caulipoppers — tempura cauliflower bites — arrive crisp with a lineup of dipping sauces. There are frozen cocktails, a wine list, and a deep bench of Nashville taps.

Coffee

Bongo Java (Belmont flagship)

Nashville's original independent coffeehouse, pouring since 1993 and briefly world-famous in 1996 for the "Nun Bun." The flagship at 2007 Belmont Blvd sits across from Belmont University, and it's big enough that you can usually find a seat even when it's busy. Get the Egg McBongo, the cafe's signature breakfast sandwich, or a breakfast burrito since all-day breakfast is the whole point here. Beans are roasted in-house by sister company Bongo Roasting Co., and it's worth asking what the seasonal signature drinks are — they're employee-created and rotate. For lunch the BLT, the grilled cheese and the Bongo Gobbler are the dependable picks. Honest geography: this is Belmont/Hillsboro-adjacent rather than Midtown core, but it's close and it's a Nashville landmark.

Fido

A Hillsboro Village institution since 1996, named for the dog in the Kaldi legend of coffee's discovery — the café credits the herder's overlooked dog rather than the herder. It's open daily 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., so treat it as breakfast and lunch: eggs early and a burger midday, with the grilled cheese and tomato soup as the comfort fallback on a gray day. The espresso bar pulls organic Bongo Roasting Co. beans, and there's a curated local beer list and a genuinely interesting wine selection, which is more than a coffeehouse has any right to. Exposed brick, study-hall tables, and food that's quietly won Nashville Scene best-of nods for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

8th & Roast (Midtown)

8th & Roast is one of the local roasters — alongside Crema and Steadfast — that pulled Nashville's coffee bar up a level, and the Midtown outpost near Vanderbilt is the working-coffee pick now that Cafe Coco is gone. The latte or the chai latte is the easy baseline; in warm weather the Citrus Bloom Tonic — an espresso tonic with lemon and lime juice and orange blossom water — is the bright pick. The seasonal board rotates, so ask what's on. Beans are roasted in-house; this is a focused, quality-first menu, not a do-everything cafe.

Drinks

The Patterson House

One of the country's best cocktail bars — Architectural Digest named it among the 18 best speakeasies in 2023 — running since 2009 with a repertoire north of 1,200 drinks. There are two menus: a short one of roughly eight or nine frequently changing originals (recent rounds have included a Mango Negroni, a Jasmine Sage Smash, and a Birdseed Aperitif) and a long one of about 150 rotating pre-Prohibition classics across twelve categories. Honestly, the best move is to tell the bartender what you like and follow where they point — everything is built over house-cut ice tailored to each glass. There is food beyond bar snacks if you need it, but the drinks are the point.

Important: Patterson House has moved. It's no longer the old knock-to-enter Division Street spot with no signage — it now sits on the 5th floor of the Bill Voorhees Building at 700 8th Ave S, on the SoBro/Gulch edge, sharing the address with The Catbird Seat. Open 4 p.m. to 1 a.m., walk-ins welcome, reservations limited. Still absolutely worth the trip, just not a Midtown address anymore.

Pinewood Social

Nashville's original do-everything social house: coffee, restaurant, bar, six reclaimed 1950s bowling lanes, bocce, and a poolside scene, all under one roof. Start with the hush puppies and pimento-cheese dip, then move to the shrimp and grits or the spicy chicken sandwich; the grain bowl is the lighter counterweight if the rest of the table is going heavy. The 30-seat copper bar is the real draw, where every drink involves something house-made — syrup, bitters, hand-cut ice, fresh juice — and the Homemade Shandy and the Bloody Mary are the calls, especially at weekend brunch (Friday through Sunday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.). Honest location note: it's actually downtown at 33 Peabody St, a short drive from Midtown, so file it as a worth-it detour rather than a walk.

Dessert

Elliston Place Soda Shop

Operating since 1939, this is part soda shop and part meat-and-three, with retro tiled walls, jukeboxes, and original fixtures that have outlasted most of the city around them. Sit at the original soda fountain counter and order a hand-dipped chocolate malt in the tall fountain glass — you can add malt to any shake, and the result comes out thick enough to make the straw feel optional. Pair it with the cheeseburger, regularly called one of the best in town, or a meat-and-three plate of fried chicken, meatloaf, or turkey and dressing, all cooked fresh from scratch daily. Breakfast — including fluffy buttermilk pancakes — runs all day, the pies are house-made, and the banana split is exactly what it should be. Hours run roughly Monday through Saturday 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

If You're Moving Here From Out of State

Here's the orientation you actually need. Midtown's food is older and more rooted than the Instagram version of Nashville suggests — the best meals here come from places that have been open for thirty, fifty, eighty-plus years, not from whatever opened last month. Hattie B's original is your one mandatory pilgrimage; come on a weekday afternoon and you'll skip most of the line. International Market is the under-the-radar legend a few blocks south, and it's the meal that'll make you text your friends back home about it.

• •For a sit-down dinner where you want to impress someone, Midtown Cafe (since 1987) and Jasper's on West End are your two anchors.
• •For the Music Row experience with live songwriters and a plate of Southern food, The Row Kitchen & Pub on Lyle Ave.
• •For coffee that doubles as a meal, Fido and Bongo Java; for serious working coffee near Vanderbilt, 8th & Roast.
• •For dessert and a hit of old Nashville, the Elliston Place Soda Shop and a hand-dipped malt — it's been there since 1939 and it shows, in the best way.
• •A couple of the city's marquee names everyone associates with Midtown — Patterson House for cocktails, Pinewood Social for the do-everything scene — are actually a short drive downtown. Worth the drive; just don't expect to walk.

Recently Closed

If you've read an older Midtown list, a few names won't hold up anymore, so here's the honest update.

• •Rotier's Restaurant — permanently closed after a 75-year run (announced early 2021, never reopened), and the Elliston Place building has since been demolished for redevelopment. The cheeseburger-on-French-bread is, sadly, a memory.
• •Cafe Coco — permanently closed November 22, 2023, after about 28 years at 210 Louise Ave. It was Midtown's 24-hour coffee-and-late-night hangout, and that particular niche is essentially gone from the neighborhood now; 8th & Roast Midtown is the nearest quality replacement, though it keeps normal hours.
• •Sambuca — closed; it was over in the Gulch, not Midtown proper anyway.

What's Missing (Honestly)

• •A true 24-hour spot. Since Cafe Coco closed, the all-night coffee-and-food option Midtown was known for hasn't really been replaced.
• •A flagship grocery inside Midtown proper — most residents drive to Whole Foods in Green Hills or a nearby Publix.
• •A glut of brand-new restaurant construction. Midtown is largely built out, so the dining scene leans on long-running institutions more than shiny new openings, which is honestly part of its charm.
• •Total quiet at mealtime. Midtown sits next to Vanderbilt and Music Row, so the energy — campus life, game days, live music spilling out of pubs — is part of the package. How much you feel it depends on the exact block and the hour, and we're happy to walk any specific street with you on a weekday afternoon and again on a game-day Saturday so you can decide what fits.

Quick Questions

What's the single best restaurant in Midtown?

It depends on what you want. For a sit-down dinner, Midtown Cafe is the polished pick. For a meal that defines the neighborhood, the original Hattie B's Hot Chicken is the one you make a point to do. For a hidden legend, International Market's five-spice Thai fried chicken a few blocks south is hard to beat.

Where's the best brunch?

The Row Kitchen & Pub for brunch with live Music Row energy on the side. Midtown Cafe's weekend brunch is the more refined choice, and Pinewood Social's weekend brunch (Friday through Sunday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.) is the do-everything option if you don't mind the short drive downtown.

Where should I take my parents to dinner?

Midtown Cafe — it's been the polished, take-the-family option since 1987, and the room is calm enough to actually talk. Jasper's on West End is the livelier alternative if the table wants a bigger scene.

Which Midtown spots work with a table of mixed ages?

The Elliston Place Soda Shop is the obvious win — a 1939 soda fountain with hand-dipped malts, banana splits, all-day pancakes and a cheeseburger. Hattie B's has a no-heat Southern level at the bottom of the ladder, and Bongo Java's all-day breakfast is an easy weekend morning.

Where do locals get coffee in Midtown?

8th & Roast near Vanderbilt for serious in-house-roasted coffee and a quiet place to work, Bongo Java's Belmont flagship for the big neighborhood-landmark feel, and Fido in Hillsboro Village when you want coffee that comes with a real plate of food. All three roast or pour Bongo Roasting Co. or in-house beans, so the floor is high.

Where's the best cocktail near Midtown?

The Patterson House, one of the country's best-regarded cocktail bars since 2009. Note that it has moved out of its old Division Street location to the 5th floor of the Bill Voorhees Building at 700 8th Ave S on the SoBro/Gulch edge — a short drive — but the house-cut ice and the 150-deep classics list are worth it. Tell the bartender what you like and let them steer.

Read Next

• •Living in Midtown — the honest daily-life guide to the neighborhood, from Centennial Park to Music Row energy.
• •Buying in Midtown: What Different Price Points Actually Get You — the price bands, the gotchas, and the investor-hat lens for a Vanderbilt-demand market.