I don’t think it’s a huge surprise that the thing I was looking forward to the most in Nashville was the food. I know it’s Music City and all, but HOT CHICKEN! It’s supposed to be the best food in Nashville.

I had a list of some of the most famous places to eat and the best food in Nashville, and thanks to our free shuttle at the Hutton Hotel it was easy to just jump in the bus and go anywhere we wanted without even having t map it out. It doesn’t get better than that.

We only had 4 days so didn’t get to go everywhere and some places I tried weren’t that great unfortunately so I’m only going to mention the places that we loved.

My brother has a gluten free / dairy free diet so we kept that in mind and I’ll make notes of it along the way in case you know someone with the same issue.

Read more: My Little Guide to Nashville

Some of the Best food in Nashville

Martin’s BBQ

My apologies for the terrible photos above, but the lighting in there was orange and I just couldn’t get the color to work! Martin’s is famous for it’s BBQ and there are a few locations to choose from. It’s been on Diner’s Drive-ins and Dives.

The line was SO long while we ate. We went early, like 11 AM and got there just in time. While the line is long, BBQ is already cooked so once you order it comes out within a few minutes.

It was delicious. We ordered just about everything for the 4 of us that went (my bro and his wife went to a vegan place) and the bill only came to under 50 bucks and that was with a few beers. Super cheap prices.

The hushpuppies reminded me of Alabama and the ribs, pulled pork sandwiches, mac n cheese, and coleslaw were all perfect. I especially liked the chicken wings with their white vinegar sauce. I wish I would have bought a jar.

ACME Feed and Seed

ACME Feed & Seed is a radio station as well as a restaurant and is very famous, located on Broadway (the main strip). There is randomly sushi on offer upstairs which has a few gluten free / dairy free options so my brother ate that and said it was good.

The rest of us ate BBQ, burgers, a hot chicken sandwich, and some pork tacos. We all thought it was really good food, fast service, and super affordable. My only issue was my hot chicken wasn’t hot. In fact, all the hot chicken I tried in Nashville wasn’t hot. I don’t know if living in India for over 3 years has made me immune to heat, but that was a bummer.

Tavern

This was within walking distance from our hotel, the Hutton, and we went here our first day when our concierge recommended it. It was very delicious. I didn’t think to take photos. The nachos were great. Funnily, there was a chicken tikka masala on the menu and me and Ben had a laugh about that since he had just flown in from India the night before. There was regular pub food but also fusion food like Korean BBQ tacos.

The Post East

The Post East is in East Nashville and is a gluten free / dairy free heaven. Most things on the menu fit that diet, but they also offered regular things like the BLT pictured above. The coffee was great and the area is pretty cute. You do have to drive outside the city a bit. There were some really great murals in the alleys around here too.

Kitchen Notes

Only the BEST meal we had in Nashville! We were all in food coma afterwards. Kitchen Notes is very famous and has been on TV shows for it’s fantastic food. It was true Southern cooking and is located in the Omni hotel. With my dog being named Omni and my car, it was kismet.

The best dishes were the crab cakes (OMG, so good), deviled eggs with hot sauce, sweet potato hash browns, hot chicken, meatloaf, and the chicken pot pie. Oh, and the mac n cheese! What can I say, it was all delicious.

They also had gluten free / dairy free options and were SO accommodating. My brother said it was the best meal he’s had in a restaurant in a long time. He had shrimp as a starter and sea bass as his main.

More restaurants in Nashville

We ate at a few more places that weren’t like over the top amazing and worth mentioning. One place called Amerigo which does gluten free / dairy free Italian food was good in terms of fitting that diet restriction but overall not amazing. If you have a restriction though it’s a good option.

Hatti B’s is the most famous hot chicken place but as all the hot chicken I tried wasn’t actually hot I really didn’t want to try even more hot chicken. It was down the road from our hotel, Hutton Hotel, and the line was pretty long but I did hear you can call and order ahead for pick up which seems like it would be totally worthwhile. People were actually waiting in the rain one day.

Biscuit Love is very popular and I wanted to go, but it’s really hard with 6 people and I also didn’t want to make my whole family wait in line (I’ve heard it can be long). It used to be a food truck and is really famous.

Cochon Butcher does deli sandwiches and was also on my list. I just love deli sandwiches and they are really famous. There just wasn’t time, but I’d eat here for sure if I got to come back to Nashville.

While these are the super famous, been on TV, kind of places there are more restaurants in Nashville to go to for fine dining or something other than BBQ. I read up on the best food from Kristin’s blog Camels and Chocolate and suggest you do to. She’s a local travel blogger there!