Josh and I just got back from an amazing kid-free weekend in Nashville.

We explored, listened to music, shopped, and ate and drank until our bellies were full and our heads were tipsy. Nashville has so many amazing restaurants and bars, and we were pretty bummed we didn’t get to try out more. But there are only so many meals in a day! We’ll just have to go back soon. Here’s some of our favorite Nashville eats and drinks.

Homegrown Taproom and Marketplace

I won’t lie, I was a little skeptical when we pulled into to the parking lot of this place. It’s located in a suburban strip mall near the airport. But we had been in the car for 5 hours (thanks Atlanta traffic) and needed to grab a quick bite to eat before heading to our hotel. We were pleasantly surprised by the food and atmosphere! If you’re looking for a great beer, this place’s got you covered with high quality craft beers. We got a cheese platter to start – the goat cheese with hot chicken seasoning and the homemade pimento cheese were amazing! We each ordered a sandwich – I had the Jackson, which was similar to a french dip, and Josh had the Barbecue – both were delicious. Homegrown tries to use fresh, local ingredients when possible, and you could definitely tell. If you’re over in that part of Nashville, check them out!

The Southern

We had a lovely, romantic dinner at The Southern, one of Nashville’s more upscale restaurants. It was pretty crowded when we walked in around 7, and we were told by the hostess that there would be a 45 minute wait for a table!! Since we didn’t have anywhere else we needed to be, we went ahead and put our name down. 10 minutes later we were seated outside on the heated patio ordering our food! Not sure if that was just luck, or if they thought we looked really hungry? Anyway, we started with a couple of cocktails – I ordered the Kendall’s Cup and Josh got an Old Fashioned. Both were perfect. For dinner, we did the Fish N’ Grits and the Rack of Lamb, cooked perfectly! We ended the meal with Bananas Foster Bread Pudding. Yum! The Southern is a great date-night spot to check out while you’re in Nashville.

Acme Feed & Seed

The next morning, we were looking for brunch. (We both needed a little hair-of-the-dog after our first evening bar-hopping on Broadway.) So we walked over to the Acme Feed & Seed, right next to the river. Acme is a multi-level restaurant. The first floor has casual cuisine and live music. The second floor is a lounge and Sushi bar. The third floor is a event space and the fourth floor is an open-air rooftop patio. I had a Bloody Mary with my Chicken and Waffles and Josh had a Kentucky Mule with his Shrimp and Grits. Everything was delicious, and it was fun trying out all of the different hot sauces they had on each table.

Martin’s BBQ Joint 

This was our favorite place we visited during our trip. Really, I could just post this picture and not even need to say anything else to convince you to go to Martin’s:

Oh my goodness – I want to eat that hamburger again right this minute! Nom nom nom! They call this masterpiece the Dixie Burger: a custom ground beef and brisket patty with grilled onions, jalapenos, pimento cheese, and their signature sweet Dixie Sauce. Josh got a pulled pork sandwich topped with slaw and potato salad on the side. Martin’s also has an awesome backyard beer garden, which is where we ate our food. There are multiple bars, ping pong, darts, shuffleboard, and a stage for live music. Such a fun place to hang out!

The Diner

The Diner is another multi-level restaurant that we stumbled across when looking for a place to eat before hitting up Broadway on Saturday night. Neither of us were super hungry, so we decided to head up to the sixth floor to the sushi bar. We grabbed a couple of cocktails, some fried calamari and a Philadelphia roll. The bartender was really friendly and helpful, and the view was spectacular! I wasn’t aware until just now when I Googled The Diner to find the website (which they don’t have up and running at this time) that the place is open 24/7. So if you’re hungry late at night, it might be worth checking out!

Rock Bottom Brewery 

We’ve been to the Rock Bottom Brewery in Chattanooga before, but Broadway was crazy crowded Saturday so we stopped in and headed up to their rooftop open-air patio to grab a few drinks. The view was great and the drinks didn’t disappoint!

Bartaco 

Bartaco is located in the adorable 12 South neighborhood in Nashville. We were exploring some shops in the neighborhood when we saw people eating outside, chowing down on some amazing-looking guacamole. So we had to try it out! We didn’t realize they are a chain restaurant until after we were seated, but that’s fine with me. Now I can’t wait to try one of the Atlanta locations! We ordered some of the guac, and it was just as delicious as it looked. We each had 3 tacos. Honestly, I wanted to order more because they were so, so tasty, but we needed to hit the road to head back home. The cocktails were also perfect and the restaurant was really cute inside. All the staff were wearing blue checkered button-down shirts and the decor reminded me of being at the beach.  If you’re over in the 12 South neighborhood – stop in for some of that guac!

We also tried out a bunch of the bars and honky-tonks along Broadway, but were too busy listing to music, sipping on drinks, and dancing to take many pictures, except this one:

Nashville was so fun and I was really impressed with how many great restaurants there were to choose from! I wish we had been able to stay a few more days to try out some more places. Gotta plan another trip!

Have you been to Nashville? What are your favorite Nashville restaurants and bars?