Check Out the 6 Oldest Nashville Restaurants in Tennessee
The Nashville, Tennessee, culinary scene is always changing, and it is important to tip a hat once or twice to the Music City restaurants that have withstood the test of time. They may not be shiny rooftop bars, but these beloved local Nashville restaurants offer more than comfy digs, they tend to offer the best home-style cooked meals that have kept on coming since the doors opened pre-1970, with many on our list contributing to the city’s culinary history.
In this article, we will map out the six oldest restaurants in Nashville, TN, and why they should be on your radar.
1. Loveless Cafe
8400 TN-100, Nashville, TN 37221
Loveless Cafe got its humble beginnings from Lon and Annie Loveless, who opened their Southern oasis of a home to travelers venturing along desolate Highway 100. The wildly popular ham, fried chicken, and buttermilk biscuits with jam were the push to expand their home into a restaurant. There is even an accompanying motel attached to the restaurant so that guests can spend the night if need be. The country restaurant has been passed to many different owners since its inception in 1951; the Loveless Cafe remains a local favorite for its continued use of a secret biscuit recipe, serving over 10,000 of them daily.
2. Swett’s
2725 Clifton Ave, Nashville, TN 37209
The Swett family has been operating Swett’s since it first opened its doors to the public in 1954. The restaurant offers a unique cafeteria style of serving dishes of homestyle southern fare. Among the locals who frequent Swett’s, the more popular choices are fried chicken, collard greens, cornbread, and peach cobbler. Travelers making their way through BNA will find that there is a Swett’s outpost near gate C-13.
3. Elliston Place Soda Shop
2105 Elliston Pl, Nashville, TN 37203
Elliston Place Soda Shop is adorned with tiled walls, red vinyl bar stools, and table-side jukeboxes, priding itself on holding the title of Nashville’s oldest continuously operating restaurant in its original location. Elliston Place was opened in 1939, with a menu that offers visitors meat-and-three plates, burgers, fried bologna sandwiches, and, of course, sodas, as well as excellent milkshakes. For the first time, Elliston Place has moved next door to shiny new digs and added boozy milkshakes to the growing menu, with the downhome prices and vibe all the same.
4. Brown’s Diner
2102 Blair Blvd, Nashville, TN 37212
Residents longing to recall the Nashville of yesteryear never have to look further than Brown’s Diner. Brown’s opened its doors in 1927, holding the city’s oldest beer license while calling a former trolley car home. There has since been a change in ownership. However, menu constants like a real-deal cheeseburger can still be found among friendly faces.
5. Varallo’s Restaurant
264 4th Ave N, Nashville, TN 37219
Varallo’s got its start in 1907, staking a claim on the title of “Nashville’s Oldest Restaurant” despite no longer being found in the original Church Street location. The family-run spinoff of the original is an affordable favorite downtown for all types, open only on weekdays, serving breakfast and lunch. This restaurant is infamous for its three-way chili consisting of beans, spaghetti, and tamales.
6. Prince’s Hot Chicken Shack South
5814 Nolensville Pike #110, Nashville, TN 37211
Music City would not be the same without Nashville’s hot chicken pioneer, Prince’s Hot Chicken. The original owner, James Thornton Prince, began lighting mouths on fire in 1945 when the doors first opened, and in the early ’80s, passed onto his great-niece, André Prince Jeffries, who continues the fiery family tradition in South Nashville. Locals of Nashville flock to Prince’s Hot Chicken Shack South for its fresh whole chicken breast and wings with a scale of heat to choose from, accompanied by a side of fries and fresh slaw.
Interested in exploring the oldest-standing restaurants in Nashville, TN? From cafes that got their beginnings in the houses of friendly cooks to early ’20s diners and the best hot chicken in the south, there is something for everyone’s palates to enjoy when looking for a place to dine in Nashville. What better way to get to experience the culinary excellence at all of these restaurants than by being a local? Trust the professionals at Benchmark Realty to guide you in finding and settling down in the home of your dreams in the vibrant, urban neighborhoods that make up Nashville, TN, today.