Mediterranean · Rooftop
The highest-rated room on this list at 4.9. Chef CJ Jacobson's Mediterranean, on a terrace, and booked solid for exactly that reason.
NoteBooks out weeks ahead. If you want this, call the moment you read it. Parties of 12+ go through AbaNashvilleParties@lettuce.com.
Italian · Handmade pasta
Chicago chef Lee Wolen's Italian room. The cacio e pepe ricotta dumplings are the thing — order them for the table before anyone opens a menu.
NoteSame block as Middleman and Momotaro. Dinner and drinks can be a thirty-second walk apart.
Japanese
Boka Restaurant Group's Japanese room, opened next door to Middleman on the same night. New enough that the review count is low and the rating is high.
NoteTwo doors from Middleman, on the same block as Alla Vita.
All-day · Bowling & dipping pools
Coffee shop, restaurant, bar, six vintage bowling lanes and two outdoor dipping pools in one building. The pools make it the obvious backup if Saturday's pool plan falls through.
NoteBowling lanes book up on weekends — reserve a lane when you reserve the table.
Food hall · 30+ vendors
Thirty-odd counters under one roof, which makes it the only sane answer when ten people want ten different things. Sixty Vines sits on top of it.
Honky tonk · Traditional country
The one Nashville musicians send you to. Real traditional country, played straight, in a former boot shop with the boots still on the wall. If you only do one honky tonk, this is the one that won't feel like a theme park.
NoteThe $6 Recession Special is a fried bologna sandwich, chips, a MoonPie and a PBR.
Speakeasy · Craft cocktails
Nashville's original craft cocktail room, downstairs from The Catbird Seat. Bartenders in period dress, no standing, no phones out, drinks built like a performance.
NoteHouse rules: everyone must be seated, so larger groups may wait for space.
Seafood · Steak
The safe, polished, everyone-leaves-happy option. Live jazz in the lounge most nights, big enough to seat a group without a month of notice, and walkable from the hotel.
NoteMost likely to have a table on short notice.
Coastal American · Brunch & rooftop
The "Rosé All Day" neon sign is here. Coastal food, a cherry blossom tree in the dining room, rooftop upstairs.
NoteSix minutes from the hotel. Iconic neon sign.
Cocktail bar · No menu
The Nashville branch of the New York institution. There's no menu — you tell the bartender two spirits or a mood and they build to it. Unmarked green building, you knock.
NoteFurthest from the hotel.
French bistro · Patio
The Nashville version of the New York bistro. You don't have to commit to dinner — the patio works as a cocktail stop on the way to somewhere else on the block.
NoteOn the same Houston Street block as Alla Vita, Momotaro and Middleman.
Whiskey bar
Tennessee whiskey, bourbon, rye, scotch and Japanese whisky, in a small room that opened in June. Comes recommended for the clientele as much as the pour.
NoteSixteen reviews, because it's brand new. Next door to Momotaro, two doors from Alla Vita.
Honky tonk · Bluegrass
Narrow, loud, bluegrass-leaning, and beloved by people who find the rest of Broadway exhausting. Been there since 1997, which on this street counts as ancient.
NoteSmall room — tougher for big groups. Good for a nightcap on the strip.
Southern · Steak & oysters
The closest real restaurant to the hotel and the easiest yes on the list. Oysters, steak, and a room that's been good long enough to stop trying to prove anything.
NoteGood option if nobody wants to make a decision.
New American · DJ brunch & line dancing
The answer to "where can we actually dance without being on Broadway." Free line dancing lessons Friday and Saturday nights, under a glass atrium, a block off Printers Alley.
NoteDJ brunch runs Friday through Sunday, 10am–3pm.
Modern Mexican
Bright, loud, modern Mexican at Fifth + Broadway. The margarita-and-guacamole answer when the group can't agree on anything more ambitious.
NoteOpen until 11pm Thursday through Saturday, so it works as a late dinner after Broadway rather than before.
Cocktail bar · Underground margaritas
A subterranean, flower-covered tequila and margarita bar under Fifth + Broadway. Book ahead — that's the one instruction that comes with it.
NoteReservations strongly recommended for weekend nights and groups.
Southern brunch
The famous one. Bonuts — fried biscuit dough with lemon mascarpone and blueberry — are why people queue down the block, and they are worth it once.
NoteThere will be a line and they do not take reservations. Send one person ahead.
Steakhouse · Italian · Live music
Prime steaks, fine Italian, and a live Sinatra impersonator who is, by all accounts, the reason to go. A completely different genre of night from Broadway, four blocks away.
NoteLive music is daily, but call to check which nights are Sinatra.
Honky tonk · 4 floors
Garth and Trisha's own honky tonk, and the reason this whole theme exists. Four floors, twelve spaces, live music daily. The third floor is curated by Garth and Trisha with menus by Trisha Yearwood — quieter, and the place to put a group that wants to hear each other.
Honky tonk · Since 1960
The purple one. Willie Nelson and Patsy Cline drank here when it was still a back door to the Ryman. Three floors, three bands, no cover, open until 3am.
NoteBusiest room on Broadway on a Friday.
Honky tonk · Longest bar in Nashville
Named for Nudie Cohn, the tailor who put rhinestones on every country star worth the name. His actual suits are on the walls, which makes this the single most on-theme room on Broadway for a big-cat-and-honky-tonk party.
NoteThree floors and a 100-foot bar, so it absorbs a big group better than most.
Supper club · Jazz & burlesque
Open since 1948 in the basement of the Southern Turf building. Live jazz nightly, a proper steak dinner, and a late-night burlesque show Thursday through Sunday.
Wine on tap · Rooftop
Sixty wines on tap, sat on top of Assembly Food Hall at Fifth + Broadway. Wine-country food in a room with a roof that opens. Good for a long lunch that turns into an afternoon.
NoteSame building as Blanco, two minutes from Pushing Daisies.
Coffee · Pastries
French Truck coffee and house-made pastries in the lobby of the Thompson. The serious coffee stop, for whoever in the group wakes up first and wants to leave the hotel.
NoteCloses at 3pm and doesn't do a big breakfast. Coffee and a pastry, not a sit-down meal.
Coffee bar · In the hotel
The zero-effort option, downstairs. Barista coffee and to-go breakfast daily from 6am to 11am, for the morning when leaving the building is not happening.
Southern seafood · Brunch
Gulf Coast seafood and New Orleans cooking in the lobby of the Thompson. Sunday brunch is booked here at 12pm.
NoteSame building as L.A. Jackson upstairs and Killebrew for coffee.
Italian · Chef Tandy Wilson
Tandy Wilson's Germantown room, and one of the most respected kitchens in the city — he took Best Chef Southeast at the James Beard awards. Sunday Supper is served family-style and changes every week. This is where Sydney's birthday dinner is.
NoteListed Sunday hours end at 8pm. Worth confirming the 7pm booking has the room for a long dinner.
Rooftop bar
Indoor-outdoor rooftop on top of the Thompson with the skyline in front of you. The grown-up drink with a view — a short ride rather than a whole night out.
NoteKillebrew is downstairs in the same building, so it doubles as a coffee stop earlier in the day.
Bluegrass · Since 1974
A squat stone room the Gulch grew up around, and the best live music on this list. Everyone sits down, everyone listens, and the players are frequently famous. The answer for anyone who wants real music without standing in a crowd on Broadway.
NoteFirst-come seating and it fills early.
Hot chicken · Counter service
The Nashville food thing you are supposed to do, and the downtown branch means no pilgrimage. Heat runs from Southern all the way up — order down, you can always add.
NoteCounter service and a queue, but it moves.
Shopping · Six walkable blocks
Six blocks of boutiques, coffee and murals. Draper James is Reese Witherspoon's shop and the anchor, the I Believe in Nashville mural is around the corner, and Five Daughters does the hundred-layer donut.
NoteThe best Saturday afternoon that is not a bar. Easy to peel off from and rejoin.