The Hottest New Nashville Eats: Add These Restaurants to Your Hit List
When new restaurants open, we check them out. This means that we subject our stomachs and social lives to the good, the bad, and more often than not, the perfectly fine. But every once in a while, a new spot makes us feel like we just stumbled upon a rare record shop on Broadway. When that happens, we add it here, to The Hit List.
The Hit List is your spot to find all the best new restaurants in Nashville. As long as it opened within the past several months and we’re still talking about it, it’s on this guide. If it’s not, well, you can figure it out for yourself.
THE SPOTS
V Modern Italian
Move over Locust and Kase —Nashville's newest Italian spot is one of the hardest reservations to get in town. Prime dinner times at V Modern Italian in the Gulch are booked over two weeks out, and it's one of the sceniest places in all of Nashville. You’ll find fashion content creators posing in front of the massive tree in the middle of the restaurant with glasses of Dolce Palomas and dressy bachelorettes showing off their black truffle sourdough pie from the marble triangle table on the patio. It can be a bit much with all the marble, gold, and mythology-inspired murals. But the food—like the scampi reginette in a creamy lobster bisque and the tender tuscan chicken—makes the whole scene worth it, even if that’s not really your thing.
Sonobana Japanese Restaurant & Grocery
This sushi and noodle restaurant is anything but new, but it's better than ever thanks to a major renovation of the dining room. You can expect the same high-quality sushi rolls and crisp tempura, only now you can see the other people enjoying a meal like you are. There used to be a ton of walls breaking up the dining room and shutting in families in the booths, but with those gone, the space feels open and alive. The bento box remains an unbeatable lunch deal, packed with things like crab and avocado maki and teriyaki, and even if you upgrade to a fancy roll (that’s possibly rolled in smelt roe), it’s still around $20.
Sho Pizza Bar
We’ve heard there’s some pretty good pizza in Tokyo. We’ll get there one day to try it for ourselves, but in the meantime, you can catch us at Sean Brock’s new spot in Riverside Village, which specializes in a similar style of pies. The dough undergoes a three-day fermentation period in a temperature-controlled dough room, and the result is a delightfully chewy personal-sized pizza topped with things like country ham, guanciale, and mushroom cream. Be prepared to wait, though—if the restaurant’s at capacity, it can take up to 40 minutes for your blistered pie to come out of the wood-fired oven. Order the raw bluefin tuna or little gem salad to keep you company until then. And always get one of the dipping sauces, like the miso ranch, for the crust.
Alebrije
Another buzzy Mexican opening? Welcome to Nashville 2025. But Alebrije, who finally got a brick and mortar after being a hyped-up food truck for a while, is one we’re really excited about. The space isn’t huge, but it’s got some nice touches like Aztec and Mayan murals and graphics, and the space works extremely well for a quick lunch of exceptionally tasty maiz-based street food. We’re talking crispy shrimp empanadas, mole enchiladas, and tostadas topped with carnitas or asada meat. All of which has us looking forward to the chilaquilas topped with sunny side-up eggs and agua frescas during brunch.
Lona
Lona isn’t on the level of Bourbon Steak or Catbird Seat when it comes to fancy dinners, but it’s the city’s best new option for special occasion Mexican. You’ll find it in the former Makeready spot in the Noelle downtown—a dimly lit dining room that could easily be mistaken for any place in Mexico City . A second or third date, executed in hushed tones, is definitely the move here. Split bites of a chipotle-spiced lump crab guacamole, a respectable queso fundido, and a well-seasoned steak tampiqueña with an undeniably fantastic version of refried beans.
Curry Boys BBQ
We need more Thai and Texas BBQ mashups in our life. Enter: Curry Boys. They just opened in East Nashville in the old Lou space, pumping out hot links covered in queso and brisket bowls with shreddy meat floating in curry. It’s a fast-casual operation and our new go-to for a late lunch, casual dinner, or a round of whiskey and thai lemonade cocktails on the patio. They’re coming from San Antonio, so there’s some real Texas BBQ pedigree happening here. The grind on the snappy hot links strikes the balance between not too smooth and not too grainy, and the brisket has a smoke ring as thick as a stalk of lemongrass.
Turkey And The Wolf Icehouse
The New Orleans location of Turkey And The Wolf kicked off the hypey sandwich shop trend nearly 10 years ago. Now, they're open in East Nashville with long lines, slinging those same iconic sandwiches—like the saucy collard melt and the famous fried bologna. Come for lunch and get one of those, plus any vegetable side, like the cabbage salad tossed in a roasted chili-coconut vinaigrette, and pay attention to the “cold sandwiches” section of their menu. In typical Turkey And The Wolf quirkiness, it’s just a list of beers. The line moves quick, so after you order, find a table in the yard, sip your Coors Banquet, and promptly warn the neighbors about the joyful expletives you’re about to utter. They’re also slowly rolling out Nashville-only specials, so look for hashbrown and salmon roe sandwiches or flaky spanakopita.
The Yellow Table Café
Our solitary complaint about The Yellow Table Café is that we wish they had more tables. Alas, the tiny, adorable yellow and blue cafe only has four inside, but they’re worth the possible tussle for a seat when there’s goat cheese and leek galettes involved. If you can’t find a spot, any of the crepes, like the standout with dark chocolate, and galettes can be enjoyed on the go, wrapped in paper, and eaten on a lovely stroll around Eastland Park. And if you can time a visit when the ginger molasses cookies are coming out of the oven, you’ll feel like you hit the sweet treat lottery.
Sauced
Sauced is the latest NYC transplant touching down in Nashville, and this wine bar is just what Germantown needs. There’s no drink menu—just tell the staff what you’re in the mood for, either by grape type or flavor notes, and they’ll probably pick out something perfect. You should also order enough snacks to make up a full meal. There’s toast loaded with tuna tartare and an obscene amount of caviar, and paper-thin mortadella (piled higher than a Southern beauty queen’s hair) that’s sandwiched between pistachio sauce, a tomme cheese foam, and buns. After discovering a particularly great bottle of Cab Franc, it’s easy to find an excuse to return the following night with a new friend to split another. Just get here early—no matter what day of the week it is, the little house on 6th Ave. fills up fast.
Perfectly Fine
The West End has been aching for a bar with ample space, really good food, and actually interesting cocktails. Enter: Perfectly Fine, a cool kids hangout that feels like it’s run by former tattoo shop owners. The fried buffalo chicken sandwich is a star here, served with salt and vinegar powder-covered fries so good they could make the Lays empire nervous. Cocktails are named “whiskey drink” or “vodka drink” and served in just as simple glassware, but contain things like bulgogi marinade or earl grey. Sip your drink on one of the velvet couches on the upper deck or on a steel stool in the main room, and be thankful the Nations finally has somewhere like Perfectly Fine.
Kase
Sophomore projects are rife with pressure, but Noko’s new omakase spot breezes through the follow-up with finesse. It’s right next to its Porter Road location and offers 14 courses of stunning slices of fish and beef for $75 per person. With its attentive service, high-quality fish, and intimate space, Kase is practically made for an anniversary or celebrating a jump in pay grade. The waiting room is a tiny, four-seat bar (officially the smallest in Tennessee) serving some stellar Japanese whiskey and ube cocktails. You’ll hang out there while they get the actual omakase room ready—then it’s time for an onslaught of torched salmon, custardy uni, toro hand rolls, and A5 wagyu with foie gras. Service is what we’ve come to expect from the Noko crew: friendly, knowledgeable, and always professional. Just know that you have to reserve your spot almost six weeks in advance.
Turmeric & Co.
Turmeric & Co. is single-handedly breathing life into Hunter’s Station. This Indian fusion restaurant has transformed the barren warehouse-like space into a lush, fauna-filled escape with Bombay flair. Keep it in your back pocket on nights when no one wants to cook and you have zero plans to change out of your sweatpants. Luckily, dishes like the creamy cashew korma mac and cheese, the light and bright kachkumber salad, and the vegetal saag gnudi are worthy bait to lure you from another 90 Day Fiancé binge. More reasons to stop by: It has the only full-service bar in the complex, and the unique drinks—using things like corn milk, elote, and garam masala—are worth a visit all on their own.
Dos Santos
Dos Santos comes to Nashville by way of Colorado. Which surprises us because everything about this Mexican restaurant in Wedgewood-Houston screams Miami —from the loud, thumping rap on the speakers to the flamingoes and Miami Vice -themed logos on their merch. It’s a perfect group spot for a clubby-ish dinner with a bunch of friends to begin a night out. Start with fresh and perfectly crisp poke nachos with pickled jalapeños and onions before really filling up with hearty wedges of pork-stuffed quesadillas and a barbacoa taco with a satisfying vinegary pucker. The creamy and custard-like flan is a solid way to end the meal, but we recommend lighting up all those nostalgia buttons with the choco taco instead. After that, keep the party rolling at Flamingo Cocktail Club right down the street.
The Henry
The Henry in 12 South is one of the best new places for a big group dinner in Nashville. With its bright, French bistro atmosphere, huge dining room covered in marble, and upstairs patio, the restaurant was practically built to feed bachelorette parties that worked up an appetite marathon shopping at Draper James. The American food, like truffled brie toast, burgers, steak, and seared ahi tuna with creamy green curry rice, aren’t the most complex or creative, but they’re really, really good. It's also the type of place where a budding singer-songwriter might start randomly belting “Viva la Vida” during dinner. (Yes, this happened to us while we were here, and we didn't hate it.)
