Ahead of a fall trip to Nashville, I planned a long weekend around Michelin-quality restaurants only weeks after the first Michelin Guide for the American South was released.
The French guide's arrival is a meaningful moment, bringing the city's most compelling restaurants to an international audience. The Michelin Guide is a prestigious marker of culinary quality and an influential force for cities like Nashville, helping validate and boost their emerging food scenes. By featuring local talent, the guide attracts tourists and food lovers, boosting the local economy.
Known for its hot chicken, barbecue, and meat-and-three eateries, Nashville's culinary identity has progressed in recent years. Its mix of classic Southern eateries and innovative Michelin-level dining highlights the city's evolving restaurant scene.
This story focuses on Michelin restaurants in Nashville that I visited shortly after the guide's debut. I planned my trip around places I was excited to try. I worked through each level of recognition: Michelin-Selected restaurants, Bib Gourmands, and even a few awarded a Michelin Star.
The result was a long weekend of meals that captured Nashville's range: creative neighborhood restaurants, value-driven favorites, and destination dining experiences worth planning a trip around.
Table of Contents
Michelin-Selected Restaurants
Michelin-Selected restaurants are those the guide's anonymous inspectors felt were worthy of inclusion, even if they didn't fit another designation.
These are places that stood out for quality, consistency, or originality but didn't meet the value criteria for a Bib Gourmand or the excellence required for a Michelin Star or Green Star.
This category captures many of a city's most interesting restaurants: often chef-driven, sometimes expensive, and worth seeking out.
Bad Idea
Bad Idea is a wine bar in a former church that Robb Report named one of America's most beautiful new restaurants in 2023. The U-shaped bar and dining room were softly lit, the dress code was casual, and on the Thursday I visited, it was neither crowded nor rushed.
The menu reflects Executive Chef Colby Rasavong's knowledge of Laotian cuisine. We began with beef sausage from the happy hour menu, which tasted like an elevated version of cocktail meatballs.
For my main dish, I chose the bánh cuốn, a scallop-stuffed crêpe and one of the restaurant's signature dishes. It was served with creamy white sauce and topped with a tuile for crunch.
We also tried the pad kra pow, built around a large scallion crumpet topped with ground beef, Thai basil, and a fried egg. The optional shaved Burgundy black truffles bring a hint of luxury.
The chocolate mochi cake arrived with charcoal ice cream and a glossy tallow caramel sauce. This layered dessert was a bit over-the-top, but oh-so-delicious. 1021 Russell St #101, Nashville, badideanashville.com
Café Roze
I chose Café Roze in East Nashville for our first meal of the fall trip. The Michelin-Selected restaurant, led by Chef Julia Jaksic, was named one of Bon Appétit's Top 50 New Restaurants of 2018.
The cooking at this all-day cafe leans toward contemporary American cuisine. Pale woods, soft pink tabletops, a marble bar, and an open, light-filled dining room give Café Roze an airy, unfussy feel that works for a casual breakfast, lunch, or wine-filled dinner.
We began with sorghum honey, flax sourdough, and butter, alongside preserved lemon labna. A side of French fries followed, crisp, well-seasoned, and irresistible.
I ordered the salmon à la nage as my entrée, my first experience with this preparation. The chef cooks the salmon to medium, and it arrived tender, bathed in a light broth with caraflex cabbage and zucchini. We shared a generous portion of gnocchi alla ricotta with trumpet mushrooms and aged Manchego cheese.
For dessert, I followed the Michelin Guide inspectors' suggestion, ordering the divine chocolate mousse with Diplomat cream, candied cacao nibs, and a chocolate cookie. A carajillo completed the meal.
Our dinner at Café Roze left me wanting to return for breakfast or brunch. Next time. 1115 Porter Rd, Nashville, caferoze.com
Bib Gourmand
Michelin's Bib Gourmand designation highlights Nashville restaurants that offer high-quality cooking at a good value, often without the formality or cost of a tasting menu.
Kisser and Peninsula take different approaches, with one grounded in Japanese-inspired comfort and the other in Iberian traditions. Both offer thoughtful, satisfying meals worth seeking out.
Kisser
Located in East Nashville, Kisser offered an opportunity to enjoy an early lunch. The restaurant is owned and led by husband-and-wife team Brian Lea and Leina Horii, whose vision centers on Japanese-inspired comfort food.
We arrived at 11:30 a.m., when the dining room was full of natural light. The space feels open and relaxed, with a kitchen running along one side. Service was prompt and friendly.
I began with an iced organic matcha latte, followed by onigiri (three per order). The snow crab with avocado and cucumber was clean and delicate, the kabocha squash with Japanese curry was comforting and savory, and the grilled rice with cod roe delivered more umami and texture.
The highlight of the savory courses was the beef tataki udon: fresh, handmade udon noodles in dashi broth, topped with seared Bear Creek Farm beef and grilled mushrooms.
Dessert was just as well-composed. The blueberry yuzu parfait, layered with whipped ricotta cheesecake, Calpico, bright yuzu citrus, and finished with toasted meringue, delivered a mix of lightness and texture that made it hard to put the spoon down.
Kisser left such a strong impression that I made a point to visit Babychan, the team's bakery, the next day, where the pastries were just as tasty. A standout treat was their black sesame Swiss cake roll.747 Douglas Ave, Nashville, kisserrestaurant.com
Peninsula
Peninsula is an East Nashville restaurant serving a distinctly Iberian perspective, drawing inspiration from the cuisines of Spain and Portugal while keeping the atmosphere relaxed and friendly.
The restaurant is led by Chef Jake Howell, whose resume includes Seattle stalwarts like The Walrus and the Carpenter, and whose cooking has earned recognition beyond Michelin, including the 2025 James Beard Award for Best Chef: Southeast.
Our Dinner
We visited for an early dinner at 5:30 p.m. and were seated near the bar. Despite the restaurant's many windows, it was mid-November and already dark when we arrived, and the lighting in our section stayed low. The low-lit interior made it harder to appreciate the food's visual details.
Peninsula's gin and tonic menu is a draw in its own right, with eight variations and all tonics made in-house. We ordered the No. 1, made with Askur London dry gin from Iceland, Honeytree mead from Nashville's own Honeytree Meadery, apple, and thyme. It was bright and balanced.
For food, we shared several dishes. The Spanish tortilla, made with potato, egg, and onion and finished with a dollop of aioli, was simple and comforting.
The shrimp rolled in santa leaf with wasabi arrived under a few green leaves. The same was true of the Ibérico solomillo, where the meat was beneath a layer of crisp potato chips, inviting you to dig in before the dish fully revealed itself.
That sense of discovery became a theme. Three of the dishes felt deliberately withholding something, an approach that reminded me of dining at Estela, a Michelin-Starred restaurant in New York City.
For dessert, a bowl of white chocolate, salted raspberry, candied nori, and brown butter looked minimalist at first, but revealed contrasting textures and flavors as you worked through it. 1035 W Eastland Ave, Nashville, peninsulanashville.com
Michelin One Star
Michelin Stars are reserved for restaurants operating at the highest level, where technique, consistency, and clarity of the chef's vision come together across a meal.
On this trip, that distinction led me to two different experiences-Locust and Catbird Seat approach fine dining from opposite ends of the spectrum.
One is playful and precise in the light of day, the other immersive and technically demanding at night. Both meals made it clear why Nashville's top restaurants now belong in the Michelin Guide conversation.
Locust
Located in the 12South neighborhood, Locust delivered my favorite overall restaurant experience of the trip. The restaurant is led by Irish Chef Trevor Moran, formerly of Catbird Seat. Years before Locust was awarded a Michelin Star, it was named Food & Wine Magazine's 2022 Restaurant of the Year.
Lunch unfolds in a bright, informal front room with large windows, an open kitchen, and a soundtrack that leans toward '80s rock and metal, including Iron Maiden and Skid Row. The contrast works. The room feels relaxed and lived-in, and the front windows make it a good spot for people-watching.
I started with a draught Guinness with blackcurrant syrup, a nostalgic combination inspired by Moran's childhood in Ireland. It arrived as a proper pint with a creamy head.
Service at the start felt slightly uneven. I waited longer than expected to be greeted by my server, and the discussion of a half order of dumplings stalled at first. Once my order was placed, the meal moved quickly.
What I Ordered
The food itself set a high bar. A tuna crisp arrived first, clean and restrained, reminding me of a similar sense of precision I've experienced at Le Bernardin. A half order of razor clams followed, sweet and nicely prepared, though the one dish I could've skipped.
The beef tartare, served with all the components needed to assemble your own hand rolls (including written instructions), was delicious and generous enough for four rolls. I also tried a half order of lamb dumplings finished with buttery carrot sauce.
Dessert sealed the experience. The tea, ice, raspberry, and honeycomb kakigori arrived larger than expected and layered with texture: light-as-air shaved ice, crunchy honeycomb, chewy mochi, a custard-like base, and a creamy top that brought everything together. 2305 12th Ave S, Nashville, locustnashville.com
Catbird Seat
If Locust shows how Michelin-level restaurants in Nashville can feel relaxed and personal, The Catbird Seat explores what happens when that same precision is pushed to its most technically demanding.
Few restaurants have defined modern dining in Nashville as profoundly as The Catbird Seat. Since opening in October 2011, it has been a proving ground for chefs pushing the city's culinary boundaries, helping reshape what fine dining could look like here before Michelin arrived.
In 2025, the restaurant entered a new period, relocating from its original home to the fifth floor of the new Bill Voorhees Building at 700 8th Ave. S., where it now shares an address with its sister bar and one of Nashville's best cocktail spots, The Patterson House.
My Experience
Seating wraps the counter in pairs, creating an intimate vantage point into the kitchen. Dining alone worked well here. An open seat to my left and a structural column to my right created a comfortable pocket of space, and I had a clear view of almost all the action.
The evening began with a nonalcoholic papaya spritz, bright and balanced, served over a large ice cube. I followed it with a glass of 2025 Aligoté from Björnson Vineyard in Oregon's Willamette Valley, a varietal often compared to Chardonnay.
As more guests arrived around 6 p.m., the room grew livelier, but the kitchen team remained quiet and focused, sending dishes out at a steady pace.
The printed menu given out at the end of the meal reminded me of courses like hay-smoked oyster and sweet tea, shiitake with saffron and cardamom, Jonah crab omelette with Kaluga, and chicken wing with Bagnoli truffle.
See also: Michelin Star Restaurants in Austin
The craftsmanship extended beyond the food: some vessels were custom-made, and even the cups for the welcome tea were designed by a former pastry chef, underscoring the thoughtfulness in every element of the experience.
Ending the trip here felt appropriate, not because the experience was flashier than what came before, but because it reflected the depth, discipline, and confidence that now define Nashville's place in the Michelin conversation.
Cost and Reservations
Dinner at The Catbird Seat is a tightly choreographed experience. The tasting menu is currently priced at $195 per person, with gratuity and taxes added, and a $100 deposit per guest required at booking and applied to the final bill.
Reservations for this Michelin Star restaurant in Nashville open on a rolling monthly basis, typically released at a set time and booking quickly. For example, February reservations were released at noon on January 1.
Given the restaurant's popularity, planning is essential to guarantee a seat. 700 8th Ave S, Fifth Floor, Nashville, thecatbirdseatrestaurant.com
