Delicious Foodie Experiences In Downtown Nashville For First Timers!

Hot Chicken: Hattie B’s Restaurant

We were excited to eat hot chicken in Nashville, the city where it originated! We had to try Hattie B’s, a popular family-owned restaurant chain, based in Nashville. In fact, Hattie B’s was the first place we ate after checking-in at our hotel!

We waited in line for approximately forty minutes at the Lower Broadway location. However, the wait was expected at this hot spot and we were looking forward to eat here! Obviously, many other people felt the same way!

• Hot Chicken “Bones”: 2 orders of “Small Dark” leg/thigh quarter, which was served on slices of white bread, with pickles.
• Dipping Sauce: Ranch Sauce (we enjoyed the chicken so much we ate it with no dipping sauce! It was not needed.)
• Sides: pimento mac and cheese and creamy cole slaw
• Dessert: peach cobbler
• 2 alcoholic canned beverages: ale and a hard seltzer

Once we placed our order at the counter, we were given a number on a stand to place at our table. Although the restaurant was bustling with people, we found a table quickly. A server brought our order to us when it was ready.

Since we had never tried hot chicken before, we ordered “Mild” for our heat level to play it safe. However, we wished we actually went hotter in our heat level! Ah, we’ll have to increase the heat next time as we would surely eat here again! The chicken was crispy and delicious!

We enjoyed our hot chicken and this first meal in Nashville at Hattie B’s! When we left the restaurant, there was still a long line outside of people waiting to eat!

Address: 5069 Broadway Pl #103, Nashville, TN 37203

Nashville BBQ: Martin’s Bar-B-Que Joint

Nashville is known for their slow-cooked barbeque. We decided to try Martin’s Bar-B-Que Joint, “home of West-Tennessee Style Whole Hog BBQ.”

Rather than sitting down at a table and then ordering, diners place their order at a counter and then find a table.

We visited the restaurant late in the afternoon on a Monday and did not experience a line or long wait for our meal. We received our bill and a number and chose where to sit.

Food We Ordered:

My husband and I shared our food and can recommend our delectable order:

• Combo – “Kid Brother Sampler”: 6 Ounces of Pork, 6 Ounces of Brisket, Choice of Two Sides. For our sides we ordered mac and cheese and cornbread!
• Taco Tray – Catfish Tacos with 2 Sides: “2 Tacos with Melted Shredded Cheddar, Mississippi Farm Raised Catfish, topped with Slaw, Pickled Jalapeños, Cilantro, and a Lime Wedge”. For sides, we ordered mac and cheese and slaw.
• Two alcoholic cocktails

In addition to our bbq tray, we ordered catfish! Breaded and fried catfish is another classic meal in the South! Since all the food is made from scratch daily at Martin’s, we savoured the delicious catfish tacos as much as the slow cooked, smoked meat!

The casual restaurant is very spacious as it is two levels. The main floor is air-conditioned with a lot of seating.

At this location, upstairs there is a very large beer garden with two bars, a lot of seating, TVs, and a stage for live music. There are also games like dart boards, ping pong, and shuffleboard!

We sat in the huge beer garden which is open all year-round. During the summer it is an open-air area. In the winter, the roof is closed and the space is heated.

Lastly, if interested, be sure to check out the Pit Room to see a whole hog smoking on the barbeque! It was definitely interesting to see in person!

It is worth checking out the cool atmosphere and West Tennessee-style barbeque at Martin’s! Service was friendly and attentive also! Enjoy!

Downtown Nashville Address: 410 4th Avenue South, Nashville, TN 37201

Open daily 11 AM – 10 PM

Other popular Nashville barbeque restaurants:

• Peg Leg Porker Restaurant – award-winning:
  • address: 903 Gleaves St, Nashville, TN 37203, United States
  • if you are not able to make it to the restaurant, another last option is to try Star by Peg Leg Porker at BNA, which was our last meal in Nashville before flying!
• Edley’s Bar-B-Que Restaurants: family-owned, there are various locations in Nashville.

Tennessee Legend Distillery in Marathon Village

We stopped by this distillery for a whiskey and moonshine tasting during our Nashville Golf Cart Tour (read our review and article here on the fun golf cart tour)!

The whiskey and moonshine were so smooth and delicious! We highly recommend stopping by Tennessee Legend Distillery for a free tasting and enjoyable experience!

We tried five free samples and bought a bottle of Coffee Moonshine. All the samples we tried we really enjoyed! If we had a larger alcohol personal exemption, we would have bought more to bring back to Canada!

Nashville Location in Marathon Village: 1310 Clinton St #115, Nashville, TN 37203

3 Other Tennessee locations in Winfield Dunn, Newport Hwy, and Cookeville.

Ole Smokey

We visited the large location at 6th & Peabody which offer tastings, live music, outdoor beer garden and more!

Tastings:

Jordan, who led our tasting, was engaging and friendly. We enjoyed the samples of moonshine, whiskey, and YeeHaw beer!

• No reservations are required. Must have a valid ID.
• $12 per Person
• Includes a $10 off coupon for alcohol and merchandise.

After the tasting, we purchased a bottle of the Straight Bourbon Whiskey and an Ole Smoky t-shirt:

Downtown Nashville location: 423 6th Ave S, Nashville, TN 37203

Foodie experiences In Downtown Nashville: Other Popular Nashville Foods

Our foodie experiences in Downtown Nashville were delicious! Of course there are many more recommended Nashville delicacies we could have tried, especially with more time! Other popular Nashville places and foods to explore include:

Prince’s Hot Chicken

The restaurant was started in 1945. It is “…the original and remains the gold standard for hot chicken.” The restaurant was named an “American Classic” by the James Beard Foundation Awards in 2013!

There are two locations. In downtown Nashville, there is a stall, rather than a sit-down restaurant, located in the Assembly Food Hall. The second location is approximately twenty-minute drive from our hotel, Hyatt Centric Downtown Nashville (read our hotel review here):

Two Locations:

1. Prince’s Hot Chicken Assembly Food Hall: 5055 Broadway Place, Stall #2268, Nashville, TN 37203
2. Prince’s Hot Chicken Shack South: 5814 Nolensville Pike, Nashville, TN 37211

Goo Goo Clusters: “Nashville’s Official Candy”

“In 1912, in a copper kettle at the Standard Candy Company at Clark & First Avenue in Nashville, TN, America’s first combination candy bar was invented.”

If you are not able to visit the storefront, the treats are also readily available around the city and in the Nashville airport.

We bought a couple of gift boxes at the airport to bring home for family, and of course to indulge in ourselves too!

Address: 116 3rd Ave S, Nashville, TN 37201

Nashville Biscuits

Two of the most popular places for Biscuits in Nashville:

• Loveless Café – 8400 Highway 100,
• Biscuit Love – Gulch (original location) and 2 other locations. Expect lines at the Gulch location. We drove by on a Sunday morning during our Nashville Golf Cart Tour (read our article here) and there was a line out the door!

Nashville Donuts

There are several popular places for donuts in Nashville.

Alas, although scheduled in our itinerary, we will have to return to taste Five Daughters Bakery, famous for their “100 layer” donuts!

Nashville “Meat & Three”

Said to originate in Nashville, “meat-and-three” is a meal or place that serves a meat dish and three sides.

Food Experience from Chef Sean Brock

We knew we had to try a foodie experience from Chef Sean Brock! The award-winning chef has four restaurants in Nashville:

• Joyland – fast-food restaurant that serves burgers, fried chicken and more! Located at 901 Woodland St, Nashville, TN 37206
• Audrey – flagship restaurant (we dined here on this trip – check back for our article coming soon!). Located at 809 Meridian St, Nashville, TN 37207
• June – serves a tasting menu of ~ 20 courses. Also located at 809 Meridian St, Nashville, TN 37207, above Audrey.
• Bar Continental, scheduled to open this fall, replaces his fine dining restaurant, The Continental (closed September 17, 2023). Located in Grand Hyatt Nashville, at 1000 Broadway Suite 101, Nashville, TN 37203