The Best Breakfasts and Brunches in Downtown Nashville, Tennessee

A serendipitous pancake house that’s been around and family-owned (passing from father to son) since 1961; the sort of place you’d like to go to ‘for no reason’ on a weekend morning other than to treat yourself, the Pancake Pantry’s a sweet breakfast spot in the heart of Hillsboro Village in Nashville, Tennessee. You can order an array of pancakes, from ‘Swedish Pancakes’ complete with lingonberry preserve, powdered sugar, and lemon wedges to ‘Georgia Peach Pancakes’ with a dollop of sweet Georgia peach compote. They also offer omelets you can create yourself, offering a variety of ingredients of meats, veggies, and cheeses to choose from.

A nice dining experience for meeting family in town or to visit on vacation, Puckett’s breakfast menu consists of all sorts of hearty meals. From the ‘Southern Stack’ with slow-smoked pulled pork on top of sweet potato pancakes and fried apples topped with a fried egg, to ‘Bubba’s Eggs Benedict’ with split biscuits towered with bacon or sausage and two fried eggs and doused with white pepper gravy.

A food truck that opened in 2012 and was found on weekends at the Franklin Farmer’s Market and White Mercantile, owners Karl and Sarah Worley created Biscuit Love with the dream of serving an assortment of southern cuisine made from ingredients sourced from local farms. Today, their dream is a reality, with their brand new restaurant in the heart of the Gulch. Their breakfasts include dishes like ‘Lily,’ made with biscuit French toast, lemon/mascarpone, blueberry compote, and house syrup, and ‘Vegetarian Grits,’ with cheese grits topped with tomato gravy, kale, and farm eggs.

A coffeehouse-restaurant, Fido emphasizes serving organic and locally grown food in an inviting atmosphere. More than just coffee and scones, you’ll find filling and bodacious dishes on the menu like ‘Pete’s Breakfast Torta’ with scrambled eggs stuffed with chorizo, local sausage, tomatillo salsa, jack and cheddar cheese sandwiched between two flour tortillas and topped with salsa and sour cream, and the ‘Village Scramble’ with baby spinach, tomatoes, Portobello mushrooms, roasted red onions, and feta cheese, complete with hash browns and toast.

Frothy Monkey serves conscientiously crafted food using local ingredients. With the ambiance of a neighborhood café, Frothy Monkey serves simple and flavorful good food, and especially awesome breakfast and brunch. On their menu you’ll find the ‘Architect’ for the creative types, a two egg omelet with your choice of meat, cheese, and vegetables and served with toast and jam, and the ‘California’ with two fried eggs, avocado, and sprouts piled atop sourdough toast and served with kicking house-made salsa.

Located just across the Cumberland River on the edge of Downtown Nashville, Sky Blue Café is a little café that serves killer breakfasts like the heart stopping ‘Stuffed French Toast Pancakes’ (seriously, two pieces of French toast and two pancakes, stuffed). You can order your ‘Stuffed French Toast Pancakes’ with peanut butter and jelly, bananas and Nutella, or with eggs, cheese, and bacon or sausage for a savory sweet balance. Other creative breakfast choices include ‘Brie French Toast’ and ‘The Space Captain’ omelet with spinach, mushroom, sautéed onion, veggie sausage, pesto, and parmesan cheese.

Offering a variety of breakfast options from their own unique eggs benedict dishes to biscuit beignets with honey marmalade, Another Broken Egg Café is a solid place for brunch in downtown Nashville. Their dishes include ‘Smoked Salmon Benny,’ with two poached eggs garnished with diced red onions, capers, and green onions on top of smoked salmon and whipped cream cheese on a toasted bagel and ‘Stan’s Mardi Gras’ omelet with crawfish, shrimp, red peppers, and andouille sausage topped with tomato hollandaise, green onions, and tomatoes.

The Southern Steak & Oyster is a serious meat and sustainably sourced seafood restaurant located on the ground floor of The Pinnacle at Symphony Place. They’ve got their own state-of-the-art shuck-to-order oyster bar and a wood-fired grill. For brunch, they offer drinks like blood orange mimosas and Whisper Creek Sipping Cream. Their grub includes ‘The Highway,’ fried chicken and waffles drizzled with maple syrup, and the ‘Breaux Bros Gumbo’ with mahogany brown roux, fresh Gulf seafood, okra, Cajun trinity, and pecan rice.

You know the coffee will be fantastic at Barista Parlor, but the breakfasts are also amazing and are served in an open, airy space with large windows. The breakfasts are bites, not meant to stuff you, but meant to start a day out right. Their food features local ingredients and is all homemade. Their breakfast sandwiches on homemade buttermilk biscuits sate the savory palates, while their home-baked pastries like the peanut butter chocolate with pretzel caramel drizzle pop tart are popular with those with a sweet tooth.