Best Casual Restaurants in South Nashville

Maiz De La Vida is excellent ! It was a delicious dining experience that exceeded expectations. It is one of the few new Nashville restaurants that I’ll return to. My husband travels to Mexico frequently and said it reminded him of food from Mexico City, authentic, well seasoned, just enough spice. I highly recommend!

Skulls is a regular stop of our’s when we are in Nashville. We love their dedication to showcasing jazz. Start the evening listening to Jay Vern, then hang out for whoever follows! Great food, service, and a cool atmosphere make it a must for foodies and jazz lovers!

Wonderful experience all around! Ambiance and vibe are excellent for a date night. The menu is large but our server Samantha gave great recommendations on drinks and food. 2 of us ordered 6 items from the Tapas menu. All the food was tasty, beef and pork were always tender. Our favorites included the broccolini, beef empanadas, risotto, and shrimp. The shrimp could have been larger and the octopus was a little overcooked but really not much to complain about. In the end while it was pricey, I feel like we spent less than other nice date nights out in Nashville. Seller service, quick and attentive. Highly recommend for anyone wanting to try a bunch of different dishes in one meal!

Making reservations for a time we wanted was easy. Everything we ordered was great! We started with an expresso martini and a local beer and pretzels with the cheese fondue. Then dinner was the short ribs with potatoes au gratin with the mac and cheese. Dessert was the bread pudding and the molten lava butter cake with toffee bits. Yes, we ordered two desserts because we couldn’t decide.

Our server, (forgot his name, but a tall and polite gentleman), took great care of us and brought us a free dessert and savory dish, as we were celebrating my girlfriend’s birthday and our five year anniversary. Something I enjoyed about him too, is he was informative, guided us through how the menu works, but was not overbearing in his delivery or presence at the table. I’ve been to so many places where you can tell the server is being a bit performative and will drown you in details instead of reading the room and giving people time to process lol. What really stood out as well, was the fact that every staff member we interacted with, (the host, server, and THREE other employees on the floor), all knew we were celebrating and made a point to congratulate us. You could tell they pay attention to special details here. My partner and I are both in the service industry (fine dining), so we notice the small stuff and had no complaints! Even our water glasses never dropped below 3/4ths full. Also worth noting — the value you get for the delicious food, great ambience, and service is WELL worth the price. A wonderful dining experience without breaking the bank. Would highly recommend this place 👍🏻