You will feel the love at the Loveless Cafe in Nashville

Nashville has many wonderful places to dine. Music City will not leaving you wanting when it comes to great food. For a taste of downhome Southern cooking at its best, it is hard to be the Loveless Café. 

You will find out right away that there is no lack of love in the cooking at this small out of the way café which has defied the odds and provided great meals for more than 60 years. Generations have called this iconic café home when it comes to dining.


The loss of the face of the Loveless Café, Carol Fay Ellison in 2010 was a loss felt by the entire city and beyond but you can expect to taste her memory very much alive in the food that is being served at the café. One bite of the delectable biscuit will have you convinced that she is still very much here in the cooking. The biscuits are the best I have ever eaten and I challenge you to come and compare them to any you consider to be the best.

I also fell in love with the jam and when you combine the two, you have created a little bit of heaven in a bite. When I tell you this is even better than my mama’s biscuits, that says a lot. The best news of all is that if you go there and fall in love with their preserves, you can order them online. I loved the chunky peach and the blackberry particularly.

When it comes to dining, you can choose to order straight off the menu or have a family style meal. 

We were a large group, about 20 people and our large table was served family style. The plates just kept coming, the fried chicken, fried catfish, creamed corn, hush puppies, country ham and more. The way the family meal works it is all you can eat and the food is served in large platter to share.

You have a choice of which of the proteins they serve and then the sides. It is priced by the number of each that you order. Take your time and enjoy the food, there is no rush even if there is a line going out the door, which there was when we arrived. A reservation is a must. If you prefer, you can have a meat and three which is a Nashville staple.

Dessert is another adventure, try to save room. They make a homemade from scratch, banana pudding. There is no way to describe this pudding except to say it is decadently delicious. A wide selection of homemade pies are on display in the case in the front room as you enter the restaurant. I also took a small taste of the cherry pie which was also very near perfect with a flaky crust and a tart cherry filling.

Before or after your meal you can go across the parking lot to the motel shops. This is the place to pick up the items that you want to take home. They sell hams, preserves and more. The Loveless Cafe is one Nashville institution you should not miss.