Saturdays and Sundays: ten brunch spots that are open both days, in the order our Eat & Drink guide ranks them. Each one comes with what to order and the best time to beat the line.
The Butter Milk Ranch
Laminated biscuits and brown butter beignets from a busy 12 South bakery and brunch room.
- When to go
- Join the same-day text waitlist on its website before you head over, especially on a weekend. If you only want pastries, the bakery counter runs until 4 PM with no table wait. It's closed on Mondays.
- What to get
- The laminated biscuit (the Scene's pick for Nashville's classic biscuit in 2025), the brown butter beignets, and the soft-scrambled ricotta eggs with chili crunch.
- Good to know
- It's walk-in only through the waitlist, up to 8 to a table, and the whole party has to be there. The lots beside and behind the building are validated, except on Sundays, when the lot is reserved for church.
Monell's
Pass-the-platter Southern meals at shared tables in a Germantown Victorian. Skillet fried chicken is the reason to go.
- When to go
- Saturday breakfast runs 8 AM to 1 PM; Sunday's runs 8 to 11, and Sunday around 11 is its busiest time (up to a 45-minute wait). Night owls: the Midnight Country Breakfast, Saturdays from 11 PM to 3 AM.
- What to get
- Skillet-fried chicken comes with every meal. At breakfast it's joined by biscuits and gravy, country ham, fried apples and cheese grits.
- Good to know
- You'll share long tables with strangers and pass the platters. Breakfast is a fixed $17.95 to $18.95 per adult, plus tax.
Cafe Roze
An all-day East Nashville cafe that handles breakfast, a weekday happy hour and dinner equally well. Michelin recommends it.
- When to go
- Book weekend brunch on OpenTable. It's open 8 AM to 10 PM every day, and the room is small, best for two or three people rather than a big group (The Infatuation).
- What to get
- The stout waffles with mascarpone or the quinoa-lentil bowl with turmeric-soaked eggs, and an espresso martini.
Butcher & Bee
Shared plates with a Mediterranean lean, built on farm produce. The Scene's critic named it the best restaurant of 2025.
- When to go
- Brunch is weekends only, 10 AM to 2 PM. Reserve ahead, and ask for the plant-filled patio when the weather's good (Eater).
- What to get
- Whipped feta with fermented honey, Bubie's short stack (pancakes with chocolate tahini maple), and the avocado crispy rice, with an egg added at brunch.
Hearts
An Australian cafe on Gallatin Avenue from the Attaboy team: flat whites and Turkish eggs in the morning, spritzes from 2 PM.
- When to go
- Friday to Sunday it's open 8 AM to 5 PM, and happy hour runs from 2 PM to close, so a late weekend afternoon gives you the longest window. If East Nashville is slammed, the 12 South Hearts keeps the same hours.
- What to get
- Smashed avocado toast with sweet corn, jalapeño and red onion, Turkish eggs with garlic yogurt, or the twice-baked French toast, with a flat white.
Book where you can: Cafe Roze, Butcher & Bee, Maíz and Common Ground all take reservations.
Pancake Pantry
A Hillsboro Village pancake house since 1961, with 23 kinds on the menu and a second shop downtown.
- When to go
- It opens at 6 AM. Expect a 20 to 25 minute wait from 8 AM to 1 PM, and Sunday around 10 is the busiest (up to 30 minutes), so go before 8 or after 1. The line on the sidewalk is the waitlist; just get in it.
- What to get
- Sweet potato pancakes, or the Santa Fe cornmeal cakes filled with bacon, cheddar and green chiles. A sampler is good for sharing.
- Good to know
- If the Hillsboro line is long, the downtown Pantry at 220 Molloy St serves the same menu.
Bagelshop
The readers' pick for best bagel in 2025, from a strip mall in Donelson.
- When to go
- Weekends, 7 AM to 2 PM, the same as weekdays. The $3 bagel-and-schmear special is weekdays only.
- What to get
- The turkey-arugula sandwich on a rosemary-sea salt bagel, or whatever the monthly chef-collab schmear is.
- Good to know
- There's free parking in the big shared Donelson Plaza lot.
Maíz de la Vida
Tortillas from heirloom corn, made in-house, from a taco truck that grew into a Gulch restaurant and a tortilla shop.
- When to go
- The Gulch restaurant serves lunch from 11 AM to 3 PM every day, weekends included. Reservations are recommended.
- What to get
- For brunch, the masa pancakes or the chilaquiles. The quesabirria tacos with consomé are the truck's signature.
- Good to know
- You get 1.5 hours of validated parking in the Prima garage, floors 1 to 3; scan the QR code in the restaurant.
Shugga Hi Bakery & Cafe
Sisters Kathy Leslie and Sandra Austin's soul food bakery and cafe on Dickerson Pike, in the teal building at the Whites Creek fork.
- When to go
- Sunday, for the Jazz & Eggs buffet (The Infatuation). There's no working website, so call (615) 928-6576 to confirm times.
- What to get
- Chicken and waffles, or the Jazz & Eggs buffet: smothered pork chops, collards, cornbread and donut casserole. The mimosa bar is extra.
Common Ground
A Berry Hill bar with a big outdoor deck, run by a Patterson House alum. Readers voted its weekend brunch the city's best in 2025.
- When to go
- Brunch runs Saturday 10 AM to 3 PM and Sunday 10 AM to 2 PM. Reserve on Resy; the owners say they always hold some seats for walk-ins.
- What to get
- Carrot cake French toast, short ribs and eggs, and the AM Smash (bourbon, apricot, mint and sparkling rosé). Those come from 2023 and 2024 coverage, so the menu may have moved on.
- Good to know
- It has its own parking lot.
Just outside the ten: Biscuit Love, the Gulch's famous brunch line, where earlier mornings are easiest, and D'Andrews Bakery & Cafe downtown, open 8 AM to 2 PM on weekends.
Brunch with music: Char in Green Hills has a jazz trio at Sunday brunch, 11 AM to 2 PM, and The Listening Room Cafe runs songwriter rounds at Saturday brunch, at 10:30 AM and 1 PM.
Hours and lines change, so check with the restaurant before you go. Every place here is in Eat & Drink, with its hours and the rest of what to order.
