Brunch12 South$$$$
The Butter Milk Ranch
Laminated biscuits and brown butter beignets from a busy 12 South bakery and brunch room. Join the same-day waitlist before you go.
#1 in Brunch + breakfast#7 in Bakeries + sweets
What to get
- Pastries from the case: laminated croissants (pistachio, churro with chocolate for dipping); Scene picked its laminated biscuit as Nashville's classic biscuit (2025)
- Soft-scrambled ricotta eggs with chili crunch
- Brown butter beignets (Scene writers' Best Beignets 2025)
- Square/cube breakfast sandwich
When to go
Join the same-day text waitlist on the website before you head over, especially on weekends; Eater calls it one of 12 South's busiest brunch spots and Infatuation warns of a wait. If you only want pastries, the bakery counter runs until 4 pm with no table wait.
Insider tip
Walk-in only via waitlist (max 8 per table; whole party must be present; tables held 10 minutes). Validated parking in the lots beside and behind the building, except Sundays when the lot is reserved for church. Already seated? Add pastries to your table order so you skip the second line at the counter (Infatuation).
Heads up
Expect a wait for a table; patio is for counter-service items only; closed Mondays.
Find it
- Phone
- (615) 465-8300
- Website
- buttermilkranch.com
- Reservations
- walk-in only
Recognition
- Eater Nashville 38 (Essential Restaurants)
- Yelp Top 100 Places to Eat 2026: No. 93 (one of four Nashville picks)
- Nashville Scene Best of Nashville 2025, Readers' Poll: Best Breakfast (winner); Best Brunch (3rd)
- Nashville Scene Best of Nashville 2025, Writers' Choice: Best Beignets
- Nashville Scene Food & Drink Issue 2025 'Nashville Classics': Biscuits
- The Infatuation: 8.9 rating; on its 2026 brunch, breakfast, bakeries and 'worth the line' guides
Checked Oct. 1, 2026. Ratings are a snapshot from Google and Yelp; ranks are ours (how we rank). Something out of date? Tell us.
Eat & Drink
More in Brunch + breakfast
-
#2Family-style Southern · Germantown
Monell's
Pass-the-platter Southern meals at shared tables in a Germantown Victorian. Skillet fried chicken is the reason to go.
-
#3All-day cafe · East Nashville
Cafe Roze
An all-day East Nashville cafe that handles breakfast, a weekday happy hour and dinner equally well.
-
#4Shared plates · East Nashville
Butcher & Bee
Shared plates with a Mediterranean lean, built on farm produce. Brunch on weekends, dinner every night.
-
#5Australian all-day cafe · East Nashville
Hearts
An Australian cafe on Gallatin Avenue from the Attaboy team. Flat whites and Turkish eggs in the morning, spritzes from 2 PM.
-
#6Breakfast · Hillsboro Village
Pancake Pantry
A Hillsboro Village pancake house since 1961, with 23 kinds on the menu and a second shop downtown.
-
#7Bagel shop · Donelson
Bagelshop
The readers' pick for best bagel in 2025, from a Donelson strip mall. Weekdays bring a $3 bagel-and-schmear special.
The NashvilleTN Insider · 10K+ readers
The best of Nashville, in your inbox.
The shows worth buying tickets for, what just opened, where happy hour is good right now, the weekend plan, and a heads-up before we go live.