Payroll Congress 2024: The Ultimate Nashville Guide

The 42nd Annual Payroll Congress is coming up! Here at Workforce.com, we’re as excited to learn from the keynote speakers as the next guy… but what better way to prepare for a conference than checking out a local’s guide to navigating Nashville – a city known for its food scene, bars, history, and of course, live music? We’re looking forward to helping transform your payroll management over a beer at Urban Cowboy.

East Nashville [closest area to the conference venue]

Bars:

• Rosemary: Awesome cocktails, indoor and outdoor space. Overall such a fun place.
• Attaboy: Speakeasy with amazing cocktails, but difficult to go with a ton of people
• Red Door
• Urban Cowboy: Great for group outdoor seating. Awesome pizza.
• Noble’s: Fun sports bar with cheap beer
• Lakeside Lounge: dive bar with $3 frosty’s, pool table, and darts

Casual/Cheaper Eats:

• Mas Tacos Por Favor: Taco stand loved by the community
• Redheaded Stranger: tacos, crunch-wrap, burger)
• Greko: Good for lunch
• East Side Bahn Mi: Excellent Vietnamese
• Mitchell Deli: Great sandwiches
• Joyland: Sean Brock’s fast food restaurant is open until 2 am Friday and Saturday
• Five Points Pizza: New York style by the slice

Nicer Restaurants:

• Lou: Amazing, but not ideal for a bigger group
• Butcher & Bee: Awesome for a big group. Mediterranean shared plates
• Audrey: Sean Brock’s latest fine-dining restaurant
• Two Ten Jack: One of my favorites. Japanese shared plates/sushi and ramen

Downtown

Bars:

• Popular, big-time honky-tonks with fun rooftops:
  1. Kid Rock’s
  2. Luke’s
  3. Aldean’s
  4. Ole Red
  5. Acme
• Smaller, classic honky-tonks: 
  1. Robert’s Western World: Get the Depression Special at Robert’s: Fried Bologna Sandwich + a beer for $5
  2. The Stage
  3. Tootsie’s
• Wild Beaver: Great for karaoke 
• Alley Taps: Iconic Printer’s Alley bar

Restaurants:

• Husk: Sean Brock’s first Nashville restaurant
• Jack’s BBQ: Nashville staple for food on Broadway
• 5th and Broadway: Food hall where there’s something for everybody
• Twelve Thirty Club: The bottom floor is a Honky Tonk with good food. The top floor has great cocktails
• Blanco: Fantastic Mexican food
• Acme: Bar that also has great food too. Different types of cuisine on each level
• Pinewood Social: bar/restaurant and really fun to do bowling for a group. Also has great cocktails.

Midtown/Vanderbilt Area

• SATCO: Low-key Mexican joint
• The Graduate Hotel: Has awesome coffee in their lobby
• Hillsboro Village:
  1. The BEST shopping
  2. Pancake Pantry
  3. DoubleDogs Sports Bar
• Dose: Good breakfast sandwiches and coffee
• Barcelona: A great restaurant for bigger groups, it’s not unique to Nashville but a good option

The Gulch

Activities:

• Station Inn: The most amazing live music venue. Buy tickets in cash at the door. They sell beer/popcorn
• 6th and Peabody: Big sports bar with a huge outdoor area, moonshine distillery, and Yeehaw beer
• Pins Mechanical: Fun games place and bar
• Nice Hotel Rooftop Bars:
  1. LA Jackson
  2. L27
  3. W hotel

Restaurants:

• Adele’s: Worth going if for brunch. Huge buffet that’s a 10/10
• Mockingbird: Great for a large group
• Superica: They don’t take reservations, but you can join the online waitlist
• Marsh House: We love their brunch
• Peg Leg Porker: Awesome BBQ
• Otaku Ramen: Really good, but sadly doesn’t take reservations

12 South

Really cute strip of awesome boutiques for shopping.

Restaurants:

• Buttermilk Ranch: A fan-favorite brunch spot with fun pastries, but it doesn’t take reservations
• Five Daughter’s Bakery: Famous/delicious donuts
• Frothy Monkey: Great for breakfast or coffee, but this location usually has a long line on weekends
• Edley’s: BBQ
• Epice: Fantastic Lebanese restaurant

Wedgewood Houston

• Nvr Nvr: Great dive bar
• Dozen Bakery: Another fan-favorite place. Best avocado toast ever, awesome coffee/pastries/food

Germantown

Restaurants:

• Rolf and Daughters: Many think this is the best in Nash, make a reservation ASAP if you want to go
• Oku: Best sushi
• Geist: Craft cocktail bar with good food
• Henrietta Red: My personal favorite restaurant in Nashville
• The Optimist: Really good seafood, cool bar upstairs with yummy oysters
• Big Al’s: Greasy awesome soul food breakfast, sit-on-a-plastic chair vibe, I love Al so much
• Monell’s: Southern family-style experience

Bars:

• Monday Night Brewing Co.: Great chill brewery with good beer and tons of indoor/outdoor seating)
• Mother’s Ruin: So much fun late night, awesome cocktails
• Von Elrod’s: Beer garden, next to Sounds Stadium
• Jonathan’s: Low-key sports bar, could go to if in the area for 2 for 1 beers after 10pm
• Neighbor’s: Another sports bar, multiple locations

Other Notes:

• I like Prince’s for authentic Hot Chicken, but Hattie B’s is great too
• People are torn on Martin’s vs. Edley’s for BBQ, but I prefer Martins
• There are awesome coffee shops everywhere, my favorites are Crema and Barista Parlor (many locations)
• Loveless Cafe is outside of Nashville but historic and so awesome for southern comfort food.
• Richland Park Farmer’s Market on Saturday mornings 9-12 is great and has food trucks/vendors too
• The Listening Room is a famous Nashville writers-round style show you buy tickets for and sit at a table and order food/drinks. It’s really fun, intimate, chill, and I love going. Never know if you’ll see someone famous!
• A fun morning activity is to rent bikes and ride the trails around Shelby Park https://bikethegreenway.net/
• Pedal taverns are also super fun for a daytime activity