Nashville

[Kirby]

There are so many good dining options that it is hard to choose and others will have opinions but I will give you a few. For BBQ I like Martin's. We eat at one on Belmont Blvd but a new location downtown is opening any day now. It is across Korean Veteran's Blvd from the Omni hotel. For other dinners downtown I like the Southern, Acme Feed & Seed, Husk or Etch (the last two are more upscale). For breakfast downtown there is Kitchen Notes (in the Omni) or the Southern. Loveless Motel is famous for their breakfast food but it is a drive out to the southwest of town. Depending on the time going to Belle Meade/Cheekwood you could combine that with driving a few miles further to the Loveless. Adele's has a fantastic breakfast bar but I think it may only be on Sunday. It is amazing. And since you are coming from Madison, it might be easy to eat in East Nashville. Maybe someone else will have better dining ideas there but I know Marche has a good brunch.

We haven't decided yet if we are driving or flying, so if we drive we may pick up Loveless on the way out.

Jacks bbq is good...I wouldn't recommend pucketts right now to anyone. Breakfast, I personally love loveless cafe or kitchen notes at Omni. Noshville is another good one. I don't recommend pancake pantry for a breakfast place, the one in the smokeys is leagues better then the one in Nashville.


As far as in and out privileges with parking garages I'm not 100% sure on that, once we park the car we never leave, but I think it means you can access and come and go as you please, if it's similar to hotels in Atlanta I've stayed at or Chattanooga

I'll have to look up the Jack's locations. Maybe there is one on the way out to the place we are staying.

 

[Kirby]

We've decided to buy tickets for the hop on/hop off trolley and was wondering should I go ahead and purchase tickets in advance or wait till we get there. Do you think there will be a hoard of people in line to get tickets?

 

[mandy200587]

Kirby I haven't done that, so I have no information on that.


They have announced the Christmas in Nashville events such as ICE, Opryland Lights
http://www.marriott.com/hotel-info/...vention-center/christmas/y477rbs/home-page.mi

 

[Twilight Sparkle]

Hi, Tarheelmjfan. Is this the thread you mentioned to me? I don't see much about Memphis in here. Do you still need help with that? I'm much more familiar with Memphis than with Nashville. What dates are you in Memphis? I know you like Christmas things, so if you will be here before the New Year, then I can point you to some Christmas events. I can also look over your restaurant choices (didn't see them listed in the thread, but maybe I missed them) and possibly give you reviews. Choose901.com and ilovememphisblog.com are good sites to peruse to get a feel for what's going on in Memphis. Sounds like you guys are going to have a GREAT trip! So excited for you!

 

[tarheelmjfan]

Hi, Tarheelmjfan. Is this the thread you mentioned to me? I don't see much about Memphis in here. Do you still need help with that? I'm much more familiar with Memphis than with Nashville. What dates are you in Memphis? I know you like Christmas things, so if you will be here before the New Year, then I can point you to some Christmas events. I can also look over your restaurant choices (didn't see them listed in the thread, but maybe I missed them) and possibly give you reviews. Choose901.com and ilovememphisblog.com are good sites to peruse to get a feel for what's going on in Memphis. Sounds like you guys are going to have a GREAT trip! So excited for you!

PM sent.

 

[Kirby]

Just wanted to stop in an give a brief report on our Nashville trip for the OP and any others that are interested.

We live a little east of Dallas and drove to Nashville. We left at 5:30 am and with stops for breakfast/lunch, we arrived at our VRBO rental #575992 about 5:30 pm. We spent three days and four nights there. Our rental was in Madison on the east side of Nashville. It was on the east side of the Cumberland River across from the Opryland area. We had a river front view and it was very peaceful and relaxing. Also very easy to get to downtown. We used UBER the first two days to get to the downtown area.

Things we did:
Gray Line Hop On/Hop Off trolley - We bought a two day pass. The tour guides are very informative and we learned a lot about Nashville. They were very easy to use and we would do that again. We never heard exactly the same spiel from the different tour guides.

Antique Archeology and Marathon Village - Okay, worth a visit just to say that you've been there but otherwise we felt that it was not worth a stop. Marathon Village has a few stores full of "stuff" as my DH calls it but "stuff" I enjoy looking at. There were big pieces of machinery on display in the hallways that he was more interested in. We found the hallways to be narrow and dark. I would hate to be there on a busy day.

Grand Old Opry - Thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. We sat in the second row of section 18 but there's really not a bad seat in the house.

Country Music Hall of Fame museum - It's nice that you start at the top and work your way down. We learned a lot about how the country music scene got started.

Parthenon - We both felt that it was another one of those places that you go to just say that you've been. We felt that the statue of Athena would have been more impressive had she been made out stone. We felt that the gold overlay was cheesey. There was a wedding there later in the day that they were preparing for and both agree that it makes for a great photo op. If it had been cooler temps, we would have liked to have toured the grounds of the park that it was in.

Cheekwood Botanical Gardens and Museum of Art. It was lovely. We took the tour of the house. They put up Christmas lights through the grounds for the holidays. I would like to see it then and I bet it's gorgeous in the Spring.

We also went to the Boot store on Broadway and bought our grandson cowboy boots with the buy one get two free deal.

Places we ate:

Edley's BBQ, their Main Street location - We went for dinner so we didn't get to try the brisket since they only serve it at lunch. The BBQ sauce was good, different than what we are used to eating. Our favorite thing to eat there was the potato salad.

Jack's BBQ on Broadway downtown. Our son had told us that their BBQ was good but we decided instead to share a chicken. We found the chicken on the dry side. We should have had the brisket.

Claim Jumper in the Opry Mills Mall since it was across from the GOO. It was okay, my husband really liked the chicken pot pie. I ordered a mini veggie pizza. It had a good flavor but was soggy in the middle. Their dinner salads were a joke.

Longhorn Steakhouse in Madison. It was good but our steaks had no flavor, like they had forgotten to put any seasoning on them. We ordered a side salad and baked potato to go with it.

Loveless Café - Since this was just basically down the street from Cheekwood (seven mile) we decided to try it for lunch. There was an hour and a half wait and it was worth it. DH had the peach glazed porkchops and I ordered the chicken strips. Let's just say that both of our meals were enough for two people. The peach preserves are to die for.

My DH's best part of the trip was probably visited the Country Music Hall of Fame. My is split between riding the trolley (because of all the trivia they tell you plus you get to see a good part of the city) and Cheekwood.

Our fave food would have been the potato salad at Edley's, the salad at Longhorn and the peach preserves with biscuits (let's not forget those) at Loveless. DH would add the chicken pot pie at Claim Jumper.

We enjoyed our stay in Nashville but were very ready to get home. We did stop at the Bass Pro Shop in Memphis in the Pyramid on the way back. It is a sight to see. And if you are not scared of heights, you should pay the $10 to ride to the top of the Pyramid to step out on the clear viewing station. I hear the view is magnificent but I'm one of those scaredy cats.

I'd like to go back and tour the Capitol grounds and the Capitol Mall. Plus Belle Meade and The Hermitage.

I truly recommend visiting Nashville in the cooler months unless you enjoy hot weather. This girl doesn't and the heat got to me a couple of times especially touring Cheekwood. Good walking shoes are definitely a must.

 

[tarheelmjfan]

Thanks so much for the review. We don't usually use trolleys much, but I think we'll try it this trip. I'd love to find time to go to Loveless Cafe. I guess we'll just have to play that one by ear. There are so many things we want to do that it will be hard to fit it all in.

 

[mandy200587]

A little more info on the New Year's Eve party...it's moving locations this year...about 10-15 minutes from current location http://wkrn.com/2016/08/25/nashvilles-new-years-eve-party-moves-to-bicentennial-mall-gets-new-name/

 

[tarheelmjfan]

A little more info on the New Year's Eve party...it's moving locations this year...about 10-15 minutes from current location http://wkrn.com/2016/08/25/nashvilles-new-years-eve-party-moves-to-bicentennial-mall-gets-new-name/

Thanks for the info. That's kind of a bummer. What will be the best option to watch it & avoid the masses now?

 

[mandy200587]

Thanks for the info. That's kind of a bummer. What will be the best option to watch it & avoid the masses now?

That's a good question! This is the first bit of info we have gotten.

 

[tarheelmjfan]

Also, should we switch hotels for the 31st & 1st? If possible, we'd really rather not deal with cabs that late at night.

 

[tarheelmjfan]

That's a good question! This is the first bit of info we have gotten.

Thanks. I'll try to find more info.

 

[mandy200587]

I don't know if there any are hotels within walking distance over in that area, it's more of a neighborhood area style

 

[tarheelmjfan]

I don't know if there any are hotels within walking distance over in that area, it's more of a neighborhood area style

First, I need to figure out where Bicentennial Capitol Mall is. Thanks to you girls we had a perfect plan. Now, I'm wondering, if it's possible to duplicate a similar plan for the new location.

 

[mandy200587]

The new area is much more spacious, i want to say it's near the farmer's market

 

[tarheelmjfan]

The new area is much more spacious, i want to say it's near the farmer's market

Thanks for the additional info. Hopefully, we can find an experience similar to what we had planned with booking Acme VIP, then walking back to Omni. The change is disappointing at the moment, but I'm sure we'll find a way to make the most of it. That's what we get for planning so far ahead.

 

[asta]

Thanks for the additional info. Hopefully, we can find an experience similar to what we had planned with booking Acme VIP, then walking back to Omni. The change is disappointing at the moment, but I'm sure we'll find a way to make the most of it. That's what we get for planning so far ahead.

I would not be disappointed with your plans. The Omni is still the best place to stay and you can't go wrong with celebrating the New Year at the Acme. The new location at the Bicentenial Mall is more spacious than the riverfront but there aren't any hotels at that location. The article says that shuttles will be provided between lower broad and new location but I don't know how easy that will be with the huge crowd. They will also televise it on a big screen to lower broad with fireworks at both locations. I would wait to see who the performers will be before changing plans.

I did see where Old Crow Medicine Show is performing at the Ryman that night. They were there last year for New Years Eve in a sold out show.

 

[tarheelmjfan]

I would not be disappointed with your plans. The Omni is still the best place to stay and you can't go wrong with celebrating the New Year at the Acme. The new location at the Bicentenial Mall is more spacious than the riverfront but there aren't any hotels at that location. The article says that shuttles will be provided between lower broad and new location but I don't know how easy that will be with the huge crowd. They will also televise it on a big screen to lower broad with fireworks at both locations. I would wait to see who the performers will be before changing plans.

I did see where Old Crow Medicine Show is performing at the Ryman that night. They were there last year for New Years Eve in a sold out show.

We have Ryman booked for the 30th. I'll ask DS, if he wants to repeat the venue & see Old Crow Medicine Show. I wish we'd known in time to choose between the nights, but we'll work with what we have. We really wanted to experience the big, public NYE celebration in person, without having to deal with a major crowd. If my health wasn't bad, joining the masses would be fun. Unfortunately, that's not an option for me. We'll just have to wait for more info to see what our options are. Thanks for your input.

 

[tarheelmjfan]

We have Ryman booked for the 30th. I'll ask DS, if he wants to repeat the venue & see Old Crow Medicine Show. I wish we'd known in time to choose between the nights, but we'll work with what we have. We really wanted to experience the big, public NYE celebration in person, without having to deal with a major crowd. If my health wasn't bad, joining the masses would be fun. Unfortunately, that's not an option for me. We'll just have to wait for more info to see what our options are. Thanks for your input.

Sorry to quote myself, but I see wine was clouding my thoughts. DS wants to see the Grand Ole Opry show, so we had to book the 30th. I haven't had a chance to talk to him about OCMS at Ryman. Hopefully, it won't sell out, before we can see what all our options are.

 

[KBoopaloo]

I just got back from Nashville last night and wanted to say that we loved Puckett's (went twice, preferred dinner to breakfast but both were good) and Biscuit Love (breakfast) in the Gulch. We went to Loveless Cafe too and thought it was good but not great. Pancake Pantry was also a thumbs up from us.

We didn't stay at the Omni (we were at the Hermitage) but did walk through at one point and it was lovely and a great location so I think you'll be happy there.

We used UBER a lot and never had any issues at all though it may be tougher around the holidays with so many people in town. One thing I would not recommend is the free MTA bus service they offer downtown. We had lousy experiences both times we tried using it (one driver gave us incorrect route info and sent us way out of our way and the other driver had no idea where she was going - passengers were actually telling her where she needed to turn and we ended up taking a few wrong turns and going around in tiny circles. LOL).