Chismes Cafe

I saw the good reviews about this place so I was looking forward to trying it out but honestly my experience was horrible. I came on a Wednesday late morning so I understand why there was only one waitress working and it wasn’t really a problem for me, the problems started when it took waiting over 15 minutes just for her to take my order. There was maybe two other tables in there yet she solely focused on them and not the table that I was at with relatives. Because it took so long for her to get my order and the fact that I had to be somewhere else in the next hr, I decided to place it to go, that took about another 20 minutes. OK fine you know like it’s being prepared fresh I completely get it, the problem is when I got home, the food was so greasy it was disgusting & everybody’s food was like that. I transferred my food from the to go box into a plate, and even afterwards you could just see the grace spilling out onto the plate. Tried to get as much grease off as I could but in the end I didn’t even finish my meal abecause it started to give me an upset stomach that ended up lasting a while. I paid $50 for 2 huaraches, 2 Gorditas, 1 agua fresca and 1 plain water to me for that price that should have not been what I got. The only positive thing that I can say is their salsa verde & the agua de Jamaica are good. It’s pricey compared to other places that I’ve been at that delivered a better experience and food. After coming here and telling people I know about my experience I have heard some bad stuff about the waitress here being rude. Honestly, I will never come back here and I wouldn’t recommend it to others. Customer service is clearly lacking and food is not worth what they’re charging.

Went here after a day at the zoo. This is an authentic Mexican place. When I walked in the place was filled with Hispanic folks enjoying the great food. I had pozole and some tacos Al pastor. I recommend them both. My wife and kids loved the flautas and the jarra Mexican fruit sodas. It helps if you can speak some Spanish here but the food is worth the effort. In short all of us loved it.

Breakfast on a Sunday with some added Mexican style. Why not! Have the eggs Mexican style with the normal beans and rice. The wraps are steaming hot and it was excellent. Stole some beef from Marys wraps and even better. The creamy sauce was just right amount of heat to make them spicy but not deadly. You might want to have a Corona or two handy just in case.

I have eaten here twice and really enjoyed it both times. The tacos, burrito, and gordita are all so good. I’m big on gorditas, and I think this was the best one I have ever had. I had pastor on mine, but it’s also good with chorizo. Very friendly and helpful staff and excellent service. I’ll be back!

I've missed my abuelas cooking for a long time, and I still do, but this place made it easy to remember her. The first review I checked mentioned their Pozole being top tier, and I knew I had found the place I'd been looking for. Got a bowl a lot bigger than I thought it would be and finished the whole thing 😋. Staff was wonderful and very patient with what little Spanish I could manage to remember. Bring family!

Its my first time and the tacos are really delicious. The server was very friendly and she spoke English, thankfully.

Best Mexican food in all of Nashville.. plus the creamy salsa Verde is the best in all of Nashville.. I buy a large cup full every week lol

The food is great, tasty and really nice like real Mexican flavor, looks like the owner is from Jalisco, so the pozole and torta ahogada is a must. The o ly complain is a little the service, the waitress are nice and polite, but in general they need more people, sometimes service is slow and they forget what you ask them, but because the need more people maybe. But they're nice, and please take care more of the clean of the tables

Chismes Cafe is THE place to go for anyone visiting the Zoo or in the area for lunch. The cóctel de camarón is DELICIOUS. Last Friday, my boyfriend ordered the chilaquiles and I got the campechano cocktail, which is the shrimp cocktail with octopus added. We both loved it. Anytime I bring guests visiting us in Nashville if they want Mexican, I bring them here and they always leave happy. The birria caldo is also fantastic.

Great food. Try the fresh tortillas w a cold beer! The food is very authentic and the staff is super friendly.

Very good food best mexican food pozole menudo very good service very nice place for family's

Dropped into Chismes Cafe on a Sunday afternoon for lunch. My first thought was it was a tight squeeze. The tables are really close together which I'm not sure is a great thing in this day and age. Service was fast and we were checked on multiple times. The food itself was probably better then most mexican food in Nashville. I had a pork and cheese papulsa which was okay. I have had a couple other better ones in the Nashville area (see my other reviews). I had pazole which was definitely something I would go back for. The pork was tender and had flavor and the hominy was just right. The broth itself wasn't stunning but more then adequate for the area. What I liked about this place is the menu had menudu, pazole and birria all on one menu. There was three of us at the table and we had one if each. Each one was worth a return visit!

The food was amazingly delicious!! It was so flavorful and authentic! The service was great! They where so attentive and kind! The place is overall beautiful, it has so many pretty murals and flowers! Overall 5/5

Hands down the best authentic Mexican restaurant! One of my favs to go to. Food is always very good!

I'm not going to get into the specifics, because I don't think I can do so without enthusiastically stringing together a considerable number of obscenities... It's just that good.

I was in the mood for posole and so I heard they have the best! The place is smaller and I was greeted right away! They speak English and Spanish here as well. The posole was flavored really well and just the right spice! I also tried a chorizo and a carne taco and the corn tortillas are homemade. The horchata is sooooo good too! I am from AZ so it's hard to find a place that reminds me of food back home. This was a great place! I will be back! For anyone who doesn't know what posole is it is a broth based soup with either red or green chili. It has white hominy and then either pork or chicken as the meat. It is a very light yet spicy soup. I highly recommend trying it! Also, if you see caldo soup that is also a broth based soup that usually comes with corn on the cob in it with carrots, potatoes. Branch out and try something new.

Large portions and fast service. Tacos made with handmade tortillas were delicious. All drinks looked giant, confirmed by our 32 ounce horchata. The food at the next table looked scrumptious as well, will return to try their other dishes soon.

Its the best taco I have ever tried; its a hidden gem. I come from west coast and have eaten so many mexican places. I dont know why there are not many reviews for this place. This place is def authentic (or very close), a friend of mine recommended this. I had one steak, one spicy pork and one chicken. All three are well spiced. The sauces were on point. And the churro was served hot and crunchy. The waitress was friendly and helpful when I asked her to explain food on the menu. I highly recommend this place if you come to Nashville. I wish I found a place like this in west coast.

Best spot for Posole!!! Very generous portions! Homemade tortillas! Everything is delicious! You won't leave here hungry or disappointed!

Chismes Cafe is another excellent addition to the Plaza Mariachi parking lot. The restaurant offers a fresh inviting interior with a coffee & juice bar and many Mexican beer bottles to choose from. The menu is small, but my friends and I sampled near everything and all was excellent. They had 3 salsas to use with their complimentary chips. All of them were very good. I ordered the Huaraches which is kind of like a Gordita but with tortilla just on the bottom arranged like a flat bread pizza. I had carne asada as my meat and it had refried beans, sprinkled cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, and fresh avocado. My friends ordered tacos, gorditas, and tamales. They were all very pleased as well.

This is a good place...mainly. It's a comfortable little spot near Mariachi Plaza and is clean, neat and altogether pleasant. The servers are warm and friendly and the clientele was mainly Latino...and that's a good thing in a local Mexican restaurant. We ordered coffee, which was surprisingly good, then guacamole and corn chips. It was also very good. We like spicy food, so when the server told us that the hot sauce was extra hot, we were a little underwhelmed...at least until we tasted the sauce, which was, without doubt, H-O-T with a capital 'F'. The food we ordered was exceptionally good and it was cheap. So, why not allot 5 stars. Simply, it was because while we ate our meals, two TVs were blaring out a highly descriptive blood'n'guts movie starring John Clawed van Dammit. Perhaps it's a Mexican thing.... Otherwise, this is a great little eatery and I recommend it highly.

Admittedly not the best first impression. I walked in to find a harried scene: tables were littered with plates, napkins and other debris; tables were out of sort; and the staff behind the counter were excitedly talking at one another (I'm neglecting to call it 'shouting'). In the midst of all of this, the manager/owner/woman in charge, took a deep breath, smiled, welcomed me in Spanish and English, and asked if I was eating in or needed to take my order to go. 'To go.' I'd studied the menu online (well, pictures of) but it looks like those menus may be out of date. The menu I looked at was smaller and had been edited down. No matter, I had an idea of what I wanted: tacos and a papusa. There was a 3 for $4 taco deal* I was going to take advantage of and papusas are always a good idea. I ordered... and waited. In the time I waited, the tables weren't bused, a woman came in with a slightly unruly child to pick up a take out order, the TV showed various barely clothed men and women writhing about Miami Beach, and an older man entered sat down, got annoyed at the wait time, waved his hands, banged on the table and shouted 'Estoy aqui!' I just sat there. After more waiting (and more TV jiggling) my order was finally ready. When I got up to pay for it, the woman put her hands together and thanked me for my patience. My annoyance melted away then and there. Chismes is a small space, packed with seating. She was, obviously, in the weeds and doing several jobs at once. Sometimes all the mierda hits the fan at once. She acknowledged it and thanked me. Done. I wasn't going to belabor her agony. Besides, my food smelled great. I got home and tore into my tacos. Ridiculous. So so good. Seasoned, shredded meat, cilantro and onion never tasted so good. Add in fresh lime and Chismes' thick, green hot sauce and you have a party. The papusa came with curtido (good). The texture/consistency of the papusa was a bit tough and off-putting but I don't know if that's because I ordered a Salvadoran dish at a Mexican place. It wasn't terrible but didn't top the papusas at my local fave Salvadoran spot. The curtido didn't have the vinegar-y kick I was looking for, so I just added some green sauce and kept it moving. For as tough as the papusa was, the inner beans and cheese were very good. I'd return to Chismes but I am sticking to getting my food to go. *Seriously: why do you pay so much for tacos. You know you're ripping yourself off, right?

My wife and I squeezed in lunch at Chismes Cafe between my haircut and The Chew, a cooking show that airs at noon. It's a small, apparently family run, restaurant in Plaza Mariachi. Only a few booths were occupied- one by a family- when we walked into the place. The lunch rush obviously hadn't begun yet. No muss, no fuss, no bother. When our server brought our menus to our table, i was relieved to find that our copy was in English. I speak Taco Bell Spanish and that's about it. I chose three tacos, a cheese papusa and, to go, a beef gordita. My wife, my resident expert in "authentic" Mexican food, ordered the menudo, a tripe soup, and, for dessert, the flan. A fan of authentic Mexican food would love my tacos. The tortillas were homemade (probably there) and were meant to be filled with shredded beef, cilantro and onions. There's a blistering red sauce to put on if you dare. The papusa had a crispy covering over cheese. An enjoyable dish. The real winner was the beef gordita. This, I will be sure to order on my next visit. Now for the good part. My wife said that when she lived in Buffalo, NY, she had bowls of menuda, a tripe soup, at numerous restaurants. The menuda at Chismes as as good as the very best that she's had in Buffalo. Her flan was homemade and the portion that she got for lunch was HUGE. The food here was first rate, but I'm ambivalent about how to rate mine. On the other hand, my wife absolutely loved her menudo and her flan. Looks like Chismes Cafe gets four stars.

Excellent authentic cuisine. Everything was fresh and freshly prepared I got the mixed fajita plate and it was scrumptious - I also got the tripe and it is a must experience! Friendly servers but my companion requests that they put English subtitles because he lovely server did not speak much English. Nachos were excellent - the homemade sauces are mild (spicy), medium (hot) and hot ( will combust if not careful) and are great as well. Huge portions - a fajita platter and a nacho platter could easily feed three people but leave room for the flan! They serve beer and these magnificent looking drinks that I shall explore next time. This is a small friendly place with good food! Try it you can't go wrong!

Small cafe serving Latin food. Tortas, tacos, tamales, pupusas, quesadillas, sopitos, and more. Chicken, pork, tongue, beef meat available. They sell bottled sodas, cane sugar instead of corn syrup. The food is fresh, made to order. The servings are big. You get three different sauces and a vinegar cole slaw with your food. I had to take half my food to go. I had sopitos, one with beef and one with pork. The beef was my fave. I also had a bean and cheese pupusa that i ate later, cold, and it was still good. It's incredibly inexpensive. There is a pastry case. The service was really good. A lunch time win.

It was hard to find but it was by far the best authentic Mexican food I've had. The service was good & fast, we got our food fast.

We sampled the tamales and pineapple drink during the TIRRC food crawl and they were wonderful!

Came in just for Churros since we just had lunch. They were yummy and hot. Need to come here for lunch though. Looks so authentic and the ladies were very nice. Place was packed when we drove by, very promising!

We were in search of some good coffee and a bite to eat, and the cafe nearby was closed on Mondays. We were lucky! Chismes' coffee was strong and full of flavor. We developed an appetite looking at the menu, and decided to have an early lunch. It was delicious, authentic Mexican food, and the server was attentive and helpful. It is clean and comfortable. Our Nashville host (who lives nearby) was impressed, and we agreed we would also definitely return to Chismes on our next trip to Nashville.

The food is great! Bad service we waited 20 minutes to get our drink order. And another 20 minutes for our food on a Sunday afternoon with only one more table seated. Will give it another try in a few weeks.

I am giving this place a 3 star for now but am intrigued enough to give it a future try. It is certainly a slightly different style of food from most Mexican restaurants. I had the enchiladas which were good but could have done with just a tad more heat for my taste. My wife had a dish that seemed to have chewy soggy tortilla strips in a green sauce that was not nice at all. Sadly our server was on her first day and spoke very little English and did mess up our orders a little. Other people in the restaurant were very enthusiastic in their praise if the food so hopefully on my next visit I can give them a higher star rating.

Autentica comida Mexicana. We had the menudo and the caldo de pollo. The tortillas are home made. Everything was excellent.