The Loveless Cafe
Southern restaurant (US) · Nashville ·
Iconic Southern cafe with legendary biscuits, fried chicken
![The Loveless Cafe by Loveless Cafe [Official Photo]](https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/62592947/Biscuits_1__1_.12.jpg "The Loveless Cafe by Loveless Cafe [Official Photo]")
Iconic Southern cafe with legendary biscuits, fried chicken
"A Southern breakfast and comfort-food institution famous for its biscuits since 1951; offerings include build-your-own-biscuit sliders with country ham or fried chicken, biscuits smothered in gravy, and house-made fruit preserves—classic, nostalgic fare." - Lydia Mansel Lydia Mansel Lydia Mansel is a writer with more than eight years of experience editing and writing for both brands and online publications—with a particular focus on travel, fashion, and lifestyle. She’s also the founder of the travel site justpacked.com. Travel + Leisure Editorial Guidelines
"Loveless Cafe is a Nashville institution. Tourists make the 30-minute pilgrimage out west to pay their respects to its legendary biscuits and eat them in the same diner where Dolly Parton and Taylor Swift once drew breath. It’s one of those iconic places you have to mark off your travel bingo car—like Times Square or the world’s largest ball of twine—and then never go back. Why? Because the food isn’t particularly good. The biscuits turn into a raw, uncomfortably doughy clump in your mouth and most of the meats seem to be shouldering through a particularly dry season. The grits and hashbrown casserole swoop in to save the day, but so many of the items leave you feeling like John Travolta in Pulp Fiction looking around a room in confusion. photo credit: Loveless Cafe photo credit: Loveless Cafe photo credit: Loveless Cafe photo credit: Loveless Cafe Pause Unmute No matter when you show up, there’ll be a wait to get in. Fortunately for you, Loveless has turned the former motel spaces on the property into a gift shop and market where you can kill time and buy a branded mug that says, “Praise the lard and pass the biscuits.” Once you’re seated, the service is quick, efficient, and bubbling over with that infamous Southern hospitality and friendly charm. Unfortunately, one cannot live on Southern hospitality alone. RESERVE A TABLE WITH RESERVE A TABLE Food Rundown Biscuits If you like your biscuits small and so doughy that they stick to the roof of your mouth like a hazardous glob of peanut butter, this is your happy place. They come with both strawberry and peach jam, which are delicious but aren’t enough to save the biscuits. photo credit: Loveless Cafe Country Ham Loveless does a thinly sliced version of country ham, which doesn’t do the dish any favors. Country ham already leans a bit dry and salty, but slicing it thin just exacerbates the effect, making it almost the consistency of jerky. Cheese Grits The cheese variation is superior to the plain version. And Loveless gets the consistency just right. It’s a thick porridge of cheese and hominy that deserves an upgrade from a cup to a bowl. Hashbrown Casserole Another gold-star side dish, the hashbrown casserole has a perfectly crispy exterior that gives way to warm and cheesy shredded potatoes. It is the standard for hasbrown casseroles around the south. photo credit: Loveless Cafe Pimento Cheese And Fried Green Tomato Biscuit The fried green tomato and pimento cheese here would make any Southerner proud. We’d happily eat them on their own, sans biscuit. Pulled Pork Loveless has its own barbecue pit on the property, but this pulled pork ain’t it. Sure, the portion is huge, but it’s so dry it poses a choking hazard. Also, the barbecue sauce on top looks like a jellied glaze. Hard pass." - Jackie Gutierrez-Jones
"Head out of downtown’s flashy melee for a country breakfast at Loveless Cafe, a diminutive destination way out on Highway 100, right where the Natchez Trace Parkway begins its 444-mile route down to Mississippi. That’s how Loveless Cafe got its start selling some of the best biscuits, jam, fried chicken, and country ham in the South, when Lon and Annie Loveless converted their home into a motel and restaurant for hungry travelers. Now the motel is closed, but the dining operation is going strong, serving sweet and sticky blackberry and peach preserves alongside fluffy biscuits in what was once the Loveless’s living room." - Ellen Fort
"I rise early and head slightly out of town to Loveless Cafe, an iconic roadside motel-turned-restaurant where I find some of the best biscuits and jam in town. In a warmly curated dining room with red, black, or blue checkered tablecloths, I pore over classics like country ham and eggs with red-eye gravy, omelettes packed with barbecue pulled pork, cinnamon raisin French toast, and fried chicken and waffles." - Kellie Walton
"Back for spring and summer, Loveless Cafe’s seasonal outdoor patio bar Smokehouse Sips opened this past weekend with covered picnic tables and full bar service, offering specialty-crafted cocktails and mocktails and its own signature menu; highlights include a signature Nashville Kats drink made with Loveless’ Blue Lightnin’ Moonshine Mixer. Smokehouse Sips is open Saturdays and Sundays beginning at 9 a.m." - Jackie Gutierrez-Jones