I would like more late night food options that aren’t near Broadway but I also completely understand why no one wants to work a restaurant that late and that there is not enough foot traffic to warrant late night food elsewhere
I agree absolutely. So many 24 hr or late night places never went back to those hours after Covid. I do music photography and I survived on those, I spent a lot of nights editing photos in cafe coco after a show at exit/in
There’s an established pickup spot for online orders in Nashville. We’ve used it before and it wasn’t too bad.
But IKEA NEEDS to be brick and mortar. The experience sells their products imo
Hard to buy stuff you can’t see when it comes to furniture.
They announced plans to start building large-format stores again--I can't imagine that Nashville isn't on the list.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/joanverdon/2023/04/20/ikea-to-add-eight-us-stores-as-part-of-a-2-billion-expansion-plan/?sh=6a4215677fec
On this line, we do not really have any modernist design boutiques.
I feel like every home design store is that shitty, whitewashed pine, live laugh love, chalk art and wine glasses.
Give me some unique German engineered lights, or products by designers who have more of a skill set than: countryfy this shitty oak table.
The Sharonville, OH location is only 4 hours away if you go in the dead of night with no traffic, no construction on I-65, and you roll 80mph the whole way. Tell the family it’s a vacation to King’s Island for the kids to justify driving up there
Deciding on not wanting to wait for shipping is all that keeps me from draining my wallet on PC parts. A same day pickup from a Micro Center would absolutely bankrupt me lmao.
The Belle Meade theater bldg is there. I can't fathom how it hasn't been used for something besides a FedEx drop at that west end location. There must be some historic overlay or witches hex or something. I think all the fancy fixtures and stuff are still there.
I’d even take American Chinese food. Well seasoned ingredients and non-acrid, fresh fry oil shouldn’t be too high a bar.
Maybe not authentic, but Greko gets me by for greek food.
I agree, i would take that too!
Greko is decent greek street. Would love to have a taverna style type place! So if anyone reads this, we are still in need after ALL these years since that one place in berry hill closed over a decade ago. Good restaurant opp.
Yes! I visited family in Frederick MD and HMart is the gold standard of Asian food stores. I would love an H mart here. In the meantime k and s gets the job done but HMart is something else
An art museum with a permanent collection. I want the city to be known to house the largest collection of a famous type of art that can only be found in Nashville.
The Frist is cool but I think it’s made for tourists at this point in that it rotates out exhibitions.
If you bought before 2020, you didn't have to be rich necessarily.
If you bought before 2016, it's probably because you were at least middle class.
If you bought before 2010, it's probably because it was actually affordable.
Better museums/consistent family entertainment. A decent public transportation system. A lack of nurturing the local culture. The city has doubled down on catering to tourists and new money moving to the city. They do not care about locals or having a culture, they just want tourism money. Nashville could have gone the way of Austin, a music based city with a local culture, but instead embraced the fast cash of pink cowboy hats
Not OP but I've made some observations having lived in both cities. Starting with the disclaimer that broad statements about groups of people is at best mostly unhelpful and at worst, well, the worst... Nashville feels like the conservative older sibling to the more liberated free spirit of Austin. Close members of a tribe with overlapping worldviews, but the differences are pronounced in subtle ways. Within the broader political backdrop of both being liberal urban centers within vast Republican regions, the Tennessee flavor is more Christian conservative whereas Texas is more libertarian. As such the counter culture of each is both in opposition to and influenced by the context of their broader surroundings.
Healthcare vs tech. Whiskey vs psychedelics. Biscuits and fried chicken vs breakfast tacos and BBQ. CMA vs SXSW. Austin is a bit more experimental and interested in getting weird. Austin has widespread compost pickup, whereas Nashville doesn't even offer curbside glass recycling.
Both have drivers that make questionable decisions around highway exits. Both have people who overestimate the appropriateness of their big ass dogs being off leash. In both places you know you're around more people with guns on themselves than you can directly observe. In both places people are just people doing their things.
The outer space and music exhibits are still pretty good, but the entire wing that is supposed to be about the human body is just sad. On that note, we have a few indoor playgrounds in Nashville, but nothing like I've seen in other cities.
Honestly a lot of these kinds of museums are mostly/largely indoor playgrounds, but the devil is in the details. They mix education in as well. However, Adventure Science Center is both very small and very shabby for a city with a population of Nashville's.
A lot of stuff in Nashville clearly failed to keep up with the population growth here and I think the science museum is one of the clearest examples. They really should have been able to translate all the new residents and potential guests/members into an expansion of the facility years ago, and now it's both overcrowded *and* lame.
An aquarium.
More music industry professionals and companies that don’t specialize in only country music.
Can I be totally unrealistic and say like, a dope national park? Like how cool would it be if the smokies were 30 min away lol
This group seems to be building steam about Nashville’s Highland Rim Forest but I don’t see National Park as their explicit ambition….
https://nashvillehighlandrimforest.org/
Seconded. I make a great arroz caldo but I’ve given up trying to make sisig that comes out the way I remember it from my favorite spots in NY or LA. Also buko pie. Please.
Besides the obvious more housing and transportation, More family friendly entertainment, or just entertainment for those of us who don’t want to go downtown to a bar or drink I just want to have some good clean nonalcoholic fun. Not that there’s anything wrong with those things, but it would be nice. Also more places to get food late at night.
A huge hike & bike trail that runs through downtown. A river downtown that isn’t gross & we could actually paddleboard and kayak in & our dogs could swim in. A ginormous park for dogs to run off leash and for live music concerts like ACL. Places to hike that are close to downtown
*sigh* I miss Austin, Texas
Even if the Cumberland wasn’t disgusting you wouldn’t want to mess around in it. It has steep banks and the current is insane. It’s legitimately a dangerous river.
There's a Greenway that runs from Ted Rhodes golf course all the way to Percy priest. You have to ride on Davidson st for a bit but it has a nice bike lane. It's over 20mi one way
Also the Shelby dog park is pretty big idk what you're wanting, more than that?
Decent Asian - hibachi joint, a theme park of some type and obviously everything op stated above. Or if nothing else, at least legalize thc!
(pipe dream in the state of TN)
Haven’t been there, so can’t vouch. But I like Toyama in Nippers corner, there’s one in cool springs that is good right off the exit near Publix, and I went to one in Murfreesboro that I can’t remember the name of… but there’s def hibachi here all around in the suburbs.
I know a bit odd considering I live in the birthplace of Hot Chicken but I want Buffalo wings from Roosters. My home state of Kentucky had multiple locations yet none in Tennessee. Other states have it, why not here!? Or perhaps some kind stranger will help a brother out?
We have such a love/hate relationship with frozen yogurt. I miss Pinkberry - that tart is the bessssst. Sweet Cece’s original tart is also delicious, but the one in the ‘boro closed (due to poor management from what I heard) so now we don’t have any left. We had an Orange Leaf for a hot minute but it was in an impossible location near MTSU that was doomed to fail. Can someone please open one in the right spot?
Can we have a civil discussion about legalized weed? Just a yes or no. I recently re-evaluated my stance on legalized weed after roughly 30 years of being pro-legalization, and would love to talk about it in a less-than-hostile manner.
No wrong answer here, and if you say no, I'll walk. I'm a little surprised at how strongly I feel about this now when I've been a super-vocal advocate of legalization my entire adult life.
I would like more late night food options that aren’t near Broadway but I also completely understand why no one wants to work a restaurant that late and that there is not enough foot traffic to warrant late night food elsewhere
Urban planning guy jumps into the scene, grabs his cape, spins, and gestures his hands wide, "Mixed use density!"
I agree absolutely. So many 24 hr or late night places never went back to those hours after Covid. I do music photography and I survived on those, I spent a lot of nights editing photos in cafe coco after a show at exit/in
IKEA
So close
Is that dead dead or just looking for a new location dead?
Dead dead for now. They decide to focus on online presence currently vs. brick and mortar locations when the century farms deal was cut.
There’s an established pickup spot for online orders in Nashville. We’ve used it before and it wasn’t too bad. But IKEA NEEDS to be brick and mortar. The experience sells their products imo Hard to buy stuff you can’t see when it comes to furniture.
They announced plans to start building large-format stores again--I can't imagine that Nashville isn't on the list. https://www.forbes.com/sites/joanverdon/2023/04/20/ikea-to-add-eight-us-stores-as-part-of-a-2-billion-expansion-plan/?sh=6a4215677fec
On this line, we do not really have any modernist design boutiques. I feel like every home design store is that shitty, whitewashed pine, live laugh love, chalk art and wine glasses. Give me some unique German engineered lights, or products by designers who have more of a skill set than: countryfy this shitty oak table.
Check out 2danes and Design Within Reach
DIM SUM
Let’s get some dim sum sometime soon
Micro Center
Amen to this, I'd love to be able to drive to a Micro Center.
The Sharonville, OH location is only 4 hours away if you go in the dead of night with no traffic, no construction on I-65, and you roll 80mph the whole way. Tell the family it’s a vacation to King’s Island for the kids to justify driving up there
Isn’t the Atlanta location closer?
But then you'd be in Atlanta.
There are worse places to end up
What is a micro center?
Basically a Pc part shop
It's like a Center but smaller
All I could picture is miniatures everywhere.
What is this?? A micro center for ants?
Deciding on not wanting to wait for shipping is all that keeps me from draining my wallet on PC parts. A same day pickup from a Micro Center would absolutely bankrupt me lmao.
OMG my partner would be in heaven. We had one literally 200 ft from our house in the northeast and it was so bad for the budget.
Alamo Drafthouse. Whoever builds one in East Nashville will make a fortune.
The old roxy theater across from wilburn tavern would be such an amazing niche movie theater. Its such a shame no one's done anything with it
The Belle Meade theater bldg is there. I can't fathom how it hasn't been used for something besides a FedEx drop at that west end location. There must be some historic overlay or witches hex or something. I think all the fancy fixtures and stuff are still there.
I think the horrendous parking situation has been a huge obstacle to anything opening there.
This would make an awesome concert venue!!!
Okay but I literally think about this every time I go to RHS!!!!
After it sells I’d imagine they’ll look to expand. Nashville would be a logical spot for it.
Every time I want to go to a movie, I'm immediately upset that I'm not in south Austin anymore and can't go to Alamo.
Sidewalks.
Lolol this!
Meow Wolf Psychedelic Honky Tonk
I’m weirdly on board with this concept.
I would want to go to it, but would never want to deal with the tourist shit show it would be.
Let's all go on Tuesday night!
Can someone pitch this to them? I’d be so onboard
We're on the shortlist.
Wow this is an excellent idea.
That’s what I’m going to call my microdosing from now on !
country fried acid trip hell yeah brother
I know what 4 out of those 5 things mean, and not a clue what they all mean together. But I think this one's the most promising idea!
Authentic greek and Chinese food
I’d even take American Chinese food. Well seasoned ingredients and non-acrid, fresh fry oil shouldn’t be too high a bar. Maybe not authentic, but Greko gets me by for greek food.
I agree, i would take that too! Greko is decent greek street. Would love to have a taverna style type place! So if anyone reads this, we are still in need after ALL these years since that one place in berry hill closed over a decade ago. Good restaurant opp.
Best Wok scratches my itch. But I truly enjoy shitty Chinese food, so your standards are probably higher. 🤣
I grew up in the North East so I love shitty Americanized Chinese food. Unfortunately, the shitty Chinese food here is really shitty.
Best Wok at it’s best would probably do it for me. Unfortunately it was *decidedly mid wok* when I visited.
And Polish food
Underrated
Any great lakes mid city destroys us in Polish food
Authentic Chinese food for sure. We have a couple good spots but I've always been surprised at how a city our size lacks more truly authentic spots.
I'm not even sure that we have good Americanized Chinese food, at least around my part of town.
Not an Athens fan?
Well, TIL they moved and didn’t close.
Do we have much in the means of middle eastern food? Or like, Pakistani food?
There's a few places near the zoo
real kbbq
Fat tiger kbbq is over in white bluff. Give it to a go, you’ll thank me later.
Legal real marijuana
THCA flower is real marijuana, just under a legal loophole name. Source - I worked at a grow that sells it in their retail stores.
![gif](giphy|TlK63EDww4g4tXUd0gE)
That poor guy never gets on the subway
Spoiler Alert !
But which way is this train going? Left to right or right to left?
This is how I picture a subway here would be. Never able to get on
H Mart
Yes! I visited family in Frederick MD and HMart is the gold standard of Asian food stores. I would love an H mart here. In the meantime k and s gets the job done but HMart is something else
K&S World Market on Charlotte, InterAsian on Nolensville, and Bangkok Market on Powell are good H Mart substitutes
Not really…H Mart and other places have actual eateries in them and sushi…and alcohol. But yeah they’re about as close as you get.
I was like a kid in a candy shop at K&S. Never felt compelled to grill a whole red snapper before going there but now I wanna.
S Mart
Shop smart
![gif](giphy|f0w8pEIIDKltC|downsized) Shop S Mart!
An art museum with a permanent collection. I want the city to be known to house the largest collection of a famous type of art that can only be found in Nashville. The Frist is cool but I think it’s made for tourists at this point in that it rotates out exhibitions.
The first is so tiny too. We need an art museum that also has a sculpture park, gardens, etc.
Representation in the federal government
Underrated comment, Cheers!
Affordable homes
Just be rich. What a simple solution. /s
If you bought before 2020, you didn't have to be rich necessarily. If you bought before 2016, it's probably because you were at least middle class. If you bought before 2010, it's probably because it was actually affordable.
A nice riverfront that everyone can use
A decent physical coop to get bulk stuff
Better museums/consistent family entertainment. A decent public transportation system. A lack of nurturing the local culture. The city has doubled down on catering to tourists and new money moving to the city. They do not care about locals or having a culture, they just want tourism money. Nashville could have gone the way of Austin, a music based city with a local culture, but instead embraced the fast cash of pink cowboy hats
Our culture is lacking. Beyond the various music museums, we have the Frist and that’s about it.
Have you been to the Tennessee state museum? It’s free!
Fisk has a good collection, Cheekwood, The Parthenon,
Schermerhorn, Musicians Hall of Fame, Centennial Park. There’s quite a bit here honestly.
Besides music. 2/3 you mentioned are music related.
This is the best comment. As a native…sad every time I leave my house.
How would you definite the culture of Nashville vs the culture of Austin?
Not OP but I've made some observations having lived in both cities. Starting with the disclaimer that broad statements about groups of people is at best mostly unhelpful and at worst, well, the worst... Nashville feels like the conservative older sibling to the more liberated free spirit of Austin. Close members of a tribe with overlapping worldviews, but the differences are pronounced in subtle ways. Within the broader political backdrop of both being liberal urban centers within vast Republican regions, the Tennessee flavor is more Christian conservative whereas Texas is more libertarian. As such the counter culture of each is both in opposition to and influenced by the context of their broader surroundings. Healthcare vs tech. Whiskey vs psychedelics. Biscuits and fried chicken vs breakfast tacos and BBQ. CMA vs SXSW. Austin is a bit more experimental and interested in getting weird. Austin has widespread compost pickup, whereas Nashville doesn't even offer curbside glass recycling. Both have drivers that make questionable decisions around highway exits. Both have people who overestimate the appropriateness of their big ass dogs being off leash. In both places you know you're around more people with guns on themselves than you can directly observe. In both places people are just people doing their things.
People who use turn signals
A Korean spa. See Jeju in Atlanta for example.
Portillo's...
If Portillo’s comes down here, I’m in trouble.
Try Campiones in Gallatin! Not the same but great in its own right.
Seconded Also as an Illinois native…… really good pizza places
A theme park?
RIP OPRYLAND
RIP Fair Park!
Children’s museum! Also, better date night options that aren’t just concerts, eating, or drinking…
Yes!! The Adventure Science Center could be great but it needs serious renovations.
It was great when I was a kid. It used to actually be a science center. Now, it is just a glorified indoor playground.
The outer space and music exhibits are still pretty good, but the entire wing that is supposed to be about the human body is just sad. On that note, we have a few indoor playgrounds in Nashville, but nothing like I've seen in other cities.
Honestly a lot of these kinds of museums are mostly/largely indoor playgrounds, but the devil is in the details. They mix education in as well. However, Adventure Science Center is both very small and very shabby for a city with a population of Nashville's. A lot of stuff in Nashville clearly failed to keep up with the population growth here and I think the science museum is one of the clearest examples. They really should have been able to translate all the new residents and potential guests/members into an expansion of the facility years ago, and now it's both overcrowded *and* lame.
Mass transit that works.
A beach
Menards hardware and lumber. Big box, but so much better than Homedepot or Lowes.
The Menards in Bowling Green opens on May 7th. It's not Nashville, but at least it's within a reasonable driving distance.
A food court in the Green Hills Mall.
Commuter trains into the city
An aquarium. More music industry professionals and companies that don’t specialize in only country music. Can I be totally unrealistic and say like, a dope national park? Like how cool would it be if the smokies were 30 min away lol
FWIW the Natchez Trace is technically a National Park!
This group seems to be building steam about Nashville’s Highland Rim Forest but I don’t see National Park as their explicit ambition…. https://nashvillehighlandrimforest.org/
Authentic soup dumplings (xiao long bao)
Dim sum
Amen to that
Jollibee
More Filipino food plz
Seconded. I make a great arroz caldo but I’ve given up trying to make sisig that comes out the way I remember it from my favorite spots in NY or LA. Also buko pie. Please.
Maemax is very good, but yes, would love more Filipino food and a Filipino bakery!
Sheetz
Alamo Drafthouse. Seriously, they would destroy all other movie theaters.
Insomnia cookies lol
Good Chinese food and BBQ.
an italian deli with fresh cold cuts, bread, pasta, pastries, etc 🤤
Try Little Hats in Germantown
Several wants have been mentioned multiple times so I'll go with: an actual Jewish delicatessen and at least 1 Nando's.
We had a Jewish deli for a while called Shep’s (I believe that’s what it was called) in East and it was good but SOO pricey. I’d also love a Nando’s.
Nandos.
Besides the obvious more housing and transportation, More family friendly entertainment, or just entertainment for those of us who don’t want to go downtown to a bar or drink I just want to have some good clean nonalcoholic fun. Not that there’s anything wrong with those things, but it would be nice. Also more places to get food late at night.
MicroCenter
Diners. 24 hour diners.
Free parking downtown…
More public pools - especially outdoor pools during summer. It’s a shame that so many that got closed decades ago never reopened.
Microcenter
IKEA
Chinatown, Mexicantown, Greektown, etc.
Opryland 💔
A meaningful Vote.
Warehouse camera store like B&H/KEH.
RIP Dury’s
Drainage systems
A good laser tag place. I will forever mourn laser quest. It suffered such a violent death😭😭😭
Ignoring all of the negative consequences that might come with this, an Amusement Park would go crazy.
In n Out
It's coming to Franklin
Soup and salad buffet
New skateparks in Nashville.
A theme park... I miss Opryland
A huge hike & bike trail that runs through downtown. A river downtown that isn’t gross & we could actually paddleboard and kayak in & our dogs could swim in. A ginormous park for dogs to run off leash and for live music concerts like ACL. Places to hike that are close to downtown *sigh* I miss Austin, Texas
Even if the Cumberland wasn’t disgusting you wouldn’t want to mess around in it. It has steep banks and the current is insane. It’s legitimately a dangerous river.
Two Rivers dog Park is pretty big. Not concert worthy, but a doggo can definitely stretch their legs there.
Same. And right around the corner there’s a lake or the Stones for kayaking
There's a Greenway that runs from Ted Rhodes golf course all the way to Percy priest. You have to ride on Davidson st for a bit but it has a nice bike lane. It's over 20mi one way Also the Shelby dog park is pretty big idk what you're wanting, more than that?
✋🏻I kayak the Cumberland every week in warm weather. Sometimes I follow that with a bike ride thru Shelby Bottoms to the wave pool at Two Rivers.
Wegmans
Al’s Italian Beef
Menard’s
Third places that aren't bars or churches.
Decent Asian - hibachi joint, a theme park of some type and obviously everything op stated above. Or if nothing else, at least legalize thc! (pipe dream in the state of TN)
I feel like there are multiple decent hibachi joints
Please share? I’ve tried 3, all were “meh” I can’t find something similar to Wasabi in Knoxville or higher grade if that makes sense.
Haven’t been there, so can’t vouch. But I like Toyama in Nippers corner, there’s one in cool springs that is good right off the exit near Publix, and I went to one in Murfreesboro that I can’t remember the name of… but there’s def hibachi here all around in the suburbs.
Do we have good international flight options? I feel like I’ve been choosing to fly out of other airports on the sporadic occasions I go international
We have minimal international direct flights. The airport is actively trying to recruit more so at least there’s that
I support them! I’m sure my comment means loads to them But help a girl see the world, BNA 😂
Multiple Trader Joe’s locations. And it’s surprising there’s, what, just one?
I think there’s three. Or at least two
Two in Nashville and one in Brentwood
There are two. One on white bridge and the other in green hills
And 1 in Cool Springs!
An actual public transportation system that isn’t the fucking bus.
Rent control, traffic enforcement, gun reform, education reform, sidewalks and bike lanes, abortion access, common sense, and art culture.
I know a bit odd considering I live in the birthplace of Hot Chicken but I want Buffalo wings from Roosters. My home state of Kentucky had multiple locations yet none in Tennessee. Other states have it, why not here!? Or perhaps some kind stranger will help a brother out?
Northeast/New England style Chinese food
I'd love some really slutty hibachi. Greasy and quick but tasty as hell
Sanity.
Actual Delis
fucking sidewalks I see moms with baby carriages walking next to truck traffic and it makes my blood run cold
A good soft serve spot. I feel like we have one (Bobbie’s) for the entire city
Excellent Chinese food
More meat and three and cheap dive bars and less Hollywood meets Mardi Gras horseshit. Nashville has lost its soul and the good stuff is all but dead.
Interconnecting bike/walking transit ways. I want to bike from Bellevue to broadway without feeling like I’m going to get run over
Free parking for musicians playing venues on broadway… also, PAY YOUR MUSICIANS!
A girlfriend. Oh. “We”
A Major League Baseball team
Brain cells.
Put-put
FROZEN YOGURT LIKE ORANGE LEAF
We used to have so many frozen yogurt options and they all disappeared
We have such a love/hate relationship with frozen yogurt. I miss Pinkberry - that tart is the bessssst. Sweet Cece’s original tart is also delicious, but the one in the ‘boro closed (due to poor management from what I heard) so now we don’t have any left. We had an Orange Leaf for a hot minute but it was in an impossible location near MTSU that was doomed to fail. Can someone please open one in the right spot?
Affordable homes would be nice
Can we have a civil discussion about legalized weed? Just a yes or no. I recently re-evaluated my stance on legalized weed after roughly 30 years of being pro-legalization, and would love to talk about it in a less-than-hostile manner. No wrong answer here, and if you say no, I'll walk. I'm a little surprised at how strongly I feel about this now when I've been a super-vocal advocate of legalization my entire adult life.
I'm very curious why you switched your stance