Where to Eat Near Dolly Parton’s SongTeller Hotel in Downtown Nashville

If you are staying at Dolly Parton’s SongTeller Hotel, the walk to dinner is shorter than the walk to the elevator. The hotel sits at 211 Commerce St. We are at 204 Commerce St — directly across the street, close enough that you can see our windows from the sidewalk out front.

Downtown Nashville has no shortage of places to eat, but most of them are on Broadway, and Broadway after dark is a specific experience: loud, bright, wall-to-wall, and built for a bachelorette party rather than a dinner. Sometimes that is exactly what you flew in for. Often, after a day of travel and a night of live music, it is not.

This is a practical guide to eating across the street from the SongTeller — when we are open, what to order, and how to handle the group you may be traveling with. We are an independent restaurant and not affiliated with the hotel; we are simply the neighbors, and we have been on this block a while.

What Brugada is

Brugada Kitchen & Bar is a modern American restaurant and cocktail bar at 204 Commerce St. Candlelit, indoor, and a little tucked-away in feel — the kind of room where you can actually hear the person across the table. We serve weekend brunch, dinner every night we are open, and late-night on Fridays and Saturdays, alongside a full bar built around handcrafted cocktails.

The short version of why it works for hotel guests: it is one block off Broadway, which is close enough to walk to everything and far enough that the room is not competing with a cover band.

When we are open — check this before you walk over

This is the part most visitors need and the part most guides leave out. Our hours are not uniform across the week, and one day matters especially:

Two things worth circling. We are closed Mondays — if that is your only night downtown, now you know. And Tuesday through Thursday we open at 4:30 pm and close at 9 pm, so there is no lunch service midweek. Friday through Sunday we are open from the morning onward.

If you are arriving late from a show, Friday and Saturday are the nights that stay open well past midnight — Saturday until 2:30 am.

What to order

The dinner menu is modern American, which in practice means a short list done properly rather than a long list done adequately.

• Filet-style steak — green beans, red-wine reduction, rosemary butter. The order for the person who wants a proper dinner after a travel day.
• Seared mahi — lemon-caper butter, green beans, sun-dried tomatoes and onion. Salmon substitution available.
• Seared lamb chop — over garlic-mushroom risotto and carrots, topped with parmesan.
• Lamb in vodka sauce — over fettuccine. Quietly one of the most-ordered things we make.
• Fettuccine alfredo — garlic, lemon, butter, butterfly shrimp.
• Blackened chicken pasta, or the double smash burger — two angus patties, American cheese, sautéed onions, tots, chipotle aioli — when you want something less formal.
• House brisket bowl — vegetable fried rice, avocado crema, chipotle aioli.

If you are eating at the bar or grazing before a show, the starters are the move: shiitake dumplings, Brussels and bacon, loaded beer-cheese tots, Brugada tacos, and flatbreads.

A drink across the street

The SongTeller has live music inside it — Parton’s Live on the second floor and Jolene’s on the top floor, both programmed by the hotel. When the set ends and you want somewhere to sit down and talk about it, we are thirty seconds away.

Our signature cocktail list runs eight deep: the Brugada Old Fashioned (Old Forester 86, bitters, cherry, orange zest), French 75 (gin, bubbly, lemon, lavender), Martini #204 (vodka, vermouth, olive oil, lemon), The Regular (blanco tequila, blueberry, lemon, pineapple, mint), Anastasia (sparkling rosé, ambrosia, vodka, lemon), Gatsby’s Smash (bourbon, lemon, raspberry, rosemary), Smoking Gun (smoked Highclere Castle gin, Punt e Mes, Peychaud’s, orange zest) and Boots N’ Beans (vodka, espresso, coffee liqueur, cream, orange zest).

There is a full wine, beer and liquor selection in house, and non-alcoholic alternatives for anyone who is not drinking — which, on a trip where the itinerary is mostly bars, more people appreciate than you would expect.

Brunch before the museum

Dolly’s Life of Many Colors Museum opens on the hotel’s third floor, and if that is on your itinerary you will want to eat first — it spans more than 20,000 square feet, and it is not a twenty-minute stop.

Our brunch menu runs Friday, Saturday and Sunday: chicken and waffles, the classics done properly, and mimosas. If you are with a larger group, note that large parties are served from our large group menu, a curated selection of favorites from our full menu — which keeps the kitchen fast when eight people sit down together on a Saturday morning.

If you are traveling with a group

A lot of people who book a hotel like the SongTeller are not travelling alone. They are in town with family, a reunion, a wedding party, a company trip, or a group of friends who bought tickets together — and somebody in that group has been quietly assigned to figure out dinner.

That is a harder job than it looks, because most downtown restaurants can seat a group of eight and very few can give twenty-five people a room of their own on a Saturday. We have four private rooms plus a full-venue buyout:

Service formats depend on the room: Skull Nook and Singer’s Lounge can do à la carte from the full menu, and every space offers a three-course prix fixe or buffet and station style, with an open bar optional on both. Minimum spend requirements vary based on the day, time, and event space selected.

For a group staying across the street, the logistics are about as easy as downtown Nashville gets — nobody needs a rideshare, nobody gets lost, and anyone who wants to turn in early is a two-minute walk from their room. You can see all the spaces on our private dining page or send a private event inquiry with your dates and headcount.

Getting around from this block

• Broadway is one block away. Close enough to walk to the honky-tonks; far enough that you are not sleeping above one.
• Bridgestone Arena is an easy downtown walk, which makes this block convenient on a concert or Predators night. If you have tickets, eat before — everywhere within a few blocks fills up at once about ninety minutes before doors.
• We are indoors, all of it. Nashville summers are humid and the winters are not always kind; the weather does not affect your table.
• Reserve ahead on weekends. Friday and Saturday nights downtown are busy regardless of the season, and walking across the street does not hold a table. Book through our reservations page.

Frequently asked questions

How far is Brugada from Dolly Parton’s SongTeller Hotel?

Directly across the street. The hotel is 211 Commerce St; we are 204 Commerce St. It is a crossing, not a walk.

Are you affiliated with the SongTeller Hotel?

No. Brugada Kitchen & Bar is an independent restaurant that happens to be across the street. We are writing this because hotel guests keep asking where to eat.

Are you open for lunch?

Not on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday — those days we open at 4:30 pm. Friday, Saturday and Sunday we are open from 10 am, so a late breakfast or lunch works on those days.

What night are you closed?

Monday.

How late are you open?

Friday until midnight and Saturday until 2:30 am. Sunday we close at 10 pm, and Tuesday through Thursday at 9 pm.

Do you take reservations?

Yes — book through our reservations page. We recommend it for weekends and for any group.

Do you have outdoor seating?

No. Brugada is an indoor venue.

Can you handle a big group?

Yes — from 10 guests in Skull Nook up to 300 standing with a full venue buyout. Send a private event inquiry with your dates and headcount and our team will match you to a space.

Is there anything for people who are not drinking?

Yes — non-alcoholic alternatives are on the drinks menu alongside the cocktails, wine and beer.

What is the dress code?

There is no strict dress code. The room is upscale and candlelit, and guests tend to dress for a nice dinner — but you will not be turned away for coming straight from a show.

Where exactly are you?

204 Commerce St, Nashville, TN 37201, one block off Broadway and directly across Commerce Street from the SongTeller Hotel. Phone (615) 678-8952.

Come across the street

Being the restaurant across from a 245-room hotel is a good problem to have, and the way we would like to earn it is simple: a properly cooked dinner, a well-made drink, and a room where you can hear each other after a loud day.

Reserve a table, browse the dinner menu or brunch menu before you come over, and if you are travelling with a crowd, start with our private dining page.

Brugada Kitchen & Bar · 204 Commerce St, Nashville, TN 37201 · (615) 678-8952 · one block off Broadway, across Commerce Street from Dolly Parton’s SongTeller Hotel.