loveless cafe

preserving a little history with biscuit, ham and fried chicken. the loveless cafe is one of those "places to see" that you have to check off your list. before i talk about my last visit, i'd like to comment to the posts of people who think its touristy and overrated. when i was a boy, most family trips included hours of state highways and back roads, as the interstate system wasn't complete. family run cafes and roadside diners were as common as mcdonalds and taco bells. some were built along with hotels, some were run out of the front rooms of someones converted house. when we talk about them now, it's in the past tense because most of them are gone, and the wonderful, warm people and delicious and unusual dishes along with them. a few years ago, some savvy investors decided to save the loveless cafe and to do that, they had to make it marketable. business is business. so when i see the crowds of tourists, i'm just thankful it will be open in another year when we come back for more ham and biscuits.

we had to wait an hour and a half on a sunday afternoon and though we killed sufficienttimein the couple of shops that were open, it was long wait. the meal was worth it. we had a couple of the blueberry and moonshine cocktails (very strong wine, legally speaking, but an interesting twist, none the less). the fried chicken is washed in a light batter and fried very hot so its tender and juicy inside of a very hard crust. very home style. the ham is excellent. the green beans and hash brown casserole were as good as any and the grits were better than most. these aren't my grandmothers biscuits, but they are very good. as busy as they were, the waitress was very hospitable and we weren't rushed at all. the hour and a half wait forgotten, we had a nice home cooked meal in a nice southern diner. took some lemon pie and banana pudding to go.

this place has a storied history. weary travelers stopping off for homemade biscuits with preserves flanked by farm fresh eggs and a slab of home cured country ham. fast forward 50 years to a soulless and shamelessly self promoting glorified cracker barrel, mobbed by throngs of weary millennial tourists drawn in like moths to a flame, with open mouths and open wallets. the food is good- biscuits are very reminiscent of cracker barrel as is the rest of their breakfast food. was the food good? yes. but the place inundates with merchandising as soon as you get there. it's a tourist trap. don't waste yourtimeunless the out of town guests beg you to take them.

i grew up in nashville and made this a regular destination for breakfast or a late dinner breakfast. since thattimethe restaurant had an ownership change. while i was visiting recently i decided to check it out again and i was not disappointed. i've had several friends comment that the quality of the food dropped off during the ownership change but that was not what i felt. the biscuits and breakfast we're still fantastic as well the preserves. the only negative is that the hostess and entry area had lost its homey feel and had become more like a restaurant destination that the guest should feel lucky to be able to grace.

unfortunately my loveless story is not a pleasant one. my family and i came to your café today at the request of my parents who came to visit me here in nashville from out of town. when we arrived and approached one of your hostesses for seating she looked right through me and assisted the customer behind me. as i stood there irritated and bewildered, i asked her should i request seating from the other hostess at the counter-am i in the wrong line?
her response was no, i am the one who will help you and began to explain why she assisted the customer behind me and over looked me and my family. overall her response was no excuse for her lack of customer service. she then gladly told me the waittimewas 2 and half hours. my family and i walked away and took our business elsewhere. i am well aware of the popularity of your establishment and believed it was a 2 hour wait based on the many customers outside. however, being an african american woman in 2015 i would have never thought i would be treated like it was 1950. yes, the gentleman behind was white. my father was so disappointed he thought your hostess lied about the 2 hour wait to get us to leave because we are african american.

long story short, this was my first visit to your café and it will be my last.

it's been a somewhat bumpy road at times for the loveless cafe since its opening in 1951.  that was atimewhen folks would drop in from u.s. highway 100 to be guests of lon and annie loveless in their cozy home for some real southern cookin'.  in spite of many owners through the years, the recipes have been the stalwart for keeping the authenticity and hospitality alive at the cafe.

yummy food but the biscuits has pork :(. i finally got the chance to try the loveless cafe and was excited to try the famous biscuits. unfortunetely we were told that the biscuits had pork oil which was a disappointment really, since we don't eat pork!!!

other then that, the food was yummy especially the chicken & mac and cheese and we had a greattimewith the family!

oh my biscuits!. when i heard i was going to have to wait 1 1/2 hrs for a table, i almost left but i figured with all of the activities around and people waiting, it had to be worth it. such a charming place that caters to it's patrons with free drinks (coffee and peach tea, yum), shops, bean bag toss and good ole front porch sitting. when we finally sat, our server was top notch! i wish i remembered his name but he was the best i've had in a longtime(and that's coming from a 15 yr veteran in the service industry). my country girl taste buds can honestly say that they have my favorite fried green tomatoes an the country ham is the best i've tasted! the biscuits were delish and who can resist the sorghum molasses! i wish i lived closer so i could revisit and try the dinner items. nexttimei'm in the area, i will gladly wait another 1 1/2!

i just don't get it. this is nothing more than a tourist trap. this is the one place i tell visitors to avoid when they come to nashville. want home cooking ? go to arnold's, want fried chicken go to hattie b's. want breakfast go to pancake pantry. don't waist yourtimehere

southern hospitality. everytimei visit my family in the area we make our way to the loveless!! lasttimewe were there for lunch we brought our 78 year old mother and had to wait as usual. however, they had people checking on guests and bring bottled water and biscuits to people that needed them. this was the greatest example of southern hospitality i have ever witnessed at a restaurant!! thanks scott for the water and biscuits!! the food is always great, fried chicken, bbq omelet, everything!!

man oh man.... firsttimei went was several years ago with the woman i was married to. the main 'biscuit-making-guru' was still with us. it was wonderful then, and the biscuits, the chicken, the gravy, the eggs, the meatloaf, the pancakes, the preserves, etc... nothing has gone lacking lo these many years!!!
if you wait, just do it!! no regrets!!

this place was about 25 mins away from our hotel. upon arriving we given a 35 min waittimewhich was well worth the wait. there were 4 of us and we ordered a variety of food, meatloaf, catfish, pulled pork, hashbrown casserole, green beans, cream corn, mashed potatoes, mac n chz, and even managed to order a slice of peanut butter pie to split. the unlimited biscuits were heavenly. the fried chicken was seriously finger lickin good. and i've never said that before! we all agreed that nexttimewe will all order just the chicken. i will definitely visit this place again nexttimei am in nashville. just order the chicken, you won't be sorry.

i know we'll go back and try again, but the firsttimeit's shame on you, so i really hope you don't make me shame myself, loveless. i really want to like you.

mmmmmm...biscuits.... i don't know how i missed all the hype over this place. perhaps it's because this isn't generally my kind of food or perhaps it's that i'm not exactly the president of the martha fan club. but, whatever the reason, it had not escaped the consciousness of the mrs. (who started talking about it weeks before our trip).

we arrived early on a saturday morning, but not early enough, so we had sometimeon our hands to explore the grounds. there's a lot of kitsch in this place. in fact, there's an entire "general store" devoted to the sale of it. but, for some reason, this is one of the rare places that it "works" so well, you almost don't notice it. in fact, i was quite comfortable relaxing in white high-back wooden rocker sipping my sweet tea on the patio while we waited to be seated. i didn't give much thought to the picture of it until afterwards.

the kitsch carries through inside, but again, in a non-eye-rolly sort of way. once seated, we were promptly served by a team of servers who did a phenomenal job dealing with our small kids, food allergies, and the like while in the middle of a breakfast rush. biscuits were set on the table as we were seated.

a quick word about the biscuits. yes, they're good. yes, they're worth the trip and the wait and they are as good as you've probably heard. in fact, if you're a biscuits and gravy person (which i am not), this is probably a place you should throw on your bucket list.

unfortunately, it would've been rude to show up and just munch on their complimentary biscuits and drink coffee, so i ordered my usual breakfast -- denver omelet, potatoes, bacon -- all of which were good, but none of which were great. i gathered later (as i probably should have guessed) that the fault here lies in the ordering. i should've stuck with one of the 1/2 dozen things they're "known for" (the mrs. and the rest of our party did, and they loved it). so, i'm taking the fall for this one. it's worth remembering that if you go. the omelets are decent, but if you're expecting it to put all other omelets to shame in the same manner the biscuits do, you'll be disappointed.

in the end, i think it lived up to my expectations and, with respect to the things people were raving about, it actually exceeded them, believe it or not. so, i do strongly recommend going when you're in town.

overrated...i tried this place for breakfast and was disappointed by the food & service. i gave it one more try and ate lunch there & once again, i was disappointed. i had better service the secondtimebut i will not be going back.

this is my favorite restaurant in the world. i have been going there since i was 5 or 6 and it simply tastes like home to me. i love the red eye gravy, the biscuits, everything! my dining destination anytimei am back home. i sure miss this place.