NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Twenty-three Nashville restaurants have been recognized in the 2026 MICHELIN Guide American South, including four new additions to the prestigious culinary selection. The second annual awards ceremony took place Oct. 21 at The Pinnacle in Nashville, celebrating chefs and restaurants across the region and further highlighting Music City’s growing reputation as a dining destination.
New to the Nashville selection this year include Maiz De La Vida, which earned a Bib Gourmand distinction recognizing quality food at a good value, and 5th & Taylor, Junior and Present Tense, which joined the list of MICHELIN Recommended restaurants. Bastion, Locust and The Catbird Seat retained their One MICHELIN Star distinctions.
“Hosting the MICHELIN Guide American South ceremony in Nashville was a significant milestone for our city and an opportunity to celebrate the incredible culinary talent across the region,” said Deana Ivey, President and CEO of the Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp. “We’re excited to see new Nashville restaurants recognized alongside those returning to the MICHELIN Guide, reflecting the continued growth and creativity of our culinary community. This international recognition strengthens Nashville’s reputation as a dining destination and gives visitors even more reasons to explore the diverse restaurants and neighborhoods that make Music City special.”
Nashville Restaurants Recognized in the 2026 MICHELIN Guide American South
One MICHELIN Star
Bastion
Locust
The Catbird Seat
Bib Gourmand
Kisser
Maiz De La Vida (NEW)
Peninsula
Redheaded Stranger
Sho Pizza Bar
S.S. Gai
St. Vito Focacceria
Uzbegim
Recommended Restaurants
5th & Taylor (NEW)
Arnold’s Country Kitchen
Cafe Roze
Folk
Hattie B’s Hot Chicken
iggy’s
International Market
Junior (NEW)
Present Tense (NEW)
Rolf and Daughters
Shotgun Willie’s BBQ
Tailor
The 2026 MICHELIN Guide American South recognized 265 restaurants across the region, including three new One MICHELIN Star restaurants, 14 new Bib Gourmand recipients and 31 new Recommended restaurants. The selection represents 44 cuisine types.
Tennessee is one of six states included in the MICHELIN Guide American South, a regional edition developed through a collaboration among Travel South USA, the Tennessee Department of Tourist Development, destination marketing organizations and participating states including Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina and South Carolina, alongside the existing Atlanta selection.
Learn more about the MICHELIN Guide by visiting guide.michelin.com. To stay up to date on all the latest news and information regarding Nashville, be sure to follow @VisitMusicCity on social media platforms, or head over to https://www.visitmusiccity.com.
The MICHELIN Guide in North America
Michelin announced its first North American Guide in 2005 for New York. Guides have also been added in Chicago (2011); Washington, D.C. (2017); California (San Francisco in 2007, statewide 2019); Florida (Greater Miami, Orlando and Tampa in 2022, adding Greater Fort Lauderdale, The Palm Beaches and St. Pete-Clearwater in 2025, statewide in 2026); Toronto (2022); Vancouver (2022); Colorado (2023); Atlanta (2023), Mexico (2024), Texas (2024), Québec (2024), the American South (2025), Boston (2025), Philadelphia (2025), the Southwest (2026) and the American Great Lakes (2027).
About the MICHELIN Guide
Recognized globally for excellence and quality, the MICHELIN Guide offers a selection of world-class restaurants.
- The famous One, Two and Three MICHELIN Stars identify establishments serving exceptional cuisine that’s rich in flavor, remarkably executed and infused with the personality of a talented chef.
- The Bib Gourmand is a designation given to select restaurants that offer good quality food for a good value – often known as personal favorites among the inspectors when dining on their own time.
- Recommended restaurants and special professional awards are also highlighted by the MICHELIN Guide inspectors.
The MICHELIN Guide remains a reliable companion for any traveler seeking an unforgettable meal and hospitality experience. The Guide was first published in France at the turn of the 20th century to encourage the development of car mobility as well as tire sales by giving practical advice to motorists. Progressively, the Guide has specialized in restaurant, hotel and wine recommendations. Michelin’s inspectors still use the same criteria and manner of selection that were used by the inspectors in the very beginning.
The restaurant selections join the MICHELIN Guide selection of hotels, which features the most unique and exciting places to stay around the world. Visit the MICHELIN Guide website, or download the free app for iOS and Android, to discover every restaurant in the selection and book an amazing hotel.
Thanks to the rigorous MICHELIN Guide selection process that is applied independently and consistently in more than 60 destinations, the MICHELIN Guide has become an international benchmark in fine dining.
All restaurants in the Guide are recommended by Michelin’s anonymous inspectors, who are trained to apply the same time-tested methods used by Michelin inspectors for many decades throughout the world. This ensures a uniform, international standard of excellence. As a further guarantee of complete objectivity, Michelin inspectors pay all their bills in full, and only the quality of the cuisine is evaluated.
To fully assess the quality of a restaurant, the inspectors apply five criteria defined by Michelin: product quality; mastery of cooking techniques; harmony of flavors; the personality of the chef as reflected in the cuisine; and consistency over time and across the entire menu. These criteria guarantee a consistent and fair selection so a Starred restaurant has the same value regardless of whether it is in Paris, New York or anywhere else in the world.
About Michelin North America, Inc.
Michelin is building a world-leading manufacturer of life-changing composites and experiences. Pioneering engineered materials for more than 130 years, Michelin is uniquely positioned to make decisive contributions to human progress and to a more sustainable world. Drawing on its deep know-how in polymer composites, Michelin is constantly innovating to manufacture high-quality tires and components for critical applications in demanding fields as varied as mobility, construction, aeronautics, low-carbon energies and healthcare. The care placed in its products and deep customer knowledge inspire Michelin to offer the finest experiences. This spans from providing data- and AI-based connected solutions for professional fleets to recommending outstanding restaurants and hotels curated by the MICHELIN Guide. Headquartered in Greenville, S.C., Michelin North America, Inc. has approximately 22,000 employees and operates 36 production facilities in the United States (michelinman.com) and Canada (michelin.ca).
About The Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp and Visit Music City
The mission of the Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp and Visit Music City is to maximize the economic contribution of the convention and tourism industry to the community by developing and marketing Nashville as a premier destination. Visit the NCVC’s website at www.visitmusiccity.com and follow us on social media @VisitMusicCity
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