Loveless Cafe

8400 Highway 100, Nashville, TN - (615) 646-9700

Overview Reviews(11) Rate Restaurant Upload Photos Bookmark Email

Posted By Mark Rodebush on 11/5/2005 9:37:00 PM

I ate breakfast here last month after not eating a meal here for four years. Overall, I think the changes are fine. It's hard to take an institution like the Loveless and "save it", but the new owners have done that pretty well.

I came here on a Sunday morning, about 20 minutes before the rush, and got to sit at my favorite table (the one right at the picture window in front). I ordered the ham breakfast with the hashbrown casserole. The ham was excellent, as was the casserole. Both could not have been better. The eggs were nicely cooked (over medium), and the coffee was fine.

I was very disappointed in the biscuits. They ARE different, and they aren't as good in my opinion. I am in disagreement with a distinguished member of the Roadfood.com community, Poverty Pete. He likes the new fluffy biscuits, and I like the old version. They had more substance and taste. The only other thing I disliked were the blackberry preserves. They apparently had gone bad, and had that "fermented" taste that made them inedible. The Loveless preserves had always been among my favorites, so that was a big letdown.

A word about the ham. The previous reviewer, cahaden, complained that the ham had a gamey taste and was tough. I can only think that she is used to "city ham", which is sweeter, more moist, and more tender. The "country ham" I was served was almost perfect. Salty, flavorful, and very chewy.

Scorecard

N/A

Rate this place

"Family-style fried chicken dinner. Not included in photo: side dishes such as hashbrown casserole, greens, mac & cheese, etc."
Michael Stern

"Biscuits with a selection of preserves."
Whitney Harper

"Heaven in mid-Tennessee: a Loveless Cafe ham breakfast. The small cup atop the country ham holds red-eye gravy. Those are grits to its right, fried eggs, tomato, and biscuits in the back. And behind the plate is a dish of blackberry preserves."
Michael Stern

"The Loveless never used to serve dessert. Now it serves some of the best anywhere. This is banana pudding. Pastry chef Alyssa Huntsman doesn't like store-bought vanilla wafers, so she makes her own!"
Michael Stern

"An unimproveable combination of two of the signature foods of the South."
Bruce Bilmes and Susan Boyle

"A pair of hot biscuits, one dolloped with blackberry preserves, the other with peach"
Michael Stern

"Not a regular on the menu, but if they have chicken and dumplings as a special, it's a must!"
Whitney Harper

"Carol Fay Ellison, who passed away in 2010, joined the Loveless team 26 years ago. Her legacy endures in the great biscuits and a spirit of welcoming hospitality."
Michael Stern

"Fried chicken, with mashed potatoes and the hashbrown casserole on the lower left next to the chicken."
Whitney Harper

"Tender biscuits, with gravy that has just enough of a hint of pepper."
Whitney Harper

"Great uniforms."
Whitney Harper

"Screened-in smoke shack where those pork aromas come wafting out of..."
Whitney Harper

"Store next to the Loveless Cafe, which sells souvenirs, and hams and jams as the name implies."
Whitney Harper

"Before it was the Loveless Cafe, this little building was a tea room, and before that a private home. Nowadays, it is rare to see it without people waiting at the door for a seat."
Michael Stern

"The motel was closed years ago, although the "Vacancy" sign still glows."
Michael Stern