Italian/Mediterranean Cuisine in Nashville area

[katemtsu]

Live in Murfreesboro, TN and have not really found anything I like. If you have any suggestions, I'd appreciate it!

[ktbug65]

Have you tried Athens family restaurant on Franklin/8th ave (near Wedgewood)? It's Mediterranean, and killer. My sister went to Greece last year, and she says it's the closest thing to authentic Greek in this town!
For Italian, try Finezza, over by the Hwy 70/100 split.

[notgreg]

Finezza makes good Italian/American family centric food, but for something a little different you could try Sole Mio downtown or City House in Germantown. These two are much higher on the authenticity scale, especially City House (think handmade pastas and housemade sausage and cured meats). And there are a number of good Greek inspired restaurants, including the aforementioned Athens family restaurant (much like a diner), Kalamata's in Green Hills, and even Zola for a much more upscale Mediterranean-leaning menu. Oh, Cafe Nonna in Sylvan Park is great for casual Italian too, but it's tiny.

[katemtsu]

thank you guys so much for responding and it helped a lot! Notgreg- where is Zola? Im from North Atlanta and there is a retaurant callled Zola (my fav) there and if its the same one, ill go nuts.

[Boudleaux]

Zola is on West End. Well, on the corner of West End and...a side street...29th Ave. S.

I'm going to try to create a link to their site but it is

restaurantzola.com if it doesn't work.

[jamiecarroll]

Sole Mio and Cafe Nonna are, I think, probably the two best executions of what we as Americans would consider a "traditional Northern Italian restaurant." What I mean by that is that the entire experience, from the menu to the atmosphere, is distinctly what one would expect an Italian restaurant to be like. And both places are great.

I like City House a lot, and you're right in saying that it is in reality more authentically Italian in terms of the cuisine. But you have to admit that it does not "feel" one bit like an Italian restaurant. It's all stainless steel, modern furniture, and acid jazz. And even with the cuisine there are twists - namely the use of local ingredients to execute many of the dishes. And while I think that that's a GOOD twist, having ingredients like catfish on the menu would be seen by most as a step away from "traditional Italian."

Anyway, bottom line: all three restaurants are great. City House is just a bit "outside the box."

[katemtsu]

thank you guys a lot!