Little Hats Italian Market Cool Springs — Restaurant in Franklin

I was so excited about this place and left so bummed. The food is bad, Shockingly bad. But the location and the little shop and the design of the place is amazing. They do really need to haul their kitchen though.

We got a little bit of everything.

To order an alcoholic drink, you have to wait at the bar and the bartender wasn’t really friendly. I also was shocked by the set up as a former bartender because there wasn’t a place to walk up towards the bar and it was such a small one so you kind of had to wait in between people.

We got the Fried ravioli, which was good. That was the best food of the night. The sauce was a little too sweet for me, but other people liked it.

We then got the cacio e pepe, The muffaletta, And three meat pizza. We, then, for some of our food troubles were gifted a tiramisu. And while I was super appreciative of it, I was still bummed because even that was bad. I used to work in restaurants, so I am understanding of some things, but for them to be charging as much money as they do here with the margins that they get on something As cheap as pasta, they really need to be held to a higher standard

For the cacio e pepe - we thought We had received the wrong order because it was so off from what cacio e pepe is. If you don’t know, it literally translates to cheese and pepper. It is a very simple and delicious pasta made with egg yolk, Parmesan, and black pepper. We received a bowl of poorly cooked noodles with some Parmesan, but the noodles weren’t even salted and there was zero pepper. It seems like a large bowl of a kids Alfredo. I took it back to the counter, and the Manager seemed a little taken him back that I would bring it back, Like I was wrong, but he said he would refi it anyways. And he came back, super nice and delivered our new one And offered us tiramisu, which was very kind of him. So I was really rooting for them that this would be better And it was awful. The noodles were not cooked correctly. They were all stuck together and chunked. It still tasted like there was no salt, barely any cheese. There was no creaminess of the egg yolk and this time they did put a lot of black pepper, which is good, but there was literally no other flavor and it was poorly cooked noodles.

The pizza was tasty, but it was put together so sloppily. They only had ricotta and cheese on half of the pizza.

The muffaletta was on stale bread that they just drowned in olive oil, and it was really bad. They just threw so much olive oil on here that the bread and the meat were just falling off and the bread was so old that it just kind of crumbled. It was sad because it was shockingly bad.

The tiramisu, which again I was so appreciative that they offered it to us for free, Was Not fresh. When tiramisu is made that far ahead It can get watery . They also use a grainy cheese, so it was this grainy watery texture. But the flavor was right, so we did still finish it.

I had high hopes for this place and it really did not meet expectations. The owners need to pay more attention to the kitchen management and plan because they obviously know what they are doing when it comes to designing a cool atmosphere and they have put some big investment in this place. But as someone who worked in restaurants, it’s clear that something is dropping once you go behind the kitchen doors.

I would not recommend this place, but I am rooting for them...

Extremely Disappointing – Not Worth the Hype or the Price

I wanted to love this place. As someone who’s passionate about sandwiches and Italian food, and who lives nearby, I was genuinely excited when Little Hats Italian Market opened in Cool Springs. Unfortunately, that excitement quickly turned into frustration and disappointment.

Let’s start with the pricing: I paid $16.50 for a basic spicy Italian sandwich, which came with nothing more than a few sliced pickles on the side. Want chips? That’s an extra $2.50. A drink? Also separate. So you’re basically pushing $20 for a simple deli sandwich—and not even a well-constructed one.

While the ingredients in my sandwich were decent, the execution was a total disaster. Instead of a proper sandwich with bread on both the top and bottom, they stack all the ingredients on top of a single roll, open-faced style. This makes the sandwich practically inedible unless you’re ready to unhinge your jaw like a snake. I tried, and oil and toppings spilled all over my hands and the table. It was a mess. I wasn’t the only one struggling either—the woman at the table next to us gave up trying to eat hers with a fork and knife, visibly annoyed like the rest of her group.

As for my family’s experience—it was even worse. My wife and daughter ordered the spaghetti and meatballs, which somehow managed to be both bland and lifeless. My 5-year-old, who normally loves spaghetti, wouldn’t eat more than a bite. My son shared his kid’s pizza with her, but neither of them ended up liking it eating that either. My wife quit halfway through her meal. She'll be the first to tell you she's no chef, but her spaghetti and meat balls would blow this dish out of the water. I was the only one who powered through, more out of sheer stubbornness than enjoyment, and even I regretted it.

We had planned to grab ice cream from Handel’s afterward, but no one what had really eaten, so we just left, disappointed and a little stunned. What was supposed to be a fun family outing turned into a total letdown.

To be fair, the ingredients seem fresh, and the concept has potential—but until they figure out how to make a sandwich and serve pasta that has flavor, I can’t recommend this place to anyone. There are plenty of other Italian spots nearby that are full service, similarly priced, and actually deliver a satisfying meal.

We won’t be returning. I’d strongly encourage you to try one of those other...

Just not good and ridiculously priced for being such poor quality food. The cacio Pepe tastes like frozen stouferrs fettuccine Alfredo. Barely any black Pepper. I don’t know how you screw this up it’s so easy to make. Then tried a basic cheese pizza slice and dang it’s under cooked and the sauce tastes like like bottom self grocery store marinara. The atmosphere is like every new restaurant in Nashville. A gutted out high ceiling building that’s loud and sound bounces off walls so having a conversation from someone across from you can be a task. This trend is new to Nashville it’s done everywhere now but in other cities places have stopped this vibe because of the noise level. They had two tvs. One facing the dining area with Seinfeld on with Closed Caption, the other had an actual baseball game on. I highly suggest you put games on both. Nobody wants to watch A sitcom on mute. Lastly they have this lil market area where they sell olive oil. Cool put some on your tables so people can sample your product on their food. Total missed opportunity to make money.

Overall this place is just fast food Italian. Like a step above hospital food. It’ll probably do ok when it’s warm out because people will use it as an excuse to get Ice Cream afterwards from the place across from it. But cheaper ingredients have been chosen for their menu (gotta be Sysco) and most likely littered with seed oils.

Edited: I just begrudgingly met a friend here and warned him ( he was excited to try for the first time). I thought it’s lunch how bad can they mess up sandwiches. Well turns out 100% can mess up a simple Italian sandwich. Took forever to get as well. This place won’t last I don’t think unless they get a...