Rippy's Honky Tonk — Restaurant in Nashville-Davidson

Many people are thinking this is just another honky-tonk bar in the heart of music row in Nashville, TN. And while many people come here specifically for live music, it is also a decent spot for food. We're talking good old southern comfort food; ribs, pork, chicken, catfish, chili, mac & cheese, well you get the picture. This takes us to the heart of Music Row - Nashville, TN where I had the honor of eating at "Rippy's Honky Tonk".

Located directly on Broadway and John Lewis Way (aka 5th Ave.), Rippy's has been operating for many years to provide quality live music and food. I had the honor of visiting this place during the afternoon of Sunday 9/26/2021 at around 2:15pm. The vibe here was lively and electric. There was Tennessee Titans football playing on the TV's, live music on all floors, and the bar was as busy as can be. Best of all, this place has VERY generous hours of operation as they're open Sunday through Thursday from 11am-2:30am and Friday/Saturday from 10am-2:30am.

As I mentioned, many bars on Broadway in Nashville have multiple floors and Rippy's is no exception. I believe this place has 3 floors which offers a very generous amount of room throughout. Since I wanted to people watch the action going on below, I decided to go to the second floor. A server came over within a few minutes, gave my group iced waters and took an order for drinks. Since I didn't want to go too heavy on the beer, I decided on ordering a Michelob Ultra beer.

Since I was starving, I ordered a hearty meal to carry me through the rest of the day. This was a Half Slab of "Rippy's Signature Ribs" for $16.50 (which included a sweet cornbread muffin). As for my included two sides of choice, I went with potato salad and baked beans. I also ordered a cup of chili (for $3.00), and mozzarella cheese sticks (for $9.25). As you could tell, I was HUNGRY! This place has all the comfort food you need which includes sandwiches, wraps, chicken wings, nachos, pork loins, and chicken.

Fortunately everything came out very quickly and all at the same time. My mozzarella sticks were piping hot, crispy, and had the perfect amount of melted cheese oozing out with each bite. The potato salad was decent while definitely offering that homemade taste. The baked beans also had a nice smoky flavor that tasted delicious. As far as the chili, definitely above average and the shredded cheese & saltine crackers was a nice addition. And as for the slab of ribs; these were definitely above average. The amount of BBQ sauce almost overpowers everything else but the meat was tender and quite delicious. I'd have to give them a 4 out of 5.

I will say that there are a TON of places to get some amazing BBQ food in Nashville. Is Rippy's the best? No not by any means. If you truly want some amazing BBQ food, specifically ribs in general, I would try "Martin's Bar-B-Que Joint" or "Peg Leg Porker BBQ". But for convenience and close proximity to where all party never ends, I would definitely give "Rippy's Honky Tonk" a try, especially for the ambiance, service, and decent prices. My rating, an above...

This was the only bad experience we had in Nashville our whole week. We walked in because the band was amazing and we read that the food was good. So we found a couple of seats at the bar and the bartender (younger woman, dark brown hair, oversized glasses and had a hat on) just dropped drink menus in front of us without even saying hello or honestly even making eye contact. We had to flag her down to ask for the food menu, which again was down without a word. When we were ready to order a platter that came with wings, ribs, mac and cheese, etc. she asked what flavor wings. We didn’t see it under the platter section, so we said “oh we didn’t see the flavor options”. She simply stared at us without a word. She could have easily told us the 3 options, instead we felt rushed and told her she could go help another person and we could check the flavor options and order in a moment. She turned away without a word. She finally came back and we put that in. When the food made it to us we were excited…but then we tasted it. Everything was soooo dry. The flavor was there in seasoning, but the ribs and wings were dry rub and were definitely over cooked. The mac was okay, but like boxed mac okay. Didn’t taste like homemade gooey mac that we had at places like Bringles in the city. When it was time to pay, we just sat there waiting for her to bring us the check. A lot of time went by and she would not look at us every time she went by. Finally we had to ask a young, blonde woman and she brought it to us. She was smiling and super friendly and even spoke to us kindly unlike our actual server.

The music was great, it was a lively band, but the crowd sucked! Every time they finished a song, everyone was too busy talking in their groups to applaud this hard working band. I was seriously getting annoyed because this was not the environment we experience at other bars in the city. The food, service, and environment was just really bad this night. This is strictly based on our...

Table for 4 for lunch We were just starting to explore Downtown Nashville and everyone was getting pretty hungry.  We were originally going to head to another restaurant, but Rippy’s caught our eye. It is located right at the beginning of all the action on Broadway. We walked in without a reservation.  The restaurant had a very welcoming casual vibe.  We strolled around the lower level and decided to go upstairs where they had a very open feel with some large windows.   Even though it was freezing outside they had some heaters up there that made it comfortable.  Keeping with the laid-back feel, we snagged our own seats – opting for a high table near the center, not too far from the bar and the band on stage. Our server came by pretty quickly to check on use.  We needed some more time and she brought over some more menus for our party of 4.  Wifey and I ordered a couple of local beers and the girls ordered some lemonade and sweet tea  respectively. As the drinks landed, we nailed down our food choices. Three of us went for the Half Rack of Baby Back Ribs, each with our choice of two sides and a cornbread muffin.  My oldest ordered the Pulled Pork Sandwich meal. While waiting for our food, we enjoyed the live band's performance – talented and hilariously interactive with the audience. Rippy’s  also had TVs everywhere so you could follow the football games.  Our food hit the table pretty quickly, and we all absolutely loved it. My highlights were the baked beans, the Ribs (falling off the Bone)  and the Onion rings and Fries I snatched off my daughters plates.  My oldest said she would have liked some cheese or sauce on the pulled pork sandwich, but overall she enjoyed it.  That was the only slightly negative comment, but in my book, Rippy's is a winner, and I definitely recommend it to anyone...