Alleycat Lounge

The Alley Cat is an East Nashville Tex Mex place and as its name hints, its located in an alley tucked behind Batterd N Fried and Beyond the Edge. It is teeny and I’m impressed at the amount of tables they’ve managed to squeeze in there. I was told the building used to be some sort of garage and the interior gives off an industrial vibe with its cement floors and open ceiling. The restaurant is very cozy and it seems to always feel dark in there even in the middle of the day. This gives it sort of an anonymous vibe, like you could go there by yourself and not talk to anyone and not feel conspicuous. Yet its also a good place to go to enjoy dinner with friends. It is a smoking joint and with it’s small size that can be a bit much so if you hold an aversion to cigarette smoke, you might not have a good time.
They offer some different items on the menu, I’m not too crazy about their food but I’m also not a big Tex Mex eater. When I’m in the mood for some latin flavor I usually head down the road to Rosepepper. Their menu has some unique items on it that, to me anyways, sounded better than they tasted. However, I’ve never had a terrible food experience there and they serve food until 1 am, so it’s a good place to go if you’ve got the late night munchies. They’re a bit overpriced and their portions aren’t that impressive but they have a full bar and serve imported beer. They have a small patio thats open during the warmer months, and that is where I’d recommend sitting if you can.
The Alley Cat is pretty popular with the younger ‘hipster’ crowd but you’ll also find neighborhood locals here. Pretty much the same people that frequent all the other 5 points places. Parking can be tough to find since there’s basically one parking lot serving a handful of establishments in the area.

The Alleycat has been a staple of East Nashville for years and definitely offers a great change up from your standard hole in the wall bar with just bar food to eat. It’s declared itself a bar so 21 and up but they offer a really unique tex-​mex menu in addition to the hang out and drink vibe.
I don’t like everything on the menu so you might have to go a few times to find a dish that suits your palate. I do like the queso and the fried avocado. I also have gone for Sunday brunch and gotten the eggs benedict and really enjoyed that. The concoction starts with toasted Tuscan bread layered with fresh sliced avocado, then your egg, and the hollandaise sauce is seasoned with fresh cilantro. It really is so good with a mimosa or bloody mary or coffee I guess too.
All in all, the only down side is that it’s very smokey and you will come out wreaking even with their fans going. The paito is great when the weather is good though.

Alleycat is my favorite place to go for appetizers and drinks on the East Side. The food is a little pricier than some of the other places in the area, but the quality is noticeably higher as well. The nachos are absolutely to die for. They list them on both the appetizer and entrée menu so you can’t miss them. I also enjoy recommend the black and white bean dip. It looks cool, tastes amazing, and costs under $ 5.
The outdoor seating is plentiful and pleasantly landscaped. That is usually where you’ll find me unless I’m just in for a late night drink at the bar. The bartenders are great for conversation if you’re in the mood and they take great care of their regulars.

I stumbled across the Alley Cat last week while I was riding around ultra hip East Nashville. We only stopped in for appetizers and drinks, but I am glad we did because I got to try the world famous «fat ball». The «fat ball» as it is called is an appetizer of fried avocados. They are probably pretty fatty, but they are ooh so good! I also had margarita on the rocks which was satisfying, a little stronger next time please! I will definitely have to stop by again because I perused the menu and it made my mouth water. Viva la Mexico!

Alleycat is just downright fun. If you go on Saturday nights, they have a 80’s dance party, which is really a great opportunity to cut loose in a very low key setting. I hate getting up and dancing, but here I really had a good time. I guess I see the point about the hipster comments, but I have never felt not cool enough. It really isn’t like that at all.
In the summer, bands play on the patio, which is small, but it works.
The bartenders are really down to earth and nice, even when they are really busy and they have good beers. Plus, they mix a good strong drink. I’ve eaten here and it’s good, but I usually end up there late night after the Red Door East, so I think of it more as a drinking hangout. The place just has a really good vibe.

Scrumptious! Nothing on the menu is bad — pepperjack chicken sandwich, nachos, queso, tortas, brunch, etc. I can’t say enough about this place. My only issue is occasionally there’s some delay in service — but the excellent food and yummy drinks completely make up for it.
Look no further for the best place in the East!

3 Words. Pepperjack Chicken Sandwich. It’s like crack except more addictive. Literally the best chicken sandwich ever.
The rest of the menu is solid. A good place to drink, with a great patio.
They spin vinyl on Saturday nights, playing 70’s and 80’s type stuff. You may see drunken hula hooping before the night is over.

To be honest, I only came across Alleycat by accident, but I’m glad I did. My friend was taking me to a Titans game, and we were going to eat beforehand. I was going to impress her and take her to Marche, but it was incredibly crowded and too long of a wait. So, with some quick thinking, I decided to try Alleycat.
The brunch we had was really good. She had what was some of the best French toast in town. It was amazing. I had some eggs that were good as well. They definitely had a Tex-​Mex influence, sorry I can’t remember exactly what was in them!
The service was a little bit slow, but I think the server was just overwhelmed because the weather was nice and lots of people decided to sit outside. The only other drawback was some hellion who kept playing with a chain the Alleycat used to keep their outdoor furniture from being stolen. He kept clanging it and making a huge amount of noise. Parents, I know you saw your child doing this, and I know you know how annoying it was.
Anyway, do be sure to check out Alleycat. It’s kind of hidden behind Beyond the Edge so don’t miss it.

Alley Cat:
Since i’ve moved to Denver, I miss the guts of you, or rather the guts of your fried avocado. And it’s not that i didn’t miss you even when i’m in nashville – i do.
I get, like, postpartum as soon as i leave the dark, cool womb of your interior.
And the Sunday Brunch, yes, i miss that, too. Along with the PBR tallboys that are oh, so affordable.
I’m not a sentimental person, but i’m starting to feel homesick and i think tears are going to start pooling.

Thank you, Unilocalers, for exposing this south Nashviller to the Alleycat Lounge. I just came back from a very enjoyable lunch on the patio on this lovely Friday and have nothing but good things to say.
The fried avocado was a nice starter, along with a pomogranate margarita. I had the peperjack chicken sandwich and it was awesome. The bread was toasted just enough to give it some crunch, but not too hard and crusty.
I would say that the service was slow, but that would not be fair because there were only two people working the lunch shift, and they were both very nice and came to check on us when they could.
For dessert I had another margarita. $ 8 for a drink was steep, but it was such nice weather, that it was a nice way to spend a Friday lunch.

The Alley Cat Lounge is a Tex Mex bar and restaurant in East Nashville near the Five Points area. It is located, as you could guess by the name, off of an alley. I always end up going here with my band, because all the guys have crushes on the waitresses. A lot of the women who work here are kind of punky, in that attractive sort of way, so my guys just love them. I don’t argue with them too much about heading over to the Alley cat because they serve Yahzoo, and they have a couple delicious sandwiches that I really like. The homemade tortillas chips help me keep my mouth shut too.
I finally found my favorite thing on their menu, so I always order the same thing when I go to the Alley Cat. The Tortas sandwich; it is delicious and extremely filling. If I want something lighter, I order the black and white bean dip, it’s fantastic. It is black beans, and chick peas served in a yin and yang type presentation.
During the summer months it is really nice to sit outside on the patio. The patio is tucked away from the street so it is quiet, but it stills gets full sunshine in between the buildings. The breeze comes across the patio too, so it really is quiet pleasant. In the evenings on weekends they have DJ’s spinning new wave, and old rock classics. Out back they have bands perform. The summer is really high season for the Alley Cat, so when it gets warm head on over.

As soon as we walked in, my students were like –OMG, this place is so cool– and I was like, «NO! Your coach is freakin cool for finding it!»
But I digress, this place was cool, in a divey-​metal-​dark everything way. I can’t drink with the team, so I didn’t, but the menu looked bomb.
I had the stuffed chicken dish. There was some sort of cheese mousse in it that was good, for a while. Then it got kind of old, but all in all, it was not bad. The sauce, however, was AMAZING!
I would definitely recommend this place, it’s got a great vibe.
You know, where all the cool kids hang out.

The Alleycat is, without a doubt, the sparkling centerpiece of the Five Points district… well, maybe not sparkling. Regardless, it’s as delicious as it is rugged and hip, and that’s quite an accomplishment.
Most afternoons and evenings, you’ll find the Alleycat haunted by chain-​smoking old songwriters and listless young musicians; at night you’ll find it swarmed with scores of whiskey-​swilling né’er-do-wells. But this is par for the course in Five Points. Luckily for us, their cuisine is even better than their atmosphere, which is laid-​back and ultra-​cool.
The Alleycat’s Pepperjack Chicken Sandwich is perhaps one of the best sandwiches in the city. It’s smeared with some sort of delicious mystery Tex-​Mex sauce on toasted bread… I could literally go on about it for hours. Their fries are good, their soup is good, their fried avacado is spectacular. It’s hard to go wrong with anything on the menu, and if the weather’s right, the Alleycat’s patio is exactly where you want to be.
The staff has been rearranged countless times over the Alleycat’s brief five year tenure in the Bar Hole. However, these days they are typically sweet and attentive. When the place is slammed, you may not see your server for a good ten minutes. Regardless, they play pretty great music and drink specials are fairly regular. Happy hour all day on Sundays. So seriously… just go already.

The fried avocado is out of this world! It’s made with a zesty salsa and served on a bed of greens. Heck yeah! The décor is a bit dreary and it’s smoky inside, which I hate. But once the weather warms up a bit, I’ll happily take the outdoor seating and get me another fried avocado…

this bar definitely reminds me of something i would find in SF or Oakland. definitely a cool spot given the patio section.
the bartenders are quick and friendly, and to our surprise they actually come out to check on your drinks… definitely don’t get that back in the bay… so we like it, the music selection is mellow but good, its the kind of bar you find in San Francisco but forget to mention to friends as you secretly hope it doesn’t become over run by patrons… shh… i guess because I’m new to town and this is already a competing favorite I’ll give it due respect… :)
Anyways the pub food is better than most I have had, the idea of TeX Mex did throw me off at first so we just tried the nachos… the cheese dip is amazing… next time around we got the chorizo quesadillas and friend jalepeno corn cakes, both we pretty tasty… i have zero complaints so far.

Alleycat competes for the best Mexican (tex-​mex) restaurant in Nashville.
The food: The cheese dip is hands down amazing, a must order. My other personal favorites include the enchiladas, the chorizo quesidillas, the nachos, and the burger (which is spicy, a fun plus). The menu is not the most expansive, but almost everything they do, they do well.
The atmosphere: dive bar meets industrial, almost. Either way, its comfortable and not your typical red-​yellow-​green strip mall Mexican food. Patio seating is great in the summer. A great place to take a date if you want to show the person you are fun, enjoy good food, and not pretentious.

This place is a down right a whiskey tango. I describe whiskey tangos a dive bar/​restaurant that hasn’t seen any changes in 20 – 30 years and that’s smokier than Jack’s BBQ’s smoker. lol! Well, this is it. The food is actually pretty good, but the lack of air ventilation is not worth the health risk. Seriously, I’m just waiting for Nashville to start adopting the smoke-​free restaurants… I think the law passed. Seriously though, after dining here my lungs hurt. If you don’t mind the mild case of emphysema, then you can enjoy their food.

I was in Nashville for a wedding, but decided to check out the local hot spots and Alleycat Lounge came up in conversation. We were staying in Brentwood, but wanted to see a little bit more of the urban life so we tried this place in East Nashville. I’ve heard that’s it’s not the safest area, but it is turning around with lots of so-​called hipsters.
The Alleycat lounge had great Tex Mex food that I don’t get up in Chicago. Their beef brisket fajitas were really yummy. I never imagined to tie in both BBQ and Mexican, but it was a good combination. We sat outside on a beautiful, hot Nashville night. The margarita I had topped off the night.

This is a casual, but kickass place to get good food @ a decent price. Everytime I go to Nashville, I come here for the fried avocado (Everyone seems to be in agreement for how great these are!), and my friends fill up on PBR. I can’t vouch for drink prices, as I’m almost always just an innocent bystander. Alleycat is nice for their veggie options, although there are quite a few meaty meals on the menu.
There’s a nice outdoor patio area, which we always sit @, which might be more kid friendly/​amenable than the inside area. The patio is complete w/​strung-​up christmas lights and wrought-​iron (?) chairs, which actually aren’t too, too unbearable to sit in.

For once, I totally ordered right. First of all, the fried avocado was delicious as Hell. It was brunch, so I got the pork enchiladas with fried eggs on top and they were ooey, gooey, salty, and delicious. The portions were ginourmous. My tummy was oh so full, so go here and SHARE with your buddy bears!