14 Incredible Restaurants in Cookeville, TN You Need to Try
Cookeville is the largest city in Tennessee’s Upper Cumberland, a college town on the Highland Rim roughly 80 miles east of Nashville on Interstate 40. Historic downtown runs along Broad Street around the courthouse square, where the 1909 train depot on West Broad Street is now a museum and several of the best-known restaurants sit within a few blocks of each other. A second cluster runs along Cedar Avenue in the Westside district near Tennessee Tech, and casual favorites spread out along Willow and Jefferson avenues.
This guide covers 14 places, from a New Orleans-style grill on West Broad Street and an Italian restaurant in a 1910 house to a rooftop pizza kitchen, a Gulf seafood market, a smokehouse, a Filipino and Thai kitchen and a Westside bakery. Ratings and review counts come from each restaurant’s Google listing in October 2026.
Crawdaddy’s West Side Grill
Crawdaddy’s West Side Grill brings a bit of New Orleans to 53 West Broad Street, in the middle of downtown Cookeville. The patio and courtyard are a big draw, along with a full bar known for its bourbon selection. Drew Blalock and Blue Hensley bought the restaurant in 2007, and in 2009 readers of the Cumberland Business Journal voted it Best Local Restaurant.
Rated 4.5 stars from more than 3,100 Google reviews, it is the most-reviewed independent restaurant in town. The menu leans Cajun and Gulf, with shrimp and grits, crawfish etouffee (a rich stew served over rice), pulled pork gumbo, oysters on the half shell and Gator Bites, which are Cajun-battered fried alligator tail. The Carpet Bagger Filet comes topped with lump crab cream sauce, and crème brûlée and bread pudding are the best-selling desserts.
Lunch-size portions are served on weekdays from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., and Sunday brunch starts at 10:30 a.m. The restaurant stays open until 10 p.m. with the bar running later, so check hours before you go. Daily drink specials are posted on the website. The patio is the best seat in good weather. Prices span po’boys and sandwiches to steaks and lobster tail, and a party space is available for groups.
Address: 53 W Broad St, Cookeville, TN 38501
Website: crawdaddysgrill.com
Mauricio’s Italian Restaurant
Mauricio’s fills a house built in 1910 at 232 North Peachtree Avenue and has served Cookeville since 2002. The old residence gives it five dining rooms, three of them with fireplaces, along with hardwood floors, 12-foot ceilings and a patio that seats about 25. Tables are candlelit and the music leans toward the 1940s and 1950s, which suits a slow dinner.
With 4.7 stars from more than 900 Google reviews, it is one of the best-reviewed sit-down dinners in Cookeville. Chicken Mauricio, sautéed chicken with prosciutto and mushrooms in alfredo sauce over pappardelle (wide ribbon pasta), is the namesake dish. Seafood Mauricio over linguine, lobster ravioli, the baked lasagna and the lamb chops with balsamic onion jam are other good choices, and entrées come with a house salad and focaccia.
Reservations are required, so call ahead or book in person; the website suggests calling to check the cancellation list. Courses come one at a time and the pace is relaxed, so allow about an hour and a half for two or three guests and about two hours for four to six. Tell your server when you sit down if you have somewhere to be afterward. The wine list leans Italian, and the dinner menu is also offered at lunch in smaller portions.
Address: 232 N Peachtree Ave, Cookeville, TN 38501
Website: mauricioscookeville.com
The Putnam Room
The Putnam Room is a dinner restaurant at 319 East Spring Street in Cookeville’s historic downtown. It is owned by Taylor Douglas and chef Thomas Hobson, and the menu moves between French bistro classics and Southern comfort. Photos of the dining room show a wall of wine racks and bottles used as decoration, and a seasonal tasting menu is offered alongside the regular list.
Rated 4.5 stars from more than 200 Google reviews, it has a menu that rewards ordering a few plates to share. Good starters include beef carpaccio, duck croquettes and shrimp and grits with tasso ham (spicy smoked pork) over cheddar grits, and the Low Country mac and cheese is topped with fried lobster tail. For a main course, look for coq au vin (chicken braised in red wine), beef bourguignon made with short rib, cioppino, or the tea-brined pork chop.
Reservations are recommended but not required, and you can book through the website or by phone. The restaurant opens at 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday and is closed Sundays, with a happy hour from 4 to 5:30 p.m. and a late-night happy hour on Saturdays. This is one of the pricier dinners in town, especially if you order steak, so it works best as a special-night meal. Check hours before you go.
Address: 319 E Spring St, Cookeville, TN 38501
Website: theputnamroom.com
Fire & Vine
Fire & Vine is a family-owned restaurant at 115 West 1st Street, in Cookeville’s WestSide, with a rooftop dining area that stays open year-round. Downstairs is a dining room with green velvet banquettes. The kitchen describes its approach as stone-fired and farm-to-table, and the restaurant has received the Legacy Award from Cookeville CityScape for its work in strengthening downtown.
Rated 4.4 stars from more than 700 Google reviews, it is best known for pizza. The stone-fired menu offers Neapolitan, New York-style and Chicago-style pies, including a hot honey pepperoni and a supreme, and the restaurant singles out its Chicago-style pizza. Starters include fried cheese, whipped chevre with hot honey and calamari. A smash burger and a hot honey chicken sandwich sit beside steaks, pasta and salmon for a bigger dinner.
Friday through Sunday, the kitchen serves a brunch menu with hot honey chicken and waffles, short rib hash with eggs, breakfast tacos and biscuits and gravy. You can reserve a table through the website, and a separate page handles private parties. Steaks are the priciest items, while pizzas and handhelds keep dinner within reach. Check hours before you go.
Address: 115 W 1st St, Cookeville, TN 38501
Website: fireandvinecookeville.com
37 Cedar Restaurant and Bar
37 Cedar is a restaurant and bar at 37 North Cedar Avenue, in Cookeville’s Westside area. Its two owners both left Cookeville for years before family, friends and the community drew them home to open it. The room doubles as a live-music venue, and the long menu covers flatbreads, tacos, burgers on house-made buns, pasta and steaks, with a drink list that changes often.
Rated 4.5 stars from more than 1,000 Google reviews, it rewards ordering a few starters. The whiskey fondue, made with cheddar and a touch of Jack Daniels, and the Calfkiller butter shrimp are two good ones. Among the mains, look for the OL’ 37 Burger, half bacon and half beef with gorgonzola and charred red onion jam, the prime rib Philly, blackened tuna tacos, and spicy shrimp and andouille over smoked gouda grits.
Prime rib is served only on Friday and Saturday after 5 p.m., so plan a weekend visit if that is the goal. The restaurant is closed Sundays, and the bar keeps later hours Thursday through Saturday, with live music part of the draw. A separate brunch menu with open-face biscuits and hash bowls is posted on the website, so check which day it runs and confirm hours before you go. Prices are mid-range, with steaks and the filet at the top end.
Address: 37 N Cedar Ave, Cookeville, TN 38501
Website: 37cedar.com
Savor Cookeville
Savor is a casual, brick-lined restaurant at 35 West Broad Street, in the heart of downtown Cookeville. The kitchen cooks comfort food with a Southern twist, and the full bar pours beer on tap. It was previously called Seven Senses, and a patio gives it extra seating when the weather is good.
With 4.6 stars from more than 1,300 Google reviews, it is one of the most popular restaurants on the block. Reviewers most often mention the hot chicken sandwich and the nachos, and the website’s menu also lists shrimp and grits, crab cakes, fried green tomatoes and a maple-brined pork chop. Beer drinkers can look for regional pours such as Calfkiller Brewing’s Golden Calf, from the brewery in nearby Sparta.
The downtown location makes it an easy stop before or after a visit to the Cookeville Depot Museum, a short walk down West Broad Street. Listings disagree on whether Savor opens on Mondays, and it appears to close around 9 p.m., so check hours before you go. The website lists recurring drink nights, including martini night and a Tennessee Tech night. Prices are casual, in line with other downtown sandwich spots.
Address: 35 W Broad St, Cookeville, TN 38501
Website: savorcookeville.com
Midtown Social
Midtown Social is a kitchen and tap house at 565 South Jefferson Avenue, south of downtown. The food is made from scratch, and the calendar fills with game nights, karaoke, trivia, live music and private events. There is a patio for warm evenings, and the restaurant’s listings also mention a fireplace inside for cooler ones.
It earns 4.7 stars from more than 1,200 Google reviews, high for a place with this much traffic. The menu is wide, with specialty pizzas such as the Philly and the roasted tomato and garlic, wings in buffalo, Cajun and BBQ, a smash burger, and a Cajun pasta topped with chicken, shrimp or both. Reviewers also single out the Nashville hot chicken sandwich and the buffalo mac and cheese. Beignets are the dessert to share.
Sunday brunch runs from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., with dishes such as Nashville hot chicken and waffles, shrimp and grits and avocado toast. You can reserve a table online, and the restaurant recommends booking ahead, especially for groups. A weekly specials calendar covers things like Tequila Thursday and Friday date-night martinis. Hours differ by day and run later on Friday and Saturday, so check before you go.
Address: 565 S Jefferson Ave Ste A, Cookeville, TN 38501
Website: midtownsocialrestaurant.com
Chill Billy’s Lounge
Chill Billy’s Lounge is a Southern restaurant and bar at 102 North Cedar Avenue, styled after the basement bars that once anchored many family homes. The idea began in 2012, when friends hosted weekend cookouts in Cookeville, and the owners later opened the lounge after building Full Rack BBQ. Leather chairs and a sofa give the room its relaxed feel.
With 4.6 stars from more than 190 Google reviews, it is as much a restaurant as a bar. The Chillbilly Deluxe is a double smashburger with sharp cheese on a potato bun, and the baby back ribs are smoked, fried and glazed with hoisin barbecue sauce. The catfish po’boy, a Cuban sandwich with house-smoked pork and the pork and pimento balls are other picks, and the menu lists tallow fries.
The restaurant opens at 11 a.m. every day, and the bar stays open until 1 a.m. Thursday through Saturday, so it works for lunch as well as a late night. Starters include catfish nuggets, wings and chips with queso, and desserts come from a local bakery, Wild Flour. Online ordering is available, and you should check hours before you go.
Address: 102 N Cedar Ave, Cookeville, TN 38501
Website: chillbillyslounge.com
Bubba Gandy Seafood Company
Bubba Gandy Seafood Company is part fish market and part Cajun restaurant, at 370 South Lowe Avenue, Suite C. The shop sells wild-caught seafood, mostly from the Gulf of Mexico, and you can take it home to cook or have the kitchen cook it for you. It is locally owned and operated, which makes it a useful find in landlocked Tennessee.
Its 4.8-star rating across more than 300 Google reviews is a strong showing for a seafood market. Platters arrive with corn, red potatoes, andouille sausage and garlic butter, and the Hoot Plate is a pound of steamed royal red shrimp, a sweet deep-water Gulf shrimp. Po’boys come on Gambino’s French bread, and the shrimp, oyster and catfish versions are the ones to try. Shrimp Del Mar, house-battered coconut shrimp, and Cajun Devils, spicy deviled eggs with candied bacon, make good starters.
The website lists Tuesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., with the market closed Sunday and Monday, so check before you go. Crawfish plates are seasonal, so ask what is available. A small lunch special of steamed shrimp is an easy way to try the kitchen, and the big platters are priced for sharing. Raw seafood is sold from the market to cook at home, and seating is limited.
Address: 370 S Lowe Ave, Cookeville, TN 38501
Website: bubbagandy.com
Hardwoods Smokehouse
Hardwoods Smokehouse serves slow-smoked barbecue from 851 South Willow Avenue. The website says the smoking began in 1998, and the business also does catering and runs a mobile truck, with family recipes passed down through generations. The menu is short and built around smoked brisket, pulled pork, pulled chicken, sausage and turkey, served as sandwiches, plates and loaded baked potatoes.
Rated 4.7 stars from more than 200 Google reviews, Hardwoods keeps things simple. Sandwiches have playful names: The Bull is brisket, The Porker is pulled pork, and the Hardwood Heart Attack piles on brisket, pulled pork and smoked sausage. Plates come with two sides and bread, and the sides include Mama Ada’s coleslaw, smokehouse beans and wood-fired mac and cheese. The BBQ potatoes, large baked potatoes topped with slaw, beans and your choice of meat, make a meal on their own.
Ribs are served only on Friday and Saturday unless you order them ahead, so plan around that if ribs are the goal. You can order online or by phone, and online ordering is listed for Tuesday through Saturday during the day. The menu board notes a cash discount, so paying with cash costs a little less than a card. Prices are modest, with sandwiches priced well below a full plate. Check hours before you go.
Address: 851-A S Willow Ave, Cookeville, TN 38501
Website: hardwoodssmokehouse.com
The Slice Pizza and Games
The Slice Pizza and Games is a family-friendly pizza restaurant and arcade at 408 West Jackson Street, Suite C, in the Ollie’s Bargain Outlet shopping center. The owners are the Goldie family, and the pizzas are made with dough and sauce from scratch and freshly grated mozzarella. The venue has more than 20 arcade games, so it works well for kids and for groups.
With 4.6 stars from more than 300 Google reviews, it is a well-reviewed pizza spot for families. The website highlights a Pickle Pizza, a Chicken Bacon Pizza and a Hawaiian pie, and you can build your own, with hot wings and fresh salads on the side. Reviewers also name the buffalo chicken, BBQ chicken and meat supreme pizzas, and a personal pizza is an easy order for one.
The restaurant is listed as open daily from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., except Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, so check hours before you go. A lunch special pairs a personal pizza with a soft drink until 3 p.m., and most arcade games are half price on Tuesdays. Two seating areas can be reserved at no cost for groups, and delivery is available through DoorDash and Uber Eats.
Address: 408 W Jackson St, Cookeville, TN 38501
Website: cookevilleslice.com
Bravo’s Cafe & Grill
Bravo’s is a Greek-style cafe and diner at 514 North Willow Avenue that serves breakfast all day, along with brunch and lunch. The website promises real Greek food and homemade desserts, and the long menu pairs Greek specialties with diner classics such as omelets, patty melts and French toast. Catering is available if you want to bring the food to a party.
Rated 4.6 stars from more than 900 Google reviews, it is one of the most popular daytime spots in town. For breakfast, try the Greek omelet with gyro meat, feta and tomato, or one of three eggs Benedicts. At lunch, look for the spanakopita deluxe, two spinach pies with pita, feta, tzatziki and salad, the gyro platter, and Chicken Athena, garlic-butter chicken with spinach, feta and tomato over angel hair.
The cafe is open from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sunday, and it is closed Monday, so plan to arrive by early afternoon. Daily lunch specials start after 10 a.m. and are posted on the website. Prices are moderate, and a Greek iced frappe, baklava or tiramisu can round out the meal.
Address: 514 N Willow Ave, Cookeville, TN 38501
Website: bravocafeandgrill.com
Meg’s Bread
Meg’s Bread is a naturally leavened bakery at 52 South Cedar Avenue, in Cookeville’s Westside. It began at farmers markets and with home baking before opening its storefront in 2020. In 2023, the bakery added Westside Cafe & Grocery, which sells local produce, organic staples, coffee, and breakfast and lunch sandwiches made on the bakery’s bread.
Rated 4.9 stars from more than 200 Google reviews, it has some of the highest ratings in town. Long-fermented sourdough and croissants are the specialties, and the pastry case includes morning buns, cinnamon rolls, cream cheese danishes and a seasonal bostock (brioche soaked in syrup and baked with almond cream). Focaccia comes in flavors like jalapeño cheddar and olive and artichoke, and the cafe makes sandwiches such as a Reuben and a grilled breakfast sandwich.
The bakery is open Tuesday through Saturday and closes at 2 p.m., while the cafe and grocery keep longer hours and open daily, so check hours before you go. Pickup orders for regular menu items need at least 48 hours’ notice by email. The bakery’s pies and pastries use stone-ground Appalachian wheat from Carolina Ground, a mill in Asheville, North Carolina.
Address: 52 S Cedar Ave, Cookeville, TN 38501
Website: megsbreadtn.com
Poet’s Coffee
Poet’s Coffee has served downtown Cookeville since 1994 from 230 East Broad Street, on the town square. The flagship calls itself Cookeville’s living room, and the shop pairs espresso drinks with bagels, sandwiches and breakfast items. A cozy back room and a welcome for dogs make it the kind of place people settle into for an hour.
Rated 4.6 stars from more than 800 Google reviews, it is the most-reviewed coffee shop in town. Reviewers recommend the avocado toast on sourdough, the avocado bagel, the chicken salad and the breakfast sandwiches, plus açaí bowls. A Morning Magic cheese bagel, an iced latte and the white mocha are other regulars.
The flagship is open daily from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., so it works for breakfast and an afternoon coffee, but check hours before you go. You can order online for pickup if you are in a hurry. For a faster stop, Poet’s South at 157 South Jefferson Avenue has a drive-thru. Prices are typical for a coffee shop.
Address: 230 E Broad St, Cookeville, TN 38501
Website: poetscookeville.com
Final Thoughts
Plan around hours, because many of Cookeville’s best spots close by mid-afternoon or take a day or two off. Mauricio’s requires reservations, and the Putnam Room, Fire & Vine and Midtown Social all take them, so book those ahead for a weekend dinner. Bravo’s and Meg’s Bread are daytime stops, and several other places close on Sundays or Mondays. West Broad Street downtown and Cedar Avenue in the Westside are both easy to cover on foot once you park. If you are heading to Cummins Falls State Park, about nine miles north of town, add a meal before or after.
Planning the rest of your trip? See our guide to the best things to do in Cookeville, TN.
Main photo, from left: Thomas Wavid Johns, Luke Pennystan and Ines Iachelini / Unsplash
