suggestions for restaurants within walking of Gaylord Opryland?

[N.Cal]

Originally Posted by DonCorleone

That is criminal.

So is the price of rooms! But Soundwaves was a lot of fun. We were there in August.

[Tomandjerry45]

Originally Posted by DonCorleone

That is criminal.

Originally Posted by N.Cal

Currently....

Parking

Self-Parking: $32.00, inclusive of tax
Overnight Valet Parking: $40.00, inclusive of tax

Oh wow! I thought it was still $20 as well.

[CountryGirl2b=]

But you can park for free at the shopping mall and walk over to the hotel if you want to save some money. As I recall, it’s a flat rate? You can’t pay for just a couple hours, right?

[DonCorleone]

Originally Posted by CountryGirl2b=

But you can park for free at the shopping mall and walk over to the hotel if you want to save some money. As I recall, it’s a flat rate? You can’t pay for just a couple hours, right?

That's right. You can still park at the mall and walk over which is okay for people just visiting.

I suppose their logic is that the rooms are already expensive so what's another $40? Also...if you're staying downtown you're going to have to pay for parking too. Finally...hotel visitors paying for parking is their only way of charging for admission and covering the costs associated with the lights, infrastructure, etc.

All that said, it still just doesn't sit right with me as someone who grew up going there when it was free to park and walk around...but I admit to increasingly becoming the old man yelling on his front lawn.

[BobNJ1960]

When I lived in Hendersonville, I went there with my godson a few times (Opryland), always parking at the mall for free.

[topfuels]

Chuys is one of our favorites in Nashville! Great food and service.

[CaptainNJ]

Originally Posted by BirdieBelle

The "wonderland" is the tons of lighted decorations in the hotel's atrium areas. You can walk around paved trails through the tropical gardens and waterfalls, and you can easily get lost in there lol.

It's very warm and steamy inside the atrium areas, kind of like a terrarium. Leave your coats in the room. There are lots of photo opportunities.

"The best restaurants Nashville has to offer" may not be the best for your group. Getting around may be a challenge with 4 families, so hopefully yes, the hotel can offer a shuttle. Or you can order a couple of Lyft XLs.

I would start Googling restaurants that take large groups and work from there. Be aware if there is some huge event going on downtown like the Music City Bowl (12/30) or Nashville Christmas parade (12/7)

thanks, ill look into that parade since we will be there then.

we were originally 2 families (8 people) and then 2 more families were added. that does change the ability to get seated at restaurants and im not sure how that will work. there is a natural split in the grouping of 2/2 families so we could theoretically split in half at times but im not sure how to make that happen. but the more i think about all the kids the more i just want to go to a buffet for every meal.

[CaptainNJ]

Originally Posted by DonCorleone

As long as you're using taxis/rideshares and planning on just going to and from the resort to downtown, you won't need to rent a car. Also keep in mind that there's a fairly high parking fee to park at the resort (around $20/day last year as I recall) and you'll likely have to pay $10-20 to park downtown as well. The resort has shuttle busses to downtown (Wildhorse Saloon on 2nd Ave) and back so you may be able to take advantage of that though I'm pretty sure there's a fee for it. With a large group, I think that would probably be a really good way of getting into the downtown entertainment district. Lastly, the holiday traffic in and out of the resort can be pretty crazy as it is a very popular seasonal attraction and there's a large mall right next to it adding to the congestion. No way around that with taxis/rideshares either...but at least you're not the one driving in that situation.

As for restaurants...there are hundreds of choices in Nashville. We're somewhat of a foodie mecca right now and it seems like there's a new restaurant opening (and closing) every week. Consult the usual websites like Yelp to get an idea of what you're looking for and what is (arguably) best. Any specific types of restaurants you're looking at getting more info on?

I have been a little underwhelmed with the restaurant offerings at Gaylord Opryland, personally. Expect to pay resort prices for everything. Old Hickory Steakhouse is quite nice, though expensive. The Cascade restaurant (that may be the name?) had a pretty ample breakfast buffet that is worth checking out. But other than that, I think most of the restaurants are just okay at-best at the resort.

As far as kid-friendly restaurants...bbq places downtown are a good family friendly place usually. Martin's BBQ on 4th, Jack's BBQ on Broadway, and Peg Leg Porker in the Gulch area (this is a little outside walking distance from the entertainment district) would all be good choices and tend to be able to handle a large party. Woolworth's on 5th would be another place to look at...think upscale diner food with the added ambiance of being in a re-created civil rights-era lunch counter. Many of the honky tonks on Broadway are kid-friendly during the day, but you're likely to run into a good amount of adults acting like fools especially as the day goes on. While I'm no fan of the band, the FGL house seemed to be a fairly kid-friendly place for a meal. Likewise, the Diner on 3rd has a good amount of options for kids and can also accomodate a big group.

Hope that helps...let us know if you have more questions.

thanks. my brother worked in nashville about 15 years ago and we did a long weekend visit. we loved the place and the food. but the more i think about it the less i think that this will be the kind of trip that ill have the luxury of worrying about good food.

[WakeMed]

Scoreboard Bar and Grill has good food as long as it's before 10pm when they allow smoking. It's a hole in the wall, not much to look at, but like many of those type place, they know how to cook!