Dino's sits on Gallatin Avenue in East Nashville and has poured cheap beer and bourbon since the 1970s, which makes it the oldest dive bar in the neighbourhood. The Infatuation calls the late-night cheeseburger a Nashville institution, and the grill in back runs into the early hours seven nights a week.
Who would love it: anyone who wants a cold tall boy, a charred burger and zero pretense after a shift. Who would skip it: anyone after a long cocktail list or a quiet table, because this is a counter-and-grill room built for volume and late nights, not for lingering over a menu.
The room is a single-story brick box with a faded Coca-Cola marquee out front, dingy painted windows and a short bar that gives ringside seats to the grill in back. When the current owners took over in 2015, Atlas Obscura notes they kept the look almost untouched on purpose, betting that the appeal was good cheap beer, stronger booze and uncomplicated food. In 2022 they added Dolly's Lemonade Stand on the back patio, a nod to Dolly Parton, who is a documented fan of the place.
Order the cheeseburger first. It arrives charred and dripping, and you can take it Animal Style with mustard, pickles, sauce and onions, plus a fried egg or bacon if you want it. Anthony Bourdain stopped in for one and approved, per The Takeout's history of the bar. Pair it with a PBR tall boy for the full dive ritual, and ask about the hot chicken, which several reviewers on the Tripadvisor listing flag as the sleeper order behind the burger.
The crowd is East Nashville regulars and service-industry workers getting off late shifts, with the late-night hours pulling a steady run of drinkers until 3am. Weekend afternoons open at noon and stay easygoing, while the energy climbs as the night runs on. This is a cash-friendly, card-friendly neighbourhood room rather than a destination cocktail bar, and the prices stay low by design.
Who is it for: late-night eaters who want a burger after the kitchens close, industry regulars looking for a familiar stool, and out-of-towners who want the genuine East Nashville dive rather than a Broadway tourist room. Skip it if you came for craft cocktails or a full sit-down dinner service.
Best time to go is late, after 10pm on a weeknight, when the grill is still firing and the room settles into its element. Saturday and Sunday open at noon for an earlier, calmer round. The bar runs until 3am every night, so it doubles as the last stop when other rooms have called it.
What regulars say lands on two things: the burger and the hours. Drinkers on the Yelp listing return for the charred patty and the cheap beer, and reviewers repeat that the late kitchen is the real draw, since few Nashville rooms serve food this good this late. The recurring advice is simple, come hungry, order the cheeseburger, and keep the drinks cold and uncomplicated.
A note on the patio: in warm months the back opens up around Dolly's Lemonade Stand, a giant-lemon bar that adds seating and gives the room a second life beyond the front counter. It is a small detail, but the kind of unfussy addition that fits the bar's whole approach, cheap, easy and built for regulars rather than for show. The same logic runs through the menu, where the burger does the heavy lifting and nothing on the board tries too hard.
For the wider field, our guide to the best dive bars in Nashville sets Dino's against the rest of the East Nashville pack, and the city Nashville bar guide maps where to drink beyond Broadway. Night owls should also compare The Crying Wolf in Nashville and the late hours at Springwater Supper Club in Nashville.
Sources: Dino's official site, dinosnashville.com (2026); The Infatuation, Dino's Bar and Grill review; Atlas Obscura, Dino's Nashville; The Takeout, East Nashville's oldest dive bar; Yelp and Tripadvisor reviews. Profile by James Harlow, barsforKings.
