Tennessee’s dining scene is growing quickly as In-N-Out, Wawa and Buc-ee’s target the state, but its strangest restaurants offer experiences no expanding chain could easily reproduce.
“Weird” is a compliment here. These restaurants combine dinner with magicians, mermaids, fantasy villages and a “hotel” that does not rent rooms.
House of Cards in Nashville
House of Cards hides underneath the Johnny Cash Museum in downtown Nashville.
Guests descend into a 10,000-square-foot underground space filled with antique playing cards, magical artifacts, dark wood and secretive passageways. Professional magicians perform close-up illusions at tables and in dedicated performance rooms throughout the evening.
The restaurant’s rules add to the mystery. Photography is prohibited, guests must follow a dress code and dinner service is restricted to customers 21 and older. A Sunday family brunch provides the primary exception.
The menu is built around steaks, seafood and elaborate cocktails, but the magic is the real reason to visit. House of Cards feels like an exclusive underground club run by people who may—or may not—be able to read minds.
Aquarium Restaurant in Nashville
Aquarium Restaurant asks customers to eat seafood while thousands of fish swim directly beside them.
The restaurant’s enormous central aquarium provides almost every table with an underwater view. Sharks, stingrays, tropical fish and other sea creatures continuously circle the dining room while customers order seafood, steaks, chicken and desserts.
Scheduled mermaid appearances make the experience even more surreal. Performers swim through the aquarium, interact with children through the glass and occasionally appear to pose among the fish.
Aquarium Restaurant is located inside Opry Mills, but stepping into the dining room feels like leaving a shopping mall and entering the bottom of the ocean.
Ancient Lore Village in Knoxville
Ancient Lore Village resembles a fantasy film set hidden in the Tennessee woods.
The property contains tiny dwellings with names such as the Gremlin Gameyard, whimsical bridges, gardens, fire pits and Boyd Hollow Falls. Its buildings appear designed for fairies, elves and other creatures that do not usually require reservations.
Visitors cannot simply wander onto the property. Ancient Lore Village operates through overnight stays, ticketed events and reserved dining experiences.
Its schedule includes Sunday brunches, chef-prepared dinners, picnics and seasonal parties. Guests can also add activities such as axe throwing, archery, hiking and outdoor games.
It is less like visiting a conventional restaurant and more like paying admission to eat inside an imaginary kingdom.
Aretha Frankensteins in Chattanooga
Aretha Frankensteins combines a monster-movie name with enormous pancakes and a wonderfully cramped neighborhood setting.
The original Chattanooga restaurant occupies a small house on Tremont Street. Its funky artwork, Frankenstein imagery and eclectic decorations make breakfast feel as though it is being served inside an eccentric collector’s living room.
The restaurant is best known for exceptionally thick pancakes that require patience. Aretha’s even warns customers that it “ain’t fast food.”
Breakfast burritos, waffles, eggs, grits and espresso provide alternatives, but the pancakes remain the signature attraction. The restaurant also sells its pancake mix so customers can attempt to recreate the experience at home.
Aretha Frankensteins is weird without trying to become a polished theme restaurant. That is precisely why it works.
Hagy’s Catfish Hotel in Shiloh
Hagy’s Catfish Hotel is neither a conventional hotel nor a recent attempt at quirky branding.
The name dates to the 1930s, when Norvin Hagy held catfish cookouts along the Tennessee River. Visitors arriving by boat occasionally stayed overnight, inspiring the “Catfish Hotel” nickname.
The family opened the restaurant in 1938. Today, it remains known for fried catfish, hush puppies, coleslaw and river views near Shiloh National Military Park.
The property’s history stretches back even further. The Hagy family settled the land in 1825, and a storage shack on the property was occupied by Union soldiers during the Battle of Shiloh.
Customers cannot book a room at the Catfish Hotel anymore. They can, however, eat inside one of Tennessee’s oldest family restaurant traditions—and explain to confused friends why they visited a hotel solely for fried fish.
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