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It’s never easy for a restaurant or bar owner to decide the time has finally come to close down their business, but after two years of pandemic-fueled difficulties and staff shortages, closures are, sadly, inevitable. So to help keep track, here’s a running list of notable restaurant and bar closures so far in 2022 around Music City. This will continue to be updated throughout the year.
Don’t forget to contact Eater Nashville if you learn of a recent restaurant closure.
August 16
Chago’s Cantina
Belmont
After more than a decade serving up queso, burritos, and tacos to the students of Belmont University and beyond, Chago’s Cantina has closed, with owner Chad Head indicating on social media that he’ll be exiting the restaurant business altogether. Head says he has “decided to follow a different path, and assures followers in a follow-up post: “Not going under. Not going out of business. Just want to see my kids out of work.” Head first opened Chago’s 11 years ago at at 2015 Belmont Boulevard, and prior to that owned a barbecue restaurant in Brentwood.
June 30
Dandgure’s Classic Southern Cooking
Pie Town
June 2022 was the last month for Dandgure’s, the longtime Pie Town meat-and-three that became a Nashville institution over the decades. Dandgure’s owner Dandgure “Dan” Robinson announced he was retiring after thirty years of serving a classic meal of protein, like fried chicken, smothered pork chops, or meatloaf, alongside three sides, like mac and cheese, green beans, black-eyed peas, and skillet cornbread. Anthony Bourdain visited the meat-and-three for the seventh season of Parts Unknown, and is told by a companion that it’s “a microcosm of what Nashville is really like.” Dandgure’s former building is up for sale.
April 30
The Crying Wolf
East Nashville
East Nashville bar, restaurant, and music venue the Crying Wolf closed at the end of April after 10 years, marking the end of its run as a favorite of the Nashville service industry crowd and beyond. Owners said they decided not to renew the bar’s 10-year lease, closing out their time on Woodland Street with special events, drink specials, live music, and special merchandise.
April 11
Joey’s House of Pizza
One of Nashville’s favorite pizza joints since Joey Macca opened it in Brentwood in 1999, Joey’s House of Pizza, closed in April. In a handwritten note posted to social media, Macca wrote that while he’s closing the restaurant, the family plans on “remaining in the hospitality business” and later said in a Google business listing that they are embarking on a “new venture.” Macca, who ran the shop along with his wife Crescenza and their two children, relocated Joey’s to Elm Hill Pike about a decade ago, where customers could expect an always-present but fast-moving line.
January 3
Downtown Sporting Club
Lower Broadway
The building that housed Strategic Hospitality’s Downtown Sporting Club has sold to an undisclosed new owner and is closed effective immediately, according to the Nashville Post. The multi-level building at 411 Broadway debuted in its current iteration in 2019, Ben and Max Goldberg’s most ambitious project to date, sporting four separate dining options, ax-throwing lanes, a rooftop oasis, and a few Broadway-facing hotel rooms. In its former life, the building’s ground floor hosted crowd-favorite Paradise Park Trailer Resort, open from 2007 until 2018. Strategic Hospitality eventually revived the popular honky-tonk after the transition, bringing back its popular tater tots, burgers, and $6 Natural Light pitchers.
