"Nashville really, really, really wants Chinese takeout," Chad Newton told the Nashville Scene when he and Gracie Nguyen decided where to put their third restaurant. They didn't pick Five Points, the commercial heart of East Nashville that's anchored the neighborhood's dining scene for two decades. They picked a small space in Inglewood, at the corner of Riverside Drive and McGavock Pike, that used to be Castrillo's Pizza.
That decision only makes sense if you already know something has been building at that corner over the past couple of years. If you live in Lockeland Springs or Shelby Hills and your routine still runs through Five Points by habit, you've likely driven past this intersection without registering that it's become a destination in its own right.
The Corner That Never Advertised Itself
Before any of the recent openings, Riverside and McGavock had four fixtures that did the quiet work of holding a block together. Mitchell Delicatessen for sandwiches. Village Pub and Beer Garden, a dog-friendly porch pour that's been a neighborhood staple for years. Sabell's across the street. Dose Coffee on the southeast corner, known as much for its baked goods as its espresso.
None of these are tourist-facing operations. They're the kind of businesses that exist because the people who live nearby keep showing up, not because a food blog told them to. That distinction matters for what happened next.
What Moved In Around It
Sho Pizza Bar arrived with a pedigree. The team includes the Gambills, who developed the concept alongside chef Sean Brock, and chef Trey Tench, who worked with Brock at The Continental and Bar Continental. The dough ferments for three days in the restaurant's own proofing room before it becomes a wood-fired pie topped with ingredients sourced from Tennessee to Italy. The dining room seats 30 and takes reservations, but walk-ins can grab the patio, the bar, or the chef's counter.
Golden Prawn #3 joined that wave as a Chinese American takeout counter from Nguyen and Newton's You Are Here Hospitality, the same team behind East Side Banh Mi. It was the fourth restaurant to open at this intersection within about a year, the detail that turns a couple of openings into a pattern.
Ladybird Taco covers breakfast tacos. Bite-a-Bit Thai Sushi rounds out the block's range beyond American and Italian. A Tennessee Cobbler Co. food truck parks on the corner most days, serving fruit cobbler à la mode to anyone who needs dessert after working through the rest of the menu. Hattie Jane's ice cream was slated to join the same building as Sho Pizza Bar and Ladybird Taco, aiming to fill a gap the owner has pointed out publicly: East Nashville, for all its restaurant density, hasn't had much in the way of a dedicated ice cream shop.
Retail followed the food. Allison Holley of Apple & Oak and Anna Schowe of Whiskey Water opened Open Invite at 2215 Riverside Drive, a shared retail space carrying clothing, home goods, and gifts, open daily from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. It's a five-minute walk from Golden Prawn #3, which means a Sunday errand now has a reason to include both stops.
The Tell Worth Noticing
Here's what separates a genuine neighborhood corner from a strip of unrelated storefronts that happen to share a zip code. The Curry Boys, who run a stall nearby, place their regular orders at Mitchell Deli next door and at Sabell's across the street. When their shift ends, they walk to Village Pub and Beer Garden.
That's the pattern to watch. New operators didn't set up in competition with the old ones. They embedded with them immediately, becoming customers of the businesses that were already there before they became competitors for the same customers. A block where the newcomers eat at the old spots and drink where the old staff drinks isn't a collection of businesses anymore. It's a neighborhood behaving like one.
Three Ways to Spend a Weekend There
If you haven't adjusted your routine yet, here's where to start.
- Saturday morning: Coffee at Dose, breakfast tacos at Ladybird, a walk on the Shelby Park greenway loop, then back to Riverside for a sandwich at Mitchell Deli.
- Date night: A reservation at Sho Pizza Bar, then a short walk to Village Pub for a nightcap.
- Sunday errands: Browse Open Invite, grab coffee across the street, and pick up takeout from Golden Prawn #3 on the way home.
None of these require driving to Gallatin Pike or crossing into Five Points. That's the point.
A Second Gravity Point, Not a Replacement
Five Points built its identity in the early 2000s, largely through commercial development that gave the neighborhood a defined center. Riverside Village is forming differently, through the accumulation of small decisions by people who chose to eat next door instead of down the street. It isn't replacing Five Points as East Nashville's commercial anchor. It's giving Inglewood and the surrounding blocks a second corner worth walking to on purpose, one that didn't exist in this form two years ago.
If you own a home within walking distance of Riverside and McGavock, the corner you're walking to on a Sunday morning now looks different than it did even eighteen months ago. Worth updating the routine before the rest of the city catches on.
If you're curious what else has been changing block by block in East Nashville, Anna Rose Marangelli keeps track of it and is always glad to swap notes over coffee at Dose.
