Big Al’s Deli

I am not sure how I’ve worked in Germantown this long and not eaten at Big Al’s. I suppose I didn’t realize it was in the neighborhood. Thankfully, a friend had Big Al cater his wedding and I then figured out that it was the same place and was conveniently located for lunch. So we went… and then went again… and again!
This place is an old house. Small. Includes some «market» items in there too. There’s a board with the day’s menu — choose your meat and your sides! (Unless you get shrimp and grits which doesn’t come with sides.) Have a seat at the counter or one of the tables and a nice waitress will get you a can of coke, some tea, or whatever you ordered. Don’t be intimidated by how it looks on the outside or the inside — this place is legit awesome!
So the pork chops… are awesome! The roasted chicken is flavorful and fall off the bone tender. The greens… ok…the greens are THE BEST. There’s some spiciness in there that hits you after you start eating and I cannot get enough. I’ve had these every time I’ve been there. Green beans are made with plenty of meaty goodness. I’ve also tried the meatloaf off my brother’s plate and it was also yummy. Think meat and three with a side of fun banter from Big Al himself. He is funny and friendly and you feel right at home immediately. It definitely makes you want to come back over and over.
ALSO, you should know that he caters. I mean, he can cater a small lunch for your meetings at work or he can do an entire wedding. Once when I was in there a lady was in there tasting everything so she could choose her wedding menu. I have already deemed this the place to cater our next work meeting.
Basically what I am saying is that you MUST GO TO BIG AL’S. What are you waiting for?

First of all, I love Big Al and his family! They treat all of their customers with such kindness and generosity, and they are extremely personable. I try to stop by for breakfast or lunch at least once a week not only because they’re incredible people, but their food is some of the best food in Nashville and at a very inexpensive price (which is rare in Nashville). I love that Big Al makes a lot of the food fresh and right in front of you. Definitely a must for anyone wanting to get the true taste of Nashville!

What great food! The chicken is huge and delicious, the rest of the food we got was just as good. The only thing better than the food were the people there. It was a pleasure to meet Al and the rest there. We will be back

Service is great here as Al is very personable. Great food for great prices! I especially love Big Al’s breakfast, it’s worth the trip.

Small «dive» type atmosphere grill that is quite unique. Al is very friendly and usually around to greet his guests. The burger was very unique (a little spicy) and really tasty. Hopefully an establishment that stays for a while. Definitely worth a visit! Look forward to trying the rest of the Southern fare.

The food is so ridiculously good that it makes no sense! This was my first time (lunch date with hubby) and I had the rosemary herb chicken, mashed potato and greens. The chicken was packed with flavor and the potatoes, whew wanna slap someone! The green were decent. I will be back very soon! The place is very tiny but one will appreciate the coziness

It’s Christmas Eve and Al was closing up for the day but he offered to stay open and make this hungry stranger a burger and fries. I am devouring it now and it’s delicious and amazing. Been in town less than an afternoon and already I’ve made a friend. Can’t wait to come back soon for breakfast!

This place is amazing! The food is great, the service is excellent. Big Al is a genuine guy that truly loves what he does, and it shows in the amazing food and service he provides! Highly recommended for anyone wanting a great dining experience

This is the type of place that we all wish we had in our neighborhood! We arrived on this Saturday AM at 8:30 to find the door locked. As we started to walk away and find another place to eat, the owner walked out and invited us in for coffee and to wait the 30 minutes until he officially was open for business. Enjoyed the conversation, the service, as well as the excellent food quality. All places could take a lesson in service from this guy. Thanks Al

This place is the best hidden gem you’ll ever find in Nashville. I had the ham biscuit and my friend had the Big Al’s breakfast. Both delicious. Both worth every penny. Prices are super fair and the food is outstanding.

Man this place is great. Hole in the wall joint with great food and super friendly owner and cook.
Biscuits are awesome.

While looking for a place to eat breakfast during my recent Nashville visit, fellow Unilocalers recommended this place, and having such great reviews we had to check it out.
It’s located in a residential area, so we were skeptical about finding it. When we walked in, we were even more skeptical about eating there as well because of the over all run down condition of the place. The reason why I didn’t give it five stars.
We were greeted by Big Al himself behind the well worn counter and grill. We were told to serve ourselves for coffee using mismatched coffee mugs. I would have much preferred paper cups, if you know what I mean, from the decanter of coffee on a table.
I’m not a big lover of eggs, so I ordered biscuits and gravy, and the husband ordered French toast. The French toast looked pretty normal, and it certainly tasted good, but nothing could compare to my biscuits and gravy.
The bad review and picture of the watery gravy posted on Unilocal must have been an off day, because that’s not how mine were served! In fact, in the past I always thought sausage gravy was supposed to look like wallpaper paste. But not here.
First, I want to talk about the biscuits… I’m from NY and we just don’t do biscuits up north, so I had no idea what a ‘good’ biscuit was supposed to taste like. These biscuits were like clouds of heaven, with the perfect texture and taste on their own. The gravy was thick enough to be called gravy and not paste. It was loaded with sausage and a kick of spice. It also was brown, not white like I’ve eaten before.
I loved it so much, Big Al was willing to share his secret ingredients with me, which was so sweet of him.
It’s too bad my time in TN was limited and we weren’t able to return to try some of his other dishes. Maybe next time.
I definitely would recommend this place if you don’t mind urban decay, but good southern home cooking. (Even though Al said he was from Boston)
I would recommend some updating and fresh paint. It wouldn’t take away from its appeal, only add to it.

When I was a child, my favorite meal was a cheeseburger with fries. I guess you could say I have a lot of experience with burgers. Over the years leading up to this day, I have had decent burgers, and I’ve had disappointing burgers. Today, however, marked a change in my mind as the new standard for quality burgers. I devoured a cheeseburger from Big Al’s Deli about 3 hours ago, and I am still on cloud 9 from the incredible taste. God bless you guys! You changed my life!

I made my way into this place today for lunch and I can only describe this place as heaven on earth.
I had the meat loaf with corn and Mac and cheese as the sides. That was the single greatest slab of meat loaf I’ve had in my entire LIFE! It was cooked and prepared PERFECTLY. Sooooooo good!!! The Mac and cheese and corn were probably the best sides I’ve EVER had at a restaurant in my entire life!!! I don’t know how it’s possible to make food that tastes THAT good but they did it!
The place is a little hard to find and parking is even harder to find. It’s in an old house that has been converted into a makeshift restaurant. The place looks a little sketchy from the outside (I almost drove off) but once you get inside they do a good job of making you feel right at home. Glad I gave it a shot!
Great food. Great people. Give it a try. You won’t regret it!

I love the atmosphere and the friendliness of Big Al and his staff!
I didn’t know what to try, I was torn between meatloaf and Salisbury Steak.
Big Al very kindly allowed me to sample both!
I would’ve thought that I’d died and went to heaven if I’d just had a plate full of the Salisbury Steak alone! It was delicious!
The Meatloaf was too spicy and different from what I think of when I think of Meatloaf, but that’s just me, I’m not into spicy stuff.

If you’re a meat & 3-​kinda person and/​or grew up eating Southern food*, Big Al’s definitely needs to be in your rotation. The reviews don’t lie and neither do the lines. If you don’t know about it, you’d best get on board now.
As mentioned above, the secret’s been out for a little while now and that means crowds. And when Big Al’s closes mid-​afternoon, that means some juggling. I *was* about to give you the sweet spot time of arriving so that you’d be sure to get a table… but I like eating here… so, you’re out of luck. I will say that whether you come for breakfast or lunch, you won’t have a bad experience.
If there’s proof that Nashville is changing, you can see it on this stretch of 4^th Ave. Nine years ago, you wouldn’t have seen the tlc put in to the older houses or the new construction in this section of Germantown/​Salemtown. In fact, you wouldn’t have seen much outside activity of any kind going on in Salemtown. It’s nice to see… to a point. I hope that the people who suffered through the hard times get to stay to enjoy the largesse. Much like Big Al’s. The restaurant isn’t very large and you need to get in where you fit in but you’ll want to do your best to fit in.
Rather than a meat & 3 lunch, this is a meat & 2, with a bread. The portions are so big, you won’t notice the difference. Look up at the board and check out what it is you’re going to dine on for the day. On the Tuesday afternoon of my trip, I opted for fried catfish, greens, corn cake, and mac & cheese. I was so happy with my choice. First off, the catfish came in a slab and with a choice of hot sauces. Win right there. Rather than mixing the fish with the rest of the meal, the breading and flavor stood on their own. When topped with hot sauce… you’ve got a Nashville fave. The corncake was flavor with flavor and avoided the threat of dryness that plagues some many corncakes/​breads. My greens were delicious. Not everyone can make greens. Not everyone cane make greens the country way. Big Al can make some greens. My favorite part of the meal that day, however, was the mac & cheese. It was so country-​fied. Stretchy, gooey with a slight crust… these were the real deal. I felt like I was at a church pot luck. Mix these bad boys with your greens (and a little hot sauce) and you’ll be in hog heaven. The only thing I wasn’t too enamored with was the sweet tea. It tasted a bit artificial. Know, though, that the drinks are served in those gigantic Pizza Hut™ glasses that can hold, like, 80 oz. so your thirst is sure to be quenched. Oh, and free refills. Yeah, I might need to head over to Big Al’s today…
*I don’t know that calling this a soul food joint is entirely accurate.

It really breaks my heart to give this place a bad review. Yes we all love the story and history of this place. There is lots of community pride and joy in this place. The people who work here are wonderful, super friendly, and really care.
However, the problem at the end of the day comes down to this: THE FOOD IS HORRIBLE.
I have tried it all — MAC and cheese, mashed potatoes, biscuits and gravy, biscuit sandwiches, and etc. trying to like this place and I can’t.
1. The ingredients are low quality. Not only do they use dry goods and not exactly the freshiest meats (you can taste them), eggs, and potatoes… they really go for the worst quality and branded of all the ingredients… across the board (you can see it on their selves)… I like eating the local style and all, but this isn’t local style, this is more like eating BAD.
2. I seen this butter and salt game before. They try to hide the poor taste by adding butter and salt to their food thinking that it will make it all go away (Paula Deen style). Not much inherent flavor here.
3. Ripped table cloths, decaying interior, rusty appliances, and etc. This is beyond «having local character» to just having an extreme wore out feeling.
4. Dirty dishes, missing utensils, and sand in seafood dishes — yep experienced all.
I will say that yes, you do get an amazing value for your money. It may have more «character than run of the mill Southern food»… but it tastes worse than that one time I went to my sister’s military dining hall (that is unless you like ungodly amounts of butter and salt).
If you want to have a more genuine southern experience go to Wholly Chow or Monell’s… NOT HERE!

This place is great! We went for lunch, but I wanted to try the homemade biscuits & gravy, too. Even though it was well past breakfast hours, Al whipped up a plate of them just for us. Big fluffy biscuits smothered in savory gravy with chunks of crunchy sausage.
The thinly sliced fried pork chops were tender & flavored with just the right amount of heat. The raspberry chipotle baked chicken was tender, juicy & falling off the bone. Along with the heaping sides of greens, corn & smashed potatoes, we have more than enough for dinner tonight, too! Al said he has a special menu for Saturday mornings (steak & eggs, blueberry pancakes, etc.). I can’t wait to go back just to try the shrimp & grits!

I went there a few months ago last time. i found this amazing restaurant in a magazine ‘NASHVILLE’ I had a huge breakfast then. i don’t eat American style one much but did enjoy there. Simple crispy bacon and sunny-​side-​up and toast. I tried to order lunch too but I failed then because it was too early. So I came back here again for lunch today.
Lunch comes with 2 sides and toasts or corn cakes. Additional side is $ 1.5
Roast herb chicken with skillet beans and mashed red potato and corn cakes. $ 7
Huge and Tasty! Chicken is super tender and tastes a little bit like jerk chicken. The bones fall apart. Skillet beans are a tiny bit spicy and AMAAAAAAZING. I’ve never tasted like this. MUST ORDER. Mashes red potato is very good too. The skins make it tastier. Corn cakes are simply good.
Salisbury steak with coleslaw, mac&cheese, greens, and mix beans. $ 8+$ 1.5+$ 1.5
Salisbury steak is really moist and very flavorful. Coleslaw is a little bit heavy mayonnaise but fresh and delicious. Mac&cheese is rich but good. Greens are a little bit sour. Mix beans … hmmm. I prefer skillet beans!
The chef Big Al is funny friendly and the waitress is really nice. I like the really welcome atmosphere.
I can’t wait for the next visit there!!!
Now they sell tickets at group on. Check it out;)

TL;DR — check out his food, just not the biscuits and gravy
If you’re driving down a random neighborhood, looking for Big Al’s, and thinking that you’re lost, any other instance you probably would be but this is not the case! Keep driving because you’re almost there.
Once you step inside, you immediately get this feeling that you’re about to eat some good southern cooking. No fancy decoration. No fancy silverware. It’s just big Al on his grill cookin up a storm in his little old dining room. Unfortunately, I was wrong about the food. I think…
As the rest of my group ranted and raved over their hearty breakfast sandwiches, I was left trying my best to like Big Al’s version of biscuits and gravy. I ordered it thinking that it would be thick and creamy with big chunks of sausage however what I got was some soupy, bland, meatless «gravy» over some slightly burnt biscuits. I also ordered a sweet tea which tasted like straight up syrup with a splash of water. I only managed a few sips before I just asked for a different drink.
Maybe I caught Big Al on his off day or maybe I ordered the one thing that doesn’t taste good. Hopefully, I’ll get to come back to Nashville to check it out the rest of his food. Either way, entire meal only cost me 7ish bucks so no big deal.