Plenty to choose from. If you’ve been to Nashville in recent years, you know that there’s no shortage of artist-owned bars on Broadway in downtown Music City. (And before we get started, let’s get this out of the way: Yes, I know most of these artists don’t actually “own” their bars. The vast majority of them are owned by massive hospitality companies that license the artist’s name and slap it on the front. That’s how bars like FGL House are able to be turned into Lainey Wilson’s Bell Bottoms Up so quickly when they close). It all started back around 2017 when Alan Jackson became the first artist in downtown Nashville to open his own venue, AJ’s Good Time Bar, after taking over former honky tonk The Wheel. And to his credit, AJ (who DOES own his bar) kept much of the same character of The Wheel, which makes it one of the few remaining “honky tonks” on Broadway. Since then, it seems like artists are tripping over each other to open up their own bar, with no less than a dozen artist-owned (or at least artist-branded) bars now drawing in millions of tourists to downtown Nashville. The result is a lot of cookie-cutter bars that are, for the most part, pretty similar: Massive multi-story venues packed with bachelorette parties and overpriced drinks that play a mix of everything from country to rock and pop music and bear no resemblance to the honky tonks that many think of when they think of Nashville. If you’ve been to Nashville and visited these bars, you’ve no doubt picked out your favorite. But I got to thinking recently: Which ones have the highest online ratings? Obviously these ratings are subjective, and everybody is looking for something different when they visit a bar, but I figured that the online scores would help give a better idea of which ones people actually prefer. And honestly, I was a little surprised by the results. Here they are from lowest to highest, based on an average of online ratings: 15. Hank Williams Jr.’s Boogie Bar You never really hear much about the bar named after Bocephus, so it’s not really a surprise that it’s the lowest-rated bar on Broadway. To be fair, I’ve only been there once but I had a good time, it was just nothing really special. Still, I’d put it over some of the others, so this rating seems a little low to me. 14. Jelly Roll’s Goodnight Nashville I would take this one with a grain of salt, and honestly I debated even including it because Jelly Roll just opened his downtown Nashville bar within the last month, so there haven’t been a ton of reviews so far. I haven’t been to the bar yet so I can’t say how it is, but I have a feeling their rating is skewed by the small number of reviews and will only go up from here. 13. Category 10 Luke Combs just opened his bar a few months ago so again, this is likely a situation where there just aren’t enough reviews for an accurate rating yet – and the reviews that are posted are likely from people who had a bad experience for one reason or another. I wouldn’t put too much stock into this ranking until some more reviews come in. 12. Dierks Bentley’s Whiskey Row This is one of the longer-running artist bars on Broadway, and it seems that most of the complaints are about the lack of elevators (it’s quite the hike to get upstairs to the rooftop so I get that) or the aggressive security. 11. Luke’s 32 Bridge Luke Bryan’s bar has plenty of 5-star reviews, but there are also quite a few 1-star reviews complaining that the staff was unfriendly or that the food wasn’t great. I’ve never eaten here so I can’t speak on that, but I know that the bar is usually packed so I can imagine having to deal with crowds of drunks all the time probably does get old for the staff… 10. Friends In Low Places Garth Brooks said that he wanted Friends In Low Places to be the “Chick-fil-A” of honky tonks, a place that plays real country music and where everybody feels safe. But it seems that his promises may have set the expectations too high, because there are a lot of negative reviews that mention the lack of country music and unfriendly staff. View this post on Instagram A post shared by FRIENDS IN LOW PLACES BAR & HONKY-TONK (@friendsbarnash) 9. Jason Aldean’s Kitchen + Rooftop Bar This is one of the most popular bars on Broadway, so it’s no surprise that its rating is weighed down by negative reviews complaining about the wait times to get in or inattentive staff. 8. Lainey Wilson’s Bell Bottoms Up Lainey’s is another new bar, which opened last year in what was previously Florida Georgia Line’s bar, FGL House. I haven’t been here but overall the reviews are fairly good, despite some people not liking the food or complaining about the staff being rude. It do be like that sometimes though, especially on Broadway where you can’t please everybody. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Bell Bottoms Up (@bellbottomsupbar) 7. Kid Rock’s Big Ass Honky Tonk Rock N’ Roll Steakhouse It seems like Kid Rock’s is a place that people plan their entire Nashville trip around, and overall there are quite a few people who love this place. But there are also some negative reviews complaining that it’s too packed, or that the staff was rude, and of course you get reviews from people who complain about the band making “political statements” – although I’m not sure what they were expecting from a bar owned by Kid Rock. Not exactly a safe space… 6. Ole Red Blake Shelton’s bar has pretty good reviews, which makes sense because it’s a fairly inoffensive, standard bar in downtown Nashville (though it does have probably the best rooftop on Broadway). But the big complaints seem to be about the quality of the food and the inattentive service, which bring the ratings down a bit. 5. Morgan Wallen’s This Bar & Tennessee Kitchen It’s no surprise that this bar has such high ratings, based on the name alone. Morgan Wallen is one of the biggest superstars in country music, but he’s also one of the most divisive, so people who come to his bar are probably big fans of Morgan and thus going to be big fans of his bar. But there are still negative reviews that complain about the crowds (not sure what you were expecting), the poor service, and the lack of country music. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Morgan Wallen’s This Bar & Tennessee Kitchen (@mwthisbar) 4. Miranda Lambert’s Casa Rosa Miranda is one of only two female artists with her own bar on Broadway, so it’s no surprise that her bar is so highly rated by the female crowd that it attracts. It also has a unique menu featuring Mexican food that seems to get good reviews (and the one time I ate there I was impressed by the food), but there are also some negative ratings that complain about the long wait times for service and the lack of selection in food and drinks. 3. Redneck Riviera John Rich is one of the few artists who own their own bar on Broadway (in fact the three highest-rated artist bars are all owned by the artist and not by hospitality companies, so take from that what you will). And his bar may be smaller than some of the others, but it seems like it has a hardcore, dedicated fanbase with overall good reviews for the place. Of course there are still some complaints, mostly about the food and the service, but there are also negative reviews from people who simply don’t like Rich’s politics. 2. AJ’s Good Time Bar AJ’s and Chief’s were basically tied for the top spots when it came to averaging out the ratings, with people loving Alan Jackson’s honky tonk for being smaller and more of a traditional honky tonk while still offering friendly service and good music. The majority of negative reviews were from people who were denied entry into the bar or had an issue with their drinks. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Alan Jackson’s Good Time Bar (@ajsgoodtimebar) 1. Chief’s Eric Church’s bar recently celebrated its one-year anniversary on Broadway, and it seems like it’s built a reputation for being one of the favorites. The reviews online seemed love that it serves Rodney Scott BBQ and not the same food as all the other bars on Broadway, as well as the unique floors and the quality of the bands that were on stage. Most of the negative reviews for Chief’s were about the security being rude or denying them entry, but it seems like good security in a bar full of drunk people would be a good thing… We love a good loud Honky Tonk that rocks on Friday nights…see you tomorrow at #ChiefsonBroadway. pic.twitter.com/syTqh0sxl6 — Chief's on Broadway (@ChiefsBroadway) April 18, 2024 So there you have it, the rankings of all 15 celebrity bars in downtown Nashville based on their online ratings. Honestly, for the most part I pretty much agree with the ratings. I probably would have put Friends In Low Places a little higher, and Morgan Wallen’s lower, as well as a few other minor changes. But it seems like overall, the online ratings give you a pretty good idea of what you can expect from each bar, which may make it easier to decide which ones you want to visit (or skip) on your trip to Music City. And for any bars that are reading this and mad about their ranking: Don’t shoot the messenger. You earned those ratings, not me. I just reported them.The post What Are The Highest – And Lowest – Rated Artist Bars On Broadway In Downtown Nashville? first appeared on Whiskey Riff.