The Villager Tavern

7/4/2018

Best dive bar in Nashville, hands down. Like most dive bars, it looks rough from the outside, but once you get inside, you can really feel the welcoming atmosphere of the place. The staff make you feel like a regular even if it's your first time, and you can always find someone to chat with or play a game of darts with, no matter your skill level. When you're at The Villager, you're part of the family, no judgement and no frills necessary. And on your birthday, you get a free dog bowl of beer, which is completely disgusting on the surface, but is a right of passage and a tradition that many who have come before you have taken part in. This place is legendary.

1/29/2018

• 1 check-in

3.5

We were in the area on a Saturday night for a work event and we wanted to grab a quick beer after. We found The Villager on Yelp and decided to check it out. I love me a good dive bar so this was an exciting find. It's totally different than most of the upscale cocktail lounges that are popping up all over Nashville.

When walking in, I loved the feel of the place. Pictures and posters all over the walls, free darts in the back, stools to grab a seat at the bar or along the wall. However, the smell. I understand that with a bar that allows smoking, it's going to smell like smoke. But wow. This place was on another level. It was difficult to be in there for too long. If you smoke, I'm sure you'll love this place! If you don't, good luck.

They have great deals on beer and a few decent choices on tap. I saw an IPA option so that's always a plus. We used the check-in offer on Yelp to get $2 PBR cans. Nothing like a cold PBR to bring me back to my college days. The bartender was really friendly and helpful. Overall, a really great little dive bar if you can stand the smell!

6/26/2017

• 1 check-in

Cold, cheap beer, great location, but suuuuuper smoky inside. It burned my eyes just being in there and no one was even smoking at the time.

7/14/2017

• 1 check-in

Cool dive bar that has darts in the back to hone your skills.  Friendly and fast service from the bartender.  The big downfall of this joint is they still have smoking which usually kills a place for me fast but fortunately during my visit there was not much smoking going on but the smell was still strong.  They had good deals on beer and they had great music playing.  I also believe this bar is owned by Louisiana folks and is a good spot to watch the Saints.

11/15/2017

The Villager is my favorite Dive Bar in Nashville. I have been drinking here for almost 10 years and would recommend it to anyone. If you are looking for a bar with character where the locals hang out, the Villager is the place.

8/17/2017

Great place to hide from new Nashvilles pretentiousness. Warning: smoking, but that just keeps out the jerks

7/5/2016

One of the best beer deals in town if get a pitcher. Shiner Bock and Miller light are just under $10 a pitcher.
Five dartboards, a foosball table, and a great jukebox +3 large screen HD televisions.

10/22/2015

The Villager Tavern is quite possibly my favorite place to hang in Nashville. It's the prefect bar to finish your night on the town or spend a few hours making friends with the regulars. There is no pretense; there is good beer, great people, and great conversation, not to mention 5 dart boards to help you work on your game. On top of that, the bar staff is not only personable but they treat you like friends.

It may not be fancy but there is always a great time to be had at the Villager.

8/13/2015

• 1 check-in

It's a dive and it's smokey. If you're into that kind of thing, read on...

Cheap beer - check. Shiner is $9.50 for a pitcher, $2.75/pint. LaGunitas will run you about $4.75 but that's still not bad.

Really that's the only check you need but wait! There's more!

I heard a rumor they'll give you a dog bowl of beer on your 21st birthday...

They serve food. No, really, I promise. And it's GOOD. You only have one choice of food (sandwich) and two choices of kind of sandwich (turkey or roast beef) but it's actually really tasty.

They also have darts and foosball and a jukebox and a couple video game machines.

A fun neighborhood bar. My husband and I ended up her on our first date after Fido closed for the night so it has a special place in my heart. I hope it stays around for a while.

7/28/2016

Absolutely awesome place! My husband and I loved the atmosphere. We will be coming back soon. Prices were vet reasonable and the staff was awesome!!

4/25/2016

Smokey, cheap neighborhood bar. Shiner is a great deal! Lots of memorabilia on the walls. About 5 dart boards towards the back.

1/3/2015

Darts are great. Very divey. Cheap beer. Good music.

Definite minus: place reeks of smoke. Like leave your clothes outside for 2 days smokey.

6/11/2014

If I ever get around to writing my memoir, I would base it around nights spent at The Villager. I will never forget the first time I walked in and breathed in the smoky air way back in July 2008. Over the years I've celebrated countless friends' birthdays with a dog bowl, honed my dart throwing skills, chatted with many a Belmont hipster, old guy, and Vandy bro and led the crowd in a Bohemian Rhapsody jukebox sing-a-long. I've often closed the place down as time has a way of speeding up when you're surrounded by good people (old friends + new strangers alike), great beer, and a stellar jukebox.

Some of the best times of my life have been at The Villager. I'm feeling both sentimental and scared for the future in the face of all the Hillsboro Village gentrification. Go here and make some memories while this gem of a dive bar still stands. I'll see ya there.

7/9/2015

The diviest of dive bars. Sit down pac man machine, dart boards, foosball table and only beer. If you can handle a smokey atmosphere, it's a MUST.

12/6/2012

• 3 check-ins

I was introduced to the Villager by Vandy alums and it is a landmark in Hillsboro Village that holds a lot of memories for its patrons. As an outsider, I enjoy hanging out at the Villager and checking out dogbowl pictures on the wall and stopping in around birthdays because you get a free dogbowl of beer.

However, there are no other alcoholic beverages offered for those who are not beer drinkers. And now that most Nashville bars are smoke free, its difficult to enjoy myself for an extended period of time through the blanket of smoke that engulfs you upon entering.

They have decent juke box and darts, foosball, and some old school video arcade games (Ms. Packman!) that are very enjoyable. They have a couple menu items, but to be honest, I wouldn't eat here. Sorry.

It's not a place where I would ever be a regular, but I'll stop in for my dogbowl or to share in a friends birthday dogbowl celebration!

4/26/2013

They've got Shiner on draft, which is always nice.  It's an old fashioned dive bar, to include all the smoke that is requisite with authentic dive bars.
The dog bowl is a fun idea and all the games, dart boards and juke boxes are great.
I did come in here with a themed birthday party at 4 PM once and got the most evil looks I've seen in a while from the staff and patrons, so I can safely say that they don't appreciate nonsense- which isn't necessarily a bad thing.  Drinking is serious business.

10/3/2012

• 1 check-in

Villager has done a fine job at serving my wants and needs every time I've been here.

Before moving to Nashville, I'd been here a couple times visiting friends. It was a dive-y, seemingly popular and convenient place to grab beers before going elsewhere. I went last night for that "not quite ready to end the night, but restaurants are closing" beer with a friend.

On a Tuesday,  we were able to find a comfortable place at the bar, but I would assume it gets incredibly crowded and noisy during the weekend, which is why I will probably frequent Villager as a pit spot, not my destination for a night out.

It should also be noted they only serve beer, so if you are trying to accommodate a large group, this is not the place to go. That being said, they have a gazillion different bottled brews to choose from, however the draft selection is kind of weak (although I wouldn't expect much from a bar of this size.)

As a lot of other people pointed out, it is very smokey, but it's not the worst bar I've been to in Nashville as far as that goes, and as a non-smoker, I appreciated them keeping the front door open.

12/14/2014

• 3 check-ins

I love dive bars, so I really like this place. Definitely a spot where you smell like cigarettes. Lots of dart boards but some nights are league nights. There's a pretty cool jukebox and a foosball table as well. The beer is cheep and everyone is friendly.

2/19/2013

• 1 check-in

The decision to go to the Villager is usually a late night one.  And one must question all decisions made after leaving the Villager...they get progressively worse (and the stories, correspondingly, get better and better of course).  Cheap beer, darts, a good jukebox, and a tabletop Ms Pak Man.  Oh, and enough second hand smoke to make the Malboro Man jealous.  Seriously jealous.

I love this place.  I always have a fun time here, good crowd late night (I will neither confirm nor deny that I have been here in the middle of the day for hours on end).  Been there for years and always a late night go to when I'm in town.  My only question is this:  How the hell isn't the Villager mentioned in nearly every country song?  It damn sure deserves to be!

7/4/2014

Really like this spot.  Excellent dive in the village.  The bar doesn't feel at all like the rest of the area, which is excellent, though if you can't handle smokey bars this probably isn't the place for you.  They turned on the Breaking Bad season premiere, which was awesome, and I met up with fellow Yelpers at the bar to watch the show.