The Bell Buckle Cafe Is A Little-Known Tennessee Restaurant That’s In The Middle Of Nowhere, But Worth The Drive

The tiny town of Bell Buckle, Tennessee, is 54 miles from Nashville and 92 miles from Chattanooga. Bell Buckle is isolated enough that getting there requires a conscious effort. Yet there's also a sliding scale for what qualifies as "worth the drive." If you're traveling between Nashville and Chattanooga on I-24, Bell Buckle is only 8 miles off the freeway. And once you've experienced the charm and tastes of the Bell Buckle Cafe, your definition of how much mileage is worth the drive is likely to expand.

The Bell Buckle Cafe blends nicely into the historic fabric of a town with fewer than 500 residents.

The food offered at the Bell Buckle Cafe just cries out "Southern," wouldn't you agree?

As the sign on the wall says, "We Serve Comfort Food." Meatloaf is just one highlight of a varied menu.

The remarkable thing about reviews of the Bell Buckle Cafe is how seemingly every diner picks a different favorite dish.

As this T-shirt suggests, the Bell Buckle Cafe is doing its part to put a small town on the map in Tennessee.

You can take home BBQ sauce, jams, coffee mugs and other items to spread the word about the Bell Buckle Cafe.

The Bell Buckle Cafe is open for lunch and dinner Wednesday through Sunday; in other words, it is closed Monday and Tuesday. The dining room recently has been updated and outside seating is available at the nearby Gas Station Pavilion. Daily specials (and there are always several of them) are updated each morning on the Bell Buckle Cafe's Facebook page.