Mitchell Delicatessen
The pastrami Reuben is the reason regulars keep coming back to this East Nashville deli, and the corned beef hash and everything bagel with lox round out a menu that runs deeper than most local sandwich spots. The potato salad gets its own fan base. Staff know the menu well enough to steer first-timers through it. Fair warning: a few sandwich purists find the selection smaller than expected, but the quality on the core items is consistent.
What to orderPastrami ReubenCorned Beef HashEverything Bagel with Lox Call DirectionsFull review & visiting detailsRead the full review & visiting details
East-Side Deli Playing a Long Game
The Pastrami Reuben is the anchor of the menu, the plate that earns Mitchell Delicatessen its standing as a serious East Nashville deli.
Corned beef hash represents the deli's commitment to the full deli program, not just the lunch counter.
The everything bagel with lox is the morning standard here, the New York deli reference point the room earns.
Mitchell Delicatessen operates in the tradition of the American delicatessen, brought to Nashville with enough seriousness to earn a regular neighborhood following. The pastrami Reuben is the anchor, a sandwich that requires the kitchen to get the meat right before anything else matters, and by the evidence of how often it comes up, the kitchen does. Corned beef hash rounds out the cured-meat program, the kind of plate that signals a kitchen willing to work in the morning as well as at lunch. The everything bagel with lox completes the picture, a straight East-Coast reference point that does not try to re-invent the format.
Nashville is not a deli city by heritage, the way it is a hot-chicken city or a meat-and-three city, so a room like Mitchell's is making an argument with every ticket. The argument is that the form is worth taking seriously here. The veggie side of the menu carries weight too, which is a commitment not all sandwich-focused rooms bother to make, and the potato salad has the kind of standing that comes from people ordering it on repeat rather than accident. Staff knowledge of the menu reads as genuine, which matters in a room with enough options to require some navigation.
The price sits in moderate territory, which keeps it accessible for the family-and-neighborhood crowd the room is clearly calibrated for. It is not the sprawling deli format some expect, and the menu stays focused rather than encyclopedic. That restraint is a position, not a deficiency. For a city that built its food identity on a steam table and a bird fried in lard, a serious delicatessen operating on its own terms is a specific and useful thing to have.
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The pastrami Reuben is the order that defines what Mitchell's is doing; pair it with the potato salad, which has a reputation that holds up across the regular crowd. Come early on weekends; the room runs at volume and the line reflects it.
