Margot Cafe, iconic Nashville restaurant, announces plans to close in 2026 after 25 years

Margot McCormack, chef and owner of Margot Café & Bar, has announced plans to close her restaurant in June 2026 — exactly 25 years after it helped launch a Nashville food movement.

The comfortable French restaurant opened in 2001 in a former 1930s-era gas station in the heart of Nashville’s Five Points neighborhood, becoming an instrumental force in shaping the city’s dining scene.

McCormack owns the building that houses the restaurant, located at 1017 Woodland St., and said the property will be listed for sale.

When she opened Margot, East Nashville was still a quiet, mostly residential neighborhood. The restaurant’s sister café, Marché Artisan Foods, operated from 2006 until 2020, when it closed following a tornado and the onset of COVID-19.

"I watched East Nashville grow from a handful of small, independently owned businesses to today’s vibrant, bustling and nationally recognized hot spot," McCormack said. "There’s a new brigade of chefs sharing their vision. It is an exciting time for the food scene in Nashville."

Margot to join Hathorne, June, Lou, others in post-pandemic closure

Nashville’s ever-evolving dining scene has seen significant change over the past five years, and the changes only appear to be accelerating. 

Since the fall of 2024, dozens of restaurants have shuttered, some to be replaced by new concepts and others because the owner could no longer fight the challenges of running a post-COVID restaurant.

Once named one of the best restaurants in the country by Bon Appétit magazine, Southern fine-dining destination Hathorne closed permanently on Sept. 8, 2024. Riverside Village’s Parisian wine bar Lou followed on Sept. 15, just two years after owner and chef Mailea Weger received a James Beard nomination.

Beloved Nashville coffee shop Portland Brew has since closed its 12 South and East Nashville locations. Sambuca, one of the first restaurants to ever open in the Gulch, shut down at the end of March. Chef Sean Brock’s experimental McFerrin Park restaurant June closed in September, and the list continues. 

Next summer, Margot will join it. 

Why is Margot closing?

Local Nashvillians across social media platforms lamented the loss, some asking McCormack to reconsider and others sharing fond memories from the restaurant. 

Margot McCormack poses at her Margot Cafe in East Nashville's Five Points on April 26, 2016.

McCormack said 25 years has always felt like the right time to close out her restaurant career. According to her statement, she’s considering several new endeavors, including a possible cookbook, consulting work and pop-up events.

"We survived the rigors of opening a restaurant, 9/11, the 2008 recession, a tornado, COVID and the explosive growth of Nashville," she said. "The last five years have been harder than the first 20 put together. I am that much older and wiser and ready for a new chapter. I’m not sure what that means just yet, but it begins with dinner at home."

Though this past year has been particularly challenging for restaurants, McCormack foreshadowed the decision nearly a decade ago. In a 2016 interview with Nashville Lifestyles, she said, “Ten more years. I’m putting a 25-year stamp on it. It’s a really nice run of time.”

Margot has nurtured scores of Nashville chefs

A four-time James Beard Foundation Best Chef Southeast nominee, a Nashville native and University of Tennessee graduate, McCormack began her career working at local restaurants such as Faison’s and F. Scott’s Restaurant & Jazz Bar before attending the Culinary Institute of America in New York. After several years of cooking in the city, she returned home in 1995.

Many chefs spent time at Margot early in their careers, including now-executive chef Hadley Long and City House's Tandy Wilson.

"I've had the pleasure of working with so many talented people, each one bringing their own unique sense of style," McCormack said. "They’ve contributed in countless ways to our success, and many I consider family. They are my legacy, and I couldn’t be prouder of them."

The bar area of Margot Cafe at East Nashville's Five Points is waiting for dinners on June 21, 2011.

"Margot was truly a pioneer in that neighborhood — buying her building, keeping it going," said Cindy Wall, a Les Dames d'Escoffier Nashville member who is deeply involved in the local food scene. "So many chefs and front-of-house people came through her doors and went on to great things."

Wall has spent countless meals with McCormack and her family, whether on trips, over the holidays, or in the restaurant. Wall and her husband dine at Margot so regularly that they call the restaurant when they're not showing up for Saturday dinner.

"Over the years, we’ve gotten to know Margot, her wife Heather, and their son Jacob, and it truly feels like family," she said. "Everyone there — front and back of house — are part of that extended family. I feel so lucky to have had that experience — to eat at this amazing restaurant in this amazing neighborhood and to call Margot and Heather and Jacob dear friends."

A neighborhood anchor and inspiration

Fellow East Nashvillian and Five Points Pizza operating partner Jon Rainville said Margot's energy is integral to the Five Points area and will be sorely missed.

"We’re saddened to see the announcement today, both as a neighbor and a business," Rainville said. "Margot’s spirit represented the neighborhood, inspiring us as a business and providing countless memories as we shared a meal in the restaurant with friends and family."

Louisa Shafia, who runs Feast by Louisa, an online purveyor of Persian food, has lived in Lockeland Springs for 10 years — a neighborhood she chose in part because of Margot.

"When I first started visiting Nashville and checking it out as a place to live, I came to Margot — at that time, Marché had just opened — and we loved both," she said. "I definitely felt like, this is a great place to live, because there’s really great food. This restaurant was really exciting because it was woman-owned and one of the most respected restaurants in the city."

Over the years, she said, Margot became a gathering spot for birthdays, holidays and family visits.

"Or if you just wanted a nice, comfortable place to get together with friends and have brunch, coffee or a glass of wine, it was that place,” she said. “I’m sad to see it closing. I understand that being a restaurant owner and chef is extremely demanding, physically and emotionally exhausting. But I’m happy Margot is able to do something for herself."

Wall said McCormack has spent her career in the service of others.

"If Margot knows it’s your birthday, the team prints a menu with your name on it and happy birthday wishes," she said. "It’s such a sweet, old-fashioned gesture, and I’ve saved all of mine. My husband has a few favorite dishes that aren’t always on the menu, and if Margot can get the ingredients, she makes them just for him."

Now it's McCormack's turn to be celebrated.

In her farewell post, the chef said she hopes Margot will go out with more fanfare than Marché, which closed quietly in 2020.

"So mark your calendars," she wrote. "I hope to see as many of you as often as possible right up until the end. We are going out with a bang with many celebrations yet to come."