McCabe Pub Didn't Get One Replacement in Sylvan Park. It Got Two.

For more than 40 years, the corner of Murphy Road was McCabe Pub. Then, in early 2024, it wasn't. The tavern that had outlasted three decades of Sylvan Park's turnover closed its doors, and the corner sat empty long enough that regulars started asking around about what would take its place.

The answer that eventually arrived is more interesting than a straight swap. Chefs Robbie Wilson and Emily Perry-Wilson didn't just reopen a restaurant in the old McCabe's shell. They split the corner into two separate businesses that do two separate jobs, and understanding which one is actually built for you depends on what you miss about the old bar in the first place.

The corner became a fine-dining room and a backyard, not one restaurant

Lion's Share opened April 11 in the old McCabe's building after what Nashville Business Journal reported as a near-total gut renovation costing close to $4 million. Wilson kept some of the bones, exposed brick, the arches, the vaulted wood ceiling, but rebuilt the inside around a hunting-lodge concept: leather banquettes in cognac and garnet, wood-paneled nooks, a 32-seat bar and lounge with custom lighting.

Next door, on what used to be overflow parking, the same couple built SuperNormal. It's the opposite register entirely. Dog-friendly artificial lawn, picnic tables, string lights, a small white building slinging burgers, hot dogs, and soft serve. Wilson described the intent to Nashville Business Journal in plain terms: "When you're walking your dog, you could go have an ice cream."

That's the piece worth sitting with. McCabe's was one building that served one function for four decades: a low-key, come-as-you-are neighborhood bar. Its replacement isn't a single business trying to be all things. It's two businesses that split McCabe's old job in half. SuperNormal picked up the casual, walk-up, bring-the-dog function. Lion's Share picked up something Sylvan Park arguably never had on that stretch of Murphy Road: a genuine special-occasion room.

Why the chef behind it isn't a stranger to this kind of swing

Robbie Wilson isn't new to Nashville, and he isn't new to opening places that reshape how a corridor thinks about itself. More than a decade ago he helped steer the kitchen for the M Street Hospitality team that built Virago and Kayne Prime into Gulch destinations. He left for California afterward, working in kitchens that include The French Laundry, before returning to Nashville with Emily Perry-Wilson to open Lion's Share and SuperNormal this year.

That background explains the ambition behind Lion's Share's price point and design, and it also explains why the project reads less like a neighborhood bar's replacement and more like an import of Gulch-scale restaurant thinking onto a residential corner that historically didn't have it.

The reviews don't agree, and that disagreement tells you something

Not everyone in Sylvan Park is convinced this was the right trade. Nashville Scene's review was skeptical, noting the renovation replaced the old sidewalk approach with what the reviewer called a moat-like landscaping change, and describing the overall value proposition as "getting less for more." The same review raised a real concern for anyone who eats regularly in the neighborhood: with investors "across Belle Meade" behind it, Lion's Share is positioned to compete directly with existing Sylvan Park mainstays like Lola and Park Cafe for the same finite pool of diners.

The Infatuation saw it differently, calling Lion's Share "the special-occasion restaurant Sylvan Park's been waiting for" and describing the room as elegant enough for an anniversary dinner without losing its neighborhood footing. Wilson himself has framed the ambition modestly, telling Restaurant Business he wants the room to be "a favorite restaurant, not a best restaurant."

Both things can be true. Lion's Share can be a genuine addition to Sylvan Park's special-occasion options and also put real pressure on the restaurants that were already doing that job, imperfectly, before it arrived. If you've eaten dinner at Lola or Park Cafe in the past year and wondered whether they felt busier or quieter than usual, this is at least part of why.

What Sylvan Park actually gained on Murphy Road

Zoom out from the reviews and the picture is simple. Before 2024, Murphy Road had one all-purpose bar. Now it has a casual dog-friendly hangout built for daily use, a formal dining room built for occasions, and the same set of neighborhood standbys, Edley's Bar-B-Que included, still doing what they've always done. That's not a straight replacement. It's a corner that used to offer one option and now offers three distinct ones, each pulling a different kind of visit.

Wilson has talked about the Sylvan Park response as encouraging so far, telling WSMV, "It's been really supportive in the Sylvan Park community." Whether that support holds depends less on Lion's Share's tasting menu and more on whether SuperNormal successfully becomes the low-key, walk-to-it spot that McCabe's used to be for people who just want a beer and somewhere to bring the dog.

Which one is actually yours

If what you miss about McCabe's is the ease of it, the fact that you could walk over without a reservation and order something simple, SuperNormal is the business built for you. It's the closer analog to what the corner used to be.

If what you're looking for is somewhere in Sylvan Park to take a visiting friend or mark an anniversary without driving into the Gulch, Lion's Share is filling a gap the neighborhood didn't have covered before, whether or not you agree with Nashville Scene's take on the price.

Either way, the corner isn't gone. It just stopped being one thing and started being two, and the next few months of foot traffic at Lola and Park Cafe will say more about whether that split was good for Sylvan Park than any single review can.

If you're watching how a neighborhood like Sylvan Park keeps evolving and want a plain-English read on what that kind of change means for buying, selling, or simply understanding your street, The Real Deal Radio is a good place to start that conversation. Contact Us when you're ready to talk specifics.