diff --git a/e2e/node/src/node-ts-solution.test.ts b/e2e/node/src/node-ts-solution.test.ts
index 0afb598677..ec15e7a5aa 100644
--- a/e2e/node/src/node-ts-solution.test.ts
+++ b/e2e/node/src/node-ts-solution.test.ts
@@ -131,6 +131,45 @@ describe('Node Applications', () => {
       expect(err).toBeFalsy();
     }
   }, 300_000);
+
+  it('should be able to generate a nest application', async () => {
+    const nestapp = uniq('nodeapp');
+    const port = getRandomPort();
+    process.env.PORT = `${port}`;
+    runCLI(
+      `generate @nx/nest:app apps/${nestapp} --linter=eslint --unitTestRunner=jest`
+    );
+
+    expect(() => runCLI(`lint ${nestapp}`)).not.toThrow();
+    expect(() => runCLI(`test ${nestapp}`)).not.toThrow();
+
+    runCLI(`build ${nestapp}`);
+    checkFilesExist(`dist/apps/${nestapp}/main.js`);
+
+    const p = await runCommandUntil(
+      `serve ${nestapp}`,
+      (output) =>
+        output.includes(
+          `Application is running on: http://localhost:${port}/api`
+        ),
+
+      {
+        env: {
+          NX_DAEMON: 'true',
+        },
+      }
+    );
+
+    const result = await getData(port, '/api');
+    expect(result.message).toMatch('Hello');
+
+    try {
+      await promisifiedTreeKill(p.pid, 'SIGKILL');
+      expect(await killPorts(port)).toBeTruthy();
+    } catch (err) {
+      expect(err).toBeFalsy();
+    }
+  }, 300_000);
 });
 
 function getRandomPort() {
diff --git a/packages/nest/src/generators/application/application.spec.ts b/packages/nest/src/generators/application/application.spec.ts
index e61ca42681..e453a96756 100644
--- a/packages/nest/src/generators/application/application.spec.ts
+++ b/packages/nest/src/generators/application/application.spec.ts
@@ -278,6 +278,7 @@ describe('application generator', () => {
         {
           "compilerOptions": {
             "emitDecoratorMetadata": true,
+            "experimentalDecorators": true,
             "module": "nodenext",
             "moduleResolution": "nodenext",
             "outDir": "out-tsc/myapp",
@@ -307,6 +308,8 @@ describe('application generator', () => {
       expect(readJson(tree, 'myapp/tsconfig.spec.json')).toMatchInlineSnapshot(`
         {
           "compilerOptions": {
+            "emitDecoratorMetadata": true,
+            "experimentalDecorators": true,
             "module": "nodenext",
             "moduleResolution": "nodenext",
             "outDir": "./out-tsc/jest",
diff --git a/packages/nest/src/generators/application/lib/update-tsconfig.ts b/packages/nest/src/generators/application/lib/update-tsconfig.ts
index 0e93a25a8d..693bb4cabd 100644
--- a/packages/nest/src/generators/application/lib/update-tsconfig.ts
+++ b/packages/nest/src/generators/application/lib/update-tsconfig.ts
@@ -1,12 +1,14 @@
 import type { Tree } from '@nx/devkit';
 import { joinPathFragments, updateJson } from '@nx/devkit';
 import type { NormalizedOptions } from '../schema';
+import { isUsingTsSolutionSetup } from '@nx/js/src/utils/typescript/ts-solution-setup';
 
 export function updateTsConfig(tree: Tree, options: NormalizedOptions): void {
   updateJson(
     tree,
     joinPathFragments(options.appProjectRoot, 'tsconfig.app.json'),
     (json) => {
+      json.compilerOptions.experimentalDecorators = true;
       json.compilerOptions.emitDecoratorMetadata = true;
       json.compilerOptions.target = 'es2021';
       if (options.strict) {
@@ -22,4 +24,20 @@ export function updateTsConfig(tree: Tree, options: NormalizedOptions): void {
       return json;
     }
   );
+
+  // For TS solution, we don't extend from shared tsconfig.json, so we need to make sure decorators are also turned on for spec tsconfig.
+  if (isUsingTsSolutionSetup(tree)) {
+    const tsconfigSpecPath = joinPathFragments(
+      options.appProjectRoot,
+      'tsconfig.spec.json'
+    );
+    if (tree.exists(tsconfigSpecPath)) {
+      updateJson(tree, tsconfigSpecPath, (json) => {
+        json.compilerOptions ??= {};
+        json.compilerOptions.experimentalDecorators = true;
+        json.compilerOptions.emitDecoratorMetadata = true;
+        return json;
+      });
+    }
+  }
 }
diff --git a/packages/node/src/generators/e2e-project/e2e-project.spec.ts b/packages/node/src/generators/e2e-project/e2e-project.spec.ts
index 9a9ac35950..beab2e8b32 100644
--- a/packages/node/src/generators/e2e-project/e2e-project.spec.ts
+++ b/packages/node/src/generators/e2e-project/e2e-project.spec.ts
@@ -153,11 +153,7 @@ describe('e2eProjectGenerator', () => {
             "jest.config.ts",
             "src/**/*.ts",
           ],
-          "references": [
-            {
-              "path": "../api",
-            },
-          ],
+          "references": [],
         }
       `);
     });
diff --git a/packages/node/src/generators/e2e-project/files/ts-solution/tsconfig.json__tmpl__ b/packages/node/src/generators/e2e-project/files/ts-solution/tsconfig.json__tmpl__
index 069363a8be..5b51afc787 100644
--- a/packages/node/src/generators/e2e-project/files/ts-solution/tsconfig.json__tmpl__
+++ b/packages/node/src/generators/e2e-project/files/ts-solution/tsconfig.json__tmpl__
@@ -10,7 +10,5 @@
     "jest.config.ts",
     "src/**/*.ts"
   ],
-  "references": [
-   { "path": "<%= relativeProjectReferencePath %>" }
-  ]
+  "references": []
 }