This restaurant (and the newer Applewood Farmhouse Grill next door) start everyone out with an applewood julep drink, a basket of freshly made apple fritters that will melt in your mouth and a container of homemade apple butter. Southern specialties like country fried steak, chicken pot pie, fried chicken, turkey with sausage dressing, smoked pork loin and country ham with redeye gravy are the most popular menu offerings here. Open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
The main restaurant is housed in a refurbished farmhouse that dates from 1921. If there's a wait, you can sit in the rocking chairs on the wide front porch, or check out the complex's several other retail businesses: a winery, a general store, a cider mill, a bakery, a candy shop, an ice cream shop, a Christmas store and a candle shop.
Gatlinburg-Pigeon Forge Family Restaurants
Gatlinburg-Pigeon Forge Family Friendly Restaurants
Applewood Farmhouse Restaurant 240 Apple Valley Road•Sevierville, TN •865-418-1222 |
Best Italian Cafe and Pizzeria 968 Parkway•Gatlinburg, TN •865-430-4090 This local favorite serves up fabulous Italian food and plenty of it. The bread and sauce recipes have been handed down in the owner's family from generation to generation. Choose from all manner of delectable pasta dishes, as well as many other typical Italian favorites and simply the best pizza (and calzones) in town. Every meal comes with the cafe's signature garlic rolls. The extensive kids' menu includes an eight-inch personal pizza, three styles of spaghetti, fettuccini Alfredo, noodles with butter, lasagna, chicken fingers and calamari. Open for lunch and dinner. |
Old Mill Pottery House Cafe 3141 Old Mill St.•Pigeon Forge, TN •865-453-6002 This popular cafe is located in a renovated building that used to be the home of the late Douglas Ferguson, one of the area's original potters. Ferguson's family has carried on his business right next door at Pigeon River Pottery, and all the ceramic ware used in the cafe (everything from the plates, bowls and mugs right down to the salt and pepper shakers and even the bathroom sinks) comes from their artisans. The menu includes steaks, seafood, locally caught rainbow trout, Southern catfish, burgers, sandwiches, soups, salad and quiche -- all in generous portions. The artesian bread here is fabulous, not to mention the delectable desserts (which you must pass as you come through the front door). All the flour and cornmeal the cooks use is freshly ground at the historic mill that's also part of the surrounding shopping complex. Open for lunch and dinner. |
Pancake Pantry 628 Parkway•Gatlinburg, TN •865-436-4724 This is the first pancake house in the state, and it's undoubtedly Gatlinburg's most popular breakfast spot. Don't worry if there's a wait, though, because the line usually moves pretty quickly. More than two dozen types of pancakes -- both sweet and savory -- grace the menu here, along with an incredibly creative selection of syrups. (The peanut butter syrup, for example, goes especially well with the M&M pancakes!) You can also get eggs and French toast here, and the lunch menu broadens to include burgers, sandwiches, soups and salads. The restaurant doesn't take credit cards, but if you're caught short on cash, there's an ATM in the lobby. Open for breakfaast and lunch only. |
The Partridge and the Pear 2480 Parkway•Pigeon Forge, TN •865-868-0575 Located next to the Incredible Christmas Place shop and across the street from the Inn at Christmas Place, this restaurant is the final element in the family-owned holiday-themed trilogy. Order one of the traditional Christmas dinners (roast turkey with cornbread dressing, tart cherry-glazed ham, pork tenderloin medallions and slow-roasted roast beef) or opt for rack of lamb, scallops, tilapia stuffed with crab, lasagna, prime rib, filet or andouille sausage-stuffed chicken. The lunch menu includes sandwiches, burgers, salads, soups and wraps, in addition to entrees such as turkey pot pie and eggplant lasagna. When it's time for dessert, adults will be seriously tempted by the Cake of Christmas Past (the recipe is from 1827), but kids are more likely to dive into the five-layered chocolate cake with chocolate icing. The kids' menu here includes Elf Noodles (fettuccine) and Tiny Tim's Chicken Tenders, with the addition of Santa's Ho Ho Ho Hamburgers at lunch and of Mrs. Claus' turkey and dressing and Frosty the Pancake for dinner. All children receive a little stuffed black bear with a Santa hat as a memento of their visit. Of the restaurant's six dining rooms, each with its own decor, your kids will probably like the brightly colorful nutcracker room best. Here, two giant nutcrackers flank the entryway arch and stenciled snowflakes decorate the walls. Open for lunch and dinner. |
Tony Gore's Smoky Mountain BBQ and Grill 1818 Winfield Dunn Parkway•Sevierville, TN •865-429-7771 Barbeque is a big deal in these parts, and Southern gospel star and noted chef Tony Gore dishes out some of the best in the region. The pulled pork and ribs at this casual eatery are classics, although the restaurant is also known for what they call pigs wings (which tastes like a cross between ham and ribs). On Fridays, there's an all-you-can-eat catfish special. The desserts are way too good to pass up, even if you're so full you have to order them to go. Gore sings live a few days each month and often makes rounds to greet diners. Open for lunch and dinner. |
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