When you visit the Smoky Mountains, you’re in for a treat when it comes to food. The area is home to some of the most delicious restaurants. If you’re craving Southern comfort food, you’ve come to the right place. Check out our list of 7 of the best restaurants in Pigeon Forge and the Smoky Mountains for Southern cooking.
The Old Mill Restaurant provides a true taste of Southern hospitality. Food & Wine Magazine recently named it one of the best breakfast places in the nation! You can start your day with a full Southern breakfast of fluffy biscuits, cooked-to-order eggs, pancakes, grits, pepper gravy, and so much more. You can also enjoy a hearty Southern meal for lunch and dinner, with options like country-fried steak, sugar-cured ham, and chicken pot pie. For dessert, try a slice of their made-from-scratch pecan pie. After your meal, stop by the General Store to get some of their mixes for pancakes and muffins to take back home with you!
The Applewood Farmhouse Restaurant is a favorite among both locals and visitors. Located in a peaceful setting in the heart of Sevierville, the Applewood Farmhouse Restaurant is a place the whole family will love. Your meal will start off with some of their famous apple fritters, homemade apple butter, and applewood julep. For breakfast, try a Farmhouse Special Breakfast, served with eggs, home fried potatoes, Southern grits, cinnamon apples, sausage gravy, and a Southern-style biscuit. For lunch or dinner, try some of their famous Southern fried chicken or old-fashioned chicken and dumplings! Whatever you choose, you won’t be disappointed.
Huck Finn’s Catfish claims to have the best Southern cooking in the Smokies! Located in the heart of Pigeon Forge, you can enjoy their all-you-can-eat catfish and chicken dinners. Their Southern-style menu includes a variety of mouth-watering items, like golden fried chicken, chicken livers, fried shrimp, and even a gator tail that’s cut into bite-sized pieces, hand-breaded, and deep fried. All of their dinners come with bottomless sides, which includes favorites like their made-from-scratch hushpuppies and baked white beans and turkey ham.
Mama’s Farmhouse is another one of the best restaurants in Pigeon Forge for Southern country cooking. When you visit this restaurant, enjoy an all-you-can-eat family style meal. You can visit for breakfast to try their warm buttermilk biscuits with chocolate gravy, hash brown casserole, applewood bacon, and other breakfast staples. Or, visit for lunch or dinner for some fried chicken, meatloaf, turkey and stuffing, sweet potato casserole, creamed corn, and so much more.
Five Oaks Farm Kitchen is one of the newer restaurants in the Smoky Mountains and provides hungry travelers with a Southern-style breakfast and supper. Start your day off with a Harvest Morning Bounty breakfast with all your favorite breakfast staples, or visit for supper to try a farm table classic or something from their Smoke House menu! Be sure to save room for dessert. You can enjoy scratch-made blackberry dumplings or banana pudding, or an old-fashioned float!
Located at The Island in Pigeon Forge, Paula Deen’s Family Kitchen is one of the most popular restaurants in Pigeon Forge for families to go to to enjoy a Southern meal. This restaurant offers guests classic Deen family recipes, including Southern-style entrees, side dishes, and desserts. You can visit for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Everything is served family style. Breakfast favorites include chicken and biscuits, breakfast casserole, and apple cinnamon french toast, and lunch and dinner favorites include beef pot roast, low country chicken, and Southern fried chicken.
Bennett’s Pit Bar-B-Que serves up some of the best barbeque in the Smoky Mountains! Their pork ribs, chicken, pulled pork and beef briskets are all basted in Bennett’s own special sauce and smoked for up to 14 hours over hickory wood. If you visit for breakfast, enjoy a full breakfast buffet with Southern staples like cooked cinnamon apples, grits, biscuits and gravy, muffins, and more!