Top 10 Restaurants in Gatlinburg

A mountain-lodge restaurant near the national park entrance serving steaks and a salad bar for lunch and dinner. It is the most group-ready dinner in town: reservations are taken for any party size, and there are two fully private rooms (up to 56 and 38 guests) plus a semi-private room for 36. There is free on-site parking, though it is limited.

Gatlinburg's classic steak dinner, served since 1976 in a 1958 log cabin on the Little Pigeon River. Steaks are custom cut Certified Angus Beef grilled over hickory charcoal, and the salad bar is a big part of the meal. Save room for the mud pie or Kristi's chocolate cake with hot fudge.

Barbecue and Southern cooking in a building designed to feel like a mountain lodge, on the Parkway near the national park. Ribs are the headliner, with pulled pork sandwiches and fried chicken close behind, and there are regional craft drinks and daily specials. It is a dependable crowd-pleaser for a mixed-age group, and it can host banquets of up to 40.

A cozy lodge-style room on the Gatlinburg Parkway, decorated with Cherokee artifacts, serving steaks, fresh seafood and rotisserie dishes. Regulars order the prime rib (Friday and Saturday only), the trout and the warm rosemary bread. The dress is casual, so it works as a nice dinner out without anyone packing a jacket.

The breakfast every Gatlinburg trip seems to include. Open since 1960, it calls itself Tennessee's first pancake specialty restaurant and still serves breakfast all day, with lunch from 11:30 a.m. Old-fashioned buttermilk pancakes, crepes and waffles come in generous portions, and the room has an old-school Gatlinburg feel.

The special-occasion pick: a 1930s mountain lodge on a quiet road away from downtown, now serving dry-aged steaks, seafood and cocktails with a deep whiskey list. The room is rustic and polished at once, and the private lot means no downtown parking hunt. Book it for an anniversary or the adults' night out.

Gatlinburg's go-to for seafood, with fish delivered daily from three coasts, oysters shucked at the bar and a Maryland-style crab cake as the signature. There are steaks for the non-seafood crowd, booths overlooking the river and a heated patio. It is a sister to the Chesapeake's seafood houses in Knoxville.

A lively, family-friendly Mexican restaurant on the Parkway at traffic light #5. The menu runs from tamales and sizzling fajitas to street-style tacos from Jose's Taqueria, with tropical margaritas for the adults. It is a good casual dinner when the group wants something other than steak or barbecue.

The Gatlinburg outpost of Mama's Farmhouse in Pigeon Forge, serving the same fried chicken and homemade sides, plus hand-breaded wings in flavors like hot honey and bourbon. Order plates to eat in or buckets to go; the national park is about 5 miles away, which makes it an easy picnic pickup for a big group.

A Gatlinburg pizzeria since 1976, famous for its garlic rolls. It serves New York-style pizza, calzones and Italian standards like chicken marsala and linguine with clam sauce, which makes it a reliable, kid-friendly lunch or dinner downtown. This page is the express location on the Parkway; the original is in Elks Plaza at 968 Parkway.