Top 9 Fine Dining Restaurants in the Smokies

The most chef-driven dinner in the area. Partner and executive chef David Rule cooks contemporary Southern Appalachian food in a downtown Sevierville dining room, and there is a five-course Chef's Table tasting for those who want the full experience. It is the pick for a milestone dinner where the food is the point.

The restaurant at Dancing Bear Lodge in Townsend, open to the public, serving modern Appalachian farm-to-table cooking from chef Jeff Carter with produce from the lodge's own gardens. It has been voted one of America's most romantic restaurants, and the wine program is recognized by Wine Spectator. Sunday brings a bluegrass brunch. It is worth the drive to Townsend for a special night.

A 1930s mountain lodge on a quiet road outside downtown, now an upscale steakhouse with dry-aged steaks, seafood, house-made desserts and a serious whiskey list. It feels far from the Parkway crowds, and the private paved lot means no hunting for downtown parking with a carload of people.

Seasonal, locally sourced cooking inside the restored Historic Central Hotel in downtown Sevierville, with a menu that changes with each season. The setting is elegant without being stiff. Upstairs, 101 Sky Lounge is a rooftop bar with fire pits and views over downtown to the mountains, so the evening can start or end with a cocktail up top.

A downtown Gatlinburg favorite for steaks, fresh seafood and rotisserie dishes in a cozy mountain lodge room decorated with Cherokee artifacts. Diners single out the prime rib (Friday and Saturday only), the trout and the warm rosemary bread. The dress is casual, which makes it an easy upscale night for a mixed-age group.

A Gatlinburg institution in a 1958 log cabin on the Little Pigeon River, serving as a restaurant since 1976. Steaks are Certified Angus Beef, custom cut and grilled over Tennessee hickory charcoal, and the salad bar is part of the tradition. It is a classic special-occasion steak dinner close to the national park entrance.

The Peddler's sister restaurant a block away, in a mountain lodge setting with steaks, a salad bar and the same polished service. This is the one to book for a big party: it has two fully private dining rooms that seat up to 56 and 38, plus a semi-private room for 36, and it takes reservations for any size.

An upscale seafood house on the Parkway with fish delivered daily from the Pacific, Atlantic and Gulf coasts, oysters shucked at the bar and a Maryland-style crab cake as the signature. Booths overlook the river and there is a heated patio. A good choice when half the table wants steak and half wants seafood.

One of the more grown-up dinners on the Pigeon Forge Parkway, with New American steak and seafood cooking: chargrilled oysters, crab cakes, grilled salmon and fried green tomatoes, plus a full bar. It is convenient for cabins on the Pigeon Forge side and works for groups that want a nicer meal without driving into Gatlinburg or downtown Sevierville.