2 Best Restaurants in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee

This is dinner theater on steroids—you, and several thousand other people, get to eat a finger-lickin' good (as in, you don't get eating utensils) four-course meal while live animals kick up the dust on the arena floor to the accompaniment of dramatic music, lighting, and pyrotechnics. The pace is quick; the service is quicker. In a sequence timed tight as traffic signals on a four-lane highway, you'll watch rodeo clowns pick on cute girls in the audience, kids chase chickens running in all different directions, knights jousting on horseback, and a chorus of glittery-costumed actors sing rousing patriotic music. Overall, it's well worth the money—and maybe a plastic spoon in your pocket, just for good measure. Vegetarian meals are available by advance request.

If your idea of homestyle Southern cooking includes entrées like chicken and dumplings, sugar-cured ham and turnip greens, or chicken-fried steak and mashed potatoes, you're in the right spot. The grains and grits originate next door at the mill that has been in continuous operation since the 1830s. Think about that while you're chewing a chunk of corn bread, or watching a baseball-size scoop of ice cream melt on top of a made-from-scratch pie while listening to an old-timer pick his guitar on the porch.