Calhoun’s

Very good hamburgers. Waitress was attentive and friendly. Sat in bar in a booth with street view. Prices were good considering its a tourist location. Restaurant and restrooms were clean.

We went to dinner last night and the food was great.
I had a Long Island ice tea for 5 $ and it was made well
Full slab of ribs and they were good.
Wife had ale steak and she loved it
Kids got fish and chips and I got no complaints from them.
I would recommend

The food wasn’t the best. Waitress was very nice but I wouldn’t recommend the food. We wouldn’t go back.

Perhaps it’s just the local friendliness of the folks in Tennessee, I don’t know, but once again I had a nice experience while visiting Gatlinburg. This time it was at Calhouns, where we had a wonderfully pleasant server and the food was very good. I had the Ale pork chops. They are marinated in their micro brew beer, seasoned and grilled; easily the best I’ve ever had. We went on a Sunday evening as Saturday night the whole town was overrun with folks; just impossible to find any place without a ridiculous wait. That said, Calhoun ’ is worth a try if you want something grilled or bbq.

Great food. Great service. Best food we’ve had so far on vacation in the Gatlinburg area.

We were here the week between Christmas and New Years and Gatlinburg was a ZOO! That being said, we chose Calhoun’s for a late lunch on a weekday. It took us about 20 minutes to be seated and then we noticed quite a few empty tables around us which made us wonder why the wait? The food was good, but somewhat overpriced. Once we were seated, our waiter was very professional and fairly attentive although he did seem to be very harried. In several locations around the restaurant, there were «Now Hiring» solicitations which leads me to believe that they definitely have staffing issues. Overall, a good experience, but I’m not sure it was worth the price.

My favorite all time place to eat… the ale steak is amazing… service is a little tight but what’s not in downtown Gatlinburg… my favorite side is the spinach Maria, also if your looking for a good bar atmosphere to watch a sports game this is the place, they have all my favorite domestic and mixed drinks… also it’s amazing for place for the wings.

We visit every time we come into town and it never disappoints. Ribs and spinach Maria are a must. Drinks are so-​so.

Not very good. Wife ordered pork plate and it come out with no sauce on it. Only sauce the have is the bottled sauce on the table which is to sweet with way to much vinegar. Waitress says they have fresh sauce they use on the ribs and doesn’t have the strong vinegar taste. Why wouldn’t they serve their food with the fresh bbq sauce? Ribs were good but wouldn’t have guessed they won any awards. Baked beans tasted more like chili than bbq baked beans. Only gave a second star because of the waitress.

I was expecting to have an ordinary «smoked everything and covered in barbecue sauce» lunch, but this place really hit the spot! Appetizers are a meal in themselves! Spinach and artichoke dip, okra, so delicious! I also had a blackberry monitor that came with its in little sugar cane stalk and it was so good! Smoked chicken is great, not a big fan of the rice, but everything else was wonderful! We will be back here next time we are in Gatlinburg!

BEST OKRA EVER!!! Best seasoning I’ve ever tasted.
This turned out to be our favorite restaurant of the week. We were trying to go to a different place for lunch and dinner each day but ended up returning here for lunch after we ate dinner the first time.
The Calhoun’s Trio was pretty good though the ribs didn’t have much meat on them. I requested grilled chicken tenders instead of breaded ones. I loved them. The barbecue was so soft and tasty.
The Chicken Quesadillas are great as well though best mixed with everything they come with. Also I stole some of hubby’s jalapenos from his nachos to eat with my quesadilla. It was pretty good all together but bland without all of it. I think my favorite was the side of corn with it.
The nachos were good at first but steadily tasted worse and worse until neither hubby nor I wanted to eat them again. The okra is amazing, as previously mentioned, but it’s a special. I’m not sure how often they have it.
Loved:
— Calhoun’s Trip
— Chicken Quesadillas (w/​side of jalapenos)
— Cornbread
— Fresh Broccoli
— Fresh Fried Okra (fav)
— Freshly Squeezed Strawberry Lemonaid
— Garlic Bread
— Grilled Chicken Tenders
— Hickory Smoked Pork
Ok:
— Baby Back Ribs
— Biscuit
— Mashed Potatoes
— Skewer of Charbroiled Shrimp
Disliked:
— Pulled Pork Nachos

My husband and I came after some shopping. No wait around 3:00. We both had the half rack of ribs with fries. Amazing! Highly recommended.

The grill is great, it deserved a 15 min wait, hope will be back to this town and restaurant.

Nestled in this quaint one street shopping area are a handful of specialty shops to peruse while you wait for your reservation or to walk off calories after dessert. You’ll likely get through most shops here in one short stroll, unlike other nearby shopping villages where one would want to take their time w many to choose from. Parking is also available here. Most restaurants and shops will validate your ticket, if needed.
The Shoppes at Calhoun’s Village is located between traffic lights #9 & #10 on the Parkway. You’ll find that all traffic lights on the Parkway in Gatlinburg are numbers which makes it easy to identify POIs and your location (#1 being on the north end, while #10 being the furthest south toward the National Park).
Anchored out front is Calhoun’s Restaurant as well as Cherokee Grille — both good dining choices as we enjoyed these on different nights in our last trip. I’d say CG is better between the two. Another interesting restaurant to consider here, especially if you’re into beer, is Smoky Mountain Brewery.
If your achilles and time allow, stroll toward the back and see the hidden gem — a small bridge that takes you over Leconte Creek. I love bridges w character whether covered or small. This one was small but had character. The lighting was a bit dim toward the other end of the bridge so it seemed a bit creepy seeing an empty swing near the trees somehow calling for attention.
In the end, we enjoyed our stroll thru here in the evening with all the pretty lights lit up nicely while we waited for our dinner buzzer to ring us back.
The short trek to Calhoun’s Village is worth a visit. It’s away from all the touristy attractions on the Parkway. We recommend it especially w nearby dinner reservations.

Here’s the thing: the food LOOKS and SOUNDS like it should taste awesome. The problem is, it just doesn’t. The problem is one of flavor and spices. By the menu descriptions, you’re left with a feeling that you didn’t eat the meal described. The easiest way to describe it would be to call it bland. Are they afraid of spices, even simple ones like salt and pepper? For the price, the meal was unfortunately subpar. I had the prime rib (room temperature), and while it had a smokey flavor, the actual prime rib never really tasted as described. My wife had the Ale steak, and again, some attempt at flavor was made, but the meat was tough, and the flavor was subdued. I don’t mean subtle, I mean just lacking. It’s unfortunate, especially as the prime rib was $ 23 and the Ale steak was $ 18. For Gatlinburg, there are just better and more flavorful options for the price range.
Were the restaurant in a different price range, the review would be higher. The price is the basis for my review in ratio with flavor.
They may also want to decrease the table/​server ratio.
Unrelated, apparently our children were well behaved. An older couple asked to buy them dessert. Whoever you are, we’re very grateful and humbled by your gesture towards our beloved children.

Well we were seriously impressed. There was a line out the door and we were seated within minutes. Our server had grain rolls out that were piping hot and freezing cold beers within 5 minutes of being seated. Packed house. Absolutely packed. We eat at local Calhouns all the time, but this one is close to the hotel we stayed at so we wanted to check this one out as well.
I had a salad, mostly because I wanted to eat the strawberry shortcake at the end and usually (always) eat off my husbands plate. He ordered the Calhoun steak. Something we have ordered locally many times. I don’t know if this was a night that the manager and re kitchen just clicked, but three people at the table ordered that steak and every one of us agreed that that was the most well cooked and tasty steak any of us had eaten in months. Very impressed.

Amazing food. Great time. Great town, Gatlinburg, friendly. Fresh squeeze lemonade. The view and the plaza outstanding.

We went here on a whim but I highly recommend making it your destination if you’re in the mood for delicious ribs. Tender and delicious, I wish I had gotten a full slab!
Even the sides were delicious. People at table got mashed potatoes, fries, cinnamon apples, corn pudding, and cole slaw… Not a single person had something bad to say about their side.
This is all in addition to the great service and a reasonably good beer selection from the Smoky Mountain Brewery. We really enjoyed ourselves!

Oh man, SO disappointing! I was so excited to see fried green tomatoes that we went here on our first night in town. I’ve never had a more flavorless FGT in all my life. Then I ordered grilled shrimp — not a flavor to be found. I barely ate any of them. My husband and his friend were both less than impressed with their meal as well. Very, very mediocre food and the chef needs to taste these dishes as they need some serious seasoning.
Service was fast and friendly and the restaurant itself is nice and quite large.

Large classically built wooden building located in downtown Gatlinburg.
We parked in one of the far back lots, which had free parking if you provided the receipt from your dinner here.
One of the best features here was the refillable freshly squeezed lemonade. Between the six of us, we burned through about 3 – 4 cups of both the strawberry and the regular.
The two types of bread (cornbread and rolls) were very well received at the table.
My friends and I tried a variety of ribs, which were hard to finish and on the dry side. Didn’t live up to the hype of being the best. I got the pulled pork which I had to put bbq sauce on to give some flavor, but it was still subpar. I finished my coleslaw and apples pretty quickly though, and the shrimp dish was pretty good. Key lime pie I was not a fan of due to the bitterness of the flavor.
Food came out extremely quickly, which was a nice surprise and our waiter was very helpful and friendly. If I were to come again it would be more so for the lemonade than anything else.