Backstage Restaurant

We had a great time at Backstage Restaurant at Dollywood on Friday, September 4. Fast, friendly and lots of food. Special shout out to our server Koke who was amazing. Super friendly, efficient, informative and soooo nice. Thanks, Koke!

It was a beautiful Saturday and the first weekend that Dollywood was open for the season. It was also spring break, so the kids were out in full force. I have to admit all these factors made my and Jamie W. s trip quite exhausting even if our experience was ultimately enthralling. It was nobody’s fault as the younger patrons were racing to get to the thrill rides, while geezers like me were wondering how long the wait was to get into Dolly’s old tour bus and get our souvenir photo taken. By the time we got to the park entrance by way of a tramway from the long parking lot, we were starving. We had heard the barbecue was good but according to the map, it appeared to be quite a trek. No, we had just driven three hours from Nashville and we couldn’t wait.
That’s how we ended up on the front porch of the Backstage Restaurant which is on Market Square, a kissin’ cousin of Disneyland’s Main Street but even more folksy and Hootervillish. But there was no Uncle Joe here. They were all business at the podium where the officious woman took our name down and told s it would be 45 minutes. 45 minutes? Holy moley, I could sing most of Dolly Parton’s hits a cappella during that time, but luckily they called us in less than twenty. Wondering if they do that to discourage the more impatient diners. The ploy appeared to work just fine for us as we sat down and perused the menu of down-​home country cookin’. Jamie didn’t waste time and ordered the $ 12.99 Pork Skillet, which was a cast-​iron pan full of smoked pulled pork, potatoes, onions, peppers, ad mushrooms.
It was hearty albeit rather greasy grub topped off by a cheddar cheese biscuit (photo:
). Mine was a tad more modest, the $ 11.99 Meat Loaf, which was simply a thick slide of their homemade meat loaf served with mashed potatoes, mountain succotash, brown gravy, a pile of Cole slaw and my own cheddar cheese biscuit (photo:
). I don’t think I’ve had meat loaf since my high school cafeteria, but I rather liked it as a simple comfort food executed with little originality. But I don’t think you’re supposed to come to Dollywood for a culinary adventure. You come to see Dolly in all her glory. At least I did. The waitress was nice, but man, she was pushing those big Dolly-​emblazoned gulp containers which when we went outside, we saw most every family had their own set of them.
FOOD — 3 stars… country comfort food was kinda slapdash but filled our ample bellies
AMBIANCE — 3 stars… despite the Dolly paraphernalia, a bit tired-​looking
SERVICE — 3.5 stars… like I said, nice until she got pushy with her big gulps
TOTAL — 3 stars… the Dolly magic is everywhere but not here so much

Good food here, try their beef tips. Quantity could be a little better but it is a tourist restaurant. Fries and salad was also very good. Service here was excellent.

Girls liked it. Sauce is tasteless. Soups are bland. Little bar with about five kinds of pizza and two dessert pizzas. Tiny salad bar with little choice and a pasta station. Cici’s is better food. Hostess is very kind and nice as is cook. Waitress drops everything and is slow. Promised us characters and after seated told oh sorry they ended at six. Just not cool. Would have done the chicken if that was the case.

This restaurant was described to us as the best restaurant inside Dollywood! We were told about the great foods you could get here. When we arrived for our visit on June 30, 2012 it appeared (and we were told) it had been converted into a pizza buffet.