Mel’s Diner

Great milkshake! And the fries were crispy golden brown, unlike others I’ve ever had. Enough food to split a meal with someone else otherwise prepare for leftovers!

The good:
Delicious tuna sandwich.
Daughter said she loved their Mac and Cheese.
Friendly service.
Nice 50s style seating.
Close to a number of local activities such as put putt.
The bad:
Don’t expect a 50s feel. Just feels like a restaurant.
The ugly:

As far as diners go, this one is great! The rating really should be 4.5 stars. I’ve only had their breakfast, but they have some of the best biscuits and gravy that I have ever had. The gravy was thick and creamy with great peppery flavor and topped with bits of cooked sausage. The biscuits were soft and buttery. They cook their scrambled eggs to perfection: fluffy and softly firm (if that makes sense? Basically not runny but not hard). Their hash browns have a good crunch and aren’t too greasy.
The service here is fantastic, and both times I have been here, I’ve had great waitresses who were very attentive and friendly. The place has a cute 50s diners feel with lots of cool posters and photos on the wall.
This place can get pretty busy around brunch time but closer to 9, I’ve had no problem grabbing a table. Skip Denny’s or other diners in the area, and come here!

So let us just cut to the chase. Let me just start off by saying I have only been here for breakfast, that is it. I cannot speak for their lunches or dinners, only their breakfast. For a little tiny 50s diner, it certainly packs a wallop. While the selection might be lacking compared to other places like Denny’s or Ihop, their food and flavors definately arent. I have had both the french toast and the pancakes and I would get them both again, The pancakes were a great size and very fluffy. Not too dense nor clumpy, pretty much a perfect pancake. Their bacon is done more on the crispy side but that is fine with me since they will make it the way you like it.
The service is very sweet and attentive and are very personable people. The food is definitely worth going back here several times if you want a very tasty, and extremely reasonably priced. Always ask about the breakfast specials. I got 2 pancakes, eggs, and bacon for only $ 4.99. Honestly I would have paid more for it since it was so good.
Overall i give it 5 stars for having amazing good and great service. Definitely recommend if you want some good breakfast to start your day

We had a party of 10 that they split into two booths that were across from each other. Our waitress was Sally and I’m here to tell you, she is the best waitress that I have had in a very long time. As a former waitress, I know what a tough job that is but I also have some pretty solid expectations of them. Sally was so pleasant and efficient and great at handling our full booth of kids.
The food was really good. There is a GREAT variety and a pretty decent value. My husband loved the price of the kids meals. Get the onion rings. I had a chili burger. My husband had the mesquite chicken breast. He really enjoyed the flavor but did wish that it was a bigger portion. My brother-​in-​law and his kids loved their floats.
I had a great time singing along to the music and enjoyed a relaxed meal. I highly recommend Mel’s Diner. And for real, ask for Sally!

Cool looking place, but that’s about it. Unfriendly hostess, frozen hamburger patties, tasteless fries, and over-​priced for the quality you get. Our waiter was friendly and attentive though. We wanted to like this place but the food was disappointing.

Food was really good, service was great! It is crowded, but what diner isn’t?! Got a military discount which is extra points!

Unassuming classic-​looking 50’s Diner on the outside, but you get taken back in time after you enter. Although retro 50’s style, everything is clean and new looking.
Food was great. I had their «award-​winning» chili and hubby had scrambled eggs, short stack, bacon, sausage and hash browns.
Great prices. Great food. Great service. Only sorry we didn’t try this place sooner. Now I know why the parking lot was always packed.

Great food! Huge portions! My husband and I went twice while on vacation and we loved it each time. Their sandwiches are massive and they have the best fries in town. I’ve never had a fry with the same texture that comes from Mel’s. They’re crispy and flaky on the outside and perfect in the middle. Even better with cheese and bacon on top! They have a pretty good BLT too. We loved the atmosphere. It looks authentic and the décor really tops it off.

Ate lunch here today, super cute diner. Loved the atmosphere and our waitress was a doll. Food was your delicious diner food. No complaints about Mel’s. Eveeyone food looked amazing. I hate the cajun burger which was hot lol and my husband at the jalapeño cheeseburger he loved it. Their fries are delicious. It caught our eye because they are always packed. Now we know. Its a must try!

many old newspaper articles and pictures, you get 50s diner feeling…, but thats it! staff semmed to be stressed up.
prices are ok, but not even worth the warmed up food. got an ¼ inch, like microwave warmed up tasted, burger patty. very disappointing

The food is good. The place is cozy. I don’t remember original diners, so maybe that is how they all were. They also sell neat gifts. I still have my «Kiss My Grits» mug. When we went the floor was a little messy, especially near the bathroom. However, the staff is courteous.

The food was just ok but that ice cream banana split was the bomb! And to be honest that’s the real reason I went there.

Bit of a disappointing visit for me. I was looking forward to a satisfying meal after a long day of hiking at Smoky Mountains but unfortunately I thought the food could be better.
I tried their bacon with mushroom and chili burgers with added cheese that comes to about $ 9. The bacons were a bit too charred I thought and the soft buns made the burger quite hard to grab onto with the chili and mushrooms. It was a bit messy and looking back I think I was too greedy from the hunger should have gone with something simpler.
The onions rings were quite piping hot on the plate but way too greasy that I ended up eating using a fork, plus for $ 7 its a bit more expensive than what I’m used in a diner establishment.
While the decoration and interior are nice and very true to the classic diner vibe I thought the food didn’t really quite live up to their presentation. I didn’t have to wait for a booth since it was pretty late around the time I arrived (8:30ish on a week night) but if I had to wait now I most likely would have passed. Server was pretty friendly though and looked after me well despite me being just a lone diner taking up a booth :)

This place is great! They have the BEST PANCAKES! They’re fluffy, buttery, tasty, everything they should be. I was in Town working for a few days and saw this on Unilocal and decided to try it. The food was good, especially the breakfast. The server’s were all great, kept my glass full, and checked in often. Food came out extremely fast too.
The first night I went the line was out the door and it was a long wait, so I decided to try again another night. The next night I came by and was seated immediately. I got the country-​style steak with mashed potatoes and gravy, fried okra, and toast. Everything was really good, and fresh. The receipt has a 15% off breakfast coupon, and trust me you’ll want to save it and come back for breakfast.
The breakfast was great, everything was hot and fresh. Those were the BEST PANCAKES I’ve ever had at a restaurant. The bacon was cooked perfectly, not floppy but not too crispy. The hashbrowns are awesome too! I’ll definitely be visiting this place again the next time I’m in town.

Nothing fancy, nothing classy but if you’re looking for plenteous portions in a retro atmosphere and a fun ambience, welcome to Mel’s! 50’s and 60’s posters and magazine covers, pictures of vintage cars and fun sayings clutter the walls! The wait staff is eager to please and each one is warm and loving with lots of honeys, sweeties, and darlin’s thrown in. Our favorite placard on the wall states: «If the music’s too loud, you’re too old!» We make it our“go to” breakfast spot every morning when we’re in town!

We come to pigeon forge once a year and we always stop at Mel’s Diner for a meal — it was our first meal in town this year!
I love the simplicity of the food, the diner décor and menu and that everything is fresh and made to order! Service is always awesome too!
This time around, I got a fried bologna sandwich (I couldn’t keep away from it!) and my family got a club sandwich, chicken pot pie and grilled cheese. My son, who claimed he wasn’t that hungry, took down his (triple!) grilled cheese and fries — it was that good.
Loved my fried bologna and they have awesome fries too. My daughter was doing a happy dance over the chicken pot pie (puff pastry = yum!)
We all love and appreciate a simple meal done really well! Love it here!

Wow we were freezing and walking back to our hotel from the island. I saw this place and we went running. Coffee was warmmm we both got the roast dip. So good amazing diner food. Décor was awesome sat under Dolly Parton my queen. Waitress was super friendly and nice. Only complaint is she reached over our food. So good we hit it for breakfast the next day. We got the. 4.99 deal eggs and pancakes sausage or bacon. Was delish only complaint was the pancakes rubbery and weird. Will absolutely return on next vacation!!!

We stopped here for a quick lunch after spending most of the morning around Gatlinburg. We were extremely pleased. The food was excellent and the service just as good.
We loved the inside of the diner. It was even better than what we expected. The place was packed so we figured other folks liked it just as much as we did.

We stopped here for dinner as Mel’s was right by our hotel. First day, they were too busy, so we came back, thinking this place must be the hot place in town. The inside décor is cool and something that goes back to the 50’s and 60’s, but that was just about all. Yet the locals seem to love this place. Our server, was quite unorganized and it took about 20 minutes to get our food. I observed a few others who came in after us who received their food first, maybe our server forgot to put in our order?
Anyhow, the food here is your typical traditional American fries, onion rings and hamburgers that are cooked in too much grease. This is not a place that I would visit more than once. If you are health conscious, stay away.
[Review #297] (Fifthy Seventh Review of 2015)