What is the best restaurant in Knoxville? (Maryville, Lenoir City: house, school)

[think365]

By best restaurant I really mean the restaurant with the best food, not necessarily the nicest restaurant. Its doesn't matter what kind of food (I'm not picky and like to try different things) nor does it matter if the restaurant is fine dining or just a casual place.

I will be moving from New Orleans to Knoxville next month, so good food is something that is near and dear to my heart. So does anyone have any suggestions?

[oldmanbob]

Knoxville has a good variety of places, all the normal chains, and depends on you taste. Regas has been around forever, and they now have several places, Connors, The Chop House, and lots of folks like Brass Lantern, located in west Knoxville, and also on the UT strip. Best place for a burger, is Littons in Fountain City, 3 different Puelos, and for seafood and steaks, Chesapeakes located downtown,and another great place is Brassarie on Northshore, and the Bonefish is great, with 2 locations. For best steaks, Flemmings located on Parkside, then you have Parkside Grille , Lakeside grille, and one of my wifes favorite is PF Changs. Plenty more, too many to mentions. Enjoy, and if you want good food with Jazz bands, then try Bakers Peters.

[hiknapster]

Originally Posted by oldmanbob

Knoxville has a good variety of places, all the normal chains, and depends on you taste. Regas has been around forever, and they now have several places, Connors, The Chop House, and lots of folks like Brass Lantern, located in west Knoxville, and also on the UT strip. Best place for a burger, is Littons in Fountain City, 3 different Puelos, and for seafood and steaks, Chesapeakes located downtown,and another great place is Brassarie on Northshore, and the Bonefish is great, with 2 locations. For best steaks, Flemmings located on Parkside, then you have Parkside Grille , Lakeside grille, and one of my wifes favorite is PF Changs. Plenty more, too many to mentions. Enjoy, and if you want good food with Jazz bands, then try Bakers Peters.

Where is the Brass Lantern in Knoxville? Never heard of it.

Fleming's looks great, by the way, I didn't realize it was there.

[BarbG]

I'm Cajun, from south MS, but family from N.O. as well. Still miss the food, but there's noplace like N.O. for the food. We do have several favorites here, though:

Puleo's -- hands down, my favorite

Conner's -- excellent food

Abuleos -- at Turkey Creek, great food

Aubrey's -- think O'Charley's ---just better food

Sullivan's Downtown -- over in Maryville, great food! There's one on Bearden Hill too, just haven't visited it yet.

Buddy's Barbecue -- great cheap fast food restaurant when you are looking for bbq

Lenny's -- for subs

TomatoHead -- wonderful, but pricey for what they serve. We eat there only occasionally.

Mimi's (down at Turkey Creek) -- great breakfasts, make that awesome breakfasts, but only average menu for lunch and dinner.

Litton's -- for burgers and dessert

Calhoun's is a staple up here, but I haven't eaten anything that was impressive. To me, the food is average.



For Cajun, you've got:

Bayou Bay -- some stuff really tasty, some average

New Orleans Sandwich Shoppe -- over in Gatlinburg, great roast beef poboys


Here's a link to restaurants with some reviews:

Knoxville Dining at a Glance - Restaurant Listing

[JMT]

To the OP:

Notice that some of the restaurants listed are national chains (Lenny's, Mimi's, Flemings, Bonefish, PF Chang's) that can be found in just about any big city. I'm sad to report that Knoxvillians seem to love chain restaurants a LOT, and there just aren't very many locally-owned restaurants.

Here are the locally-owned stuff that I like (some have already been mentioned):

Litton's - awesome burgers
Taste of Havana - great Cuban food
Northshore Brasserie - Belgian food (and beer), amazing desserts
Tomato Head - great pizzas, salads, vegetarian stuff, fun atmosphere downtown
Harby's - the best pizzas in town!
Copper Cellar - steaks, burgers, sandwiches, a favorite college hang-out
Nama - sushi, other good Japanese food
Pancake Pantry - a Gatlinburg staple. You may think you've had good pancakes before, but the Pancake Pantry will knock your socks off.

There are others but I'm running out the door to go teach a summer school class. My students would riot if I were late (yeah right).

[Beretta]

Probably my favorite non-chain everyday restaurant is Angelo's Brick Oven in Lenoir City. Well worth the drive. I still am an old Regas fan. I like PF Changs also; it may be a chain but the local folks working here make it seem very special. Sullivan's in downtown Maryville is a nice place.

[hiknapster]

By the way, someone, and I don't remember who, said that Elidio's in Dante had the best pizza. I think they said the best "New York" pizza. Well, I am not a fan of New York pizza, and my family is not, either, but we found it to be very good pizza, and I think that it IS the best New York pizza I ever had.

Further, this was a Saturday night and they were extremely busy with "To Go" orders.

[BarbG]

Originally Posted by SmokyMtnGal

Probably my favorite non-chain everyday restaurant is Angelo's Brick Oven in Lenoir City. Well worth the drive. I still am an old Regas fan. I like PF Changs also; it may be a chain but the local folks working here make it seem very special. Sullivan's in downtown Maryville is a nice place.

That does it! We are going to have to drive over to Lenoir City to try Angelo's. We've gotten too many good recommendations to ignore.

[knoxgarden]

A few more non-chains:
Kalamata Cafe on Northshore. An odd Greek/Japanese fusion with excellent sushi and shish kabob. Live music on weekends.
Sunspot on the UT Strip. I go mainly for the homemade sweet potato chips. Good simple food, excellent people watching.
Taste of Thai on N. Peters. Simply the best Thai food. Fresh and well seasoned.
Mellow Mushroom. Regional chain but I do like their Pesto Pizza.
Naples for Italian
Ye Olde Steak House for traditional steak house fare. Down on Chapman Highway. Excellent steaks.
We've got lots of good restaurants here. You'll just have to get out and find your favorites!

FYI: I've spent some weekends in New Orleans. My favorite restaurants there were a little place called Maxie's Coffee Pot which had a different name last time I was there, great she-crab soup and red beans and rice; Galatoires and Cafe du Monde, of course, for people watching. I tried Brennans and the Three Sisters, felt both were overrated.

[ookla]

Originally Posted by JMT

To the OP:

Pancake Pantry - a Gatlinburg staple. You may think you've had good pancakes before, but the Pancake Pantry will knock your socks off.

I gotta say I think I'm gonna be hard pressed to find pancakes that top Aretha Frankensteins in Chatt. Sounds like a place i need to check out.
What about a good greasy spoon diner sort of place? Anything like that there?

And I have been really wanting some Cafe du Monde beignets and coffee lately. I have the coffee but its just not the same alone.