Visiting to scout the area and for an interview...what should I not miss? (Knoxville: hotel)

[ilovemaine]

I've posted a few times in the past year re: our (hopefully) impending move to eastern TN. (Mostly in the tri-cities forum as initially that's where we were focused on, but as many of you have said time and again, not as many job opportunities.)

We are heading down next week to scout out the area (staying kind of in-between Knoxville and the Tri-Cities so we can drive around and see all the areas we are interested in). But...I just landed a job interview in Knoxville while we're down there. Super excited. We plan to see Knoxville (obviously), the surrounding areas (as if this job works out we'd like to be a little ways outside of the city, a little more rural, so want to get a sense of the surrounding towns), and Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg area just because I've been to TN (mostly Nashville), but not to that area and I know it's beautiful (but touristy).

So...what should we not miss while we're in the area (particularly, obviously, the greater Knoxville area for the purposes of this forum)? I've done a bunch of research, but we love recommendations from locals when we travel. We are pretty low-key...not super-outdoorsy in terms of being hard-core hikers or anything, but beautiful places/drives that we might like to see? Great hole-in-the-wall local places, especially for "southern" food? (We're from an area with anything we could possibly want to eat at our fingertips, so we'd rather experience local TN food.)

We will also have our dog with us, so if you happen to know of any dog-friendly places (like restaurants where they can be on the patio or anything like that), we'd love those suggestions too!

Thanks for any advice!

[KathiOH1]

Congratulations, ilovemaine. You'll have to change your handle to iloveknox! ha ha

Be sure to grab a drink at the SpeakEasy downtown. Enter through the alley on weekends. Some other great bars are *** & Reel Scottish Pub, Drink Wine Bar, and Preservation Pub. There are too many to name for one trip.


Best $$-$$$ restaurants are Lakeside Tavern, (Foothills Milling (Maryville), Cru Bistro, and Lonesome Dove (Knoxville). I also personally love Flemings and Bistro by the Tracks. While eating downtown, check out the stores around market square. Find some time to take a drive down Foothills Parkway (toward the mountains) and take in the sights.


I don't think anything is happening at the Knoxville Theatre (which is breathtaking on the inside!), so put that on your list for next visit. Come up... Women's Jazz Festival is March 15-16.
Knox St. Patrick's Parade is March 16.
Beverly “Guitar” Watkins Concert is March 16.

[ilovemaine]

Originally Posted by KathiOH1

Congratulations, ilovemaine. You'll have to change your handle to iloveknox! ha ha

Ha ha...you're so right! It will definitely take much longer to get to Maine from TN, that's for sure! Might have to find a new favorite vacation spot.

Originally Posted by KathiOH1

Be sure to grab a drink at the SpeakEasy downtown. Enter through the alley on weekends. Some other great bars are *** & Reel Scottish Pub, Drink Wine Bar, and Preservation Pub. There are too many to name for one trip.


Best $$-$$$ restaurants are Lakeside Tavern, (Foothills Milling (Maryville), Cru Bistro, and Lonesome Dove (Knoxville). I also personally love Flemings and Bistro by the Tracks. While eating downtown, check out the stores around market square. Find some time to take a drive down Foothills Parkway (toward the mountains) and take in the sights.

Thank you so much for these suggestions! We will definitely check out the Foothills Parkway...sounds wonderful! Will research these restaurants too!

Originally Posted by KathiOH1

I don't think anything is happening at the Knoxville Theatre (which is breathtaking on the inside!), so put that on your list for next visit. Come up... Women's Jazz Festival is March 15-16.
Knox St. Patrick's Parade is March 16.
Beverly “Guitar” Watkins Concert is March 16.

I really appreciate these suggestions! Thank you so much!

[ilovemaine]

Originally Posted by KathiOH1

Some other great bars are *** & Reel Scottish Pub, Drink Wine Bar, and Preservation Pub.

Starting to go through your links, and just wanted to especially thank you for the ***&Reel suggestion! It looks wonderful and my husband is very into his Scottish heritage, so we will definitely enjoy checking this out.

(For some reason the system turns the first word in that restaurant name into three asterisks. It did it in your post as well. Odd.)

[KathiOH1]

Oh! Then you HAVE to check out the Scottish Festival (Maryville College) May 18-19. Unbelievably fun (and you'll see many kilts).

[DaveC20853]

Many of the restaurants on Market Square have dog friendly patios. Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg are tourist traps, nice to visit once and a while. Knoxville is a fairly broad area. 30 minutes from downtown in any direction will have you in rural areas. With a potential job in Knoxville I would stay in the Knoxville area and explore Knoxville and surrounding area. All depends on how long you are staying.

What part of Maine? I have family in Mount Vernon.

[KathiOH1]

Just realized you said you like southern cooking, so I have to mention a few more suggestions:Gracies, Dancing Bear, Maple Street Biscuit (for breakfast or a snack, Midland Restaurant (it doesn't get more mom & pop that this) Tupelo Honey (it's a chain but still good southern food)

[ilovemaine]

Originally Posted by DaveC20853

Many of the restaurants on Market Square have dog friendly patios. Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg are tourist traps, nice to visit once and a while. Knoxville is a fairly broad area. 30 minutes from downtown in any direction will have you in rural areas. With a potential job in Knoxville I would stay in the Knoxville area and explore Knoxville and surrounding area. All depends on how long you are staying.

What part of Maine? I have family in Mount Vernon.

Good to know about dog-friendly patios in Market Square. Our Yorkie loves to be included LOL.

We will be there for 8 days. We plan to spend a day in Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg just to see it (I drove through once years ago on the way to Nashville, but my husband has never been). Other than that, we will be focusing on the areas surrounding Knoxville (the 30-minute circumference in any direction that you mentioned). We plan to do a lot of driving around.

It looks like I may now have another interview in Nashville, although I'm not sure we really want to be that far west or in the middle of all of that. Nashville is a whole other ballgame.

Oh, and I don't live in Maine, but it is our favorite place to vacation. We've pretty much been everywhere. Moosehead Lake, Eastport, and Trenton (on the "quiet" side of Mt. Desert Island) are probably our top favorites.

[calvinbama]

If you want real hole-in-the-wall Southern Food try Chandler's or Lunch House in East Knoxville or Jackies Dream in North Knoxville.