It’s hard to imagine now – even when running across an old picture – but Pigeon Forge wasn’t always the neon mecca it is now.
In 1925, with the coming of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park a decade away, Pigeon Forge and Sevierville weren’t much more than a series of farms covering the wide valley between the mountains.
And it was during this time period that Dr. John W. Ogle returned to his home to practice medicine.
Born in the 1880s, Ogle went off to study at the age of 16, setting up his practice in the Harrisburg community at the age of 21. It was there that he met and married Blanche.
Soon thereafter, the Ogles moved to Pigeon Forge and Dr. Ogle set up his practice as a mountain doctor making house calls by horseback or buggy.
Finally, in 1925, he purchased some land where he planted a few more trees and Five Oaks Farm was born.
Read Also: Five Oaks Near Pigeon Forge: List of Attractions, How the Area Got Its Name
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Who owns Five Oaks Farm Kitchen?
Today, that Ogle tradition is alive and well at Five Oaks Farm Kitchen in Sevierville (near the Pigeon Forge line), built near the spot where Blanche often fed the hungry. And she, at the same time, raised the couple’s four children there.
Ogle’s descendants remain behind the business today.
Jake and Taylor Ogle, partners in the Five Oaks Development Group and great-grandsons of Dr. John and Blanche, built the eatery. The restaurant operation is operated by KBS Enterprises, owned by Kirby Smith, the Ogle brothers’ cousin.
The Ogles’ memories are alive and well within the building located across the street from the old family home.
A giant sign quoting Dr. John greets guests at the door, welcoming them to the farm.
Family photos adorn the interior walls. Visitors are encouraged to take a minute to explore the building and get to know the family and its history.
“Having guests dine at the restaurant is the family’s way of sharing their family kitchen with travelers in a similar way to how their grandmother Blanche Ogle did so lovingly for many years on the Five Oaks Farm,” the restaurant’s website says.
How is the food at Five Oaks Farm Kitchen?
Certainly, all the history in the world isn’t going to make a difference if the food isn’t up to snuff. You have a hard time staying in business in this tourist town if you don’t know how to deliver proper Southern cooking.
Fortunately, Five Oaks Farm Kitchen does just that. They seem to take great pride in their offerings of traditional Southern-style home cooking with a side of great service.
Five Oaks offers three main menus – breakfast, lunch and supper – and a variety of down-home mountain favorites.
A dessert menu and a gluten-free menu are also available upon request.
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What to order at Five Oaks Farm Kitchen for breakfast
For the Southern-style breakfast, it’s the staples you’d expect down on a farm where you started the day with a heavy meal to give you energy for the hard work ahead.
The Five Oaks omelets, – made with fresh eggs – pancakes and thick slabs of French toast – are excellent. As are the variety of meats including sausage. There’s a special place in my heart for breakfast casseroles.
In addition to the traditional Southern favorites, the star of breakfast – served from 8 am to noon – is the handmade farm-size cinnamon roll. It is not for the faint of heart.
However, man cannot live by cinnamon rolls alone.
What to order at Five Oaks Farm Kitchen for lunch
In comparison to breakfast, lunch is almost Spartan.
Lunch menu items feature an array of sandwiches and hearty soups – including mountain favorites like soup beans and potato soup.
Selections from the smokehouse include pork ribs and a pulled pork plate.
Chicken pot pie and meatloaf are available as heartier fare.
However, if you don’t know the joy of eating a smoked bologna sandwich, you haven’t really lived.
What to order at Five Oaks Farm Kitchen for supper
The supper time menu – dinner for those of you not from around here – features individual selections from the smokehouse.
Explore the smokehouse offerings with the Smokehouse Sampling, if you’re in the mood. The entree includes smoked pork butt, a quality beef brisket and pork spare ribs. Or you can order from the Farm Table menu and experience a favorite mountain meal.
Fried chicken livers, sugar-cured ham steak and open-faced pot roast are all on the menu.
In truth, it’s hard to go wrong with the chicken and dumplings made with stewed chicken and dumplings made from scratch – it’s top-notch.
And it comes with one “farm-fresh” side. Given the option, I almost always choose the fried okra. But I also recommend baked or mashed potatoes.
The menu offers tea, coffee, milk, soda pop and lemonade to drink.
To clarify, there are folks who think that all Southerners refer to sodas as Cokes or Coca-Colas. On the contrary, soda pop is actually the go-to term for that sweet drink in the mountains, traditionally speaking.
Finally, if lemonade is your thing, Blanche’s County Fair Lemonade is the stuff of wonders. But, it’s one refill only for the lemonade, so judge your thirst accordingly.
Desserts include Window Sill Cobbler, banana pudding, chocolate cake and those previously mentioned larger-than-life cinnamon rolls.
Is Five Oaks Farm Kitchen worth it?
These days, a lot of places in the mountains claim to offer an authentic mountain experience.
Often, the best you can hope for is honoring the traditions, the spirit and the love that made mountain communities what they were.
And Five Oaks Farm Kitchen does that exceedingly well.
You won’t know what it was like to sit at Blanche’s table nearly a century ago. While that may be true, you will feel welcomed and leave nourished. And that’s pretty close in my book.
Have you visited Five Oaks Farm Kitchen? What did you think? Let us know in the comments below.
Five Oaks is great for breakfast, but we were really disappointed in lunch. Not much on the menu. One of the sides was potato chips, which was just a bag of chips. Chicken salad sandwich was good. Potato soup tasted like it came out of a can. We will go back for breakfast, but not lunch. It is a very pretty place.
My absolute favorite place too eat when I head to the Smokies, I could eat every meal there❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
I’ve eaten there multiple times now 3-4 times & liked the food just fine, but the prices are a little high for the amount of food you get especially the Chicken n’ Dumplings. I get more Dumplings at Cracker Barrel than I do at 5OFH, and for less money. The lemonade is worth a try though. The last time I was there the free biscuits were the best thing I had, & I got the chicken n’ dumplings that day. I tried to tell someone but the manager never came by & our waitress only came to the table 2 times, when she took our order & when she brought the bill. And no it was not busy that day. In our area there was only 3 tables that had people at that them including ours. That is why I will probably not go back.
Five Oaks is definitely a great place to eat Will definitely go back
Me , my girlfriend and her family were there this past summer , it was our first time and if there’s one thing I can say it definitely won’t be our last the food was unbelievable and the portions were plentiful ! I just wish there were more locations for us to enjoy.
My family and I ate there in the fall of 2019. I ordered the chicken salad sandwich and the soup of the day. It was delicious! We will definitely go back.
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I liked the options for all the meals. It was very filling, the taste delightfull.
Wow, what a disappointment. Who serves ribs without baked beans? Potato salad taste like it came out of can, not home made. Rib bar-q sauce was nothing special. The chefs need to taste their dishes & make changes.
I live here in Jefferson City Tennessee about 30 miles from Pigeon Forge and believe me that food is worth the trip the breakfast are phenomenal and dinners are really good the chicken livers are to die for and the potato soup does not taste like it came out of a can like the first woman said the food is delicious
We ate supper there a couple of months ago and I ordered the open faced pot roast. It was the by far the best supper I have ever had in the Smokies. We visit at least 3 times a year and you can bet we will be back for more of their delicious food.
I have been going to the mountains for 25 years. I have eaten at just about every place there. Five Oaks is by far the best. Everyone is nice and friendly . I enjoy eating there every time I go.
We love this place. It’s a must to eat here. We told friends and family and they loved it too. I get the roast beef and fried chicken is excellent too. In my opinion best place in Pigeon Forge to eat. You get a lot of food I usually have to get a take home box. Service is great very friendly. Prices are same as other places it is a tourist town. Love the rocking chairs out front and firepit if you have to wait which usually you do. You can call in reservation.
The building is beautiful. I loved the pans they served the food in. The server was very nice. Coffee was good. I liked the coffee cups and would have like to have them. But,,,,,I didn’t think the food was very tasty. The biscuit was not good. It cost too much money to be paying for food that didn’t taste good. The next morning we went back to the Cracker Barrel. You can always count on the Cracker Barrel to get it right. And better servings. The thick pancake in a cake pan was impressive but the taste was not the taste of pancakes should be. We won’t be going back to the Farm Kitchen because of the food.
My Husband and I drove up one Sunday morning just to eat breakfast and drove back home (we live on the other end of the state). We love their breakfast!! ❤❤
This place is wonderful.!!! Just ate there 04/29/2022. The food is so good and the staff is very inviting and kind.
We live in sevier county and have eaten there 3 times and each time ordered something different and never had a bad meal… compared to other tourist restaurants in the area this one shines! Love the biscuits and breakfast is phenomenal! We only go in down tourist times because the crowds are a bit much…