There’s never a shortage of new restaurants and attractions popping up around the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains.
Business is booming in Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge and Sevierville, and lots of entrepreneurs are coming this way to build their brand(s).
Below you will find a list of new restaurants (and even a new distillery) that will be coming soon to the Smoky Mountains area.
Read Also: 13 new attractions around Pigeon Forge, Gatlinburg in 2021
1. Guy Fieri’s Downtown Flavortown (Coming Soon)
It’s official. After a great deal of anticipation, the Mountain Mile in Pigeon Forge has announced its newest resident to the complex: Guy Fieri’s Downtown Flavortown.
Flavortown won’t just be another new restaurant. Flavortown will be an entire 43,000-square-foot family entertainment center.
The attraction will feature a 14-lane bowling alley, state-of-the-art arcade games and a full-service Tiki bar.
The restaurant will feature Fieri’s award-winning Bacon Mac ‘n Cheeseburger as well as his famous stuffed waffle creations.
The opening date for Guy Fieri’s Downtown Flavortown in Pigeon Forge has not yet been announced.
2. Chicken Guy by Guy Fieri (Coming Soon)
After over a year of speculation, we can finally confirm that Chicken Guy by Guy Fieri is coming soon to downtown Gatlinburg, Tenn.
And from the looks of the construction site – it’s going to be a massive complex.
Chicken Guy is a fast food-style franchise that features all-natural fresh chicken tenders and chicken sandwiches with dozens of sauce options available.
This will mark the 6th location for the franchise with other stores in Disney Springs, Nashville, Aventura Mall, Fedex Field and Levi Stadium.
No opening date has been formally announced.
3. Azul Cantina (Coming Soon)
Azul Cantina is coming soon to Pigeon Forge and will feature the area’s first-ever rooftop bar.
The Cantina offers a twist on traditional Tex-Mex with wood-fire grilling methods in traditional Mexican cooking styles with roots from South America and Texas.
Recipes are made from scratch. And their hand-crafted cocktails will feature top-shelf tequilas including their own Agave distilled spirits.
An opening date has not been announced.
The restaurant will be located at 2655 Teaster Ln, Pigeon Forge, TN.
4. Blaze Pizza (Coming Soon)
Blaze Pizza is a chain restaurant that is also coming soon to the Smoky Mountains.
Their head food guy, Executive Chef Bradford Kent is dubbed “The Pizza Whisperer”.
They specialize in bringing exceptional quality at a “crazy fast” speed. And now they’re bringing their fast-fired, perfectly crisp perfection to the mountains of Tennessee.
That’s pretty big talk, but I’m willing to give it a try. Ya know, for research purposes.
The opening date for Blaze Pizza has not yet been announced.
5. Company Distilling (Coming Soon)
A new distillery has recently announced its arrival to the Great Smoky Mountains.
“We’re proud to introduce Company Distilling straight bourbon whiskey – the creation of a group of friends with a history of crafting exceptional spirits and bringing people together,” said the company in a social media post.
There will be two locations coming to the Smoky Mountain region, one in Townsend, Tenn., and the other in Alcoa.
The Townsend location is scheduled to open in 2021. The Alcoa location will open in 2022.
The team behind Company Distilling will come with some familiar faces. One of the five founders includes Jeff Arnett, a former master distiller at Jack Daniels.
Alcoa is located about 40 miles west of Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg.
6. Damn Yankees (Coming Soon)
The owners of the popular Delauder’s BBQ restaurant in Gatlinburg have announced a second restaurant concept with an all-new menu featuring American classics.
The menu will feature wings, specialty burgers and mouth-watering appetizers.
Live music, karaoke and trivia will be featured on select nights.
Damn Yankees will be located at 170 Glades Road in Gatlinburg TN, near the original Delauder’s BBQ location.
An opening date has not been announced.
Read Also: 7 best hole in the wall restaurants in Pigeon Forge, Gatlinburg
7. Roll On In (Coming Soon)
Roll On In will open soon in Sevierville, Tenn.
This restaurant will feature one-of-a-kind classic Asian dishes with a Tex Mex twist.
Roll On In already has a handful of other locations throughout the United States, but this will be their first in Tennessee.
Some of their popular menu items include made-to-order sushi burritos, specialty bowls and salads served up in a casual dining atmosphere. Think Chipotle only with more seafood.
Roll On In will be located on Hwy 66 in Sevierville, TN. Roll On In is a sister company to the new Buzzed Bull Creamery.
Read Also: Behind the scenes at Buzzed Bull: Get boozy in Pigeon Forge
8. Tamale Express & Chofi’s Munchies (Coming Soon)
Tamale Express and Chofi’s Munchies will be opening the weekend of Aug. 7-8, 2021.
This location feature two unique concepts in one.
The main eatery, Tamale Express, will have the honor of being the first-ever Tijuana-style birrieria eatery in Tennessee.
Birria is a Mexican-style dish that, roughly translated, means “mess.” Typical ingredients include meat and chili peppers.
Their menu will consists of beef birria, tamales and Mexican street-style snacks.
Chofi’s Munchies, located inside of Tamale Express, will feature some of the world’s craziest (and yummiest) looking munchies and Mexican street-style dessert concoctions.
Chofi’s Munchies will be located at 1354 Dolly Parton Pkwy, Sevierville, TN.
9. Cussin’ Custard (Now Open)
Cussin’ Custard has officially opened in Pigeon Forge.
The ice cream shop serves a wide variety of custards, sundaes, cones, cups and milkshakes with a variety of toppings.
Cussin’ Custard is located at 3535 Pkwy Pigeon Forge, TN next to Live Sharks.
10. Crazy Mason Milkshake Bar (Now Open)
Just about anything goes at the Crazy Mason Milkshake Bar.
This dessert eatery is known for its crazy creations, with toppings and treats that rise high above the top of your typical mason jar.
And now, this South Carolina-based restaurant has a new home in the Smoky Mountains.
Guests can choose from popular milkshakes or sundaes, or build their own crazy creations.
Crazy Mason is located in downtown Gatlinburg.
11. The Yard Milkshake Bar (Coming Soon)
The Yard Milkshake Bar was established in 2017 and is locally owned and operated.
Like Crazy Mason, The Yard Milkshake Bar is known for its over the top photo-op worthy Mason Jar concoctions.
While the Yard Milkshake Bar is a franchise, they are already paying homage to their Pigeon Forge location with a Dolly Parton-inspired feature on the menu: A milkshake called “The Dolly.”
Naturally, “The Dolly” includes all of Dolly’s favorites: Strawberry ice cream, colorful rainbow marshmallow drizzle, pretzels, chocolate butterflies and rainbow sprinkles.
If the Yard Milkshake Bar sounds familiar, you might have seen their episode on Shark Tank season 11 where they accepted an offer from Mark Cuban for $400,000 for 22 percent.
Ironically, Mark Cuban went locally viral last December when he didn’t seem to know where Pigeon Forge was or what the town was famous for and referred to it as “Pigeon Fork” during a live Twitter stream. Hopefully, he knows now.
The Yard Milkshake Bar is set to open this winter, 2021.
Read Also: 6 crazy desserts you have to try on your next trip to the Smokies
12. Fort Worth Texas Kitchen (Now Open)
Fort Worth Texas Kitchen has just opened on the Parkway in Sevierville, Tenn. right across from Tanger Outlet next to Dave and Buster’s.
The restaurant features a variety of Tex-Mex style fare including Mexican corn, nachos, taters, empanadas, tacos and something called a “Texas Twinkie”.
A Texas Twinkie is a bacon-wrapped whole jalapeno stuffed with chopped brisket, fajitas, Colby cheese, herbs and spices that’s been grilled and basted in Texas BBQ sauce. Yum!
There’s also a variety of American cuisine available including steaks, seafood, sandwiches and burgers.
Fort Worth Texas Kitchen is located at 1560 Parkway, Sevierville, TN.
13. Tomato Basil (Now Open)
Tomato Basil is a new, locally-owned restaurant that is now open in Sevierville, Tenn.
This restaurant offers pizza, calzones, meatballs, wings, appetizers and other Italian favorites. Be sure to follow them on social media to check out their specials.
Pizzas range from $6.99-12.99 for a 12-inch pizza and $12.99-18.99 for a 16-inch.
Tomato Basil is located at 2509 Newport Hwy, Sevierville TN. They are closed on Sundays.
Do you know of any new restaurants coming in 2021-2022 to the Smoky Mountains?
Let us know in the comments! Click here to view the story version of this article.
What about the new Habachi in Sevierville in the Publix shopping center
Cool we love the area we will be back soon
Where are employees coming from to staff these new restaurants when there are not enough working people staffing existing restaurants?
Still waiting for Metro Dinner to make their way here…🙂
The gimmicks are getting as old as riding back and forth to find a new family oriented restaurant. A cornbread castle © would make a mint.
Need a Soul Food Restaurant! Good home cooking, seasoned perfection, food made from scratch, Also Healthy foods too!
What about a first watch cafe
About having a salad worksCome to severeville
how bout Fire Lake in DANDRIDGE tn.
And how are they going to staff these places. Just there less than a month ago and nobody could run their restaurants properly because of the employee shortage in the area
Guy is also opening “The Chicken Guy” on the parkway in Gatlinburg.
What about the Guy Fieri Chicken Guy restaurant being built on the Parkway in Gatlinburg?
I like the name dam yankees
Black Rifle Coffee too!
Can’t wait to go down and eat at all new places. Hope coupons will be available
Who are they going to get to work. Every business is struggling right now due to lack of employees.
Sounds good .
What about a CookOut? Awesome place!!!!
Where are they going to find workers?
Yep, where will the workers appear from….??? Keep building things but no workforce or local population cause no place to live. I also agree others the gimmick places are getting old, how about just having good decent family places to eat with good food instead of stupid gimmicks!!! And those milkshakes look disgusting and probably cost a fortune, way to over the top and just stupid!
Regardless of who comes in, patronize the locally owned establishments. They have paid their dues through thick and thin. All the outside establishments do is take the money and run, leaving nothing behind but a mess for those that remain to clean up. And please for those that visit the area, leave it in better condition than it was when you arrived. Be responsible and respectful of nature’s beauty, take your trash with you or dispose of it properly or stay the hell out of the area.
More Restaurants are great but I’ve not heard of any of these? What about a Chili’s ,Carabbas, something we know please.
If people don’t want to work have people pick their own up at a area that would get rid of those people who don’t want to work we’ll work around them . But we have to come up with another way around this mess so we can go out to eat in peace.
Would love to move to the Smokies if could fine a reasonable place and might want to work part time somewhere
Check out the newly expanded “Listening Room Cafe”. It will be a restaurant with local talent as well as songwriters. The original location is in Nashville on 4th Avenue, but they are expanding to Mountain Mile this summer.
If the State and the Federal Government stops spending the tax payers money and quits allowing the people to just sit around and do nothing for the Unemployment checks that they pay out to each of them each week, and makes them go out and actually look for a job and be able to prove that they were looking before they get an Unemployment check they might just find out that there’s a lot of people out there that could fill those positions. The Problem would be taken care of quickly in no time at all.
I thought the milkshakes in canning jars were an Awesome Creative amazingly new thing! Kids will flip over for these and dance in the street! Congrats to Crazy Mason Milkshake Bar! Love them!
I am very excited for all these new restaurants coming to our area! Will absolutely love for Glades Road in Gatlinburg to have a little more spice and a place for couples to enjoy an evening out. Like the old saying goes (Far but Near)!
Also love Guy Fieri and can’t wait to see his location at the Mountain Mile!
Famous Quote: Build it, they will come!
Brenda Harper
Gatlinburg
Portillo’s needs to open there!!!!!!
Hey what about Culver’s Burgers Best in My Neighborhood.. Live to See More Thai and Vietnamese food places. Tired of chick wings.
There are no “reasonable” priced homes in this area. Everything is catered to tourists & rentals for tourists. Local officials don’t care about locals- only how to get more tourists to this tourist town & pocket more money. Very sad
Does anyone know when Azul Cantina will open ? It’s been delayed 2 times. I’m very interested. Want to see music they will have. This area is lacking good music but nice Restaurants. Very excited about AZUL CANTINA I hope it opens by October 1st, 21 I got friends coming from Florida. Hope they open late