The Dillard House — Restaurant in Dillard

Starting wirh the restaurant--After reading dozens of poor reviews saying the quality and service had deteriorated over the years at the restaurant, I was concerned. This was, after all, a memorial event for my mother that people were traveling from far and wide (California, Idaho, Arizona, Michigan, Kentucky, Eastern NC, Colorado, and Florida) to attend. My parents considered the Dillard House an absolute necessity at least once a year for over 40 years, often driving 14 hours and celebrating with Dillard House. I remember as a small child arriving (and being starving) after a two-day car ride and being told the wait was over an hour. . . I assumed we'd go elsewhere, but it wasn't even a consideration. My parents distracted me at the petting zoo (still there) and the little shop (bigger and still there) until our number was called.||We arrived on a Thursday night at 6pm, late summer season, so I expected it to be busy. It was not at all. Barely any cars and only two other tables seated in the huge dining room. The food was delicious, and the service was typical (both for family style and my long experience with the restaurant). Others in our party ate breakfast and lunch there and all found the experience lovely.||Now for the chalets--I had driven past them numerous times and always wondered about them. When we decided the memorial had to be centered around the Smoky Mountains, which had been integral to the family, I decided to investigate the chalets. Trying to ensure people and families had privacy but still easy access to each other was key. Certain chalets had the charm and architectural design I was trying to recreate from our family cabin; typical A-frame with the wrap around porch and loft. Chalet 4 was so charming. Yes, the place is dated, but so was ours. The bathroom door doesn't have a handle, the walls are raw cedar, the bed in one downstairs room (red plaid coverlet) is badly in need of replacing, but overall, Chalet 4 was amazing. The loft beds were incredibly comfy (but the ladder to the loft is steep). AC worked great. Kitchen was well-appointed (pots, pand, and utensils--not any food or spice staples) and let us cook and prep what we needed. View of the pond was unmatched, but being so close to a busy highway made it less peaceful than I'd hoped.||Chalet 17 is gorgeous. Stairs to loft were carpeted and easy to climb. The fireplace is massive, garden tub was lovely. We spent a lot of gathering time in Chalet 17 due to its larger layout.||Chalet 21 is perfect for large families. Sadly, we had several people miss flights or have to bow out at the last minute, so Chalet 21 was used by only one family of 5, but it could easily accommodate 14. The loft is massive, with 4 beds and a full bathroom...but no real privacy. A fun place for young cousins or siblings to sleep, but could benefit from a portable AC unit in hot summer months. There is AC, just not adequate to cool the loft midday. The full kitchen was great.||Chalets 7 and 8 were perfect for single attendees. They hey are small, but still have gorgeous views. Chalet 2 has the easiest access to the pond and pool. Very nice layout. Perfect for a small family. We had adult Mom and son who found it ideal.||Chalet 16 was the only one I cannot recommend, simply because I have allergies that were triggered terribly by something in there. Likely mold and mildew because it was far more musty than the other chalets and got less light access.||Jo Flores is the group organizer. Nothing can be done online, there are no pictures of the interiors, reservations are done in the most archaic fashion, and the contract was not particularly well-done (imho). Communication is spotty, but I believe this is partly due to the nature of the system and likely the fact that Jo was overwhelmed with other large parties. The Dillard House is a huge property, but the chalets feel very separated and unique. ||The walk between the chalets can be a workout. Chalet 4 and 2 are an easy walk, but from 4 to 17 was a hike...literally. I loved that aspect of the property, though. It felt real and natural... ||If you're looking for luxury and amenities, this isn't your place. If you want a memorable property for a family reunion, this is it. We had two children on the spectrum and an 89-year-old on a cane. There are aspects of the steepness of some chalets (4 in particular), that are not appropriate for people with disabilities and probably should be disclosed better, but...

ROOM REVIEW: You are paying for the views! GORGEOUS! The Restaurant is huge though they must have had a leak because the ceiling is undergoing repairs. I must say the Gift Shop was awesome. Tons of good selections of things: food stuffs, wearables, trinkets, etc. The check-in area is super small. The staff is SUPER NICE and helpful! . Had to go back up to the check-in and switch next door - I wanted the pasture view which was so nice! You could see the horses grazing all the time. Unfortunately room 141 - the deck/patio sliding door has some kind of foggy stuff inside the glass of the door so it messed up my pretty view. I know it sounds picky but it looked like someone had sprayed a bottle of something on the door and let all the wet spots dry. Would be super nice to have screen doors also - would have saved a lot of money on me running the AC. The room was stuffy, not hot, but with no ceiling fans, you had to run the AC to get any air circulation. The electrical outlets are super old and when I tried to plug in some of my things the plugs would literally fall out of the wall. And no usb ports. I did mention to one of the Inn ladies that they should do a work order. I would suggest that they get the newer USB combo electrical outlets when they are replacing so as to have a little bit of an upgrade. They forgot my wake-up call one morning and my room didn't get serviced the last day I was there and no explanation.

Adequate room and decent size but definitely needs more upgrades and some happier nature art would be nice. Everything is brown except for the bedding which is white. The bed was actually comfortable and liked the sheets. Good sized fridge too and had a microwave and coffee maker. Being a business owner myself I am sure that it is very hard to take care of repairs, etc and update everything. If the owners do have the money, I think it would be worth the investment to upgrade the following:

1. brighter more colorful nature/mountain art on the walls (even pretty prints of the mountains with the beautiful green would be gorgeous and add some much needed color to the rooms.
2. usb combo electrical outlets
3. replace cloudy patio/deck doors (not all were like this)
4. add screen doors to patio/deck doors
5. upgrade all tv's to flat screen and mount on the walls
6. new alarm clock/sound machine combo's
7. new shower rods (current one is the kind that inserts in the middle and every time you move the shower curtains over, you can't easily get it back because it gets caught on the humpy-insert-part. :(

RESTAURANT REVIEW: EDIT: so Fridays lunch was better and it appears lunch is better than dinner... because apparently they cook the food I guess early and start serving it at lunch and then it goes all day and on Fridays and the weekend apparently they do switch up the vegetables side dishes although the dessert was the same all week but three stars is still all I would give... but I would say the servers are very nice and accommodating and the ratio of servers is pretty good given the labor shortage and the world... for the price I seriously cannot believe that they charge extra for the cola or tea or lemonade. that should be included...🥺😬 $21 for breakfast, $27ish for lunch and $30ishfor dinner + drinks, tax, and tip is just crazy. I know people will get extras just cause they can, but I still think this is overpriced. Also - I think a better way to order food and for them to save money is to present a written menu of the daily items, and then just order what you want to try. They bring out everything every time and I don't eat some of the things & I can't be the only one surely. I finally started telling them I didn't want the particular things - which would save them even more money but I was trying to prevent food waste. I totally understand that this is Family-Style serving, but still - doesn't make sense to bring out things people aren't...

The view is beautiful here. The outer walls are lined with windows so you can see the mountains. The restaurant itself is pretty and a bit rustic. There is a gift shop as well. There is ample parking and the grounds are very pretty. When we arrived, someone was going to seat us. We had to wait for multiple people to exit through the door where we were entering. The gentleman who was seating us just walked off and was on the other side of the restaurant without ever looking back to see if we were with him. No one asked if we wanted everything on the menu. Someone just came along with a tray of food and sat all the bowls down on the table. I was very underwhelmed with the quality of the food. The fried chicken was soaked in grease. I can get better fried chicken at Publix. The ribs were very good. There was an acorn squash casserole that tasted like they simply baked the squash and threw some coconut in it. The cabbage casserole was simply shredded cabbage and had globs of cheese mixed in. I could get better vegetables than this at Cracker Barrel or probably even on the buffet at the Western Sizzlin or Golden Corral. The fried okra was also exceptionally greasy. The rolls and corn muffins were the best. We had to ask for napkins. We had to ask for butter for the bread. We had to ask for tea refills. One server seemed very agitated and had a serious scowl on her face. The strawberry cobbler was the worst. It was frozen strawberries with added sugar and what appeared to sort of be a roll on top. It was inedible. Since they serve the food to you, you have the option to take home the leftovers. I, myself, would not have taken them, but my husband said he would eat it. We had to ask for to go containers and then had to ask for a bag to carry the containers in. I was very disappointed in the food and not elated with the level of service either. If I want southern style food again, I will head south to Jackson, GA and go to Buckners. I was so excited to go to the Dillard House and have heard rave reviews about it for years. I won't be going back. It is 27.95 per person. I can eat at many other restaurants for that price and actually enjoy my food. This wasn't worth it to me at all. It seems many people left a large portion of the food on the tables when they left. That amount of waste drives up the price. If they ask people ahead of time if there is something that they don't want, it might save the restaurant some money and could save the patrons a few...