Calhoun's in Gatlinburg — Restaurant in Gatlinburg

Have been to this location MANY times in the past 6+ yrs and things were always good, but it's been a couple years since my last visit. This time we were there mid-week so not as busy as a weekend. But, in the past, we've been there mid-week and it was generally busy. In fact, this time there were only 3 other tables occupied during lunch and no one seated at the bar. Never seen that before!!

First....parking. I know this is nothing of the restaurant's doing but you now pay to park via an app and you have to get a code from the restaurant to get discounted parking. Annoying!!! The hostess told us this process started because people who weren't visiting businesses in the village were getting free parking. Understandable. It was always hit or miss as to whether you were going to have to pay. They have a lot of parking in the back and you used to get a ticket when entering and (50% of the time) pay at a booth as you exited. But, honestly, there's nothing in this "village" anymore to warrant paid parking.

Second...service & food. Abysmal. As mentioned above the restaurant was not busy; so after spending time figuring out the parking and going back to scan the QR code, we were seated right away. The hostess was friendly and helpful - especially with the parking process. Once seated it was about 10 mins before a server came to our table. In fact, we were getting up to leave as she came over. We were hungry and generally like to give people/places the benefit of the doubt, but that should've been our first clue. She wasn't pleasant & offered no type of welcome. I can't recall her name but something like Amanda, Amber, Abby. She took our drink order and came back with two sodas that barely had 5 pieces of ice. We had a couple questions about the items we wanted to order as their menu has drastically changed. Very limited selection now!! She seemed annoyed at having to answer our questions.

I got the hickory burger and asked for the bbq sauce on the side. My boyfriend got the catfish. His catfish was decent. My burger was awful. The patties used to be hand made, thick and juicy. This was a frozen, basic/cheap restaurant thin patty for $13+ that had no flavor. Didn't get the bbq sauce on the side - didn't get it at all. Our server didn't ask if we needed anything else (mayo, mustard, ketchup etc) when she brought the food. There was a ketchup bottle on the table and also a bbq sauce bottle, but it wasn't labeled as hickory and smelled kind of sweet - not savory. Not knowing what condiments came on the burger, I didn't know to ask for any until she walked away. I had to go get a mayo bottle off another table as it was the only one in sight. Waited at least 10 mins before our server came back to check on us. Saw quite a few other managers/servers walk out from the kitchen area but no one made the least bit of eye contact or seemed to care. (don't really expect the other servers to but you would think the managers should). When our server did come back and ask if everything was ok, I said could I please get some mustard and a new piece of lettuce - see pic for reference. She smirked and walked away. She brought back a nice piece of lettuce but the mustard bottle had some kind of mold or old food under the lid - see pic for reference. As a former restaurant worker (both front and back of the house) these pictures, IMO, just prove that no one at this place cares about quality anymore. As a kitchen employee how do you have lettuce in your bin that looks like this and as a server how do you see this and still bring it to the table??

Lastly....after that smirked interaction she never came back again except to bring the bill - which we had to get her attention to ask for. Just like a lot of us, she is a working mom. I know this because her daughter was at a nearby booth as her mom and the other employees were taking pictures of her potato man. I applaud her for working to take care of her family but at the expense of your tip doesn't make much sense. Needless to say we will never go back to...

This was our honeymoon spot -1 meal together as a married couple over 26yrs ago. Over those years we have returned to Calhouns every few years just to sit and remember how we started. This once was a huge splurge for a couple starting out, but now we feel like it's just an OK restaurant because we lacked experience with dining out. Now I will honestly say I was torn and almost gave this a 2 out of 5 stars because we did have some issues. 1st issue was when we stopped the front entrance to make reservations for later in the evening - was told "we can't take them here" You must use the website: hummm OK so let's look at the website. It was a real pain - finally a guy at front named "JASON" helped out and guided me thru to get me the selected time. Later that evening we returned on time to have dinner. 2nd was a bit heavy hearted issue---We sat down and we wanted to start with 1 drink. My wife ordered a glass of wine and I ordered a long island Tea. The waiter asked me for ID. My badge is inside my wallet by my ID which then the waiter chimes in and asks "your not armed are you"? I said "no" but why would that matter? He informs me the business does not allow weapons inside. I said well hummm glad I am not, however if I was "I wouldn't tell anyone because it's nobody's business" - Can a business regulate your "freedom / right" if they don't know? NO they can only regulate it if they know!!!!!! I was not armed however I didn't appreciate the prying into if I was armed....As a Sworn Police Officer for 30yrs; I surely wouldn't ever tell anyone I was armed or unarmed. It was a sad feeling to be involved with the over reaching questioning. Honestly I felt sorry for this young boy. He has no idea of how this place is guiding him. I kept just thinking ok don't be mean to this kid, and it's not my place to inform him of what he should and shouldn't be asking people. Anyways I kept the poor kids name off this review and I am just disappointed due to the agenda that had to be pushed on him by the restaurant. Well we ordered and had an OK meal, however I have to seriously question a return in the future- it has been a long run for Calhouns but we have noticed the slow slipping over the years. This one just has lost its luster - I just can't recommend it any longer, YES it's sad, but there are other places that can provide us a better dining experience.I am being generous with a 3 out of 5 and the only recommendation I can provide is there are an abundance of great restaurants around the area- you'll be better served spending your money...

The food we ate while there was great.

• Bacon Wrapped Beef Brisket Burnt Ends Served with Tennessee Whiskey Barbeque Sauce

• Fresh Baked Soft Pretzels With warm Beer Cheese Dip

• Smoked Beef Brisket Chili

• Our Original WET Wings Breaded in seasoned flour, fried crisp and tossed in our Sweet & Spicy Thunder Road Sauce

• Kick-Back Burger Smoked cheddar and Jack cheese, smoked bacon, jalapeños and our spicy Kick-Back Sauce

The service however...... was TERRIBLE.

We walked in and they said 15 minutes. They were clearly busy, but for a Monday, I was surprised on HOW busy. 15 minutes turned into 30.

Once we were finally seated, we ordered drinks, then ordered food.

We ordered a CUP of chili. When my husband received it, I was impressed with the size for just a cup.

We ran out of soda and it took about 15-20 minutes for our waitress Tammy to come back and refill them, by the time she did, I was done with my meal and ready to go honestly.

We asked for boxes, two desserts to go (mounds cheesecake and strawberry shortcake), and the check.

Another 15-20 minutes go by and we are just frustrated at this point.

Tammy makes her way back and my husband just starts shaking his head. Our "to go" dessert, Strawberry shortcake, is now plated in front of me. Confused, I look up and say "this was supposed to be to go". Then she informs me they don't have the cheesecake, also confused, because the check in my hand shows two dessert charges? Apparently they don't have the mounds cheesecake but they have other cheesecake, which she felt was a proper substitute without first checking with us?

We ask for everything to be boxed, again, so we can leave.

I review the check and then I notice.... no wonder why the chili CUP was so big, she entered a BOWL instead, which was awesome to find out after the fact.

We paid and left. Although the food was good, I can't say I would recommend this location due to the service. For it being a late night weekday, the service was really terrible overall.

Upon leaving, my husband was extremely disappointed to learn that there was complimentary bread/biscuits and our server never offered them to us.

Update on the desserts - We just pulled the Strawberry shortcake out, and that was terrible. So dry and bland. Do not recommend this dish.

The cheesecake, which we ordered mounds cheesecake, they did not have, she gave us butterfinger, we just ate it and it's most definitely chocolate chip cheesecake? It was weird. Did not care for...