Downtown Flavortown — Restaurant in Pigeon Forge

we visit this town every year for fall break because we stay at the water resort a couple miles down the road. my family LOVES guy and was so excited to see Flavortown last year when we were in town but didn’t get a chance to go in because we ran out of time so my 10year old made sure we made it this year.

we finally sat down for dinner right infront of the open kitchen where we could see through the glass wall. we were a table of 4 adults and 2 kids plus 1 infant. the dinning room was maybe 1/4-1/3 full. lots of waiters but 2 cooks from what i could see

i notice that our two kids meals are ready and on the expo table. it’s just sitting there. couple mins go by, and then my “trash can nashville chicken nachos” are sitting next to the kids meals. so i started my timer on my phone, a whole 10mins goes by before all of our meals are brought to the table.

at this point i wasn’t excited about my meal at all. i knew that it wasn’t going to be right but i didn’t say anything. i tried to enjoy my meal but the chips were so soggy as well as the fries and the nashville chicken tenders that were cut into bites. all the breading melded together so i couldn’t tell which was which. it was cold and i couldn’t taste anything so i didn’t try to eat it: you can tell that i barely ate anything off my plate. original meal on the left and how much of the meal is left on the pic on the right. i was very disappointed but i still paid my bill in full and gave the waitress and 20%tip after she asked me how was it and if i wanted to take it with me and i told it her “it’s wasn’t great and i didn’t want any to take it!”

i left disappointed and was uneasy about the whole situation. i was going to leave a review online and decided not to because i know what a bad review can do so i asked to talk to the manager instead just to let him know what my experience was so that it could be better for the next guest.

but after speaking to the manager, i decided to leave this review because i felt like he didn’t care about any of my concerns and was just trying to get me to leave and stop talking. he was very arrogant in the way he responded to my remarks and concerns. i explained to him how excited we were to be at that place and my daughter was so looking forward to coming there but our food experience was not great. that my nachos along with serval other tables food sat there for a long time on the expo table even though there was a lot of waiters there that night and the dining room wasn’t even a 1/3 full.

he tried to explain to me that “nachos” have different textures and that they don’t stay crispy, and i get that. especially with the cheese and all the toppings, i expect that. but when you can’t peel 1 chip off the other one or when the breading of the chicken becomes gelled to the chip and you can’t tell the difference between the chip or the breading, that’s been sitting there too long. and i told him i clocked it sitting there for 10mins. i also explained to him that i mentioned to my waitress twice that the nachos were not great and yet she did not take the opportunity to try and make it right or even ask me what was wrong with it.

i explained to him that i used to work in the food service business for a long time as a GM, a Franchaise trainer, and a Catering manager, so i try to give restaurants a little grace when i am dinning out. like still paying my bill in full and giving a 20% tip to the waitress whom i gave two chances to fix the situation and im giving the manager a chance now to try and maybe fix the situation but just giving me excuses. i would have trained all my workers to always fix the situation first. it was just an experience i was not expecting. we ended up going through the drive...

No matter which location you go to, you can always count on being let down in Flavortown.

A while back the family and I went to the Flavortown in Branson, MO and had a terrible experience. Corporate reached out and after a conversation, convinced me to try them again, hence this visit. You can read my review of that location.

It was Friday night and they were surprisingly not busy, and we should have taken that as a red flag. We were seated and the waitress took our drink and food order. About 5 - 10 minutes after taking our order, waitress advised they were short staffed and food would take about 45 minutes before it would be ready and encouraged us to play some arcades to pass the time. Normally I don't mind the wait, but I figured it would be good etiquette to tell us that before we ordered. We agreed on the wait and the food, and to our surprise, came out from the kitchen within 10 minutes. But we had a slight problem: no sign of wait staff and no silverware. After waiting about 5 minutes, I took it up on myself to find silverware and was checking the waiter stands when a waiter asked if he could help. I explained the situation and he asked where I was seated. I pointed to my wife and daughter and was told he would bring silverware. The waiter then cane with two big handfuls of silverware, far above the amount of people seated at the table and had a sneer attitude when dropping them off.

Frustrated, but we pressed on. Let me add we have yet to see the drinks we ordered. My daughter ordered Mac & Cheese and my wife and I shared a burger (didn't want to commit to too much food and waste money given our previous experiences). The fries were hard and crispy and tasted like they were scrapped from other people plates the day before and reheated. Mac & Cheese was bland and watery and the burger was nothing special to write home about. And the drinks? We never got them.

Our waitress reappeared and asked if we needed anything. I promptly asked for a manager and we were met by the declared manager with the name tag "King Ty.". King Ty gave the body language that we were bothering him with the feedback of poor service, but said "thank you" and that he would make sure that staff received proper training. And that was it.

Flavortown is the worst name possible for the established because it's lacking flavor. We have tried 2 locations now and it leads me to believe that the structure of the company has poor leadership as problems persist regardless of the state / location.

The only positive thing from this was seeing the joy from my daughter playing the arcades.

There are enough establishments with entertainment in the area that I highly advise going...

I went to Flavortown in Pigeon Forge with my sister, nieces, and our dad while on vacation. My sister had always wanted to go, so we were excited for the experience. Unfortunately, it turned into one of the worst dining experiences I’ve ever had—and it all came down to our server, Wendy.

We were seated quickly and greeted kindly by the hostess, so things started off well. But when Wendy came to the table, she immediately had an attitude. I even tried to keep things light and make jokes so my sister would still enjoy her long-awaited visit, but nothing worked.

Our drinks came out slowly (mine much later than everyone else’s), and when the food arrived it was a letdown. The Trash Can Nachos were over-seasoned and tasted stale, the mac and cheese was dry and disappointing, and my sister’s pizza was just average—not what you’d expect from a restaurant with this much hype.

The real issue came when my sister asked about a military discount. Other restaurants in the area were honoring her husband’s service since she had his ID picture along with hers that matched. We understood if the policy was different here, but when we politely asked Wendy if she could double-check with a manager, she returned with the check and flatly said no in a rude tone. When my sister calmly pointed out that the IDs had matching addresses, Wendy snapped back something nasty, then snatched the bill with our money and walked away saying, “AND DON’T EVER COME BACK HERE!”

I have never in my life experienced a server treating guests that way. My sister, who is one of the kindest and most patient people I know, was visibly upset. Wendy never even returned our change.

The only bright spot was the manager, Heather, who came to speak with us after the hostess and another kind server encouraged us to share what happened. She was professional, apologetic, and offered compensation (which we declined—we weren’t looking for free food, just respect).

In the end, this experience completely ruined what should have been a special visit for my sister. We will never return, and even my dad—who is a local and was visiting for the first time—said he won’t be back.

It’s one thing for the food to be mediocre, but it’s another for a server to treat paying customers so rudely and drive them out the door. Truly an...