Puckett's Restaurant — Restaurant in Pigeon Forge

Last month I reviewed Puckett's in Nashville when I was at a show. I finished the review by saying I can't wait for the Pigeon Forge location by my home. Well today I went as promised. Our waitress was Darlene & she was friendly & attentive. I had a massive music city hot chicken sandwich on Texas toast. It was spicy with a kick. Darlene kept the sweet tea glass full to put the heat out from the sandwich. I soaked the fries with the Puckett's sweet BBQ sauce. So damn good! For dessert I had a pecan cobbler that was insanely delicious. Seriously words can't do it justice. If your diabetic this cobbler might put you in the ER. I'd take a chance & have it anyway but that's your call. This space is really cool. It's like a multi room mansion. All rooms are decorated with reclaimed wood, antiques, vintage signs, & old photos. You guys did a great job on the interior. Puckett's is always southern vintage style on the inside. Can't wait to have a beer or two with music on the small stage. Thanks again & welcome to Pigeon Forge!

2/18/23 VISIT Went to Puckett's for lunch and it has completely changed and unfortunately not for the better. Upon entering you order which kind of caught me off guard. You have to decide immediately and pay. Now you go to your table with a to go cup to get your own drink. The sweet tea we got was spoiled from sitting to long. While we waited for our food which took quite a while we noticed how dirty the restaurant was. Multiple tables not cleaned and food all over the floor. The drink station was a disaster as well. The food came and that's the only time we seen an employee. I got sliders two pulled pork which were not very good and a very small portion. My third was a smoked sausage which was really good. The fries were good but the cup of coleslaw was like a shot glass full. I wanted a beer but didn't want to go up to the bar and do the whole credit card routine again plus no one was there when I went to look at beers. We also wanted dessert and the menu said to ask the nonexistent server. Do you go back to the register and get dessert? We decided to just get dessert in Pigeon Forge. The new system is terrible. I love Puckett's when I go to Nashville but this one is terrible. I understand not being able to get enough help and that's a hard situation. Puckett's is a high end dinning restaurant and for the prices you pay you want service. You've reduced this place to a Wendy's dinning room. At some point you have to weigh the damage a subpar location does to your reputation. I left my old review up to show I'm not a complainer I loved this place at one time. It's kind of funny when you pay it asks about a tip. I had to do everything including wiping down my table. I tip generously for service and this...

Never Again – Terrible Experience from Start to Finish

Our recent visit to this restaurant was an absolute disaster. As soon as we walked in, we realized things had changed since our last visit. Now, instead of being seated and ordering at the table, you have to place your order at the front entrance before sitting down. No signs or heads-up—just immediate confusion. It felt chaotic, like stepping into a three-ring circus.

When we were finally acknowledged, the cashier—named Johena—started taking our order but instantly became irritated with us because we weren’t ready. We were still trying to process the new (and very inefficient) ordering system. Her attitude only got worse when another staff member accidentally bumped into her, and she seemed to take her frustration out on us.

My wife asked a simple question about a menu item, and Johena huffed and acted like she had never heard of it, even though it was on the menu. I asked about the French fries—whether they had skin on them—and got another eye roll and a snippy response: “Some of them do.”

After we placed our orders, I decided I wanted to switch from fries to mac and cheese. That apparently pushed her over the edge. She raised her voice, telling me it was too late because the order had already been sent. When I calmly asked if she was having a rough day, she became even more hostile. I then requested to speak with a manager—she didn’t like that one bit. She told me to "go sit down," and I made it clear she wasn't going to speak to me like that.

The manager eventually came out and tried to help, but the damage was already done. Johena stayed nearby, listening in, and even argued with me in front of the manager—who had to tell her to stop not once, but twice. Frankly, I’m shocked she wasn’t removed from the floor right then and there.

While the manager was kind and tried to make things right, the situation was beyond salvaging. One of the manager—possibly named Jen—offered us free dessert as an apology, which was a nice gesture. However, it took forever for the food to arrive, and when we finally asked for our dessert, that took ages too.

To top it all off, my well-done cheeseburger came out nearly raw. Completely inedible.

This was one of the worst dining experiences I’ve ever had. I plan to contact the corporate office and formally request a refund. I would never return, and I won’t recommend this...

Ordered piggy Mac (good), puckets bbq platter (overcharged with no reconciliation), fries (very bland and soft/mushy), classic cheeseburger with bacon (they forgot the bacon so I had to wait on it, the burger itself was not seasoned and was very blah) and the mojo burger (good). We were charged an extra $7 for the bbq platter. $2 was an up charge for Mac and cheese which we were told about and fine with however the other $5 was for bbq. When we ordered we were told they were out of the brisket (comes with bbq and brisket). We were told they had no brisket because it had been over cooked. We said fine and asked if something else would be subbed. The guy said we could get chicken. We were like that stinks, but that’s fine. We get to the table and look at the receipt and saw that we’d been charged $5 extra. Went up and asked about it and their reason really made no sense. They said we were charged for the bbq but it was suppose to come with it? We didn’t get an extra meat and ONLY subbed the brisket because they didn’t have it. The only thing we could come up with was that maybe they charged for us getting chicken which makes no sense because they were out of the brisket and had to provide a second meat with the platter. Overall, we are super unhappy with this place and thought that the food was subpar and half of the party thought it was flavorless. We definitely will not be back, which is sad because we are local and are always trying to find good restaurants to visit. I just find it very dishonest to not be up front about things. Also, we were given another tables food (didn’t realize it until we had taken two plates from him). We gave him the food back and let him know it wasn’t ours. He took it to the table next to us and handed them the plates we had all just touched. I don’t think they said anything but I personally would not be happy with someone else touching my plate of food. I’m not certified in food handling, but I’m pretty sure their plates should’ve been redone and it makes me question the cleanliness of the restaurant as well as the food certifications of their food handlers. Overall our party had a 50/50 experience even though no one “really enjoyed it and...