Bistro 109 — Restaurant in Sevierville

STAY AWAY. I found this place on Google and thought the reviews and ratings made this a must try. Wow, was I wrong. First off we were greeted promptly and asked if we had reservations. We did not and I was fine with them getting us in. The restaurant had people at maybe 5 tables of the 20 - 30 in the restaurant. They were not busy, and never were for the hour and half we were there.

The server made it known that we were just bothering him. We were given water promptly and told our server would be over soon to get our drinks. He came over after about 5 minutes and took our drink order and asked if we would like any appetizers. Well we only had our menus for about 30 seconds at this point so we needed more time and this was apparently too long for him. He said he would be back in a while.

When he came back we were ready to place our order. We asked about the price of the steak since they had the price marked out on the menu and he said it was like $32 for a 12 oz ribeye. That was a tad expensive but one was ordered anyway along with the lobster ravioli and the southern pecan chicken.

About 15 minutes later he came by and said they were out of lobster ravioli and plopped a menu down and said he would be back to take a replacement order. Another 15 minutes passed and he sent another gentleman over to ask if we chose another entree. Mind you that he asked the guy to “find out if they had picked something else.”

This guy had maybe 5 tables (the only ones with people) in the whole place and made everyone know he was slammed.

Now to the actual food. The ribeye was a disgrace, it was ordered medium rare and a 3/8th inch thin, WELL DONE, tasteless and obviously freezer burnt piece of something was served.

The scallops were advertised as giant sea scallops. Well apparently giant at this place are the size of quarters. They were cooked properly but the lemon blueberry reduction was a 1/4 cup of yuck. The bed of couscous was served in a bowl.

The southern pecan glazed chicken was well, no where near slow cooked as it was described. It was 2 pieces of 1/4 in thin chicken heavily breaded in a over peppered batter and deep fried. The chicken was likely boiled or even pre cooked before breaded and fried. I like pepper a lot but this was so over peppered it was not edible. I had to take the breading off to even choke it down. The highlight of this entree was the sweet potato fries.

Do yourself a favor and run as far as possible from...

I only put one star because my poor server deserves the star. She did great even if she was awkward.

I made a reservation and requested a private, quiet table as it was our anniversary. You don't need a reservation here. Read on to find out why.

Let's start with the atmosphere. Upon walking in for dinner for my anniversary I noticed a beautiful dining room with actual table cloths. However this is very deceiving.

We started with an appetizer, the goat cheese and tomato jam. The goat cheese balls were huge and entirely too big for an appetizer. Next we ordered a Caesar salad that for some strange reason did not come with Romaine lettuce instead it came with soggy spring mix. One was over dressed and one was under dressed. For the main course I got the duck breast, my partner got the lamb chops, which both were pretty good. But we can't help but wonder how many boxes of Zatarain's couscous they go through every night. We finished our bottle of wine but not before a party of eight was sat next to us which leads me to the prick named Isaac.

Isaac is a server at bistro 109 and was setting up for a party of eight right next to our table. I asked him very politely that we had requested a private table and was a large party coming in. To which he replied as snotty as possible, "it's only a party of eight". Seriously? Party of eight with giant balloons and a screaming toddler.

Long story short we won't be back and do not recommend this place for any special occasion, or even a regular dinner. It looks fancy and the prices are high but this is really just...

I'll start of by saying I've worked in restaurants. Christmas Eve isn't a holiday. I purchased a Groupon because we are locals, and the Groupon stated it was not valid on federal holidays, Mother's Day or Father's Day. We sit down, and I immediately tell the waitress we have a Groupon. She asked if we were locals or tourists (apparently tourist was the correct answer?), goes to the manager, and comes back to tell us they "stopped accepting Groupons today because it's a holiday, but you can come back Saturday to use it." Let me get this straight. You won't let us use a Groupon on a Thursday night when there were 3 other tables when we walked in, but you're more than happy to use it on what's supposed to be one of the busiest nights of the week? OK. Well, don't ask why, but we decided to stay. My husband got the $20 ribeye. Have you ever spent $20 on a ribeye steak that was overcooked and as thin as a pancake? We both thought it was pointless to say anything, because our waitress didn't even come back until the end of the meal. The check said is was organic, so I guess that makes it OK. I gave it 2 stars because the mashed potatoes, rolls and pesto, and chicken were surprisingly good. However, Groupon was cancelled, and you lost a...