Applewood Farmhouse Restaurant

The Applewood Farmhouse Restaurant was a great find on my weekend trip to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. If you like southern cooking, this is the place to go. Everything about the restaurant is country. The exterior looks like a white wooden house, complete with a front porch and plenty of rocking chairs. For an added bonus, there is an apple orchard behind the restaurant, which makes for a nice backdrop, and a creek runs along side the restaurant.

When you enter the Applewood Farmhouse Restaurant, the first thing you notice is the feeling of being at someone’s grandparents’ house. The walls are wooden and apple patterned curtains complete the décor. Other southern style decorations are placed strategically around the restaurant, including items like ceramic chickens and other country staples. The tables are also wooden, country carved sets. The waitresses are adorned with very plain, floral pattern dresses and a deep southern accent.

Once you are seated, the waitress brings some appetizers to the table including a large basket of apple fritters and a juice drink for each guest. The juice is a mixture of apple cider, pineapple juice, lemon juice and one more that I can’t remember. The apple fritters resemble hushpuppies, except they are sweet tasting and sprinkled with powered sugar. Homemade apple butter accompanies the apple fritters. Trust me, you’ll want to eat more than one.

After polishing off some fritters, you may finally get around to looking at the menu where you will find all of your southern favorites. Some signature dishes include fried chicken, country ham with redeye gravy, country steak, dumplings, macaroni and cheese, fried okra, green beans, peach pie, sweet tea and more. The fried chicken, country ham and fried okra are not to be missed. If more than one person orders the same side item, those side dishes will be served family style. This means they will come in a larger bowl for sharing and you are welcome to get refills if you run out. Good luck trying to make it to dessert. You’ll probably be too stuffed to even attempt it.

After eating, be sure to visit the stores next door. There’s actually a whole string of shops beside the Apple Farmhouse Restaurant that are all interconnected, including a gift store, ice cream parlor, winery, candy store, and Christmas shop. The Apple Barn and Cider Mill is filled with various southern gifts and a walkup restaurant with seating, which sells apple sweets and apple cider. The cider is very cheap; it was only 60 something cents for a small. Gifts include items like country ham, chow-chow, assorted jellies, dried apples, candles and other local crafts. Once you’re finished there, meander on over to the candy shop where the vanilla taffy is the item to get. It is so rich; it melts in your mouth. If you make it over the ice cream parlor, the peach ice cream is really good. All of their flavors are made in the hills of Appalachia. The winery offers free tasting and the bottles make a nice gift.