Restaurant Review of TGI Friday's in Gatlinburg, Tennessee

Gatlinburg, Tennessee is Southern Heaven. Honestly. It's a little tourist town nestled at the base of the Smoky Mountains, and just a few miles outside the borders of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. The town is overflowing with Ripley's attractions, funnel cakes and fudge, airbrush t-shirts, and other over-priced entertainment.

I recently spent the day in Gatlinburg with family and friends. We went to TGI Friday's for lunch. Honestly, we choose there because it was near parking, right on the main strip, and--unlike the pancake place across the street--open. Impressively, there was almost no wait for our party of six.

I had my toddler with me, and I think if you're a parent, you'll appreciate knowing how child-friendly a restaurant is. They quickly brought a high-chair, children's menu, and crayons. The children's menu was reasonably priced, and well varied. She had a pizza and a side of mandarin oranges, with milk to drink, for less than $4. There were a lot of families with children in the restaurant. The only baby-changing unit was in the handicapped cubicle in the women's bathroom. It was a very family-friendly atmosphere.

I need to take a moment to describe our waiter. He was wearing a sideways baseball cap, and his shirt was so tight that it was practically see-through. He also had a hard time understanding some of our orders (for example, when we asked for water to drink). Other than his very unprofessional appearance, he actually wasn't bad. He brought out our orders quickly, and noticed when our drinks needed refilling.

Several people in our party were vegetarian, and the menu had pretty slim pickings for meat-free dishes. The Portobello melt sandwich should have been vegetarian, but came with meat in it the first time. They were apologetic and replaced it, but it was still unpleasant. The red pepper soup had meat in it, but the broccoli cheese soup was vegetarian, yummy, and very rich.

The non-vegetarian in our party ordered the lobster tortellini (spelled tortelloni on the menu). It was so garlicky that the whole table smelled of garlic.