Saturday, February 17, 2018

Annual Trip To Gatlinburg – Part 1

This was the week we visited our time share in Gatlinburg, TN and most of the time it includes Valentine’s Day as it did Wednesday of this week.  As usual, I was there for (at most) part of the week and we timed my part so I could be there to go out to dinner with my Valentine and as it turned out our good friend Kathy joined us.  

Before leaving home, Bev mentioned that she had been coming to G’burg her whole life and never eaten at Howard’s Steak House, which has been around since 1946 as an independently owned restaurant – one of the few in town.  After getting up to G'burg and discussing several options, we decided to go with Howard’s even though it didn’t have as high of ratings as some others (3½ stars on Trip Advisor).



Since Kathy and Bev wanted to do afternoon shopping, we opted for a lunchtime meal and all ordered steak - due to the time of year and time of day we were not surprised that there were only a couple of other customers.  Between us, we ordered two rib eyes and one filet and this is what two of them looked like.



I enjoyed my salad and side dishes but all of the steaks were a disappointment as Kathy’s and mine were both cooked one level too done and Bev’s filet was not tender and I’m unsure if it was even a tenderloin – I’ve had more tender venison tenderloin.  I wouldn’t go back to Howard's but Bev said she might for a burger during a season when she could eat outside along the creek - shot from web.



The one redeeming part of the meal was that the resort where we were staying gave us $100 to sit through a sales pitch and it paid for the meal – we didn’t bite on their ridiculous sales offering.

The previous night Bev, Cindy, and I had eaten at another place Bev had been wanting to try for some time.  We got the evening started at No-Way Jose’s Cantina (4 stars on Trip Advisor) with a round of small margaritas - outside shot from the web.





The food was also just okay Tex-Mex and I wouldn’t go back, so unfortunately neither of Bev's bucket-list places turned out to be a big hit.

Gatlinburg is a tourist only town and it is hard to find anything but tourist food - mediocre food at inflated prices.  The silver lining was I got to go out to dinner with all of these lovelies and had no dishes to wash.

Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them and the blue words are links.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

2/13-2/14/18 Meal Dates

5 comments:

  1. Too bad about the expensive meals, but like you said meals with the lovely ladies and no dishes to do.
    Now those are margaritas !

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  2. I believe I just shed a tear reading about your overdone steak. This is a crime against humanity in my little world. One of my last vices is a huge honkin steak and it has to be cooked to perfection. Shame on Howard.

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  3. Larry, Laurie would agree with you...any meal out is a good meal because she doesn't have to cook and there is no clean up! Thanks for the warning about both restaurants. The best meal that we had in the area was at Bullfish in Pigeon Forge...but in general, it's all tourist food like you said. FYI, you couldn't pay me $100 to sit through one of those sales pitches, but maybe I'd go for $299! Take Care, Big Daddy Dave

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  4. There is so much to do there, but you're right, the food is not inspiring. Glad you had a good time with your beautiful bride!

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  5. The problem with tourist restaurants is that they don't really think they have to be good as they always have one time visitors coming through their doors to be replace by more unknowing customers. I hope you sent those overdone steaks back to be cooked properly.

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