Dancing Bear Appalachian Bistro
Dancing Bear provides a premium lodging experience. We bring the same commitment to excellence to our restaurant. Whether enjoying a romantic dinner for two or bringing the extended family together for a celebratory meal, we want your night out in Townsend to be a very special experience. We will offer a refined assortment of regionally inspired dishes — all served among elegant surroundings and calming wooded vistas.
Private Dining
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Experiences
Carbon Leaf Concert Dinner
$1.00 per personPrepaidApr 15, 2021 only
Carbon Leaf Concert Dinner
Safety precautions
- Surfaces sanitized between seatings
- Common areas deep cleaned daily
- Digital, disposable or sanitized menu provided
- Sealed or wrapped utensils used
- Distancing maintained in common areas
- Extra space between tables
- Waitstaff wear masks
- Sick staff prohibited in the workplace
Popular dishes
Seared U-7 Maine Diver Scallops
Green Chili Cheese Grits, Pork Ragout, Pumpkin Puree
11 reviews
8 Ounce Beef Tenderloin
Crushed Yukon Potatoes, Creamed Spinach, King Trumpet Mushroom, Glazed Chipolini Onions, Our House Steak Sauce
12 reviews
Country Ham Wrapped Alaskan Halibut
Creamy Grits, Charred Eggplant & Sweet Peppers, Baby Greens, Tomato Bisque Sauce
11 reviews
The flavor combinations, the service, the setting all are great. One of the best restaurants I've ever been to.
Thank you for the kind review! We are thrilled to hear you enjoyed your Bistro experience. We hope our staff was able to make it memorable for you. We look forward to serving you again!
Excellent meal. Excellent service. Excellent experience. Will be back!
Thank you for your kind review, Elizabeth! We are thrilled to hear you enjoyed your Bistro experience and will be back. We look forward to serving you again!
We consider it a treat when we go to Dancing Bear and are never disappointed. Fantastic eclectic menu, great service and a nice atmosphere, even outside in the heated tent.
Thank you for taking the time to leave us a review! We are thrilled to hear you have become a Friend of the Bear, and that our staff has been able to make your visits memorable. We look forward to serving you again soon!
The Dancing Bear Appalachian Bistro was amazing. The food was awesome and the service was exceptional.
Thank you for your kind review, Heather! We are thrilled to hear you enjoyed your Bistro experience, and we look forward to serving you again.
My fiance and I had a fantastic birthday dinner here. Food was excellent, service was excellent and we appreciated their adherence to COVID protocols and making the experience enjoyable for all. Will definitely return!
Thank you for choosing us for such a special occasion, Yasmin! Our staff has been working diligently to ensure our guests feel safe while dining, and we are happy to hear you noticed the measures we have been taking. We look forward to serving you again!
From the moment we sat down to the end of out meal it was a wonderful experience. I would recommend for any special occasion. The food was huge portions and worth every dollar and the crème brulee was by far the best I have ever had.
Thank you for taking the time to leave us a review, Nakita. We are so happy to hear you enjoyed your Bistro experience and that our staff was able to make it memorable for you. We look forward to serving you again!
So good! A wonderful evening...very special! Loved everything!
Thank you for taking the time to leave us a kind review. We are thrilled to hear you enjoyed your Bistro experience, and we look forward to serving you again.
We ate here three nights in a row due to staying at the lodge....there were two different Valentine's special menus to choose from and we mixed those up over the nights. Food quality was excellent and the portions were plentiful. The cocktails were nice and we enjoyed the wine pairings. As always, the service was great. We will be back in the future!
Everything was great !
Thank you, Sam! We are so happy to hear you enjoyed your Bistro experience. We look forward to serving you again!
This was our second of three nights dining here due to staying at the lodge (which is quite nice, by the way). We had a shared Valentine's weekend menu and the food was quite good and the portions were large (for us at least). Service was great, we had some great cocktails as well, and it's a nice setting. They were doing a great job of social distancing during the pandemic. We will be back!
Again, we appreciate you taking the time to leave us these kind reviews. We hope your stay at the Lodge was just as memorable as your Bistro experience. Our staff has worked diligently to make the adjustments necessary during this time, and we are happy that you were able to notice that. We hope we have gained a Friend of the Bear, and we look forward to seeing you again soon!
Very well done. Menu options was fanatic for valentines dinner. Wait staff was very professional and knowledgeable of all food choices.
Thank you for choosing the Bistro this Valentine's! We are happy to hear you enjoyed your experience and our Valentine's menu. Thank you for your kind review, and we look forward to serving you again.
Wonderful dinning experience! Ate there for Valentines. The Valentine menu was fairly pricy, but food, service and experience was excellent.
Thank you for choosing us for Valentine's Day, Phillip! We are thrilled to hear you enjoyed your meal and that our staff was able to make the night memorable. We look forward to serving you again!
Reservations over valentines weekend and you all “knocked it out of the park”!
Thank you for the kind review! We are thrilled to hear our staff was able to make your Bistro experience memorable. We look forward to seeing you again!
We've dined here many times and the food is always good....this time was no exception and they were having a Valentine's weekend menu. They did seem a bit overwhelmed service-wise when we arrived and we had to wait about 45 minutes for our reservation to be available. That aside, the service was good and the food was great as always.
Thank you for taking the time to leave us a review. We are thrilled to hear you are a repeat guest at the Bistro, and we appreciate you choosing us for Valentine's Day. We do apologize for the wait time on your reservation and we appreciate your understanding. We look forward to serving you again!
The finest menu and service in the Smoky Mountains!
Thank you for your kind words, Ernie! We are happy to hear you enjoyed your Bistro experience, and we look forward to serving you again.
Unfortunately, our experience was below average to poor.
We had reservations at 7:00 and weren’t served anything until 7:45. We were sat out in a covered patio area that had 1 heater (pointed at 1 table) while several other guests were given complimentary blankets to keep warm (39 degrees).
We purchased a bottle of wine and didn’t get any type of presentation. We poured every glass ourselves. Our food came around 8:30 and there were several delays in between courses. Unfortunately, the steak was only warm when I received and the sweet potato almost room temperature.
When my husband revived his dessert the ice cream was completely melted.
Our server barely checked in on us and asked us if we were ready to order our meeting prior to taking our drink order.
The entire experience almost 3 hours and it was extremely disappointing.
Thank you for taking the time to leave us a review and for providing your email address privately. I have sent you an email in regards to your experience, as OpenTable does limit our responses here. I hope I am able to help and we would love an opportunity to serve you again. Thank you!
The Dancing Bear is our favorite restaurant in Tennessee. The ambiance is relaxing and charming. The food is interesting, delicious, well-presented and never disappoints. There’s always something for everyone on the menu. We love the cocktails too. The servers are polite, attentive and knowledgeable. We visit Sevierville once a month from Florida, and dining at The Dancing Bear is always on our itinerary.
Thank you for your kind review, Tim. We are thrilled to hear you have become a regular at the Bistro, and we are happy that you have enjoyed your experiences with us. We hope you have become a Friend of the Bear, and we look forward to serving you again soon!
Service was very slow (expected that it would be a little slower, being it was the Friday before Valentine’s Day), but we were there for 3 hours. Food was over cooked. Husband never got a refill on his drink. I had to ask for my cocktailI I ordered after waiting 40 minutes. For the money we spent, it was mediocre at best. I really had higher expectations for this restaurant. We watched a table get up and leave because they waited over 15 minutes and no one greeted them until they were walking out. I would like to try it again on a non-holiday night just to be fair, but I think I’ll have a hard time convincing my husband to go back.
Thank you for taking the time to leave us a review. We appreciate your feedback. We apologize, as it seems we truly missed the mark during your visit. Please note, our staff is always happy to have a dish remade or let you choose a different dish if something is not to your standards. We would love the opportunity to serve you again and show you a true Bistro experience. Please email emma@dancingbearlodge as I would be happy to make your next reservation.
Celebrated daughters birthday and could not have found a better venue for the occasion. There was a slight delay in getting our desert but was due to the fact that we delayed placing our order for desert until after we had finished our main course. Proof that each serving is prepared per order and not mass produced to sit in cooler until served. That is what insures each serving is the best that it can be in the best restaurants.
Thank you for choosing the Bistro for such a special occasion, Eric! We are thrilled to hear you enjoyed your Bistro experience. We do prepare each dish to order and we appreciate your understanding of the time that can take behind the scenes. We hope we have gained a new Friend of the Bear, and we look forward to serving you again. Thank you!
I would consider this a good “special occasion” place as it is pricey. However, you get good portion sizes so I wouldn’t consider it over-priced. The food was very good. Appalachian Hotpot had great flavor and I would rate it 5 stars. The sea bass was good but could have been seasoned a little better. Chocolate cake and frozen yogurt for dessert was also very good. Very nice and attentive waitress.
Thank you for taking the time to leave us a review, Larry. We are thrilled to hear you enjoyed your Bistro experience, and we appreciate your feedback. While we are happy you enjoyed the Appalachian Hot Pot, a Friend of the Bear favorite, as well as the desserts, we apologize if we missed the mark on your sea bass. Thank you for choosing Dancing Bear Bistro, and we look forward to serving you again.
Thanks to covid, this was the first date my husband and I have had in a very very long time. We had a babysitter and were very much looking to reconnect a little bit without the distraction of our three children climbing all over us. I say all this to give perspective to my one complaint: The waitstaff was a little too attentive. It was a Wednesday night and there weren’t many tables so maybe it was a boredom thing but we had 5 different people come to our table and interrupt our conversations. And that was a bit obnoxious.
However, the staff was incredibly friendly and the food was spectacular. Wednesday nights is half price bottles of wine if that’s something you might be interested. The pear salad was the best thing I’ve ever tasted. It was heaven on a plate. The beef tenderloin was perfectly cooked, the Appalachian hotpot was to die for. The experience would have been 10/10 perfect if the servers could dial it back just a notch. We will return again.
Thank you for taking the time to leave us a review! We are thrilled to hear that overall you enjoyed your Bistro experience, and we are happy our staff was able to make it memorable for you. We appreciate you noting that they may have been overly attentive, and we will absolutely pass that on so we can make improvements where necessary. Every Wednesday is Winesday at the Bistro, and we are glad you were able to partake. Thank you for your kind words, and we look forward to serving you again!
First time since their fire in 2013 being back to Dine and what a great experience we were greeted at our table by almost all the staff including the General Manager. They were all attentive and Nicole our server was very knowledgeable about the food and very pleasant in helping us make our decision on what to eat. The food was incredible and we can't wait to return.
Thank you for your kind words! We are thrilled to hear you enjoyed your first Bistro experience since 2013, and that our staff was able to make it memorable for you. We are glad Nicole and Maggie made you feel welcome and were able to help guide you through our menu. We hope we have gained a new Friend of the Bear, and we look forward to serving you again soon!
We’re looking for place to celebrate our friend’s birthday. Didn’t know what to expect. We were blown away. The food is absolutely delicious. The whole place is awesome and the personnel was very professional. We will definitely be back next time we’re in the area.
Thank you for taking the time to leave us such a kind review, Olivier! We appreciate you choosing us for your special occasion, and we are thrilled to hear our staff was able to make it memorable for you. Thank you again, and we look forward to serving you in the future!
Was on my 50th birthday vacation trip , and chose something different. The place was quiet and the food was delicious and fun.
Thank you for choosing us for such a special occasion and for taking the time to leave us a kind review. We hope our staff was able to make it memorable for you, and we look forward to serving you again. Thank you!
Outstanding location with great service and a great menu.
Thank you for your kind review, Matt! We are thrilled to hear you enjoyed your Bistro experience and we look forward to serving you again.
The food was absolutely fabulous. Truly one on the beat meals I have had in a long time. I will definitely be coming back. Only downside was it was very cold outside and where sat (which was the standard seating) had us next to a window that you could feel the cold air coming through. I had a long scarf on so I laid it along the window sill to stop the draft. However, the waitress knew we were cold so she turned a space heater towards us. Also, I wish the area we were in was not as dark. I would have enjoyed seeing the delicious food I was eating a little better. But, still a fabulous meal and we will definitely be coming back. Maybe we will sit at the hightop near the fire next time.
Thank you for taking the time to leave us a detailed review, Todd. We are thrilled to hear you enjoyed your meal with us, but we always want our guests to feel comfortable while dining as well. I am happy to hear your waitress was attentive during your visit, but we will definitely pass these notes along so we can improve. Please note, when making a reservation we are always happy to take seating requests as well. Again, thank you for your kind review and we look forward to serving you.
The food was simply fantastic. The staff was very friendly and attentive. We cannot wait to go back!
We are so happy to hear you enjoyed your Bistro experience! We hope we have gained new Friends of the Bear, and we look forward to serving you again. Thank you!
We celebrated a friend’s 50th birthday. The service and food were outstanding.
Thank you for choosing the Bistro for such a special occasion! We are thrilled to hear you enjoyed the service and food, and we hope our staff was able to make it a memorable night for you. We look forward to serving you again!
This was our first time staying at Dancing Bear as well as eating at The Bistro. I had high hopes, but was really disappointed. I have heard wonderful things about Dancing Bear in terms of food, so was really excited to try the food, but it left me underwhelmed. We were seated at 5:15 in the corner of a backroom with a table that wobbled terribly. They were able to fix that quickly but I am not sure why were put in the very back corner when we had reservations and the restaurant wasn't full.
I ordered the bacon wrapped scallops that arrived with no bacon and the mushroom risotto that wasn't warm at all. Our daughter was with us and they said they had available chicken fingers and curly fries, but it arrived with lukewarm tator tots. The lunchable was decent, but not anything I would order again even though I liked the concept. My husband did enjoy his beef tenderloin but for the price, the food should be hot and as described.
There was an extremely friendly lady who was very nice and accomodating and the service was good, but the food was not and I would not recommend it to anyone visiting the area.
Thank you for taking the time to leave us a detailed review, Mary. I reached out to our manager so I would be able to further assist you, as we hate to hear you did not enjoy your Bistro experience. Unfortunately, OpenTable limits the length of response here, so I would like to email or call you directly to appropriately address the issues you had. While we are happy to hear you enjoyed the service, we apologize for not delivering a true Bistro experience during your stay with us.
Parking difficult. Lines between spaces not visible. Guest parking in loop designed to allow guest to drop off guest close to door. Walkway between parking and restaurant wood chips and not helpful for person in our party with walking cane. After dinner lighting on walkway very dark and could not tell walkway from non walkway area. Party of 4 with two bills. Both bills were incorrect. Dessert was cheesecake with blue berries. Worst cheesecake ever. Atmosphere was great
Thank you for taking the time to leave us a review. We do realize our mountain setting can make parking difficult and we apologize if you had trouble while visiting us. While we do have specified handicap parking spots available, we do keep the area outside our front door clear so you can drop off guests who may have mobility issues. I am sorry to hear you did not enjoy your dessert, but I do hope the rest of your meal was to your standards and we are happy to hear you enjoyed the ambiance.
Amazing food and atmosphere. Did not expect this level of quality in such a touristy part of Tennessee. Highly recommend!!!
We are happy you found us, Emily! Thank you for your kind review. We look forward to serving you again in the future.
Food is always great, staff are always pleasant and eager to please, outdoor seating is perfect regardless of weather. Special place.
Thank you for your review, David! We have worked hard to keep our outdoor dining open as much as possible in the last year, and we are happy to hear you have been able to take advantage of that. Thank you for choosing the Bistro, and we look forward to serving you again!
First, all employees were masked throughout our time in the restaurant. We enjoyed excellent drinks, and the waitstaff was exceptionally solicitous while not being annoying. Our meals were absolutely fabulous, and we are looking forward to returning soon.
Thank you for taking the time to leave us such a kind review, Mattie. We are happy to hear our staff took good care of you and helped make your Bistro experience enjoyable. We hope we have gained a new Friend of the Bear! Thank you, and we look forward to serving you again.
Wonderful birthday dinners for me and one of my best friends. Thanks so much.
Thank you for choosing the Bistro to celebrate! We are thrilled to hear you enjoyed your Bistro experience, and we hope our staff was able to make it memorable for you. We look forward to serving you again!
Delicious but a little pricey! We would only dine here on special occasions.
Thank you for taking the time to leave us a review. We do want to note that our menu pricing reflects our farm-to-table experience. We locally source as many ingredients as possible, and work hard to make sure we provide the highest quality foods to our patrons. We look forward to serving you again!
My husband and I eaten several times over the past year at The Dancing Bear, and have always enjoyed it. On this occasion we had dear friends visiting us, and wanted to treat them to a special dinner. As usual, The Dancing Bear did not disappoint. From the list of cocktails and IPAs on tap to the decadent desserts, all of us thoroughly enjoyed the entire meal. It’s just such a lovely and relaxing atmosphere. We never feel rushed. The servers are attentive but not intrusive. The menu provides something for everyone. The portions are generous without being excessive. Everything we have ever tried here has been simply delicious. I look forward to dining here again.
Thank you for your kind words, Tim. We are thrilled to hear you think of us when you have friends in town, and we are glad we were able to provide a memorable experience for all of you. We have worked hard to expand our Bar at the Bear selections, and we are happy to hear you enjoyed the offerings we now have. We look forward to serving you again soon!
What a surpise!!
Decadence to the palate!
Creative food and spirits.
A real pleasure
Thank you for your kind review, John. We are thrilled to hear you enjoyed your Bistro experience. We look forward to serving you again soon!
The overall setting was wonderful and romantic. Unfortunately, the food was okay. The appetizers and pear salad were our favorite! Though the dinner itself was simply okay, for the price range we expected better.
The server and wait staff was very kind and friendly.
Thank you for taking the time to leave us a review, Bri. While we are thrilled to hear you enjoyed the ambiance and your appetizers, we are sorry to hear we missed the mark with your entrees. We would love more details on how we could improve. Please feel free to email Ashley@dancingbearlodge so we can further assist you. Thank you!
One of the best dinners we've enjoyed in the last year. My wife and I dine out 2-3 times a month around Knoxville and east Tennessee. We had heard good things about the Dancing Bear and finally got to try it. We had a terrific experince. The server was attentive and professional. Far above average. The atmosphere was comfortable with Chris Stapleton type music and subdued lighting. The food was outstanding in taste and presentation. It was was basically a casual dress setting with fine dining on the table.
We will absolutely be back.
Thank you for taking the time to leave us such a kind review, Matt. We are thrilled to hear you enjoyed your first Bistro experience. We hope our staff was able to make it memorable for you. We like to call our style "Cabin Casual", and we are glad you enjoyed it. We hope we have gained a new Friend of the Bear, and we look forward to serving you again soon!
A little pricey but would definitely recommend for a date night.
Thank you for your review, Kelley. We are thrilled to hear you found the Bistro romantic, and we hope our staff was able to make the experience memorable for you. We realize our menu is a higher price point, but I did want to point out that our ingredients are locally sourced so we can provide you with the freshest options while also benefitting local suppliers. We look forward to serving you again!
FAQs
Dancing Bear Appalachian Bistro is rated 4.7 stars by 1303 OpenTable diners.
Yes, you can generally book this restaurant by choosing the date, time and party size on OpenTable. Due to local restrictions, this restaurant may not be accepting reservations at the moment.