Hello, Dolly!
Mike and I played daytime pairs and then went to a show in Pigeon Forge, so I wanted to find someplace different to have dinner.
One problem is that very few places take reservations, and I’m not the sort to stand in line for an hour. Looking at Opentable, I did find that we could get a table at Dolly’s DreamMore Resort, in the Song and Hearth restaurant. That sounded too interesting to pass up.
The Resort offers valet parking, but that turns out to be mostly for the guests who are staying. So the valet offered to just park my car up front, and get it back when we returned, without bothering with a ticket. More southern hospitality.
DreamMore is a decidedly family place, with scads of kids running around. It’s as open and friendly as you would imagine Dolly Parton would make it, and we enjoyed it. Of course, there is a tribute wall to Dolly, with the covers of her many albums flanking a huge photo of the star herself.
You can’t escape the south. The restaurant turned out to be a buffet, not fine dining. But a pretty good buffet, if you don’t want salad. The salad bar was a basket of greens, a few toppings and a couple of dressings. Tennessee is no place for salad lovers. Except this one, Jello.
But then there are always new things for me to try.
Heard of them, never had them.
Not exactly lovely, but I had to try. Turns out to be just greens, like spinach or kale, but prepared with vinegar and honey or sugar or molasses so they were both sweet and tangy. If you want to try them, hurry on over to Pigeon Forge, I won’t be cooking them at home.
There was fried chicken, because it’s probably the law around here.
I really like my cardiologist, but I don’t want to see her next week. I passed on the chicken. There was also mesquite BBQ chicken, which Mike tried and approved of.
The barbecued brisket was a very tempting sight, these people know how to do barbecue.
There was a pot of “vegetable” soup, made with chicken stock and flavored with bacon. There may not be a full understanding of the concept of vegetables in Pigeon Forge.
Of course there was a cornucopia of desserts. Here’s an interesting presentation of donuts.
Then there were cake and pies and bread pudding and cookies and more.
The tab for all this was pretty reasonable, as you would expect. The service, which consists of getting drinks and clearing plates, was attentive and friendly.
The valet didn’t charge for stashing the car, so the tip was pretty generous.
Dolly Parton has a great reputation as a smart businesswoman and a kind and generous person. Everything at Dolly’s DreamMore resort proves that to be trus.
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