SEVIERVILLE — Downtown’s newest restaurant looks to offer burgers and pizza, live music, and a friendly atmosphere for visitors in the afternoon and evening.
Sevierville Tavern Pizzeria and Burgers quietly opened this week, after months of renovation to the former site of Graze Burgers at 125 Bruce St.
Owner Jonathan Rhodes said he’s been pleased with the traffic they see downtown during the day, and hopes the new business will help attract more people in the evenings.
“They just get a lot of food traffic here, and I think there’s a lot of growth here downtown,” he said.
“It is slow here in the evening and we’re going to try to work on that, getting more locals downtown.”
The tavern will be open from 11 a.m.-9 p.m. every night, at least for now.
As they get rolling, they hope to offer music and trivia nights, he said. They own the property between the tavern and Buffalo Breakfast Company and hope to expand it as well.
For now, they hope that people downtown will come by to enjoy cold beer and drinks as well as a menu that focuses on pizzas and burgers, as the name suggests, as well as some offerings of pasta and chicken.
Their Mountain Man pizza — loaded with meats including pepperoni, beef, sausage, ham and bacon — has been popular at other locations they’ve opened.
Rhodes has been in the restaurant business for a while, although this is his first one in Sevier County.
He started in his home state of Kentucky 12 years ago, and they’ve opened several restaurants in Florida, where he has family who are managing the locations.
They aim to offer a place where people can relax and spend some time as well as enjoy the food.
“We just want a laidback atmosphere and good hospitality,” he said.
When he decided to move closer to home, they found a new home in Pigeon Forge and now they’re ready to invite customers to come by and try the new location.
“I feel back at home,” Rhodes said.
Dining and Cooking