Inside Southern Comfort Whiskey's Restaurant in the Smoky Mountains

Thanks to Southern Comfort, a Tennessee resort may have the best comfort food around.

In 2020, the Westgate Smoky Mountain Resort & Spa in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, opened a restaurant in partnership with the Southern Comfort whiskey brand. The dining experience focuses on all kinds of authentic, Southern comfort food, including creole, Cajun, and Southern homestyle cooking.

“We are thrilled to partner with Westgate Resorts on such an exciting project in one of the South’s most scenic settings. The connection between Southern cuisine and the nearly 150-year-old Southern Comfort brand is a natural [one] that we think guests will love,” said Jake Wenz, chief commercial officer of Sazerac Company, which owns Southern Comfort, in a statement back when the restaurant opened.

The Southern Comfort menu features lots of signature Southern dishes such as fried green tomatoes, fried okra, creole gumbo and jambalaya, shrimp and grits, chicken fried steak, catfish nuggets, and chicken and biscuits. In addition, the restaurant prepares award-winning barbecue every day, including slow-smoked pulled pork, St. Louis ribs, and a smokehouse platter served with sweet potato fritters.

And, of course, you can’t have an authentic Southern meal without dessert. The restaurant serves up classics like pecan pie and banana cream pudding, as well beignets and peach cobbler — both over house-made vanilla ice cream.

The restaurant is open for breakfast and dinner daily, so expect morning favorites like biscuits and gravy, too. And since this is in partnership with Southern Comfort, the restaurant offers an expansive drink list featuring signature cocktails, including a twist on the old fashioned, made with SoCo whiskey and Peychaud’s bitters.

For more information about the Southern Comfort restaurant or to make a reservation, visit the Westgate Smoky Mountain Resort & Spa website.

Andrea Romano is a freelance writer in New York City. Follow her at @theandrearomano.