A Quick Summary of 8 Delicious Pizzas We've Eaten in Gatlinburg

I first had the idea of writing this blog post a few days ago when I was thinking of all the pizza in Gatlinburg we’ve tried. At first, all that came to mind were about 5. But when I really thought back to all of our trips, I realized I forgot a few. Now that can be interpreted several different ways, however, we haven’t had a bad pizza at any time we’ve traveled to the Smokies. So I wanted to give you the reader a chance to make your own judgment based on all the pizza we’ve eaten here. At times it’s been delicious, and sometimes it’s been…well, pretty good! Here are our honest opinions of the eight different pizza restaurants in Gatlinburg we’ve tried.

Smoky Mountain Brewery

This one holds a special place in our hearts being that it was the very first restaurant we stopped at on our first visit to Gatlinburg. It was unlike any pizza we ever had before. The cracker-thin crust was buttery and provided a solid foundation that meshed well with the few toppings we get on a pizza. Over the years we’ve had service that caused us to give them a break, but they’ve redeemed themselves in a big way. Overall, they deserve a place in my top 3 of favorite pizzas in Gatlinburg.

Mellow Mushroom

I know this is a chain, but we had never been to a Mellow Mushroom prior to our first visit to Gatlinburg. So it should come as no surprise that when we discovered they had one, we decided to go on our first visit in 2011. We thought it was good, but I feel like this restaurant is better served by ordering their specialty pies. You see, we just got a plain old pepperoni. Normally that suits us just fine, (I’ll go more in depth with this later) but it didn’t dazzle us like the restaurant seems to pride itself on.

Geno’s

This one wasn’t planned at all. I don’t remember where we were going, but I don’t believe we were planning on eating pizza for a third time on our first trip to Gatlinburg. The problem was the weather. Not long before we were going out to eat, the skies opened up and unleashed a furious thunderstorm that kept us firmly in our room at Zoder’s. So, in a pinch, we happened upon an advertisement for Geno’s Pizza. And when we saw that they delivered, it was a no-brainer, since we had no better options. The pizza was good and reminded me of a superior version of Papa Johns. We haven’t had them since, but I don’t have anything bad to say about them.

Best Italian

We didn’t try this Italian pizzeria until 2014, and boy were we impressed. I remember thinking they were a strong competitor to the Brewery for the best in Gatlinburg. That is, until we went next year. The first time we ordered pepperoni, but the second time, we ordered just cheese…extra cheese. It was then that Best Italian became the #1 pizza in town. So much cheese and so much flavor. Pair it with their Garlic knots and you have a match made in Italian heaven! Literally everything was perfect. It’s still the best pizza I’ve had in Gatlinburg.

Cobbly Nob Pizza

In 2013, we stayed in a cabin for the first time, and really didn’t spend a whole lot of time in Gatlinburg. Hard to believe, right. Well, on our last day, we were pretty low on food and decided to order delivery from this little place near our cabin. Once again, it was fine. There was nothing offensive about it, but it didn’t hold a candle to Smoky Mountain Brewery. It solved our hunger problem, and we had no regrets, so it falls in the middle of the spectrum of good and bad pizzas.

Big Daddy’s Pizzeria

Hello wood-fired pizza! I can’t remember having this new pizza trend prior to Big Daddy’s in Gatlinburg. Pizza restaurants cooking their pies in high heat are all over the place now, but this is still a more traditional pizza experience. You are shown to a table and you sit and wait for it while your server tends to your needs. In contrast, there are other chains that have you order it like you do from Subway or Chipotle, where you watch them make your food as you tell them what topping you want. Not only is the crust nice and toasty, (and tasty) the cheese and sauce (homemade marinara) are fantastic additions, making it a new favorite. It easily belongs in our top five.

Taste of Italy

I’m going to give an unbiased review, even though our experience allowed for a somewhat biased review. You see, we had the red sauce carpet rolled out for us on our visit. The manager saw my blog (or maybe my Twitter) and offered to give us our meal for free. We had so much food, I’m not sure it’s even fair to give a proper assessment based on how we felt. Let’s just say a pizza was just one of the items on their menu we tried. It was good. Better than average, but not best in Gatlinburg quality. Now their pasta dishes really shine, I’ll say that much. We would love to go back again and maybe just have one entree each, or a pizza for us all…and nothing else.

Slice!

Last but not least is the most surprising addition to this list. We’ve known this little eatery as part of Arcadia underneath The Space Needle in Gatlinburg. We never made room for it on our vacation until we had a rather ambitious moonshine session a couple years ago and needed to soak it up with some food. Enter the Slice! It’s a flippin’ huge slice of New York-style pizza that does not disappoint. We didn’t expect much, but it was quite delicious. We’ve had them several times since, and it’s a solid choice, especially in a pinch.

These are our honest experiences with the pizzas we’ve tried in Gatlinburg. Let me know what you think. I know of at least 3 we haven’t had yet, and we may be crossing at least one of them off when we come back to this beautiful area in the future. Thanks for reading, everyone! If you’re a free subscriber, consider an upgrade to a paid subscription. Access to all posts and another giveaway are just a few perks!