The Great American Steak & Buffet is located at Traffic Light #1 in Pigeon Forge. Sitting on a corner lot, this restaurant is highly visible with its rounded stone front sporting its name in big red letters, its green metal roofed spires glowing with green neon at night and the many (19) large green rocking chairs sitting on the wrap around porch.
The Great American Steak & Buffet serves:
1. Breakfast from 7:30–10:30am for $6.95.
2. Lunch from 10:30am–3:45pm for $7.95.
3. Dinner from 3:45–10pm (Sunday through Thursday) and from 3:45-11pm on Friday and Saturdays. Cost is $9.95.
Senior prices are $.50 less per meal and all drinks are $1.75, which includes coffee, tea, milk and soft drinks. Children, 7 to 10, can eat for $3.99, while kids age 6 and under eat free. Both require an adult purchase.
Be sure to pick up one of the many discount coupon books for Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg. Some offer 10-15% off, while others have $$$ off coupons. With the VDC (Vacation Discount Card), which offered 10% off, the total cost for us was $23.06, which included two dinners/drinks.
In addition to the main dining area, there are two separate dining areas with one being for smokers and one for families.
The selections on this buffet were many, with roast beef, ribs, catfish, salmon, fried shrimp and chicken just to name a few of the meat selections. Steaks were being cooked on the grill and you could select one based on your personal preference for doneness. For the kids, hamburgers, french fries and chicken fingers were available. Vegetables included mashed, scalloped, baked and sweet potatoes, macaroni and cheese, corn, a fresh vegetable medley of broccoli, cauliflower and carrots, plus many more. All of the food was hot, fresh and tasty. A salad bar had all the fixings as well as a fresh fruit bar consisting of watermelon, honeydew, cantaloupe, grapes, and fruit cocktail.
The dessert bar had equally as much variety with derby, chess, pecan, pumpkin, cherry and my husband’s favorite . . . lemon meringue pie! Two varieties of muffins and soft-serve ice cream with every imaginable topping were available on this bar.
We arrived at 7pm on Sunday night and found the restaurant extremely busy. We only waited a few minutes before being seated, but the lines were long to the buffet as it was apparently "peak" dining time. In my opinion, the general layout of the buffet wasn’t the best and the food wasn’t arranged efficiently as the fresh fruit bar was first, then a few vegetables, followed by the salad bar and then a few meats. Each side of the bar contained different selections and with the long lines, a return trip meant starting at the back of the line of another bar.
Plan to arrive slightly before or after "peak" eating times to avoid the crowds and long lines.