When my family told me I was going to have my July 4th, 2002, dinner at the Alabama Bar & Grill, I have to admit I had my trepidations. The concept of a country-rock band's personal little restaurant didn't inspire a whole lot of faith that I'd be able to find anything of real interest there.
My first question to my fam: "Do you think they'll have anything I can eat there [i.e., vegetarian-friendly]?"
Answer: "Doubtful."
::stomach sinks::
Ugh. So the mass group of people I was vacationing with left our chalet in Sevierville to make the winding trek into the Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg area. When we got to the restaurant, all I could think was... oh no... what have I gotten myself into? For this little techno and downtempo chic afficianado, the blaring vulgarity of ALABAMA was like entering my own personal corner of hell.
The place is huge. When I stepped into the foyer, I felt like I should have been stepping into a theatre of some kind (and I guess that's part of the intent, really). There was a veritable plethora of Alabama memorabilia sprayed across the walls like buckshot, as well as a great number of bits and bobs from other rock, country, and bluegrass artists. Frankly, the variety surprised me. Even I found a few things that made me point and grin. Show's what I get for assuming this place was going to be four-on-the-floor country style. For anyone interested, there's a gift shop to the left of the foyer, where you can buy all kinds of Alabama, rock, and country mementos, if one should feel so peckish; including a guitar signed by The King himself (I won't even say how much the asking price on that was...it still inspires momentary dyslexia).
Okay, on to the restaurant. As I feared, there wasn't much in the way of vegetarian dining, so I contented myself with a Diet Coke and an order of fried green tomatoes (gotta grudgingly admit they were delicious).
The food flying around the place smelled wonderful, and the critiques my companions were giving seemed to validate that assumption.
There were a slew of delicious-sounding mixed drinks that I would have liked to try, but was not afforded the opportunity.
The bill for the 23 of us came to something close to $500, but when you split that up, it was actually fairly reasonable, even with gratuity added in - which we did gladly; the service was impeccable!
In retrospect, I should not have allowed myself to be so judgmental about the Alabama Bar & Grill. The experience was truly unique and enjoyable, even if I didn't get to gluttonize myself as much as I would have liked!