The Apple Barn & Cider Mill

Love this place delicious desserts awesome food. Great apple dumplings etc.

We visit the Apple Barn and Cider Mill a few times on each visit to the Gatlinburg area. This is such an absolutely cool place. For starters it’s just off the main strip in pigeon Forge. The location is a chain of buildings each one representing a different façade of the business. There’s one building which serves as a restaurant, another which houses and apple-​themed country store, adjacent to this is the area where you purchased the fried apple pies and dumplings, which are amazing, more on that shortly. Then there is the candy shop, an ice cream shop, a Christmas store, and then another building at the front which I believe is a grill. All nestled between small apple orchards and connected by a covered walkway. The parking is ample and convenient to all buildings.
We’ve never dined at the restaurant and come here specifically for the fried apple pies, dumplings, and apple donuts. Don’t get me wrong the cider is good but you’ve got to be in the mood for it. Let’s start with the fried apple pies as in my opinion this is the best thing you can get here. Imagine a doughy, perfectly crisp fold-​over stuffed with fresh spiced apple slices and fried. It is absolutely to die for. We typically purchase a few extras to bring back to the cabin and warm up in the oven the next day.
The Apple dumplings are amazing as well. It’s a whole apple that has been cored and peeled, then wrapped in dough and baked to perfection. Over this they pour a nice thick cider. It is so tender that you can put a spoon right through the dough and the Apple. Amazing! Both the fried apple pies and the dumplings can be served with vanilla ice cream.
The apple donuts both glazed and cinnamon sugar powdered are great as well. If you like cider, then the warm cider is very nice on a cold day and they give you a small cup of cool cider so that you can regulate the temperature to your liking.
Overall this is the best breakfast you can have in this area.

Worst breakfast service I have had in years. 10 min for my wife’s coffee, ten more for my ice-​T. The food was marginal. Talk about a fire hazard, they keep the trey-​jacks, full and empty blocking all 4 points in the room. The brought out the eggs benidic without the hollandaise sauce and was surprised we didn’t want that meal, it was replace in less than two minutes with an omelet, willing to bet someone else had to wait for. Won’t be back, ever.

We visited the Apple Barn Restaurant on Dec 19^th with my family. We made sure to go super early in the morning to avoid the crowds. We arrived 30 minutes after they opened and they were able to seat our group of 6 right away. They provide apple fritters and apple muffins with a small glass of mixed juices while you decide what to order. All of these were fantastic! I ordered pancakes and they were delicious! The service was wonderful and we had a great time checking out the other shops connected to the restaurant after our meal. This is my favorite restaurant to visit while in the area. I highly recommend it.

The food is nothing to brag about! However, the staff provided excellent customer service.

I always make a stop by the The Apple Barn when in Gatlinburg/​Pigeon Forge. One of the most delicious restaurants and love the shop!

The Fried pies were amazing, but the famous hot cider was a little strong, not a big fan. Cool store and a family atmosphere.

Delicious cakes, cookies, pies, dumplings, etc. baked fresh daily! The apple cider slush was the best version of apple cider I’ve ever had and the souvenir cup was a great thermal for under $ 5 with unlimited refills at only $ 2. There is also a restaurant, which we didn’t try, but we loved trying the caramel apple nut pie (served warm with optional ice cream) and apple dumpling served with warm cinnamon sauce and ice cream. The store has every apple product you could think of, all priced very reasonably, even an apple butter BBQ sauce that we can’t wait to try! There are several elderly employees that are all very sweet. The candy store has fresh chocolates, taffy, fudge and caramel apples but the prices in this section are on the much more expensive end. Finally, there is a creamery with fresh ice cream with several typical flavors, as well as seasonal flavors, like pumpkin right now for fall. My husband tried the caramel apple flavor and it did not disappoint! Definitely make time to visit this sweet place!

Homemade apple desserts and apple cider. Awesome!
Apple pie with caramel, walnuts, and ice cream; flaky and delicious… Get it!
Their fried apple pies are also great. Get some to take home.

The Apple Barn has long been a favorite lunch stop for my family.
My favorite lunch is the Pecan Chicken salad; a delicious chicken salad on a bed of mixed greens and topped with melon, grapes, apples and strawberries… And it is really more than one person can devour. This time I chose a variation that had a teriyaki grilled chicken breast in top instead of the chicken salad; the chicken and fruit were wonderful but the greens were drenched what tasted like watered down vinaigrette and they were quite soggy-​not appetizing at all.
Order with dressing on the side and ask if the greens are fresh

Very clustered in here. Just wanted to buy some apple butter and it took me a while to find it. Wish the store could be a bit more organized. Had to fight the crowd but they did have very nice employees!

I wouldn’t call it a must do, but I can see where some might call it a tradition. We walked around, tried the Apple cider donuts, and got some fritters at the restaurant (to go). None of these were anything special; in fact, they were just «meh.» We did it, but wouldn’t return. Maybe it’d be better in the fall, when they’re actually pressing apples.

I love the apple barn. We go here every year and it’s a tradition to stop by and pick up gifts.

Just incredible.
We ate an early dinner late lunch. I ordered the sampler plate, and Tracie got the ham steak.
First up were the apple fritters with apple butter. They could have stopped right there. That was a mouthgasm the likes of which I’ve never seen.
The Chicken and Dumplins were incredible. Momma always said the best dumplin’ is the one that you can hear «hit the chair» when you eat it. Yep. They were ‘Momma’s Dumplins” good!
Fried chicken was a little less than overwhelming but good.
Chicken Pot Pie was absolutely mouth watering! Could do without the mushrooms in it but it was absolutely awesome.
Ham steak was gigantic. Enough to share. Noted for next visit.
Green beans were grandma’s and the mac n cheese was creamy good. mashed potatoes, even though we were so full we couldn’t eat all of them were creamy and the consistency indicated hand mashed.
The prices are a little more than I expected, however, the quantity of food is insane. I think we carried out more than we ate. And both Tracie and I are big eaters. We got out for around $ 30 dollars or so. Not bad really considering the volume of food.
This will be a regular stop when visiting the Smokies.

I just don’t know, man…
Essentially, Apple Barn is just a glorified Cracker Barrel with higher prices and comparable food. Have some free wine before your meal, it will help soften the blow.
Piece of advice:
Skip the meal all together and just grab some Apple Fritters, those were quite good.

This place is the best! The restaurant itself has amazing food and is worth a stop on its own. The store is great! I could spend sooo much money in here in the blink of an eye. The Apple Butter is amazing and the Apple Cider is perfect! The apple gummies, apple fritters, apple pancakes and apple tea are also a few other great items to check out and try. I highly recommend coming here if you are in the area, it is SOO worth it and you won’t be sorry. If you don’t live in the area, you can actually order certain items on their website.

I give The Apple Barn 5 stars because of three things:
Apple butter, fried apple pies with housemade ice cream, and fresh apple cider available cold, hot, or frozen.
The apple butter is the best you will ever taste.
The fried pie is so light and fluffy and the ice cream has a good vanilla flavor.
The cider tastes like a liquified apple.
There are many other awesome things to try, ranging from fresh baked apple breads, to cheeses, and applewood bacon.
The variety of butters, jellies, and jams is nearly endless. They also sell several different salad dressings.
While you are on the property, make sure you eat at the Applewood Restaurant. There is a winery and an ice cream parlor as well.

This was my first time actually stopping by to order something from the cider and boy am I glad I did! We grabbed a box of 3 pies and a small cup of frozen apple cider. It was AMAZING! Where has it been all my life! We saved the pies for later since we had just eaten breakfast. By the time we got around to it they were cold but still tasty. The general store part of the Apple Barn is just as nice and you should check it out! I loved the cider so much I stopped by again to get a big to go cup. The lady working said that you can bring the cups back for a discounted refill!

YOW! Go when you’re hungry, you will NOT leave that way. Great southern eats. Good comfort food. Neat ambiance. Excellent experience. Need I say more?

This is a family favorite near gatlinburg/​and pigeon forge for breakfast. The apple fritters and apple butter are addicting. I think the apple butter is homemade and the fritters are like a fried apple hush puppy that tastes like a funnel cake. They’re a little crispy on the outside and a dense cake with real apple chunks inside. Great with coffee. It’s hard to stop. I also enjoy the apple julep (juice blend).
These starters are actually the staples! After all the sweet apple goodness, something simple and salty like eggs and bacon will do for me.
The setting on the apple orchard off the main drag in a restaurant where each section feels like grandmas dining room is a break from the touristy hustle bustle. The little country store attached is a nice place to peruse a bit after the meal. My grandma loves the store. Honestly, it’s not my style, but I don’t mind looking an occasionally buy a jar of apple butter to take home.