Local Favorite on Watts Bar Lake

A crepe and coffee cafe in downtown Loudon that feels like it belongs in a city twice the size of this one.

Dolci on Wharf Street in Loudon serves made-to-order sweet and savory crepes alongside espresso drinks, lattes, and chai. House-baked cookies. Small dining room with an intimate atmosphere. Open Tuesday through Saturday.

A cozy coffee shop inside a converted house in Spring City with a porch to sit on and a staff that makes the regulars feel known.

Monday's Coffee Corner occupies a converted home in Spring City with indoor seating and a porch. Specialty lattes, frappes, caramel macchiatos, pastries, bagels, donuts, and breakfast sandwiches. Open Monday through Saturday; closed Sundays.

A craft beer bar built inside a family member's old auto garage, with food trucks, live music, fire pits, and a dog-friendly patio in downtown Rockwood.

Cofer's Garage occupies a former auto garage in downtown Rockwood, retaining the car lifts as table supports and oil drums in the bathrooms as vanities. Craft beer on tap, rotating food trucks for food, live music on weekends, and a membership option for regulars. Open Thursday through Saturday.

A warm, freshly made everything bakery and cafe in downtown Kingston where the cookies alone are worth the detour.

Bettye Rose Bakery is a cafe and bakery in downtown Kingston serving homemade baked goods, lunch specials, sandwiches, soups, and espresso drinks. The pastries are made on-site, portions are generous, and the staff is consistently described as one of the warmest in the area. Open Monday through Friday until 5 PM, Saturday 10 AM to 2 PM.

A small-town coffee shop in downtown Loudon where the staff knows your name and the pastries are worth stopping for.

A community-anchored coffee shop near the Loudon waterfront, open seven days a week with earlier hours on weekdays. Known for specialty lattes, house-roasted coffee, croissants, breakfast burritos, and sandwiches made with quality ingredients.

A small Rockwood pizza restaurant that surprises people expecting small-town food and delivers something considerably better.

Pop's Pizza on North Gateway Avenue in Rockwood is a scratch-kitchen pizza restaurant with a brick oven, fresh-daily dough and sauces, specialty pies with creative toppings, and a salad and soup bar. Stromboli and calzones also available. Gluten-free crust offered.

A packed, colorful street taco spot in Harriman that people drive an hour for and visit multiple times a week once they find it.

Wizapa's Street Tacos is a Mexican restaurant on Roane State Highway in Harriman, named for and inspired by Antonio Garcia Alcala, a taquero who operated in Degollado, Jalisco for 56 years. Open six days with a split-hour schedule. The place is frequently at capacity; online ordering is available.

The breakfast and lunch spot Spring City residents use as a default, with the warmth of a place that knows its regulars.

BB's Cafe is a small diner in downtown Spring City open Tuesday through Saturday, 6:30 AM to 2 PM. Breakfast plates, pancakes, chicken and waffles, omelettes, country fries, berry chicken salad, and daily specials. Seat-yourself, cash-or-card, greeted at the door.

A homey diner a few hundred feet from the lake in Ten Mile, with fresh-patted burgers, a rotating daily special, and Blue Bell ice cream in old-fashioned glass dishes.

A small, family-owned diner 248 meters from Watts Bar Lake in Ten Mile, open Thursday through Sunday (Sunday noon to 4 PM only), with a short menu of fresh-patted burgers, daily specials, tacos, and a dessert counter featuring Blue Bell milkshakes, banana splits, brownie sundaes, and homemade baked goods.

A coffee shop built inside a repurposed bank in downtown Harriman, with a drive-through where the bank lane used to be.

Gather Coffee Lounge in Harriman is a multi-location East Tennessee coffee chain operating out of a converted bank building on North Roane Street. Specialty espresso drinks, boba tea, smoothies, and house-baked pastries. Open seven days a week with a drive-through and indoor seating.

A build-your-own Mongolian BBQ spot in Harriman run with visible passion, and one of the more unexpected things you'll find in Roane County.

K's Kitchen is a family-run Mongolian BBQ restaurant in Harriman where you fill a bowl with fresh vegetables, meat, and noodles or rice, pick a spice level from 0 to 5, and watch it cooked on the grill. Fresh spring rolls, boba tea, and Lao sausage round out the menu. Open seven days.

Kingston's upscale dinner option, with a bistro atmosphere that exceeds what most people expect to find next to a Food City.

Maple Creek Bistro is at Ladd Landing in Kingston, open Tuesday through Saturday from 4 PM. A bistro-style dinner menu with shrimp and grits, steak, twin chicken breast, wood-fired pizza, lamb stew, meatloaf with onion straws, and a full bar with cocktails, wine, and local whiskey.

A Mexican bakery in Loudon with fresh conchas, bolillos, tamales, and sweet pastries that people drive 30 minutes to buy.

A Mexican panaderia in Loudon, open seven days a week, selling fresh-baked conchas, bolillos, tamales, empanadas, donas, and a rotating selection of sweet pastries and breads, with some drinks, candies, and spices.

A roadside diner off Roane State Highway that does home-style cooking well enough to pull road-trippers off I-40 and keep locals coming back.

A diner on Roane State Highway in Harriman, open Monday through Saturday. Breakfast all morning, lunch specials including rotating daily plates, and a menu that runs burgers, Philly steaks, chicken and dumplings, and fried green tomato BLT. Closed Sundays; Saturday closes at noon.

The Mexican place Rockwood has been going to for years, and keeps going back to.

El Patron is the go-to Mexican restaurant for Rockwood and the surrounding area. Large portions, consistent food, daily specials including Thursday wings, and a staff that regulars treat like family.

Rockwood's all-day home-cooking diner, where the breakfast burrito is a two-meal situation and the banana pudding closes things properly.

A home-cooking diner in Rockwood, open Monday through Saturday until 8 PM, serving scratch-cooked breakfasts, home-style lunches, and dinners at prices that consistently outperform chain alternatives. The breakfast burrito, banana pudding, and homemade meatloaf have their own regulars.

A mom-and-pop diner in downtown Loudon where the owner walks the floor and the home cooking is the point.

A family-owned diner in downtown Loudon open seven days except Sunday, running breakfast through early evening on Fridays. Home-cooked plates, breakfast all morning, burgers, catfish, meatloaf, pulled pork, and daily specials that sell out fast.

Spring City's neighborhood taproom, the most socially ambitious place in town, with trivia, live music, pool tables, and a Thursday two-for-one on drafts.

A Spring City taproom on Front St, open Tuesday through Saturday evenings, with roughly 12 local and imported draft lines, canned and bottled beer, pool tables, two dartboards, cornhole, weekly trivia nights, occasional live music and food truck nights, and a small in-house food menu.

A locally owned Harriman burger spot with a railroad theme, hand-cut fries, and a menu that goes well beyond burgers.

Burger Station 120 is a locally owned restaurant in Harriman with a railroad theme and a menu that covers burgers, loaded baked potatoes, brisket, wings, and funnel cake desserts. Hand-cut fries are a signature. Open seven days a week.

A thin-crust pizza spot in downtown Harriman with an arcade room, outdoor seating, and a party-rental setup that works for all ages.

A local pizza and taproom on North Roane Street in downtown Harriman. Thin crust, creative specialty pies, appetizers, subs, and a full arcade room available for parties. Open Thursday through Sunday only, closed Monday through Wednesday.

A laid-back BBQ bar in Kingston with live music on weekends and a menu that runs wider than the name suggests.

A Kingston staple on West Race Street, open Monday through Saturday. BBQ platters, catfish, burgers, and a full bar with a strong whiskey selection. Live music on weekend nights, catering available.

A Mexican restaurant off TN-72 in Loudon with a salsa bar, birria tacos, horchata, and a local following that drives past other options to get here.

El Señor is a Mexican restaurant on TN-72 in Loudon with a self-serve salsa bar, a broad menu of Mexican-American dishes, birria tacos, outdoor seating, and a full bar including margaritas. Open seven days a week from 11 AM.

Spring City's Mexican restaurant, with a loyal local contingent, inconsistent execution, and a salsa bar that earns its own fans.

Ayala's Grill is a Mexican restaurant on Front Street in Spring City, one of two Ayala's locations in Tennessee (the other in Dayton). Full menu of Mexican-American dishes, a salsa bar, margaritas with Tuesday specials, and online ordering available.