Outdoor Seating on Watts Bar Lake

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 casual bar and grill inside a marina resort with campsite delivery and a short weekly schedule.

The on-site restaurant at Rockwood Marina & RV Resort. Burgers, shrimp tacos, and a bar, with delivery running directly to RV sites on the property. Hours shift seasonally; call ahead or check the resort's website before planning a meal around it.

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 downtown Loudon restaurant with large portions, New York-style pizza, and a menu that also covers BBQ, sandwiches, and Italian.

Goodfellas New York Pizza and Grill-BBQ is located in downtown Loudon, close to the waterfront. The menu covers NY-style pizza, BBQ items including brisket and ribs, Italian plates, and a variety of sandwiches. Open Tuesday through Sunday. Known for large portions and a family-owned feel.

A renovated Kingston-area marina with new slips, a fuel dock, rotating weekend food trucks, and the kind of owner energy that makes people drive past other options.

Long Island Marina is off the main channel near Kingston, recently renovated with new docks and a 100-percent gas fuel dock. The operation runs a ship store with bait, beer, and snacks; weekend food trucks that rotate; live music on many weekends; and pontoon and kayak rentals. The ownership and staff are the most consistent positive note.

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 newer, well-run resort marina on a lakeside peninsula that runs its campground like a resort and its Cantina like a neighborhood bar.

Rockwood Marina and RV Resort sits on a peninsula extending into Watts Bar Lake in Rockwood, about ten minutes off I-40. The marina handles fuel, slips, and boat services; the RV resort side offers waterfront sites, clean bathhouses, a saltwater pool, a dog park, and the Cove Cantina with delivery to your site.

A family-run waterfront kitchen turning out some of the best home-cooked food on the lake; the wait is the price of admission.

Terrace View Restaurant is attached to Terrace View Marina on Euchee Chapel Road in Spring City. Family-run kitchen, opens around Memorial Day each year, with hours and days that shift through the season. The food is among the best in the area and the wait is real; how you handle the wait determines whether you have a great night or a frustrated one.

The mid-lake family resort that bundles marina, restaurant, brewery, pool, and floating cabins on one property.

Family-owned marina and resort in Ten Mile with covered and open slips, fuel dock, transient hookups, a saltwater pool, on-site dining and a brewery, and floating lake cabins guests rent right beside their boat.

A family-run marina on the lake's mid-section that does slips, fuel, boat rentals, a motel, and a Friday-Saturday restaurant under one roof.

Terrace View Marina sits on Euchee Chapel Road in Spring City, operating fuel, slips, transient docking, pontoon rentals, a ship store, and a small motel. The on-site Terrace View Restaurant runs Friday and Saturday evenings and draws a strong local following for its catfish, homemade desserts, and deck seating over the water.

The biggest marina on the lake, and on summer weekends you feel it.

The largest marina on Watts Bar, in a protected cove near Ten Mile. Fuel, repair, ship store, rentals, 260-plus slips on floating docks, the Crow's Nest restaurant, and live music on weekend nights.

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.

Harriman's Mexican anchor since 2006, with Guadalajara-region recipes, a full bar, and patio seating that fills on summer evenings.

A family-owned Mexican restaurant at 1712 S Roane St in Harriman that has operated since 2006. Full bar, patio seating, a seven-day lunch menu averaging around $7, and dinner portions large enough that leftovers are routine.

The new resort marina, paired with a Greg Norman course and an outdoor concert lawn.

A newer, smaller marina on a peninsula off the main channel near Ten Mile, attached to the Tennessee National residential community. Pontoon rentals, fuel, slips, a clubhouse, the Sunset Saloon, and an outdoor concert lawn that hosts touring tribute acts.

A mid-lake cove stop with a floating bar, weekend live music, an RV park, and the kind of down-home crowd that stays through the evening.

Bayside Marina and Resort sits in a cove off Ten Mile at 134 Bayside Drive, with boat slips, transient power, gas, an RV park, a floating bar with weekend live music, and a small food menu. The owners are frequently praised for their friendliness and the fishing off the docks is described as consistently productive.

A casual waterfront grill inside a working marina, weekends-only, with deck seating that stretches over the lake.

The restaurant inside Blue Springs Marina, open Friday through Sunday only. Burgers, sandwiches, stuffed tilapia, and a full bar, with deck seating directly over the water and carp and turtles below.

A waterfront burger joint in Spring City with a deck, a bar, and a steady following.

Lakeside Grill at Spring City Resort & Marina, just off the water in Spring City. Burgers, wings, sandwiches, indoor and deck seating, draft beer, weekend music, and a "Wing Wednesday" special.

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.