The Apple Cake Tea Room

To begin with, I will admit to a male gender bias… Most American men will shy away from frequenting any restaurant that has ‘tea room’ as part of its name.    'Tea room' indicates an all-female venue with dainty or ‘fussy’ food.

We have been living in the greater Knoxville area for 10 years now and we’ve passed the Apple Cake Tea Room many, many times.  Laurie would suggest that we should try it sometime and I’d just keep driving.  However the other day after a little shopping in the Turkey Creek shopping area, and in an effort to try somewhere new for lunch, I actually suggested that we give this ‘tea room’ a try.

The Apple Cake Tea Room’s log cabin exterior is certainly different than most restaurants that aren’t actually in the Smokey Mountains.  One other fact that separates this restaurant from most others…the same family has been operating it for 35 years!

When you enter The Apple Cake Tea Room, there is a small retail area around the hostess/cashier’s desk.  Right away, one feels that they’ve been transported from Knoxville to another place and time…

Here are 2 views of the dining room.  With the low ceilings, the lighting, wood beams and the overall décor its pure country.  It’s also warm and welcoming. In the second photo please note that I wasn’t alone…another male had dared to invade this feminine sanctuary!

This beautiful quilt adorns one wall of the dining room.  FYI, the restaurant filled up shortly after we arrived…and there weren’t any additional males to be seen while we were there...except one fellow clearing tables.

Service was very pleasant.  Our waitress was both competent and friendly.  To start, she brought us these 2 little warm muffins.  They were tasty but tiny and I began to worry about the size of my entrée.  FYI, we ordered coffee, not tea, to accompany our meal. ($1.99)

As a side item, I ordered the Cheese Bread ($.90) to bolster the size of my expected luncheon entrée.  As it turned out, this was the only item we ordered that was disappointing.  Basically it was just melted cheese on white bread…

Laurie ordered one of The Apple Cake Tea Room’s ‘Specialties’ and it’s most popular item, the Tea Room Medley. ($9.15) It includes chicken salad, glazed fruit, a banana nut bread sandwich with cream cheese filling, and potato chips.  Laurie loved it all!  I tried a bite of her chicken salad and it was very tasty…

In addition to the 5 specialties on the menu, there also are 6 cold sandwiches, 4 hot sandwiches, 7 salads, a stuffed potato, combination lunches and 5 different desserts to choose from.

Cleverly, one of the restaurant’s specialties is designed for women who enjoy a more hearty meal…or is it on the menu to please the occasional male accompanying a lady?  My entrée was “Bravo!  Beef and Gravy”. ($9.15) Tasty and plentiful slices of roast beef are stacked on top of a slice of white bread topped with flavorful brown gravy, accompanied by half of a stuffed potato and a layered salad.  There was plenty to eat!

The potato is blended with cream cheese, chives, sour cream and it’s served in a potato skin, topped with cheese and bacon bits.  The layered salad consisted of lettuce, mayonnaise, green onions, green peppers, Swiss cheese, peas and bacon bits.  The potato was very enjoyable and while the salad was fine, the dressing was too bland for my taste and trying to eat the chopped up salad in that little bowl was challenging.  I finally emptied it on my plate to finish it.  

We brought home a slice of the namesake Apple Cake. ($5.25) The next day I melted a little butter on it in the microwave and finished it off.  It was good if not great…but to be fair, I like pie a lot better than cake.

Both the ambiance and service were pleasant and the food was way above average in quality.  Except for not huge slice of cake, the prices seemed very reasonable.  Laurie already has plans to return with one of her lady friends.

The Apple Cake Tea Room hasn’t really changed their menu in 35 years.  Despite very limited hours, 11 AM – 2:30 PM Monday through Saturday, this restaurant has prospered.  They have a cabin and rooms available for special events and I’m sure that this is part of their secret for success.

The Apple Cake Tea Room is located at 11312 Station West Drive in Farragut Tennessee.  (It’s accessible from Campbell Station Road right just a couple of blocks from I-40/75) Phone: 865-657-9624.  They are on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/Apple-Cake-Tea-Room-117724694910977/.

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave