Our Return to a Knoxville Favorite Casual Restaurant

It sure is good to be back to post Covid-19 normal, whatever that is.  Confusion reigns in that regard, but in our case we’ve been vaccinated, boosted and re-boosted, so we’re moving on with life.  It is a relief, that’s for sure.  At my age, ‘losing a couple of years’ is not a good thing.  Like many people, young and old, we feel ‘cheated’ out of valuable life experiences…

So, with Laurie’s sister Bonnie and her husband Bill visiting us, we decided to revisit a popular Knoxville restaurant that we hadn’t been to in a couple of years…

This is Pero’s of Rocky Hill in Knoxville Tennessee.  It is variously described as a Greek or Mediterranean Restaurant.  In reality, while Pero’s does have a number of both Greek and Mediterranean items on the menu, the variety offered will satisfy just about any casual diners…

Pero’s is equipped with a well-stocked full service bar.  We arrived a bit early and not much was going on.  We ended up being seated in this large room.  The problem was that it was cold and every time the back door opened for patrons to enter or exit, a cold chill hit us.  Most of Pero’s parking is in the back and we’d never been seated in this room before.

The second photo is the dining room at the front of Pero’s.  I took this photo when we were leaving and it’s easy to see that this is a popular restaurant.  By this time the back bar dining area was just about as busy too…

On to the food… This is the Tzatziki Sauce appetizer. ($11.75) Classic Greek yogurt sauce with garlic and a hint of lemon is served with cucumber slices (hidden in the photo), celery, cherry tomatoes, carrot sticks and grilled pita wedges.  Knowing that Knoxville/East Tennessee isn’t big on garlic, we asked for extra garlic to mix into the sauce.

Just to be safe and verify our past experience with the tzatziki sauce, we tried it without the garlic before we mixed in an appropriate amount to kick it up a notch.  Asking for extra garlic was the right move although a teaspoon full would have been plenty to satisfy us.

We also ordered 10 Chicken Wings for the table. ($13.85) Our options for seasoning included mild, hot, BBQ or lemon pepper.  We chose the latter and the wings were excellent!  We would order them again…

An editorial comment: At what point do many middle class people stop going out to eat due to the cost?  Nothing against Pero’s pricing because rising costs are impacting consumer prices everywhere.  Example: $1.38 per chicken wing…not unusual these day...

Laurie and Bonnie both ordered Lemondrop Martinis. ($9.00) Bill ordered a very nice glass of Riesling ($6.00) and I ordered a Mayday Blonde beer. ($5.00) The ladies loved their martinis! 

Bill ordered a cup of Lobster Bisque soup to go with his entrée. ($3.85 as an add-on) He didn’t care for it at all and he loves anything seafood related…

As for the wide variety of appetizers on Pero’s menu, they include such items as: Greeksadillas, Shrimp and Grits, Fried Ravioli (rarely seen outside of St. Louis Missouri), Crab Cakes, Onion Rings, Tiropita, Spanakopita and Mozzarella Squares.  Fourteen different salads also appear on the menu…

For his entrée, Bill ordered Pero’s Fettuccine. ($15.95) This offering consists of fettuccine tossed in Pero’s homemade Alfredo sauce with sweet Italian Sausage, mushrooms and sun-dried tomatoes.  As you can see, it was accompanied by a couple of Garlic Knots.  Bill was a happy camper for sure!

Pero’s offers a total of 10 different pasta entrees plus at least 11 other entrees ranging from Pasticcio, to Veal or Chicken Parmesan, Eggplant Parmesan and Parmesan Crusted Tilapia.  Just deciding what to eat is a challenge…

Laurie and Bonnie decided to share a pizza so they ordered a medium 12 inch “Stinky Greek”. ($20.55) They loved it and its combination of gyro meat, feta cheese, fresh tomatoes, garlic and black olives.

As for yours truly, I decided to order a small 10 inch creation titled “The Carnivore”. ($15.60) It included pepperoni, Italian sausage, ham, ground beef and bacon all layered on top of Pero’s excellent marinara meat sauce.  What can I say…it was just too much of a good thing as least from my view point.  I love Pero’s meat sauce but when combined with sweet Italian sausage and ham, the pizza was just too sweet for my taste.  Pero’s certainly didn’t skimp on the meat though!  Next time I’ll opt for the ‘design your own pizza option’. 

Still didn’t see anything that tickled your taste buds?  Pero’s menu also offers 7 different burgers including one served on a Crispy Kreme donut, 5 different wraps and 11 different sandwiches including a salmon version and a Cuban with crab cakes.  The latter offering begs the question, “When is a Cuban not a Cuban”.  In any case variety is one of Pero’s strengths…

Pero’s Bar and Grill is located at 7706 South Northshore Drive in Knoxville Tennessee.  Phone: 865-694-6900.  Pero’s website complete with many photos of their widely varied dining choices can be found at: https://www.perosbarandgrill.com/.    

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave