Okay mentors,
If you’ve done your jobs well, there not a lot for you to do at a Regional except watch how the students perform and figure out good places to get dinner. 
Any recommendations in Knoxville? Reasonable cost, able to seat a large group, great food, not a tourist trap. And quiet would be nice; it’s so noisy at the events.
Big Ed’s Pizza in Oak Ridge. It’s about 30-40 minutes away, but well worth the drive. We go there as a team whenever we’re in town.
We’d love to be in Knoxville again this year, but alas, our home regional (Rocket City) is scheduled for the same weekend.
Where are you staying so I can give you places nearby?
Big Ed’s is great pizza, cheap, and a lot of fun. But it’s a bit of a drive and it’s usually pretty noisy, so I’ll let you decide if it’s what you want. Tomato Head is very close on Market Square, has great pizza, and can accommodate just about any dietary restriction. (Hippies make great food.) Stock & Barrel is also on Market Square, but it’s a bit too small and a bit too much of a bar for your whole team. But depending on how you do lunch, your mentors can go here. They have the best burgers in town.
Dead End Barbecue is one of my favorite places to eat. It’s a 10 minute drive from the Arena. Gus’s World Famous Fried Chicken is also about the same distance. Red Onion Pizza, which is right next to Dead End, is very much a hole-in-the-wall type of restaurant, but I love their food. Plus, they’re the only place that serves pizza and Indian food together. If you’re willing to walk (or drive) across the University of Tennessee campus, there’s all sorts of chain options for lunch and such. There’s also tons of restaurants in Turkey Creek, which is about a 20 minute drive from the Arena.
Hope this helps!
Good lord, Big Ed’s is very far away. Personal, maybe controversial opinion… it’s not THAT good.
My suggestions are for downtown, where I live and my team is based.
Barley’s in the Old City is great and will easily fit a team, maybe a few. It’s pizza. We’ll probably be there Saturday evening just like last year, if I had to guess.
If you’re ok with splitting your team up a little, I highly recommend going to Market Square. There’s a lot of options there like Tomato Head (more pizza), Stock and Barrel (highly rated burgers), Cafe 4 (great mac n cheese), and more. Problem is that they’re all slightly small and you might have a hard time fitting a decent sized team at just one of them.
There’s Calhouns On The River about 5 mins from the venue but not close to anything else. A local chain with barbecue and stuff.
I don’t think there are many or any places downtown that are just straight up bad… look around and pick something. The other popular area of town, Gay Street, is just adjacent to Market Square.
Other local, unique stuff is spread out all over town, but a good concentration of it is downtown and I suggest checking it out. Most of these are about five minutes from the venue.
I am happy to answer any specific questions about Knoxville in either this thread or via PM!
I think our team is staying about 10 miles east of the arena, so anywhere downtown or on the east side is an option.
We have breakfast & lunch with the students, but the mentors will probably have 1 or 2 quiet “grown-ups only” dinners. So we don’t need to seat an entire team.
We’re coming from Summerville, SC, just north of Charleston, which has many great restaurants. But it’s funny how many out of town friends & relatives want to go to the same over priced tourist traps when they come visit.
On the east side is Habenero’s Mexican restaurant at exit 394. They can handle large parties. Also would suggest the new Mad Greek restaurant at 398 or Aubrey’s( a little pricey).
You’re probably right. We love going there as a team and have grown attached to the place. It’s a sentimental pick.
As an Oak Ridger…Big Ed’s is amazing - and definitely not a chain pizza shop - but it isn’t cheap pizza.(www.bigedspizzaoakridge.com)It’s about a 30 minute drive from downtown though. Our team has a tradition of eating at Taste of Thai after load-in (Thai food)- It is located at Cedar Bluff area about 15 minutes from downtown. If you want something different: Yassin’s Falaffel House @ 106 Walnut Street (downtown) and Pero’s on the Hill (perosonthehill.com) @ 7706 S Northshore Dr, Knoxville, TN 37919 - both are amazing! Stock & Barrel in Downtown is great too and also Littons (@2803 Essary Dr, Knoxville, TN 37918) http://www.littonsdirecttoyou.com/Menu/0/Menus.aspx
Hope these help!
Thanks for the tips!
We’ve always had a good time in Knoxville. Great city; well-run Regional competition.
Hi Kevin, Looking forward to seeing you guys at SMR. If you’re lodged east of town, then you are likely at Exit 394 or Exit 398 on I-40. Puleo’s is at 398, along with Aubrey’s and the Mad Greek place already mentioned; at Exit 394 is Habenero’s and a Buddy’s BBQ (Fast food barbecue). Downtown has a bunch of really good restaurants-- lot’s of choices around the Market Square from nicey to pricey; there are some good places on Cumberland Avenue (“the strip”) near campus, particularly Sunspot and Mellow Mushroom (pizza). I will second the recommendation for Calhouns by the river, it is easy to get to from the event, it has enough space to accomodate full teams, and they know how to take care of larger parties! I hope that Category 5 will consider coming to the Team Social on Friday evening. There will be food (Niro’s Gyros), friends, and lot’s of space to move around in.
Safe Travels,
J. Tilson