The Barn At Blackberry Farm: Spectacular Food, But Tiny Portions

As the only restaurant at Walland, Tennessee's renowned Blackberry Farm where you can experience the resort without having to spend the night, The Barn at Blackberry Farm is known as one of the best in the world. Located in a chic-looking converted barn, the restaurant's ambience and surroundings give off a unique. The Barn is known for its unique style of cooking known as "Foothills Cuisine," and you can choose to eat from a garden tasting menu, a chef's tasting, or an a la carte menu. All ingredients are farm fresh (many are grown on-site), with local cheeses, fresh eggs, and a 9,000-bottle strong wine cellar.

We chose the a la carte menu, and began with a slow cooked farm egg cooked in chicken broth, radishes, grits, and peanuts. It was just the right amount of hearty and salty. We continued with The Painted Hills flat iron steak, cooked extremely rare but excellent; I only wish there was more! To finish, lemon basil sorbet was just the right amount of sweet; but again, the portion was too small. The service was impeccable, and the wine was spectacular.

That said, I won't be returning, because the food was exorbitantly expensive and my husband and I left hungry. The wine pairings are wonderfully done, and the barn is one of the most beautiful I've seen; however, I don't think it's worth the cost. I only wish that one day I can spend a weekend at this beautiful, magical farm in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains, and perhaps my opinion will change.