Good times on deck at Maryville's Waterfront Bar & Grill

matt ward/special to knoxville.com Jessica Fields, Kimberly Milsaps and April Johnson, from left, keep customers happy at Waterfront Bar & Grill.

Out at the Waterfront Bar & Grill

My options for covering venues was opened up by my editors some time ago to include the counties surrounding Knoxville such as Anderson, Blount and Sevier. Unfortunately for my readers from those areas, I have been a tad lax to make it out that direction in the last few months. Never fear fine folks outside of Knoxville, spread my wings, I shall! On this particular evening my poking around online led me to a place in Maryville that had somehow eluded my radar.

Waterfront Bar & Grill is located next to Pistol Creek in downtown Maryville. Thanks to the technology of Instagram on my Android, I recently discovered this tiny body of water when a friend posted pictures of channel catfish he had caught while fishing at night. The bar is unique in that it is the only bar in Maryville that can boast a water view.

When you walk in the entrance it feels like you are going in the back door to the place just because how the building faces the water . Only a few large screen TVs were positioned about the room leaving one to check out the live music on the patio or potential food offerings. I found a vacant seat at the bar and sat down to start taking notes.

As she hurried by, bartender April Johnson greeted me and flashed a quick smile to let me know she saw me have a seat. I ordered a water and a menu to take a look at what they place had to offer a hungry and thirsty traveler. Items ranged from your prototypical pub grub such as chicken tenders and mozzarella sticks on the appetizer menu to filet mignon and flounder on the dinner menu.

Seating reminds me of a pizza joint or a sports bar. The overall inside of the bar was not vast. The music on that particular evening was the Jason Stinnett Band. Long tables were set up in front of the stage area and servers weaved in and out of the crowd to deliver drink and food orders.

I spoke to the owner, Ronnie Kincaid, and he detailed the history of how he opened the bar up 12 years ago, renovating it from the space that it was into the bar and restaurant it now is. He also told me he now owns a bar just around the corner called The Bullpen, where a comedy open-mic used to exist a few years ago before he owned it. "We occasionally get people on vacation down in Townsend come up to check out the bar," Ronnie told me when I asked if it was more of a locals-only joint or if it was known far and wide.

I listened to the band for a few more minutes then strolled to the steps leading to the parking lot. To the left was a path that headed down to the creek. I walked for a minute and found myself alone in the calm darkness with the nearly fall air rustling leaves prematurely fallen from a roller coaster summer.

I took a deep breath and thought briefly, "Not many places in Knoxville that you get this right outside the bar." For somewhere that seems almost intentionally hidden, I don't suspect that I am on to something new. I have a feeling that many folks in the area are already regulars here.

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Waterfront Bar & Grill

Address: 404 Greenbelt Drive, Maryville

Phone: 865-681-1212

On the web: http://waterfrontmaryville.com

© 2012, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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