Who doesn’t love live music, tasty food and a selection of over 800 whiskeys to try? In the heart of Downtown Knoxville you can find Jig and Reel, a Scottish pub that is built for the whiskey sipping music lovers.
I was able to check them out right when they open for the day; which one would assume isn’t the most popular time for a pub. Their hours of operation are 3pm-3am, Tuesday to Sunday, because everyone needs Mondays off after a long weekend. The beauty of getting there at 3pm was the fact that: A) The place was Empty, and B) there was sunlight shinning in so I was able to document things that night crawlers would never be able to. For instance, this interior. How often can you see a bar empty and lit up?! I absolutely loved the decor, and I truly felt like I was back in a Scottish/Irish Pub, being a merry wee lad.
The other piece that would normally be tough, unless I wanted to be obnoxious by bring a lighting kit, was I could document the awesome food. Sure, the food tastes the same in a dimly lit pub as it would in the empty bright rooms I was in, but I like to attract people through the content I create. Doing the food justice in a dark room wasn’t an option.
Jig and Reel was pushing out some of the best Pub food I have tried. This wasn’t the normal late night eats that you found at your favorite college bar . The food was more of Home Cooked, scratch kitchen, mixed with traditional European yummys. The dish that really tickled my fancy was the fish and chips. This beauty was something I would’ve expected to find at a Pub in the UK. Plated on a bed of fries was a massive, and perfectly breaded piece of fish. I couldn’t tell you where they sourced these huge pieces of Cod from, but it really doesn’t matter—it was sensational.
I then ordered a few more thangs….
In standard fashion, it was far more than I could handle, but thats just how I roll. FOMO is a real thing and I suffer immensely from it. The first thing that stood out to me were the ‘Pub Fries’. These were a massive pile of Fries (obviously) topped with corned beef, melted cheese and Guinness Gravy. The gravy took this to a whole new level. It was like Irish Poutine, and it was perfect.
After that I had to get one of their famous pies. I opted to order their most popular, the Steak and Ale Pie. This was a comfort meal for sure. It was loaded with everything you could need on a cold winter night; braised beef, potatoes, onions, carrots, celery and traditional Scottish ale. Its finished off with the perfect, crispy puff pasty top, and baked to golden perfection. 
After that, I ordered a burger (I’m always on the prowl for the best Burger that this world has to offer) and a Chicken Caesar Salad that I was taking home for Tasha. The Burger, which was their most basic one on the menu, was just that(Basic). Next time ill try the William Wallace burger, but for this visit I wanted to judge how their standard Cheese Burger measured up. It was mediocre. Nothing memorable, which is fine because that means it wasn’t horrible or fantastic. The Salad–was a salad. It got the job done, and again, Tasha said it was tasty, but nothing more. She ate it all, and she was happy afterwards, so thats a job well done.
Overall I am very excited to come back. I didn’t drink at all, or experience any live music because I was there at a peculiar hour, so Ill have to update this after the next visit. This was strictly a food visit. I am also eager to try more menu options, they definitely know what they are doing as far as food goes.
Until Next Time,
-Buddy
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