"It might appeal to anyone who just wants to come in and enjoy a nice place to go after dinner." That's Alice Basler, describing Wells Tavern to Let's Be Blount in late August. She and Eric Chadwell built the Scottish pub on East Broadway.
Chadwell put the gap in plain terms: "There was a real kind of void for a certain kind of place made for people of a certain age that don't want it to be super loud. We felt that was the missing element." Downtown Maryville had places to eat. What it didn't have was the hour after dinner. In 2026, a handful of openings started filling that hour, and this fall's calendar gives you plenty of reasons to use it.
The Pub That Took Two Years to Open
Wells Tavern sits at 114 E. Broadway Ave., between Two Doors Down and Brackins Blues Club, in one of downtown Maryville's oldest buildings. It was built in 1887 and expanded in 1906. Knox News reported on Sept. 9 that the pub was set to open Sept. 19, after Chadwell and Basler spent nearly two years renovating the building. The same story described a 2,400-square-foot pub on three floors, with a rooftop bar, a snug and live music. Chadwell told Let's Be Blount the music might not start for six months or more. A snug is the small enclosed booth that traditional pubs built for private meetings, or for regulars who'd rather not be seen. Even Chadwell needed it explained. "I had that same confused look on my face when she mentioned a snug," he told Knox News.
Before opening, the hours Let's Be Blount printed ran late for downtown Maryville: until 11 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, midnight on Friday and Saturday, and 9 p.m. on Sunday, closed Monday and Tuesday. Those were planned hours. Check the pub's current schedule before you build a Friday around it. The same goes for the rooftop, which Let's Be Blount called downtown Maryville's first real rooftop bar. It's part of the design, but we haven't seen a report confirming it's serving yet.
Most restaurants are trying to be the main event. Wells is set up as the second stop, the place you go once the check is paid. Several other 2026 openings play the same role.
The Rest of the Evening, Stop by Stop
Here's how the newer downtown spots fit into a night out:
| Stop | Address | Where it fits in an evening |
|---|---|---|
| Pinchy's Lobster & Raw Bar | 508 High St. | Dinner, plus a big outdoor space with live music |
| DSB Provisions | Greenway Village, on the Maryville-Alcoa Greenway | Dinner, starting from the greenway |
| Wells Tavern | 114 E. Broadway Ave. | Drinks and conversation after dinner |
| The Armory | 496 Ellis Ave. | Games, two bars, rooftop deck |
| Daisy's Non-Alcoholic Bar & Bottle Shop | 608 Ellis Ave. | Mocktails, games, live music, no alcohol |
| Foxhole Golf Club | Greenway Village | Golf, indoors and after dark |
Pinchy's is the third location for owner Nick DiBartolomeo, after Sevierville and Boerne, Texas. He described Maryville to WhatNow as "a homecoming of sorts." It has more than 200 indoor and outdoor seats and an 8,000-square-foot outdoor gathering space next to its sister restaurant, The Walnut Kitchen. The restaurant's Maryville page lists outdoor-stage music Thursday through Sunday, weather permitting. Posted hours run to 10 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and 9 p.m. the other nights. That outdoor space means dinner can turn into a whole evening without leaving the block.
DSB Provisions began as a farmers market stand known for handmade pasta. Owner Dustin Busby worked at Blackberry Farm for years, and his family raises the chickens whose eggs go into the pasta. The brick-and-mortar restaurant is in Greenway Village, James Tomiczek's development along the Maryville-Alcoa Greenway near City Hall. The Daily Times placed the site between Gary Hensley Drive and Pistol Creek. Busby told WBIR why he likes the spot: "It's built into the Greenway. For us, in Italy and France, and when you go out to eat over in Europe, walking is such a big part of the culture, especially eating there, and it's so fantastic you can incorporate that here." Foxhole Golf Club, Studio P Pilates and Great American Cookies are open in the same development.
The Armory opened July 20 with 27,000 square feet of space. It has duckpin bowling, digital darts, a nine-hole putting course, shuffleboard, bocce and ValoArena mixed reality, which tracks your movements without a headset or controller. A restaurant, two bars and a rooftop deck round it out. For a group, that's another after-dinner option, and one that doesn't depend on the weather.
Daisy's is a few doors down Ellis Avenue at 608. Owners Lindsay and Trent Elsten opened it in November 2025, and the ribbon cutting followed in January. The menu covers handcrafted mocktails, nonalcoholic beer and wine, kombucha and casual food, with board games at the bar. Let's Be Blount reported in September that a band called Little Things is set to become the house act, playing two Thursdays a month. Daisy's covers the second stop for anyone skipping alcohol, so the whole table has somewhere to go.
Why So Much Opened at Once
Long timelines explain why so many openings landed in 2026. Wells needed nearly two years inside a building that dates to 1887. Basler, a designer who has renovated some 26 homes for resale in Fort Sanders, told Let's Be Blount, "This is just on a bigger scale. The construction part for me is nothing."
Greenway Village opened in phases. Tomiczek told WBIR he'd have 13 businesses on site once a building still under construction was finished, and seven of them would be new start-ups. The slow pace shows up on West Broadway too. The parcel at 205 W. Broadway Ave. has been earmarked since 2019, when the City of Maryville transferred it to Grassy Knoll, LLC, for a shopping center called West Broadway Commons that never got built. Projects that started years ago are finishing this year.
Dates on the Fall Calendar
The fall calendar adds plenty of early-evening events that end right around dinner or drinks:
- Oct. 2–25: The Scottie Scavenger Hunt, run by Maryville College with Downtown Maryville.
- Oct. 10: The Magic of Motown at the Clayton Center for the Arts.
- Oct. 15–18: Maryville College's production of Detroit at the Clayton Center. Chi-Town Transit Authority plays there Oct. 15.
- Oct. 23–25: Maryville College Homecoming.
- Oct. 27: Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock LIVE.
- Oct. 29–31: Appalachian Ballet's Dracula.
- Oct. 30, 5–8 p.m.: The Spooktacular Extravaganza on West Broadway. Trick-or-treating, games and watching the dog-costume contest are free, and entering a pet costs $5.
- Nov. 8, 3 p.m.: The U.S. Air Force Band of Mid-America's Shades of Blue Jazz Ensemble, 18 professional enlisted musicians playing everything from big band to bebop. Tickets are free but required, with a limit of four per household.
Spooktacular gives the clearest example. It ends at 8 p.m. on a Friday on West Broadway, and Wells planned to stay open until midnight on Fridays over on East Broadway. A family evening can end where the adults' evening starts. The Clayton Center dates work the same way. Before 2026, dinner and a show meant either heading home afterward or driving somewhere else for a drink. Now there are options downtown.
Still in the Works
Two projects could add to this next year. The Maryville Downtown Design Review Board unanimously approved plans for an 8,000-square-foot building at 205 W. Broadway Ave., across from Broadway Towers, for a 256-seat restaurant tentatively named Tattooed Taco. It would have an enclosed rooftop bar on top. The approval is contingent: the architects must present revised window plans before the east-facing wall is finished. No opening date has been announced.
At Greenway Village, Tomiczek told the board that Gather, a home décor, gift and apparel shop that has been in Knoxville's Bearden area for years, is moving into a downstairs space. A wellness business, a massage business and a hair salon are planned upstairs. Gather announced on Jan. 27 that it was closing its Homberg location. A Maryville opening date hasn't been published.
For a broader look at weekends here, our Maryville trails, dining and mountain access guide covers the outdoor side, and the Maryville neighborhood page has the bigger picture.
If you live near downtown and want to know how this new evening scene affects what your home is worth, Pam Owen can walk you through recent sales nearby, without any pressure. Start with a free home valuation.
