My favorites (based solely on beer) in order.
1. McHales - Good beers (Apollo Pale Ale was voted best APA in Chattanooga - the stout is also well done and he rotates in new styles on the regular). They also cater to the local homebrew club each month which makes me a bit biased and the brewmaster is a HBT member and all around good guy (Budzu).
The cons: It's a smoking establishment, food is below average IMO (standard bar food - chicken fingers, etc) but not bad. They must have some deal with a karaoke / Guitar Hero company as there is always a shifty looking fellow queuing up his fav Guitar Hero songs...
2. Big River Grille - Solid brew line up and the only one in town making both lagers and ales. Seven States Pils FTW. Great food at moderate prices, upscale atmosphere - smoke free etc.
3. Terminal Brewhouse - Best food of the bunch IMO (most original / local anyway) and the beers are OK IMO. The Terminally Pale Ale is probably the best of them, but when they try to make a hop forward beer (IPA, India Brown, etc) they have yet to hit the mark, like they are forced to rush beers out early...
4. Chattanooga Brewing Company: nice guy, but the beers I've tried thus far have yet to impress. I tried the IPA and Imperial Pils back when he was 1st starting out (may have improved since) and then tried what I'm guessing was a pepper beer he made for a local Mexican food place and couldn't finish it. YMMV.
5. Moccasin Bend Brewing: They recently won an ward for best wheat beer in Chattanooga. The owner fancies himself a performance artist of brewing or something along those lines and kind of tries to play the Dogfish role (different fruit, spice, flavored brews) , but most of them just aren't for me.