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We've compiled the best of the best in The North Carolina Mountains - browse our top choices for the top things to see or do during your stay.
The best place to eat in Bryson City, this wood-paneled bistro serves hearty dinner entrées like mountain trout with quinoa and brown rice or meatloaf made from four different locally sourced specialty meats. The dining room is a rustic yet elegant space in a 1908 building that formerly housed Bryson City Bank. If you're not staying at the hotel, make reservations at least a week in advance.
Cocktails and burgers achieve sublimity at this temple of ground meat, be it locally raised bison, the game of the month, or a 50/50 blend of emu and chorizo. Infusions like beet vodka and bacon fat bourbon ensure that the creations from behind the bar rival those from the kitchen. A log cabin interior packed with curios (and classic Pac-Man on the back porch) sets a friendly tone that's matched by the good-humored service.
Don't tell anyone else, but Ilda may be North Carolina's best restaurant west of Asheville. Owners Santiago and Crystal defected from New York to Crystal's hometown during the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving behind Michelin stars to chase their dream of a community-driven Italian restaurant without pretension. House-made pastas are divine, and the cocktail program—highlighted by a series of infused limoncellos—is world-class. The team also owns the adjacent Santé wine bar and a quietly wonderful pizza joint across the street, Meatballs.
Family-owned and friendly, this no-frills lunch buffet is the place for soul food in the Asheville area. Load your plate with fried chicken, catfish, and pork chops, but leave room for classics like collards and mac and cheese.
For an unparalleled experience that will leave you stuffed with Southern goodness, brave the line outside this throwback restaurant (open since 1959 in a former hospital building surrounded by a picket fence and flowers) serving fried chicken, country-fried steak, country ham biscuits, mashed potatoes, green beans, and banana pudding. Platters are delivered to your table family-style, and it's all-you-can-eat for the price of admission.
Lulu's feels old-school—there are old-timey quilts hanging from the walls—but the food is decidedly forward-thinking, from the Thai chicken soup to the savory meatloaf Manhattan. Vegetarians also feel right at home, thanks to options like a marinated tempeh sandwich with kimchi and Szechuan sauce at lunchtime.
This newcomer to Cherokee's dining options was an immediate hit, with entrées like roasted blackberry chicken and peanut-crusted trout with shrimp Florentine sauce that go beyond much of the basic fare available in town. They outsource their Native Brews label, but it's the place to find a craft IPA or stout in a place that only legalized alcohol sales in 2021.
Set in a charming 1861 farmhouse just "over yonder" from Mast General, this approachable restaurant serves inspired takes on Appalachian food like tomato cobbler, grilled meatloaf, and pan-fried rainbow trout with sweet potatoes. Sit inside the historic rooms or on the wraparound porch.
Chef-owned and globally inspired, this approachable mainstay serves creative regional entrées like local trout with grits and lobster sauce alongside rabbit-and-crawfish gumbo and chicken curry. Sit on the covered patio fronting a quiet alley or inside the soaring brick-walled dining room.
This casual restaurant serves delicious Southern comfort food like country fried steak, shrimp and grits, and blackberry barbecue short ribs. Business bustles at lunchtime for favorites like the pimento cheese fried chicken club.
Thin-crust pizzas made from organic flour are the specialty at this lively eatery that also serves a range of creative pasta and entrees like a roasted root bowl. Try out eclectic pizza toppings like roasted salmon, butternut squash, and sweet onion marmalade. The open-air patio is especially popular.
Although the menu ranges from garam masala curry to sweet potato enchiladas to meatloaf with mashed potatoes, Wild Craft's common denominators are responsible, local sourcing and creativity in the kitchen. Much of the menu accommodates vegans and gluten-free diners, but every dish remains flavor-forward. Sit inside the small dining room or on the covered patio out front.
Robbinsville's best restaurant is a chef-owned gem serving specialties like local mountain trout with lemon-caper butter sauce and a grilled ribeye. Seating is inside and on the porch of a historic home.
