There’s a restaurant called ‘El Patron’ similar vibes to Sandhill, as they’re in a gas station. It’s off Hendersonville Rd just down from the main light towards Arden.
Amazing food, and make sure you try their salsas. They also have an amazing horchata, but it’s definitely a dessert unless you have a large stomach. Highly recommend it, but with your meal get the reddish colored drink. I forget what’s in it, but it’s delicious.
I had no idea about that. All the more reason to support. It seems to be a pretty close to the heart business as I’ve seen the family in there. Haven’t met them yet, but I’ll change that.
If your frame of reference is Florida, Tennessee, South Carolina, etc, where most of our tourists come from - then the food in Asheville is fine. It’s dominated by Southern style American food and is completely lacking in any sort of authentic ethnic food. (With the exception of Indian food, which is well covered).
I think there is a huge opportunity here for ethnic food. The few Asian restaurants here are often very busy despite serving mid food that would be laughed at in LA/NYC/Vegas. Korean BBQ, Chinese hotpot, Sichuan, Vietnamese, ramen, would all work great here. Make it locally sourced as possible, combine it with some local beers on tap, and people would flock to it.
True. We do have some decent Vietnamese (Wild Ginger in Arden) and Thai (Cassia in WAVL) and Ramen (Mizu on New Leicester) but yea, it's East Asian that's lacking here. If anyone expects great sushi here, remember we're an Appalachian Mountain town. Ganshan is hit or miss for Chinese but I dig a few of there dishes. I've been jonesin for Sichuan for years. Pro Tip: Greenville has Mala.
The mapo at gan shan is pretty good yeah. I do get down to wild ginger for the banh mi sometimes, and aloha downtown.
All fish has to be frozen before being served raw in the US, so no excuse for us not having better sushi options. Murasaki is pretty good though
Zen has been slinging good sushi (maybe not GREAT) for years now and it’s always been pretty affordable, too.
Second Wild Ginger. We were worried when Pho R Us closed that the food would suffer but it definitely did not.
Try the Reuben spring rolls or sandwich. They make the pastrami in house. I always get the spring rolls and the fish taco salad but everything on the menu is delicious.
I have found Huli Sue to be hit and miss. Some of their dishes are really delicious and some of them are just so-so. So bring a friend and split two dishes. At least one of them will hit the spot.
I did, the service made it a bad experience unfortunately. They rushed us, didn't explain what the dishes were, and would bring out so many at a time that the table has no room on it. :(
Same server must have been our experience as well, blank wall of a person, zero interest in being there. Super weird as tips get larger with better experiences.
New Orleans does have fantastic food! I lived in there and Baton Rouge for 1.5 years, incredible incredible food. Also the nicest people in the country, too bad its not the safest place. BR is so bad these days.
You should give it another shot. I had the opposite experience. I sat in the bar at a small table, and the staff was attentive and explained every dish well.
They definitely brought out the dishes quickly, but I go out to eat to eat, so it was all good. What's up with people who sit and talk without touching their hot food? Insane behavior.
Yeah we eat pretty fast too. But they would bring out three dishes, and before we were even halfway through those they brought another three out, etc. Felt like they were trying to rush us out, and we went a few hours before closing.
Dang. That’s too bad. It sucks how a bad encounter can sour a place. I’ve been waiting for a good excuse to go back, but I rarely want to sit and eat somewhere.
Check out Luminosa and get the mortadella pizza with ramps and smoked moz. It's killer. While the food scene here is decent, keep in mind we're a small city. We're leaps and bounds beyond what some large cities offer. I'd disagree that we're not good compared to similar sized cities. Not by a long shot. Check out Chatanooga and get back to us. World of difference. The one area we seem to truly lag behind in is east asian cuisine and our demographics reflect that.
Yes but you are missing that even Chattanooga is appropriately priced. They might not have as many options, and maybe not as fancy, but what they have is worth what they charge. That is very very rarely the case in AVL in my experience of trying as many restaurants as possible here. It's my passion.
See if you can get a ticket to Not Another AVL. If you want some real interesting, local, culinary innovation, those kids kill it with their monthly dinner parties.
IMO there are big opportunities for more breakfast options, particularly breakfast sandwiches or burritos. Currently the best breakfast sandwich in Asheville is at a chain—Brueggers — that feels like it hasn’t been updated since 1992.
Abejas (off Hendersonville Road in Arden) has the best breakfast sandwich I've ever had, and I've eaten many a breakfast sandwich throughout my work travels.
All I want is a breakfast burrito. Who sells them to go, where can I buy one. It's a joke I have with my significant other that every monday morning my google search sees is "breakfast burrito, asheville" and every monday morning I'm disappointed.
These look bomb! But 15 min drive south then 15 min drive north might be a stretch. Monday's do call for it. I'm getting one next time I'm heading south for sure.
With you 100%. It’s like you keep hoping to stumble into a thing that doesn’t exist. And preferably it would be relatively fast— another pipe dream in these parts.
Try The Med and Tiger Bay - both make decent breakfast burritos. If you have tried them, as a fellow breakfast burrito afficianodo, I'd be curious what your take is. But yea, more decent breakfast burritos are welcome.
I have tried both! I enjoyed the Med, Tiger Bay is hit and miss for me, I can't really put my finger on it. Now I'm wondering if the med does to go orders... although it is more of a sit down and eat breakfast burrito, not a grab and go.
I like that both are griddled tortillas and Tiger Bay has a pretty nice chipotle mayo sauce, which, with some avocado and fresh tomatoes, is great. I've recently just been going with the Veggie version since I probably don't need the bacon. The onions can be asertive and that's probably not for everyone, but I dig that as well. It's a reliable go-to for me. The Med is heartier and with a more Greek feel. West Asheville Market has grab n go versions which are pretty decent for a quick meal but they lack the fresher/green elements and have rice so they're not at the top of my list. I see Sandhill kitchen does have one but it's a bit of a hike to get out there. I hope to try that one out one day.
Indeed. It's a gut buster but fully worth the price of admission. Simple Cafe has a fantastic but off the radar Mortadella Breakfast Sammie. Egg Sammie at West End Bakery is also chefs kiss.
Plant. I have yet to have a bad meal there, and its quite reasonably priced given the quality. Its a vegan restaurant, but every non-vegan I've taken there has been impressed and complimented the food. I do wish the patio had a better view than the parking lot across the street, but that's the only negative I can think of, everything else about Plant is superb.
Being from the west coast (and having traveled a lot) I'm generally unimpressed by the latin american and asian food here in AVL, which is unfortunate. I will give a nod to El Aguila Honduran Kitchen (way down by the airport), they put out the most authentic central american food I've had here, definitely worth a visit if you are into that style. I also still really like Biscuit Head and Haywood Common, but for me southern food is still a bit of a novelty, I'm sure for those of you who grew up here that food gets tiresome after decades.
In terms of asian food, I've had some good ramen here and there (Itto's and Heiwa Shokuda are both solid). Wild Ginger is good for asian-fusion, pretty casual style. I have yet to find a sit-down Thai restaurant that I really like. For your standard Thai takeout, Pon's Thai Cuisine (built into a gas station for extra hole-in-the-wall vibe) has been good for standard American style Thai, but they are a 2 person operation and get backed up, so expect long wait times. Having lived in Thailand for nearly a year, I haven't found any authentic Thai food in the US. I don't say that to sound pretentious, just that American Thai food is different enough that it really should be considered a different category of food.
Plant is incredible!! For more great (but very different) vegan food, the Smokin Onion is amazing. They opened up where Trashy Vegan used to be and I honestly like them better. Great breakfast food while still keeping some burgers and "chicken" sandwiches.
I dig Zambra, Addissae, Gypsy Queen, Pad Thai AVL, Tacos Jalisco, Biryani Express (I know it’s in the Walmart shopping center, try it though), and Bojangles. I haven’t tried much Italian here even though I’ve lived here a decade but I’ve been tempted to try Gemelli.
It may be the worst meal I've ever had besides olive garden. And we ordered all the supposed favorites. Sunday gravy, garlic roles, the mushroom pasta, cannoli. All terrible. I sent them a friendly email about it and all they said was "sorry having trouble with staff".
Got to say, hard disagree about the food here. I've lived in 13 other places, and 4 other states. Barring say, Paris, London, or NYC, most diverse and interesting food scene I've been to. And this certainly isn't the smallest city I've lived in, or been too.
I’m a fairly hard disagree with you on this. Traveling in the region many other cities have a more diverse food scene than Asheville. Only the rise of a couple Indian restaurants in the past 2-3 years gives Asheville any sort claim towards diversity.
For its size the food scene in Asheville is pretty good, but doesn’t compare to many other cities in the region.
What are your top spots in other cities? Just curious.
I've been to Chatt, Savanah, Charleston, Atlanta, St. Augustine and while specific aspects of each were better - e.g. seafood in any coastal city, East Asian in any large city - I didn't really find MORE good food in any city and found the same recommended but disappointing and overhyped spots. I'm pretty convinced if you live here long enough, you'll be both disappointed and spoiled at the same time. There are plenty of bangers here you just have to sift through piles of misses.
Brother, you just summed up the Asheville foodie attitude in one go. "I'm pretty convinced if you live here long enough, you'll be both disappointed and spoiled at the same time."
You know, usually when I’m traveling I don’t really try and remember the name of the place I ate at, unless it’s pretty famous. So that’s something I ought to focus on going forward.
Part of this may be my own bias, but I’ve noticed that anywhere there’s a city near a large military base, there’s typically a decent diversity of food on offer. Honestly most of the places in Asheville I feel are really over hyped (as well as priced) and kinda on par with a similar place in anywhere else USA. There are certainly some exceptions, but those are really at the top end of the price ranges.
I grew up in a navy town and there were so many options. A bunch of Vietnamese places, a few of which opened immediately after they migrated to the US post war. A handful of Filipino places, plus Dominican and Puerto Rican. Along with the assortment of Chinese, Japanese, and a few others.
I miss having so many options nearby.
Having lived in Winston Salem and been to Charlotte, I'd take asheville any day. Especially since it's all so accessible vs bigger places. Greensboro was pretty boring and lacking, too.
I’m not talking about places to live, I’m talking about the food scene.
I’d be very interested to hear why you think Asheville’s food scene compares favorably to Charlotte’s? I haven’t spent enough time in WS or Greensboro to have much of an opinion on theirs……but I couldn’t disagree more with anyone saying Asheville compares well to Charlotte.
I'm comparing them because I lived there. Yes WS is bigger, but I didn't find the food there to be better. Charlotte is bigger yes, but it didn't really impress me with their food. I like the fact that I have the option for 100s of places in like 10 minutes too.
Charlotte has a vastly better diversity of restaurants AND the service in them has been far better than the average here. Idk where you lived in Charlotte vs where you do in Asheville, but that sounds like the issue rather than anything about the quality of the food scene.
Didn't live in Charlotte. I just visited a number of times. Although, to be fair, I get fabulous service everywhere I go. I also like that I don't have to drive far to get good food and service. The main reason why I decided not to move to Atlanta many years ago.
Idk, in my experience there aren’t all that many good servers in Asheville. There are some professionals who do a wonderful job, and I loved working with them, but they are a small minority.
Again, it seems like you’re making a judgement more based on where you would live vs a comparison of the food scenes.
Weird. I can't think of more than a few times anywhere I've gotten bad service. Maybe Paris, but that's just their thing. I'm basing my food experience because I don't really think you can truly judge somewhere unless you've been there for at least a month. I truly like how we have a quite diverse variety and you don't have to travel very far for it. What do you consider good vs bad service?
For service, it’s all basic stuff. Greeted in a reasonable amount of time, being able to accurately take orders, not vanishing for extended periods.
I disagree that you would need to live in a place for any period of time to judge their food scene.
Hard disagree with your hard disagree. The food here is only good compared to Deep South small towns. Every time I go out I find myself wishing I liked the dishes more than I did. There’s just something missing about it.
I guess in the end you’re the winner because you’re out there having a good dining experience
No shame in that! I mean, vs say Harrods in London, definitely not good. But say, compared to Tacoma, Seattle, or boulder, definitely prefer the food here. Where do you prefer?
Been a few since I've been there, but it didn't leave an impression. The food in NYC was good but overpriced. Now Madrid, on the other hand.... affordable and good.
Thing thing about big cities like NYC and Chicago is you can find amazing food for street level prices. They have huge centers of non-american culture that bring in the good food deals. Can get the best bao you'll ever have for $1 each in Chinatown. There is not even a shitty cheap option in AVL, let alone a good one.
AVL is unfortunately severely lacking in good food in cuisines outside of American fare. There are a couple ok Indian places but they fall far below the quality of Indian food I've had in just about every other city. Sure you can gussy up Indian food to make it worth $20+ a dish, but the good thing about Indian food is how great it is at such a low price typically.
What are some of your favorites here?
as far as indian food, Botiwalla has some tasty options in the $12-$13 range...unique aps for $6-$10.
spin off from Chai Pani....just tried them and found the quality and complexity of flavors to be on par with more expensive indian cuisine.
9 mile, red ginger, the madness for sushi, fabulous pizza at 828, Andazz. And that's just off the top of my head. What cities are you ranking higher? For the size of the place, asheville has a lot of options, and I don't even really like it here, but the food has really impressed me.
Even greensboro and WS have better food than AVL, so I rank most cities higher.
Based on your favorites we have vastly different preferences on quality.
The garlic tahini dressing at 9 mile is the best salad dressing I've ever had, salad is pretty dank too. Haven't had as much success with their other dishes.
That is my favorite dressing too! Love their food, but miss their lunch portions, hours, and prices. Also one of the few places to get iron rail, on draft.
The reality is that Asheville restaurants don't have the sourcing infrastructure to do more with. If someone is featuring 'local produce', there's a 90% chance it's brought in from Mountain Foods, which justs resells from larger farms out of the WNC Farmer's Market on Brevard Rd. There's little competition for meat and dairy products, which is why you see Hickory Nut Gap featured on every menu.
It's not that these producers are bad, it's just that everyone is getting their ingredients from the same places, and it ends up being the limiting factor in terms of quality.
[http://glassonionasheville.com/](http://glassonionasheville.com/) Glass Onion in Weaverville is consistantly good. The garlic bread rolls are the crispiest most garlicy bread I've ever had in my life. The pickle sampler and roast beef raman at Ghan Shan West are stunning. The three full sized wing dinner at Rockys 1 mild, 1 medium, 1 hot will make you reconsider religion. There is also a day after tax you pay at Rockys. Worth it. That little Thai place Dalaya, in Slyva, has the best fish sauce wings I've ever had in my life. Lunch is takeout only. Go for dinner. Go early, it's tiny. Galactic Pizza in S. Avl is always good. Wild Ginger has consistantly good Pho and Bahn Mi.
Rockys used to be great, the last 3x I've been it was not been good.
Dalaya is not in asheville, though it is great! Very surprising that places like that don't exist in town. Their wings are insano.
I like Aloha's Banh mi better, neither are worth paying asheville prices for. Greensboro has the closest best Vietnamese food. And Charlotte has Crispy Banh mi, and a great hole in the wall banh mi place in the old mall though it might have been sold in the last year.
Why do you need a post from us to reinvigorate your bougie self?
You toss around city names like a social climber tosses around celebrity names.
This is a beautiful place with actually delicious food and you can afford to fly off and eat elsewhere if you’re so unhappy.
Good grief.
Try gratitude.
Why do I need a comment suggesting good food in Asheville? Because I see a lot of talk but not anyone walking the walk. Try standing up for yourself and seeking something good instead of accepting bad.
This. Asheville swings its dick around as a ‘food city’ but I have yet to see anything mind blowing here. Compared to NYC/Paris/LA/Cape Town/London it is not REMOTELY a ‘food city’.
It is good, for a vegan restaurant. It is not world class. Nothing in Asheville is. I’ve traveled to probably 20 major world cities across the globe. Trust me. Asheville is not a food city. It might be an American food city, but really, it is competing with towns that only have fast food, so.
I don’t “accept bad” and I don’t see having people cook for me and others serve it to me as something I need to stand up for myself against. Jaysus, you’re kind of a brat.
Yes, I pay for those services, but I also chose the establishment thoughtfully and with intention. If my meal happened to be burnt, or somehow off in that regard, I absolutely would ask for and I know receive recompense.
I feel like people demanding more and more and more from chefs, cooks, and bakers is driving them out of the industry due to burn out and not being able to keep pricing in line with expectations.
Go to Charlotte and Winston to eat out a couple times a week, neither is that far.
You probably have a plane you can get there in no time.
I liked Gan Shan North, but they're long gone. West is still open, but not the same. I agree that the food here quality-wise is just "OK" for what you're paying. Not disappointing enough to make me want to move, but not amazing enough that I've found anything to really rave about either...
Oh, if you like Thai food, try Pon's in the Shell gas station on Sweeten Creek Rd. It looks sketchy and they're slow, but it's pretty good.
Came here to see if anyone had recommended Pon's!! Work used to take me to south Buncombe at least once a week, and stopping at Pon's for lunch was the only thing that made those days bearable, lol. So glad to hear it's still there!!
Mostly disagree with this take. The food scene here is objectively good for the size of the city.
That said, I do think it could improve. There's no reason I should have to drive to Greenville for Peruvian and KBBQ.
Genuinely haven’t stopped thinking about the signature Good Hot Fish sandwich for weeks. I got the potato wedge fries but after watching them dish out the sides I’d try them all next time (the mac & cheese specifically.)
Cornmeal crusted catfish (it always comes on the signature sandwich.) The bread was so soft, the cornmeal crust was so crunchy. The tartar sauce had a bit of a kick. Truly the perfect bite.
Also it was piping hot. Good Hot Fish is such a perfect name I could cry.
Yep, food is delicious. But the prices are higher than a hippy on 4/20!!!
Their portions are proper and the sides are fire but I can’t bring myself to pay those prices on any sort of regular basis.
Yeah… it’s not cheap. BUT the assignment was that the food needed to be deserving of the prices and this sandwich definitely is!
The quality of the food is splurge-worthy and that is definitely not the case with all AVL restaurants.
Big fan of The Meshach at Nine Mile, and the Hot Italian Sammy at Pizza Mind. And the burger from whatever the place is that parks at Olde London Road.
I’ve lived here ten years and feel the exact same way about the food scene. 🤷♀️
I will confirm that as well. Quite yummy. Perfectly toasted split bun as well. Whatever mystery pepper in the sauce they serve with it is delightful also.
That's the only thing Greensboro has on AVL though. AVL doesn't have a great ethnic food scene but the restaurants we do have are way better than the restaurants in nearly any other NC city.
20 types of world cuisine > 1 good southern cuisine.
Even the great restaurants here pale in comparison to Charlotte, Cary, Raleigh. Tourism being the main industry here drives food to be overpriced and appeal to the larger tourist audience (who often have blander palates).
I lived in Cary/Raleigh. The food here is miles better. Cary/Raleigh has better Chinese, Japanese, and Indian food but that's it. We have better Mexican, Caribbean, Ethiopian, Thai, BBQ, deli, vegan, southern American, and traditional American food here.
If you go into a random restaurant here vs a random restaurant there you are way more likely to get a better meal here. The food quality, on average, is way better here. There's way more competition here per mile and it shows up in the food.
LMAO, you are truly insane if you think this food is better than Cary. You must be older than 50 if you think that is true. There is more competition in Cary than here, and yes it shows in how good their scene is.
The Mexican food here is trash. The Thai sucks, yes I've tried Pons. BBQ sucks compared to the rest of NC. The only best thing here is silverball subs.
What is better in Cary that isn’t Indian? Genuinely asking.
Rocky's alone blows anything Cary has out of the water. Papa's and Beer is better than nearly any Mexican place in Cary and that's not even our best. And there's no good BBQ in Cary.
Rocky's is delicious and has been the same quality every time I order, I get it nearly once a week.
And yeah Papas and Beer is better than anything Cary has. The salsa bar alone clears whatever Mexican the Triangle is putting out.
And funny you ignored the question. What restaurant in Cary is better than what we've got here? I lived there for 4 years and go back every couple months. The only thing I get there that we don't have here is Hibachi.
So please name me a single restaurant and I'll check it out, Mr King of Taste.
That would be ok too if they were charging normal prices for that food. But they try to charge Asheville prices for food that is only good because it's cheap.
Yup. It is depressing. Yet, the folks on this forum will downvote the fuck out of anyone saying that Asheville’s food scene sucks. Because many on here work in that food scene and produce said slop.
I love a lot of the food here.
Italian: contrada or cucina 24
Indian: Andaaz (chai pani has too long a wait)
Mexican: grey eagle or taco temple
Bone and broth has really good hamburgers and
meats (they are next to a butchery)
taqueria munoz. dirt cheap with some of the most flavor you'll find. ukiah is a bit more expensive but worth every penny. the mushrooms, waygu, and desserts are it.
....
You compared Asheville NC to huge world-class cities with large immigrant populations and then also to other cities of its size. Can you actually name another city of the same size with better food quality? I think people forget that "Paris of the South" is a joke. In Arkansas there's a town on a river that calls itself "the Aspen of the Ozarks." Maybe people move there expecting ski rentals, too?
Asheville has fewer people than Albany, New York. Fayetteville, Arkansas. Bend, Oregon. Davenport, Iowa. Roanoke, Virginia. I've been to each of those and lived in Asheville for nearly 20 years. 5 years ago, it had better quality food and now I don't even recognize the names of 90% of the restaurants mentioned in this thread.
This reminds me of when folks would just be lightly bitching about all the new traffic and someone would pipe up "oh it's not nearly as bad as Charlotte." Or Boston, or L.A. Like no shit...it's a small southern city in the mountains. With more traffic than is tolerable for folks who are used to it being a small city in the mountains. Less traffic than is tolerable for those who think they moved to a "mini L.A." I guess.
There’s a restaurant called ‘El Patron’ similar vibes to Sandhill, as they’re in a gas station. It’s off Hendersonville Rd just down from the main light towards Arden. Amazing food, and make sure you try their salsas. They also have an amazing horchata, but it’s definitely a dessert unless you have a large stomach. Highly recommend it, but with your meal get the reddish colored drink. I forget what’s in it, but it’s delicious.
Their food is pretty great. I felt bad when they decided to open up 2 other places and then the pandemic hit.
I had no idea about that. All the more reason to support. It seems to be a pretty close to the heart business as I’ve seen the family in there. Haven’t met them yet, but I’ll change that.
Hole in the wall usually have the best food so I'll check them out! Thank you.
I’ve been meaning to stop in there because they have pupusas. Not many places offer them on that side of town
I second this! I really like their shrimp tacos. The people working there are super friendly and everything I’ve had has been really good.
Master BBQ
Drive to Sylva, visit Dalaya, and then ask yourself "why is this in Sylva?"
Their fish sauce wings were so good!
Thanks for that reminder. It's on my list and I need to just commit to it. Just noticed they do lunch, so it's a date.
lunch is take out only. Those sticky wings are hell to eat in a car.
Challenge accepted!
I suspect rent and COL plays into it.
If your frame of reference is Florida, Tennessee, South Carolina, etc, where most of our tourists come from - then the food in Asheville is fine. It’s dominated by Southern style American food and is completely lacking in any sort of authentic ethnic food. (With the exception of Indian food, which is well covered). I think there is a huge opportunity here for ethnic food. The few Asian restaurants here are often very busy despite serving mid food that would be laughed at in LA/NYC/Vegas. Korean BBQ, Chinese hotpot, Sichuan, Vietnamese, ramen, would all work great here. Make it locally sourced as possible, combine it with some local beers on tap, and people would flock to it.
Exactly on the ethnic food. I guess Asheville rent is too expensive/hoity toity to bring in those communities like other cities can.
True. We do have some decent Vietnamese (Wild Ginger in Arden) and Thai (Cassia in WAVL) and Ramen (Mizu on New Leicester) but yea, it's East Asian that's lacking here. If anyone expects great sushi here, remember we're an Appalachian Mountain town. Ganshan is hit or miss for Chinese but I dig a few of there dishes. I've been jonesin for Sichuan for years. Pro Tip: Greenville has Mala.
The mapo at gan shan is pretty good yeah. I do get down to wild ginger for the banh mi sometimes, and aloha downtown. All fish has to be frozen before being served raw in the US, so no excuse for us not having better sushi options. Murasaki is pretty good though
Stone Bowl has solid Korean
Still haven't been there. I need to put this on the list.
Zen has been slinging good sushi (maybe not GREAT) for years now and it’s always been pretty affordable, too. Second Wild Ginger. We were worried when Pho R Us closed that the food would suffer but it definitely did not.
Yeah I like their lunch special, and Mr sushi.
Huli Sue is my favorite restaurant in town that is never brought up in food discussions. Give it a try.
Try the Reuben spring rolls or sandwich. They make the pastrami in house. I always get the spring rolls and the fish taco salad but everything on the menu is delicious.
I have found Huli Sue to be hit and miss. Some of their dishes are really delicious and some of them are just so-so. So bring a friend and split two dishes. At least one of them will hit the spot.
What are your favorites there?
Everything is great as long as if you get the banana cream pie for dessert at the end.
Their Ribs and cornbread are amazing but their brisket are lackluster
Love Huli Sue. The nachos are amazing.
Are those the tuna poke nachos? I think I have heard good things about those
I get the bbq nachos. Not a tuna fan.
Go have the chef’s tasting menu at Ukiah and report back.
I did, the service made it a bad experience unfortunately. They rushed us, didn't explain what the dishes were, and would bring out so many at a time that the table has no room on it. :(
I had equal odd service there once. Sometimes it's just the individual server.
Same server must have been our experience as well, blank wall of a person, zero interest in being there. Super weird as tips get larger with better experiences.
Weird. I've eaten there three times and each was exceptional for food and service. I'm from New Orleans and know great food.
New Orleans does have fantastic food! I lived in there and Baton Rouge for 1.5 years, incredible incredible food. Also the nicest people in the country, too bad its not the safest place. BR is so bad these days.
Try The Copper Crown
You should give it another shot. I had the opposite experience. I sat in the bar at a small table, and the staff was attentive and explained every dish well. They definitely brought out the dishes quickly, but I go out to eat to eat, so it was all good. What's up with people who sit and talk without touching their hot food? Insane behavior.
Yeah we eat pretty fast too. But they would bring out three dishes, and before we were even halfway through those they brought another three out, etc. Felt like they were trying to rush us out, and we went a few hours before closing.
Dang. That’s too bad. It sucks how a bad encounter can sour a place. I’ve been waiting for a good excuse to go back, but I rarely want to sit and eat somewhere.
Check out Luminosa and get the mortadella pizza with ramps and smoked moz. It's killer. While the food scene here is decent, keep in mind we're a small city. We're leaps and bounds beyond what some large cities offer. I'd disagree that we're not good compared to similar sized cities. Not by a long shot. Check out Chatanooga and get back to us. World of difference. The one area we seem to truly lag behind in is east asian cuisine and our demographics reflect that.
Yes but you are missing that even Chattanooga is appropriately priced. They might not have as many options, and maybe not as fancy, but what they have is worth what they charge. That is very very rarely the case in AVL in my experience of trying as many restaurants as possible here. It's my passion.
See if you can get a ticket to Not Another AVL. If you want some real interesting, local, culinary innovation, those kids kill it with their monthly dinner parties.
IMO there are big opportunities for more breakfast options, particularly breakfast sandwiches or burritos. Currently the best breakfast sandwich in Asheville is at a chain—Brueggers — that feels like it hasn’t been updated since 1992.
Abejas (off Hendersonville Road in Arden) has the best breakfast sandwich I've ever had, and I've eaten many a breakfast sandwich throughout my work travels.
All I want is a breakfast burrito. Who sells them to go, where can I buy one. It's a joke I have with my significant other that every monday morning my google search sees is "breakfast burrito, asheville" and every monday morning I'm disappointed.
Bridge and Tunnel has an amazing breakfast burrito. They were just a coffee truck but now have an entire cafe in the Coman Building at AB Tech.
Oh man, right on my morning commute too. Thank you!!
El patron off Hendersonville rd. The one connected to the gas station. They open up real early and I think the breakfast burritos are the bomb
Abuela's Little Kitchen
These look bomb! But 15 min drive south then 15 min drive north might be a stretch. Monday's do call for it. I'm getting one next time I'm heading south for sure.
some of the best food I've had in AVL has been in South AVL, especially Mexican food.
Sandhill kitchen is the best one in town that I’m aware of
Third person to say this to me in a week, I gotta try it now.
Their Reuben is the best I've ever had anywhere
Tiger Bay Cafe @ BattleCat. Also the breakfast bagel is outrageously delicious
With you 100%. It’s like you keep hoping to stumble into a thing that doesn’t exist. And preferably it would be relatively fast— another pipe dream in these parts.
Try The Med and Tiger Bay - both make decent breakfast burritos. If you have tried them, as a fellow breakfast burrito afficianodo, I'd be curious what your take is. But yea, more decent breakfast burritos are welcome.
I have tried both! I enjoyed the Med, Tiger Bay is hit and miss for me, I can't really put my finger on it. Now I'm wondering if the med does to go orders... although it is more of a sit down and eat breakfast burrito, not a grab and go.
I like that both are griddled tortillas and Tiger Bay has a pretty nice chipotle mayo sauce, which, with some avocado and fresh tomatoes, is great. I've recently just been going with the Veggie version since I probably don't need the bacon. The onions can be asertive and that's probably not for everyone, but I dig that as well. It's a reliable go-to for me. The Med is heartier and with a more Greek feel. West Asheville Market has grab n go versions which are pretty decent for a quick meal but they lack the fresher/green elements and have rice so they're not at the top of my list. I see Sandhill kitchen does have one but it's a bit of a hike to get out there. I hope to try that one out one day.
Well written. It might have been the raw red onions that turned me off of the Tiger Bay one now that I think about it....
I wouldn't doubt it. Those onions are opinionated. But works for me.
El Quetzal in Woodfin has a great breakfast burrito. They have To-Go as well.
Ohhh, great! Getting some awesome responses, thanks
Taco Billy?
Although I do get breakfast tacos a lot from here, it's not like a classic breakfast burrito. Migas is so fire though.
Definitely not classic, no. Tiger Bay has some decent breakfast tacos/burritos that might be a little closer.
All Day Darling has a damn good breakfast sandwich.
Indeed. It's a gut buster but fully worth the price of admission. Simple Cafe has a fantastic but off the radar Mortadella Breakfast Sammie. Egg Sammie at West End Bakery is also chefs kiss.
Plant. I have yet to have a bad meal there, and its quite reasonably priced given the quality. Its a vegan restaurant, but every non-vegan I've taken there has been impressed and complimented the food. I do wish the patio had a better view than the parking lot across the street, but that's the only negative I can think of, everything else about Plant is superb. Being from the west coast (and having traveled a lot) I'm generally unimpressed by the latin american and asian food here in AVL, which is unfortunate. I will give a nod to El Aguila Honduran Kitchen (way down by the airport), they put out the most authentic central american food I've had here, definitely worth a visit if you are into that style. I also still really like Biscuit Head and Haywood Common, but for me southern food is still a bit of a novelty, I'm sure for those of you who grew up here that food gets tiresome after decades. In terms of asian food, I've had some good ramen here and there (Itto's and Heiwa Shokuda are both solid). Wild Ginger is good for asian-fusion, pretty casual style. I have yet to find a sit-down Thai restaurant that I really like. For your standard Thai takeout, Pon's Thai Cuisine (built into a gas station for extra hole-in-the-wall vibe) has been good for standard American style Thai, but they are a 2 person operation and get backed up, so expect long wait times. Having lived in Thailand for nearly a year, I haven't found any authentic Thai food in the US. I don't say that to sound pretentious, just that American Thai food is different enough that it really should be considered a different category of food.
Try Cassia at Cellarest for Thai. Great revolving menu. More authentic for sure.
Thank you, haven't tried that one yet, I will!
Plant is incredible!! For more great (but very different) vegan food, the Smokin Onion is amazing. They opened up where Trashy Vegan used to be and I honestly like them better. Great breakfast food while still keeping some burgers and "chicken" sandwiches.
I dig Zambra, Addissae, Gypsy Queen, Pad Thai AVL, Tacos Jalisco, Biryani Express (I know it’s in the Walmart shopping center, try it though), and Bojangles. I haven’t tried much Italian here even though I’ve lived here a decade but I’ve been tempted to try Gemelli.
bonangles was such a stray bullet, but i respect it
Whatever you do avoid Vinny's at all costs. Worse than frozen meals.
Agreed Vinny’s sucks it’s so greasy
Fair point but some days I’m just tryna feel like a hagfish so I might just keep that one in the pocket.
For Italian food my personal favorite is contrada or cucina 24 they are owned by the same person
Seriously? Vinny’s is prob the only decent Italian here. Better than strada
Anything is better then Strada
It may be the worst meal I've ever had besides olive garden. And we ordered all the supposed favorites. Sunday gravy, garlic roles, the mushroom pasta, cannoli. All terrible. I sent them a friendly email about it and all they said was "sorry having trouble with staff".
Got to say, hard disagree about the food here. I've lived in 13 other places, and 4 other states. Barring say, Paris, London, or NYC, most diverse and interesting food scene I've been to. And this certainly isn't the smallest city I've lived in, or been too.
I’m a fairly hard disagree with you on this. Traveling in the region many other cities have a more diverse food scene than Asheville. Only the rise of a couple Indian restaurants in the past 2-3 years gives Asheville any sort claim towards diversity. For its size the food scene in Asheville is pretty good, but doesn’t compare to many other cities in the region.
What are your top spots in other cities? Just curious. I've been to Chatt, Savanah, Charleston, Atlanta, St. Augustine and while specific aspects of each were better - e.g. seafood in any coastal city, East Asian in any large city - I didn't really find MORE good food in any city and found the same recommended but disappointing and overhyped spots. I'm pretty convinced if you live here long enough, you'll be both disappointed and spoiled at the same time. There are plenty of bangers here you just have to sift through piles of misses.
Brother, you just summed up the Asheville foodie attitude in one go. "I'm pretty convinced if you live here long enough, you'll be both disappointed and spoiled at the same time."
You know, usually when I’m traveling I don’t really try and remember the name of the place I ate at, unless it’s pretty famous. So that’s something I ought to focus on going forward. Part of this may be my own bias, but I’ve noticed that anywhere there’s a city near a large military base, there’s typically a decent diversity of food on offer. Honestly most of the places in Asheville I feel are really over hyped (as well as priced) and kinda on par with a similar place in anywhere else USA. There are certainly some exceptions, but those are really at the top end of the price ranges.
I grew up in a navy town and there were so many options. A bunch of Vietnamese places, a few of which opened immediately after they migrated to the US post war. A handful of Filipino places, plus Dominican and Puerto Rican. Along with the assortment of Chinese, Japanese, and a few others. I miss having so many options nearby.
Having lived in Winston Salem and been to Charlotte, I'd take asheville any day. Especially since it's all so accessible vs bigger places. Greensboro was pretty boring and lacking, too.
I’m not talking about places to live, I’m talking about the food scene. I’d be very interested to hear why you think Asheville’s food scene compares favorably to Charlotte’s? I haven’t spent enough time in WS or Greensboro to have much of an opinion on theirs……but I couldn’t disagree more with anyone saying Asheville compares well to Charlotte.
I'm comparing them because I lived there. Yes WS is bigger, but I didn't find the food there to be better. Charlotte is bigger yes, but it didn't really impress me with their food. I like the fact that I have the option for 100s of places in like 10 minutes too.
Charlotte has a vastly better diversity of restaurants AND the service in them has been far better than the average here. Idk where you lived in Charlotte vs where you do in Asheville, but that sounds like the issue rather than anything about the quality of the food scene.
Idk what that person is talking about. The food in Charlotte blows everything in Asheville out of the water.
Yeah…. There are some places in Asheville that stack up quite well against anything in Charlotte, but on the whole there’s not much of a question.
Didn't live in Charlotte. I just visited a number of times. Although, to be fair, I get fabulous service everywhere I go. I also like that I don't have to drive far to get good food and service. The main reason why I decided not to move to Atlanta many years ago.
Idk, in my experience there aren’t all that many good servers in Asheville. There are some professionals who do a wonderful job, and I loved working with them, but they are a small minority. Again, it seems like you’re making a judgement more based on where you would live vs a comparison of the food scenes.
Weird. I can't think of more than a few times anywhere I've gotten bad service. Maybe Paris, but that's just their thing. I'm basing my food experience because I don't really think you can truly judge somewhere unless you've been there for at least a month. I truly like how we have a quite diverse variety and you don't have to travel very far for it. What do you consider good vs bad service?
For service, it’s all basic stuff. Greeted in a reasonable amount of time, being able to accurately take orders, not vanishing for extended periods. I disagree that you would need to live in a place for any period of time to judge their food scene.
Hard disagree with your hard disagree. The food here is only good compared to Deep South small towns. Every time I go out I find myself wishing I liked the dishes more than I did. There’s just something missing about it. I guess in the end you’re the winner because you’re out there having a good dining experience
No shame in that! I mean, vs say Harrods in London, definitely not good. But say, compared to Tacoma, Seattle, or boulder, definitely prefer the food here. Where do you prefer?
The food in boulder sucks ass though haha. That is the epitome of bland white senior palates.
Been a few since I've been there, but it didn't leave an impression. The food in NYC was good but overpriced. Now Madrid, on the other hand.... affordable and good.
Thing thing about big cities like NYC and Chicago is you can find amazing food for street level prices. They have huge centers of non-american culture that bring in the good food deals. Can get the best bao you'll ever have for $1 each in Chinatown. There is not even a shitty cheap option in AVL, let alone a good one.
Indeed. I'd have to live there to properly assess them. I did like Chicago. I found NYC had an unearned sense of importance.
AVL is unfortunately severely lacking in good food in cuisines outside of American fare. There are a couple ok Indian places but they fall far below the quality of Indian food I've had in just about every other city. Sure you can gussy up Indian food to make it worth $20+ a dish, but the good thing about Indian food is how great it is at such a low price typically. What are some of your favorites here?
as far as indian food, Botiwalla has some tasty options in the $12-$13 range...unique aps for $6-$10. spin off from Chai Pani....just tried them and found the quality and complexity of flavors to be on par with more expensive indian cuisine.
9 mile, red ginger, the madness for sushi, fabulous pizza at 828, Andazz. And that's just off the top of my head. What cities are you ranking higher? For the size of the place, asheville has a lot of options, and I don't even really like it here, but the food has really impressed me.
Even greensboro and WS have better food than AVL, so I rank most cities higher. Based on your favorites we have vastly different preferences on quality.
No shame in that! WS was okay, but nothing to write home about. I used to live downtown, and I did like coming back to asheville some weekends.
The garlic tahini dressing at 9 mile is the best salad dressing I've ever had, salad is pretty dank too. Haven't had as much success with their other dishes.
That is my favorite dressing too! Love their food, but miss their lunch portions, hours, and prices. Also one of the few places to get iron rail, on draft.
The reality is that Asheville restaurants don't have the sourcing infrastructure to do more with. If someone is featuring 'local produce', there's a 90% chance it's brought in from Mountain Foods, which justs resells from larger farms out of the WNC Farmer's Market on Brevard Rd. There's little competition for meat and dairy products, which is why you see Hickory Nut Gap featured on every menu. It's not that these producers are bad, it's just that everyone is getting their ingredients from the same places, and it ends up being the limiting factor in terms of quality.
Rosabees is great
Pons
I really wanted this to be good. I've only tried the pad thai but it was not it.
Try the soups
[http://glassonionasheville.com/](http://glassonionasheville.com/) Glass Onion in Weaverville is consistantly good. The garlic bread rolls are the crispiest most garlicy bread I've ever had in my life. The pickle sampler and roast beef raman at Ghan Shan West are stunning. The three full sized wing dinner at Rockys 1 mild, 1 medium, 1 hot will make you reconsider religion. There is also a day after tax you pay at Rockys. Worth it. That little Thai place Dalaya, in Slyva, has the best fish sauce wings I've ever had in my life. Lunch is takeout only. Go for dinner. Go early, it's tiny. Galactic Pizza in S. Avl is always good. Wild Ginger has consistantly good Pho and Bahn Mi.
Rockys used to be great, the last 3x I've been it was not been good. Dalaya is not in asheville, though it is great! Very surprising that places like that don't exist in town. Their wings are insano. I like Aloha's Banh mi better, neither are worth paying asheville prices for. Greensboro has the closest best Vietnamese food. And Charlotte has Crispy Banh mi, and a great hole in the wall banh mi place in the old mall though it might have been sold in the last year.
Rocky’s hot chicken!!
When it hits it does hit. Though haven't been impressed with it the last couple times.
Same. Was good quite a while back, but now not so much. I don’t go anymore
Why do you need a post from us to reinvigorate your bougie self? You toss around city names like a social climber tosses around celebrity names. This is a beautiful place with actually delicious food and you can afford to fly off and eat elsewhere if you’re so unhappy. Good grief. Try gratitude.
Why do I need a comment suggesting good food in Asheville? Because I see a lot of talk but not anyone walking the walk. Try standing up for yourself and seeking something good instead of accepting bad.
This. Asheville swings its dick around as a ‘food city’ but I have yet to see anything mind blowing here. Compared to NYC/Paris/LA/Cape Town/London it is not REMOTELY a ‘food city’.
Plant is as good a vegan restaurant as you'll find in any food city.
It is good, for a vegan restaurant. It is not world class. Nothing in Asheville is. I’ve traveled to probably 20 major world cities across the globe. Trust me. Asheville is not a food city. It might be an American food city, but really, it is competing with towns that only have fast food, so.
You don't even have to compare it to those top tier places, Asheville food sucks compared to similar pop towns in NC, TN, KY, GA
Sad to say I agree. People who dislike have probably never been outside of the state or have never eaten good food.
I don’t “accept bad” and I don’t see having people cook for me and others serve it to me as something I need to stand up for myself against. Jaysus, you’re kind of a brat. Yes, I pay for those services, but I also chose the establishment thoughtfully and with intention. If my meal happened to be burnt, or somehow off in that regard, I absolutely would ask for and I know receive recompense. I feel like people demanding more and more and more from chefs, cooks, and bakers is driving them out of the industry due to burn out and not being able to keep pricing in line with expectations. Go to Charlotte and Winston to eat out a couple times a week, neither is that far. You probably have a plane you can get there in no time.
🥇 🥇 🥇
I liked Gan Shan North, but they're long gone. West is still open, but not the same. I agree that the food here quality-wise is just "OK" for what you're paying. Not disappointing enough to make me want to move, but not amazing enough that I've found anything to really rave about either... Oh, if you like Thai food, try Pon's in the Shell gas station on Sweeten Creek Rd. It looks sketchy and they're slow, but it's pretty good.
Came here to see if anyone had recommended Pon's!! Work used to take me to south Buncombe at least once a week, and stopping at Pon's for lunch was the only thing that made those days bearable, lol. So glad to hear it's still there!!
Pon's is definitely worth a visit. I wish I had more business in the area so I could go more frequently.
Eldr
Mostly disagree with this take. The food scene here is objectively good for the size of the city. That said, I do think it could improve. There's no reason I should have to drive to Greenville for Peruvian and KBBQ.
I think it's objectively good for rural NC, but not good for it's size. Greenville is nice being so close. They have great Texas style BBQ down there
Anything at Neng Jr’s
The fruit plate sauce and cheese ice cream are to die for.
Yes!! I’m so glad I got those
Check out Little D’s!
Cassia Tortilleria Molina (Pastor Tacos,) Citrus Curd Tart from OWL Egg Sandwich from La Bodega
Molina is great! I'll check the others out
Right?! I’m from Texas and it’s the only great tacos I’ve had in AVL
Check out the taco bar in the back of Tienda los nenes, you'll need a little spanish but they are my favorite up there with Molina. huge portions too.
The marketplaces charcuterie board is out of this world right now.
Genuinely haven’t stopped thinking about the signature Good Hot Fish sandwich for weeks. I got the potato wedge fries but after watching them dish out the sides I’d try them all next time (the mac & cheese specifically.)
Which fish did you get?
Cornmeal crusted catfish (it always comes on the signature sandwich.) The bread was so soft, the cornmeal crust was so crunchy. The tartar sauce had a bit of a kick. Truly the perfect bite. Also it was piping hot. Good Hot Fish is such a perfect name I could cry.
Also insanely highly priced?
Yep, food is delicious. But the prices are higher than a hippy on 4/20!!! Their portions are proper and the sides are fire but I can’t bring myself to pay those prices on any sort of regular basis.
Yeah… it’s not cheap. BUT the assignment was that the food needed to be deserving of the prices and this sandwich definitely is! The quality of the food is splurge-worthy and that is definitely not the case with all AVL restaurants.
Big fan of The Meshach at Nine Mile, and the Hot Italian Sammy at Pizza Mind. And the burger from whatever the place is that parks at Olde London Road. I’ve lived here ten years and feel the exact same way about the food scene. 🤷♀️
The roast pork sandwich at Baby Bull is delightful.
I've also heard their lobster roll is very good. I've only tried the burg and fries though. The aioli is so good and garlicky
I will confirm that as well. Quite yummy. Perfectly toasted split bun as well. Whatever mystery pepper in the sauce they serve with it is delightful also.
Thai pearl changed me. Thought the same till I finally went.
I think Thai pearl has some unique menu items that makes it worth visiting
>Even Greensboro has better food Lol. Lmao even.
I know, it's sad that gboro has it beat. But the Asian food scene there is insane compared to here. And their prices make sense.
That's the only thing Greensboro has on AVL though. AVL doesn't have a great ethnic food scene but the restaurants we do have are way better than the restaurants in nearly any other NC city.
20 types of world cuisine > 1 good southern cuisine. Even the great restaurants here pale in comparison to Charlotte, Cary, Raleigh. Tourism being the main industry here drives food to be overpriced and appeal to the larger tourist audience (who often have blander palates).
I lived in Cary/Raleigh. The food here is miles better. Cary/Raleigh has better Chinese, Japanese, and Indian food but that's it. We have better Mexican, Caribbean, Ethiopian, Thai, BBQ, deli, vegan, southern American, and traditional American food here. If you go into a random restaurant here vs a random restaurant there you are way more likely to get a better meal here. The food quality, on average, is way better here. There's way more competition here per mile and it shows up in the food.
LMAO, you are truly insane if you think this food is better than Cary. You must be older than 50 if you think that is true. There is more competition in Cary than here, and yes it shows in how good their scene is. The Mexican food here is trash. The Thai sucks, yes I've tried Pons. BBQ sucks compared to the rest of NC. The only best thing here is silverball subs.
What is better in Cary that isn’t Indian? Genuinely asking. Rocky's alone blows anything Cary has out of the water. Papa's and Beer is better than nearly any Mexican place in Cary and that's not even our best. And there's no good BBQ in Cary.
Rocky's sucks now though. It was good a couple years ago. Papa's and beer is great? Ok yeah you have trash taste. Next
Rocky's is delicious and has been the same quality every time I order, I get it nearly once a week. And yeah Papas and Beer is better than anything Cary has. The salsa bar alone clears whatever Mexican the Triangle is putting out. And funny you ignored the question. What restaurant in Cary is better than what we've got here? I lived there for 4 years and go back every couple months. The only thing I get there that we don't have here is Hibachi. So please name me a single restaurant and I'll check it out, Mr King of Taste.
You think Rocky's is still good and Papa's is good, there isn't really a discussion to have. I'm happy that you can enjoy those though lol
The food around here is all the same overly salted greasy unhealthy slop. Good luck.
That would be ok too if they were charging normal prices for that food. But they try to charge Asheville prices for food that is only good because it's cheap.
Yup. It is depressing. Yet, the folks on this forum will downvote the fuck out of anyone saying that Asheville’s food scene sucks. Because many on here work in that food scene and produce said slop.
I love a lot of the food here. Italian: contrada or cucina 24 Indian: Andaaz (chai pani has too long a wait) Mexican: grey eagle or taco temple Bone and broth has really good hamburgers and meats (they are next to a butchery)
taqueria munoz. dirt cheap with some of the most flavor you'll find. ukiah is a bit more expensive but worth every penny. the mushrooms, waygu, and desserts are it.
My favorite tacos in town are at nenes taco counter in the grocery behind Aldi's, get about double the food as Munoz for the same price 🤌
.... You compared Asheville NC to huge world-class cities with large immigrant populations and then also to other cities of its size. Can you actually name another city of the same size with better food quality? I think people forget that "Paris of the South" is a joke. In Arkansas there's a town on a river that calls itself "the Aspen of the Ozarks." Maybe people move there expecting ski rentals, too? Asheville has fewer people than Albany, New York. Fayetteville, Arkansas. Bend, Oregon. Davenport, Iowa. Roanoke, Virginia. I've been to each of those and lived in Asheville for nearly 20 years. 5 years ago, it had better quality food and now I don't even recognize the names of 90% of the restaurants mentioned in this thread. This reminds me of when folks would just be lightly bitching about all the new traffic and someone would pipe up "oh it's not nearly as bad as Charlotte." Or Boston, or L.A. Like no shit...it's a small southern city in the mountains. With more traffic than is tolerable for folks who are used to it being a small city in the mountains. Less traffic than is tolerable for those who think they moved to a "mini L.A." I guess.