Best Restaurant in Asheville (Lexington, Woodfin: restaurants, prices, airport) - Western North Carolina - North Carolina (NC) -The Mountain Region including Asheville - City-Data Forum

lolavanatta · 05-12-2008, 07:55 AM

If you had to pick one place to have dinner on a double date with good friends, where in Asheville would you go? Not looking for fancy, but a great Asheville experience with great food. It is our first time visiting

...Pubs work too.

Rysher8 · 05-12-2008, 08:07 AM

I hear the Lobster Trap downtown is pretty much a can't-miss. For a more 'uniquely Asheville' type of experience, try the Mellow Mushroom downtown.

lolavanatta · 05-12-2008, 08:10 AM

thanks! i've actually been to the mellow mushroom in savannah, ga - very cool place!

jbird22 · 05-12-2008, 10:50 AM

Check out earlier thread: "Asheville Restaurants: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly". You can see a lot of opinions about good and less-than-good spots.

Good luck - there are so many good choices!

gigimac · 05-13-2008, 06:55 AM

I like the Tupelo Honey Cafe in downtown Asheville, just a block west from where Haywood Street empties out into the little park.

lolavanatta · 05-13-2008, 07:50 AM

tupelo honey a good dinner spot too? i've heard a lot about their brunch...

Podunk12 · 05-13-2008, 09:22 AM

Mellow Mushroom in Asheville is AWFUL. TERRIBLE service, has been for years. If you don't mind waiting 2 hours for a pizza then this is the place to go. And the Asheville Mellow Mushroom is vastly different than any other Mellow Mushroom I've ever seen.

Three GREAT restaurants in Asheville that are fairly cheap and they give you huge portions. The first is Asaka which is in Biltmore. The second is Apollo Flame which is located just south of Biltmore or on Airport Rd. There is also a place called Bilagio's which is the same thing as Apollo Flame and is located in Woodfin. Frazier's is a great restaurant and is located on Merrimon Ave just past Beaver Lake.

These are the best places to eat in Asheville IMO.

vandemusser · 05-13-2008, 10:17 AM

Mellow Mushroom service is definitely slow, but it's also one of the only restaurants downtown with great outdoor seating. The pizza is a little over-priced, but it is also really, really good. There's something to be said for not getting pushed through a restaurant in 45 minutes so they can serve more people. You could sit all evening at Mellow Mushroom and no one would care.

I would say if you have time to kick back and want to sit outside and catch up with old friends over a pitcher of beer, you could do a lot worse than Mellow Mushroom.

My vote for best restaurant in Asheville is Mela, on Lexington Avenue. GREAT Indian food, especially if you aren't afraid of spice. Great lunch buffet, great dinners, pretty inexpensive for the quality of food and atmosphere.

Jimrob1 · 05-13-2008, 10:55 AM

I don't know what the best restaurant is in Asheville, but I have a question on restaurants in the area. A friend of mine recently moved to Asheville from out of state, and she said they smoke in the restaurants. It didn't appeal to her and sure as hell would not appeal to me. I find it strange that Asheville of all places in the state would allow smoking in this day and age. Even Tennessee is now non smoking. Is there no non smoking restaurants in the area besides fast food?

Rysher8 · 05-13-2008, 11:29 AM

I'm amazed at the apparent brainwash done by Apollo Flame Bistro. Yes, it has a nice family atmosphere. Yes, prices are extremely reasonable. Yes, the portions are huge. Their marketing is also excellent as they have "Best in WNC" signs all over town.

But the food is flat out awful. Now it's possible I've just had bad luck, but I've been to 25+ Greek restaurants in my life (love Greek food) and Apollo Flame is definitely the worst in regards to food quality. The first time I went with my wife, I ordered a gyro platter, which was pretty disgusting. The "gyro" meat was steak-ums style tasteless mystery meat, and the almost crunchy pita tasted at least a few days old. My wife ordered the pizza, which she didn't care for either.

Nevertheless, we wanted to give this place another try with all the "positive press" around town. So we did. Big mistake. This time, I ordered the lasagna. Hard to screw that up, right? It came out piping hot (good so far!) but when I dug in, I realized it was two thin layers of tasteless pasta stuffed with a ridiculous amount of tomato sauce, presumably to make the portion seem larger. Right as I was about to go for another big bite of tomato sauce, a black blob caught my eye. Not sure what it was, I picked it up with my fork and found myself staring at a gigantic dead fly smothered in tomato sauce. It was so big it looked like it died from gorging itself in AF kitchen. I have to say that the server was very apologetic when I brought it to her attention, and offered us a free dessert. However, needless to say we won't be going back. All I have to say on Apollo Flame is do not believe the hype. It's nasty.