Asheville Guitar Bar — Restaurant in Asheville

My wife and I were traveling through Ashville on a business trip to Charlotte. We planned an evening of food, drinks, and music in the Riverside Drive Art District. Guajiro Cuban Comfort Food and The Guitar Bar were near our overnight arrangements, so we parked our Van responsibly (we are over size so we always try to find a place to back in thus not blocking the through traffic and only taking up one parking space) and headed to Guajiro's for what ended up being great service and excellent Cuban food! As we were heading over to Guajiro's my wife pointed out how the doorman at the Guitar Bar was staring at us and our every move. I told her he was probably just checking out the van (it's a very common occurrence, it is a very nice looking 2022 Ford Transit) and tried to ease her mind so we could enjoy our evening. He kept staring at us and our every move. After dinner, we went to the van to store our leftovers and the extra goodies we purchased from Guajiro's because, yum, it was soooo good. Our friends called to ask what our plans were, and we told them about the Guitar Bar and our plans to go have a few drinks after such a great meal. The door man was still staring at us, and it was becoming obvious that he had an issue, specifically with us, for some unknown reason. After our call ended, as we were preparing to head in, the doorman comes stomping out to our van, to the driver's side, I rolled down the window with a smile on my face and said hello...

Him: Are you planning on staying the night here? (In a very aggravated tone)

Me: Not at all, we were planning on visiting the Guitar Bar. Do you mind telling me what the cover charge is?

Him: it's ten dollars and we have people complaining about not having enough parking here. (Again, in a very judgemental tone while looking down the side of my van)

Me: Well, how is the band tonight?

Him: I only have the best bands!

Me: How long does the band play?

Him until 10 pm and it's 8:30 now! He exclaimed and marched off, shaking his head.

I was surprised by the entire interaction and didn't really comprehend how much anger he had just dumped on me until he was walking off, and I was processing what had just happened.

My only conclusion was that he had n worked himself into such a seething rage about our van being in a shared parking lot (it was by no means a dedicated parking lot and in fact is not even marked as it is simply a gravel lot) he must have had some preconceived notion about vanlifers or some prior interaction with a vanlifer that he took his rage out on us. It was violent, ill, scathing, and scornful.

If I was a band playing there, I would ask to provide my own doorman.

If I were a business owner in the same building, I would ask him directly to stop being so judgmental.

And since I discovered that he is most likely the owner, well, from one business owner to another, I recommend you find some anger management, move to a building with more parking or at the very least, learn to be an adult and realize you just ran off a...

AMAZING bar owned by local artists. I was visiting from out of town from NYC so I'm not easily impressed but this place blew me away. It has live music with wonderful artists playing gorgeous music on the guitar almost every night with their biggest night being the multiple acts starting at 5pm and continuing till 10pm on Saturday. The beer is incredibly cheap but good and they have a great variety of drinks, liquor, beer, wine, etc. The owners, especially Julia, are so so friendly, really willing to talk with you be you a tourist or local alike. Plenty of space to sit inside and it has a cosy, fun, yet intimate atmosphere that would make this place perfect for either date night or a fun outing with friends. Do yourself a favor and come experience this place for yourself, you won't be...

Lame house band cost $10pp to watch them struggle to find the right key for the first set. Lady owner likes to just stand on the stage. I hope they found the right key next set. We left. Too much music in AVL to waste time here.

Edit: Since I cannot reply to the owner's reply I have no choice but to edit my review. The "experience" we were hoping for was music from professional musicians, not a social club gathering of friends. Mighty neighborly of you to charge $10 for a rehearsal. You keep mentioning "local" this and that, yet we overheard you talking about Florida and Atlanta with the couple next to us. However, geography has nothing to do with a quality music venue. We don't want our money back, we're just inserting a PSA for Google users to get an accurate depiction of your...