Tall John's — Restaurant in Asheville

I pondered writing this review for a week now. Tall Johns has been one of our favorite restaurants since they opened. We were there at least 2-4 times a month. The food, service and staff were always excellent. However the last 3 times we have went hasn't been the best experience. After our visit last week unfortunately that will be our last. We took our teenage daughter with us, this was the 2nd time she has went with us and the last time was one of our not so great experiences but we told her it was just an off night and she needed to give it another try. When we arrived we were sat at the kitchen bar (which is our favorite place to sit) It wasn't that busy so we got right in without a reservation. We sat there about 10 min before anyone came over to take a drink order which was fine, we enjoyed conversation. Once we gave our drink order, 20 min passed and we still had no drinks. Two other couples were sat after us and both got drinks and an appetizer delivered and we still had no drinks. I flagged down the waitress and asked about this and she was not apologetic at all and told us that they had pre-made drinks and ours took longer, (we ordered two martinis and a coke) the couple to the left had a coke and a martini and the couple to the right had liquor drinks) Still 20 min with no drinks and a restaurant that is not that busy is not an excuse. Another 10 min goes by and still nothing, not even water had been refilled. At that point I got up and went and asked the bartender if there was an issue because we had been waiting 30 min on our drinks and have never experienced this ever at Tall Johns and we have been on extremely busy nights and never waited more that 10 min. He said yes I have your order it will be right out. I believe we waited another 5 min. Another waitress delivered our drinks so at this point we had still not ordered any food. I flagged our waitress down and asked if we could go ahead and put our food order in because the chicken takes at least 30 min to make. (this is the only thing I ever get at Tall Johns) I felt that she was bothered that I asked her to order. She took our order (not writing anything down) 20 min goes by and she has not come by to ask if we needed another drink (ours had been empty) so we flag her down again. At that time she tells us that the kitchen jumbled up the tickets so our food is going to take longer. Another 20 min passes and our food arrives My husband got his, my daughter got hers and nothing was put in front of me. I assumed it was because I ordered the chicken and it does take a while. I Waited another 10 min and still no food. I flagged her down once again to ask about my chicken.. She said you didn't order chicken. I was speechless. I told her that is why I asked her if we could order because of how long the chicken took. She said well do you still want the chicken? I told her yes I was very hungry and wanted to the chicken. I looked at my husband and said I feel like I am in twilight zone right now. She was once again not apologetic for this and made me feel like it was my fault. The host came over and said he heard what happened and I told him it was fine I understand things happen, He said as you know the chicken takes a while so he was going to discount our meal by 50% . I said that was not necessary but I did appreciate that. While we are waiting for my chicken we once again had to flag her down so that my daughter could order dessert. There was never any point in the night that she came to check on us, ask us how our meal was or can I get you another drink. We always had to flag her down. After waiting almost another 30 min and still no chicken I just asked if they would wrap it up to take home. When we got the bill, there was only $16 taken off. I guess I misunderstood the 50% discount. Not that I expected that but that what I thought he had said. Our final bill was $187. Once arriving home I was able to finally eat my chicken and unfortunately it overcooked and dry, not like the normal Tall Johns chicken. I ended up...

I wanted to like this place. I really really did. Friends who lived nearby had told us about it, had sent photos of the wallpaper in the bathroom. (Those who have been there, are in the know). The restaurant that was occupying the space prior to this was just okay, so we found ourselves never going to it, preferring another local eatery in the neighborhood. That eatery is often very very crowded with a waitlist, and they do not take reservations, so we were hoping that we had a new, Montford favorite. This place does take reservations, but even in the spring, it seem to be a bit overfilled with tourists.

And it was loud. Really quite intolerably loud. I love loud vibrant restaurants, but the seating layout of this establishment made it so that you could hear everything that all the other tables were saying, especially if the table was full of loud (kind of drunk) tourists. I think they could’ve removed a quarter of the tables, and it would’ve been much more comfortable. The woman sitting next to me, at another table, had a really hard time getting past my table. Not that my chair was in the way, but that my table was in the way. We had to move our table (laden with food) for her to get up and go to the bathroom. That means the tables are spaced too close together and there are too many people in the restaurant.

The food was good, but nothing spectacular. If they had one standout signature dish, then we would perhaps return, but I’ve had better versions of all of these dishes at other restaurants before. The menu did not feel very focused. My tartare was good, but I’ve had better interpretations. It was served with softish crackers, which was an unusual and not a very good choice. The schnitzel was OK. And for $33, we thought it would be softer or more interesting, and it was bone in, which was unusual. At first it looked like a huge portion, until we realized that there were bones. The fennel salad seemed to just be shaved fennel. Nothing interesting about it. The croquettes were too salty. We had high hopes for the freezer dirty martini, but it was just… A martini. Nothing special. We asked for extra olives, and they never came. We had to ask again. The server was good, she brought me some tastings of the wine, before I committed, which I always ask for if I’m not 100% sure of the glass that I want. But sometimes we couldn’t find her. And again, the place was so loud and overpacked. I like the way it was decorated, so it was too bad that the menu/food and the loud atmosphere were not worthy of a...

Phenomenal experience from beginning to end. The service was the perfect balance of friendly and attentive but unobtrusive, the atmosphere was elevated but relaxed, and every single dish we ordered was incredibly well crafted and exceptionally delicious.

I started with the freezer martini. Not to get too pretentious about it but a very well made martini is a rare thing, and this one was top tier.

My partner and I shared all of the dishes we ordered, and I highly recommend this approach. We started with the mussels, the steak tartare, and the Parker House rolls. All three were great, with the rolls serving as a delicious mechanism for getting more of the fantastic broth and lardons that accompanied the mussels, which were fresh and tender. The tartare was bright and creamy, a bit caper-forward but very well paired with the herb salad and buttered saltines.

We also split the burger and fries, and the pork chop. The burger was very well seasoned and beautifully medium rare, and the fries were fantastic: lightly crispy on the outside with just the right softness inside. The pork chop was the best pork chop I’ve had in Asheville, and the grilled peach was truly beyond compare — sweet, tart, perfectly caramelized — which is saying a lot considering everything we had was genuinely excellent.

We could have happily ended the meal there, but we decided to go all out and have the pot de crème and the truffles. The truffles were a bit rich after the meal (which is on us), but the pot de crème was heavenly — another standout amongst wonderful dishes.

This immediately made it into my top three Asheville dining experiences, and I’ll be enthusiastically recommending Tall John’s to friends and clients without hesitation. Thank you to the staff for such a...