The Beacon — Restaurant in Ballenger Creek

My husband and I showed up shortly after opening on a Fri. It was Fat Fri with a $5 buffet and $4 sangrias. The ‘buffet’ was jalapeño poppers, pigs in a blanket, spinach dip, shrimp, and a fruit bowl. Not appetizing at all. I ordered a sangria and was told they were out, 15 minutes after they opened with about 10 people in the place. So basically they didn’t bother to have their own special.

We ordered off the menu and received decent food but nothing great. I ate 3 of the 4 pieces of my flatbread and later saw that the bartender had taken the fourth piece to eat himself after clearing my plate, which was just weird. We wanted to stay for a bit and I do not like beer, and they already said no sangria, so I asked about a cider. The bartender said they had Angry Orchard so I ordered one of those, only to be told they were out when the bartender couldn’t find one in the fridge.

Basically it was crappy food, and crappy service with a side order of weirdness. I would never go back...

Food was okay. Service was below average. Servers did not interact with me except in a very minimal way to get my order. Played music in the bar though I would have liked to hear the Duke/NC game on the TVs. I had planned to hang out there during the evening while watching the game but left as soon as I finished my food. Watched the rest of the game in my room. Not a friendly bar for travelers. Nothing really to bring up to a manager but nothing friendly...

Really like this little bar, but they never give you an itemized receipt for your tab...just hand you the credit card slip to sign. ALWAYS ask them for an itemized bill. It was the third time my bill seemed higher than it should be, and sure enough there were several extra...