Banner Elk Cafe & Tavern — Restaurant in Banner Elk

I am extremely upset about the incident that happened today, 9/01/2024. We walked in and asked a nice young lady (I believe Sophie) for a table of 5, we were told it’s about a 15 minute wait, no problem. As I was sitting there waiting, several families came in & were immediately sat. There was a table of 6 that came in after us but were sat before us. I don’t think this was personal, just busy. After a while I asked (I believe Sophie) if she could double check on the table for 5 and she kindly said, “sure”. Immediately a different young girl behind the hostess desk, while eating her Chipotle hastily said, “you were the last to come in”. I said, “no we weren’t, there were several tables that came in and were sat before us”. She then said to (I believe Sophie), “you go ahead and deal with “THAT”. I then sat up and said “excuse me?” And she began denying what she said. At this time an older employee, was walking by and asked if she could help me and I said, “I'm not sure if you can” and began explaining what happened. She then said something like she was there to make sure I wasn’t mistreating the young ladies because of the way I was speaking to them. I then became even angrier, and began getting louder (which in hindsight) I should not have done that, I was just extremely frustrated!! By this time, I believe, the manager came out and asked if she could help me but I told her, “she just got there and has no idea what just happened” and she just kept saying, “but I can help you”. At this time the older employee started to tell the young ladies “don’t worry about her”. And I said to the manager that I have been on vacation and having a wonderful time until this, and she said again, “but I can help you”….I said, “no thank you” then left.

I was/am very disappointed, I was looking forward to trying out their food and service and this happened.

It doesn’t matter where anyone comes from or where they work but being an employee of the US House of Representatives in Washington, DC, I will be sure to take a walk into Mrs. Foxxs’ office in the Rayburn HOB to have a chat with her about the representation of Banner Elk at...

I've had several meals over the years here. My first visit was my favorite, and every time since then, it has gotten consecutively worse in different ways, but usually, the food is at least good. I brought my mother to try this place for lunch and explore Banner Elk. She ordered the Chicken Salad Sandwich, and I ordered the Mahi-Mahi Sandwhich. Let me start off by saying that the Mahi-Mahi on my sandwich was amazing. Best I've ever had. A portion fell off as I ate the sandwich, and it was very good. The sandwich as a whole was not very tasty together. It's like it made the fish not quite as good. Otherwise, it was fine. The curly fries that I ordered were not warm. They were nearly cool but still had a decent flavor. My mother's food, however, ought to not have been served at all. There was very little meat on the sandwich, and it basically had looked like it had been thrown together by an inexperienced cook. Her fries were fine. She was disappointed with the sandwich that was she was served, as I was as well. After we finished eating, the waitress came up and asked, "How was everything?" I expressed to her that I, for the most part, I enjoyed my sandwich, but my mother's meal was very little to be desired and didn't have very much meat on her sandwich. She proceeded to say, "Hey, look, I didn't cook it." Before I could finish what I had to say because I know that it was no reflection of her, she left the check and walked away. I was very disappointed at her professionalism. She made no attempt to correct the issue. She just walked away. Also, I may add that at no point did she even refill our drinks. I still left her a tip regardless of how I felt she was very poor at her job. However, this isn't the staff member that I thought was bad at their job at this establishment. I don't go to an what is known to be an established restaurant to spend $34 for lunch to have a subpar experience. My experience here was the poorest it has ever been. I hope these issues can be corrected so that those who visit in the future can have a quality experience like I did the first...

We came here once we when first got to town and had awesome service and food. The second time we came, however, was atrocious. We 100% understand that we came on a Saturday and it was busy. We were okay with waiting 40 minutes for a table. But once we were seated....it hit the fan. We ordered drinks thatsat for so long before delivery that they were warm. Then once our food started coming out it went as follows; 1 or the 1 kids items came out alone. 15 minutes later our 2 adult meals came out. 1 was missing parts and 1 was 100% wrong. We sent it back to be corrected and it took 20 minutes to do so. The second kids meal FINALLY came out after it had been lost....my daughter was so hungry she was crying. Did I mention this took 90 minutes? By the time my food FINALLY came, which it only did because we asked...(side note...I ordered a salmon caesar...I got the wrong kind of salmon salad. I told the gal just tell them to make the salad and throw the se piece of fish on top. This took 20 minutes and my salad wasn't dressed. I had to glob on dressing from a cup. It's a caesar...just put it on.) THEN when we asked for our bill, we asked for it to reflect our time. They took 20% off......of the salad only. Which they charged incorrectly for. My salad was less than the one they sent me that was wrong. We asked to chat with manager who seemed to be too important for us. Her demeanor was very rude. I love this area so far and we have had a wonderful experience everywhere, but I would not come back to this restaurant. Second side note, this establishment is 2 combined restaurants. Each person gets . Menus. one from each restaurant. It's confusing and overwhelming...it's not...