Spoon River Artworks and Market — Restaurant in Belhaven

I've been lucky enough to eat at some great restaurants over the years. This dining experience was one of the best I can remember. Here's the story:

My wife, two daughters, and I met up with my brother, his wife, and son in Aurora, NC. The weather was perfect, so we jumped in the boat and went across the Pamlico to Belhaven, where we moored up and walked into town for dinner. We explored for a little while and sat down in some comfortable chairs in front of Spoon River. My daughters were right beside me, and my youngest (she's 8) said, "daddy, I'm hungry." Luckily, Spoon River's owner happened to be walking by and overheard my daughter lamenting her current state of perceived starvation. The owner chatted with us for a bit and walked into the restaurant after a while. I assumed she went in there to help get things set up for the evening. I was surprised to see her 10 minutes later with a cheese and cracker plate. She sat it down in front of my girls and nephew. Of course, they were as happy as they could be, and dug in. I was very surprised by this act of kindness, and insisted to my brother and sister-in-law that we eat there for dinner. The owner came through yet again with a table for 4 adults and 3 hungry kids...without reservations...in a restaurant that ended up being packed by the time the night was done.

The food was excellent. We started out with the fried green tomatoes. My brother had the steak. I had the black drum. Our spouses had the beet salad and crab cakes. The kids had alfredo, caesar salads, ice cream, and alcohol-free Shirley Temples (the ice cream and Shirley Temples were free for the kiddos). I had several Old Fashioned's. We had at least 3 different waiters and waitresses checking up on various aspects of our meal throughout the night, and were lucky enough to get the chance to talk to the owner again when she stopped by to say hello.

We paid the bill, got back in the boat, and motored back under relatively calm conditions to Aurora. We stopped enroute to throw the cast net a little bit under a star-filled sky. The kids let out shrieks of joy and laughter when the net was lit up by bioluminescent organisms in the sound. We made it safely back to the house and went to sleep. It was a great day, made even more so by the kind (and extremely skilled) people who work at Spoon River.

We found a new go-to spot when we're in Eastern NC. Try it out. You won't be...

Eastern North Carolina has some modern day treasures tucked away in her coastal colonial towns. If you have not explored Edenton, Washington (NC), Wilmington, Belhaven, Ocracoke, Manteo or Bath, do so now. You will find small town magic, super friendly people, and a return to a simpler life and simpler times.

Spoon River Cafe is a mixture of art, wine and gourmet food. Owners Theresa and Mark have created (and recently rebuilt after the 2018 flooding) a magical oasis of customer centric gastronomic bliss. You know you are in for a treat immediately upon seating. The cocktail menu offers daily concoctions that you've not likely tried elsewhere, and they are delivered with artful presentation. Pomegranate martinis are hard to put down, and the margaritas are from another planet. The ingredients are fresh.

The wine list is a room. You are directed to the side room to select your bottle. Rather than a patriarchal power-play with the attendant reverence, the wine selection becomes a table-wide activity of looking at the actual bottles, discussing, and then choosing. For the aficionados, this may lead to a few trips to the side room to choose the wine for the next course. Their wine selection is excellent, and their process adds to the fun of Spoon River.

Service is attentive and well trained. Sometimes in the remote areas of the Southeast USA, service can be apathetic. Not here. Each of the wait and bus staff are pleasant, attentive, helpful and positive. The team enjoys their work, and it shows.

The menu offers a creative collection of seafood, vegetable and meat dishes. On each visit, there are always 2-3 dishes that make selection a challenge. I would encourage you to order different plates so you can each try the palette of tastes. Each dish is that good.

As a vegan, I am a challenge for restaurants to please. The chef at Spoon River has created a new vegan bowl on every visit. The creativity and care of these dishes shows the talent of the chef and the kitchen.

In summary, we are very grateful to be able to eat at Spoon River, and to get to know Theresa and Mark a little bit more on each visit. We feel like a part of the wider family there, and it makes our visits to Belhaven even more...

I think they like their produce more than the customer. It was a terrible experience from waiting 15 minutes for the waiter (flat affect, no apology, no "hello") to another 15 waiting for our drink order. After our food arrived, he never came back. I had to ask someone else to get something for us, but it was another 10 minutes to get that. When he came at the end of our meal, he asked if I wanted a box. I said no that I was disappointed with the salad bc it didn't have cucumbers like he stated was one of the "seasonal vegetables" and it only had two pieces of broccoli. However there were two lbs of tomatoes that were mealy and I thought had no taste. He said that he didn't tell me there were cucumbers on the salad and he knew that bc they ran out of cucumbers 2 hours ago. Well, he didn't know what the "seasonal vegetables" were when I asked and had to go check. Anyway, the owner came out and said she had taken a tomato from my plate and thought they were delicious. She informed me that they took their produce seriously and was upset that I didn't like mine. She told me that the salad was on her but was rude about it. Then the owner came back to the table and said she was getting her husband to talk to me about the tomatoes because they were upset that I didn't like them. I said that it was OK, I just didn't like the tomatoes and I didn't want to talk to her husband. She informed me I was going to talk to him. I let her know my dad had just died the day before and I didn't care about the tomatoes. She took our bill and crumbled it up rudely and said our meal was on her, again rudely. I was amazed when her husband came and told me that the tomatoes are local and hot house grown and that winter tomatoes are "mealy. " Then don't call them SEASONAL VEGETABLES! DAMN, I didn't like the tomatoes. Just let it go. MY DAD JUST DIED. I left angrily. It was the most surreal experience. I will never go back. BTW, after I left she came back to the table and let my family know that some people have pictures of their kids on their phone but she pictures of her produce. Maybe take a basic customer service class. I wasn't being an ass, I just didn't like the tomatoes. Is...