Red Rocker Inn — Restaurant in Black Mountain

I very rarely write any reviews, but feel like I must because I have always liked the Red Rocker Inn. This was a repeat visit to the restaurant. We did not stay at the Inn. The last time we visited was around June 2022. On October 27, 2023 we arrived 20 minutes early for 5 pm dinner reservations for three. We walked to the front porch/entrance (one of us using a walking cane and help of another person; we did not see any handicap parking spaces). I would imagine there were some, but we didn’t find them. When we got to the front porch area, there were 3 young women putting out Fall themed decorations, one of whom was talking loudly and smoking a cigarette while also doing the decorations. One of the young girls said that they were asked to do the decorations and they had no idea what they were doing. We went to the hostess station and stood there for quite a bit before one of the young people doing decorations came in and spoke to a couple who apparently were staying in the Inn. Even though we were all standing together, no one spoke to us. Finally, the same young woman spoke to us and told us that she had told the waitress that we were there. She said they weren’t quite ready for us and we went outside to sit on the porch. The whole situation was chaotic and disorganized and very concerning and caused me to strongly consider going somewhere else. At 5:15 the waitress came outside and found us and said she had thought we weren’t coming. She then said she had just been told we were there. Again, disorganized and troubling that there was poor communication. Savannah was the only waitress working that evening. She did a good job. She was friendly and attentive. Several items on the menu were not available. Biscuits were good but one was still cold. Savannah brought more when we asked for them. Overall the food was fair and not what we expecting. About half of the portion of trout had an overpowering charred taste, the rice was nothing special at all. Broccoli was fine. Coffee after dinner was good. Apple butter was great. I write all this to say that I felt like we were at a place that was in the process of opening up for the first time and everything was just having the finishing touches put on, and using untrained help. Definitely not a well running operation at all. Black Mountain is one of my favorite places in NC and I want to come again to the Red Rocker restaurant. Hopefully things...

The historic inn seemed a nice change from the chain hotel at which we usually stay, but our one night visit here in early April was basically a disaster. The owner & manager were very nice & accommodating, but we had several issues with our room & the inn. First, the (lovely, old fashioned) key to the room didn't work. They did try to get it to work but it was tricky. The inn was very chilly inside, so we asked if the heat would kick on as the evening progressed (no thermostat in our room). We didn't get an answer but they said we could turn on the gas logs in our room. We tried that, but they didn't ignite, so we asked if someone could take a look, & the maintenance guy got them on, which warmed up the room. However, during the night, they went off and we weren't able to get them back on, so the room was freezing cold. I looked for extra blankets but couldn't find any. (I was told the next AM there were some stored under the bed). Went to take a shower and there was no hot water. I ran the water a couple minutes but it didn't get hot AND the drain immediately got stopped up, so water began quickly accumulating in the shower which had a door flush to the bath floor. It was a newly renovated bathroom- very nice. I took a 30 second cold shower; turned off the water and waited several minutes for the standing water to subside, but it didn't drain at all. So I quickly opened the door & closed it as fast as possible in order to get myself out of the shower. The water flowed into the bathroom floor and I threw all the towels on the floor as fast as I could to minimize any potential damage. (Turns out it did flood to the floor below). My husband didn't get to take a shower, needless to say. He could have used the cute footed bathtub in the bedroom next to the bed, but it was about 55 degrees in our room & since I didn't have hot water in the shower, he opted out. We went downstairs to breakfast, and it was very chilly in the dining area, even tho the fireplace was lit. We moved to another area where they did have some heat turned on. Thank goodness, the breakfast was lovely: home cooked and very substantial. They are trying very hard to make the Red Rocker Inn a nice & comfortable place to stay, but unfortunately our...

The Red Rocker Inn is a beautiful Inn. Unfortunately, we cannot say that the stay was as nice. Our stay was on a Sunday night, so no dinner service was available. They did have out chocolate chip (awful store bought) cookies for a late-night snack. When we retired for the night, we found our room (Music Room on first floor) extremely cold. I went to the check in desk and pressed the “Ring for Service” button, but no one responded. I then called the owners phone and was only able to leave a voice message. Again, no reply. Our room had no heat coming into it at all and that night we were very uncomfortable due to it being cold in the room. We had every blanket on the bed, to no avail at keeping us warm. The next morning the owners didn’t even acknowledge our problem until check out. They said that housekeeping should have had a space heater in the room as they knew of the problem. They didn’t even mention why no one was available during our stay to assist us. We traveled with friends who stayed in a room next to ours. They did have a space heater and were told not to run it with anything else in the room. It would blow a breaker. I’m glad they didn’t as no one would have been available to reset it. | |As for breakfast, coffee was served after 8:00am, one pot for the entire breakfast room. Several tables tried to get coffee but none came. The food was just okay except for the hash brown casserole which no one at our table could finish. | |We stay at Bed and Breakfast Inns often. We’ve never had an experience like this, the hosts were distant and not very friendly. The reviews for the Red Rocker Inn looked great and we were excited about the stay. They must have been for the previous owners as the new ones lacked the warmth and experience to run an inn. We reached out to the owners before writing this review by sending an email about our experience, and did not receive...