The Cheshire Arms — Restaurant in Black Mountain

The pub is very cozy and charming and filled with British decor. The hostess was gracious and servers exemplified what hospitality truly is. There is a nice selection of Beer, Wine, and cocktails so we splurged a little on drinks. The chef there sure knows what he’s doing, everything was flavorful and presented well on the plate. My husband and I shared apps, starting with the watermelon gazpacho with lump crab. You can get it without the lump crab but we decided if the chef offered it, that it must bring depth and complexity to the dish. It did indeed and was summery and refreshing! The beetroot salad with Granny Smith apples and goat cheese also offered a playground for your palette and was plated beautifully. For the entrees we had fish & chips and bangers & mash. I’m a sucker for mashed potatoes, but with the onion gravy they were beyond my expectations along with the bangers. The bangers were more than just a couple of sausages. They were DELICIOUS and were sourced locally from a farm in Lake Lure. The fish & chips were probably my favorite. The fries were perfect but the fish was perfecter! Hand made beer batter, battered in house and fried to a delightful golden brown was such a textural phenomenon. Crispy but light batter wrapped around perfectly cooked flaky fish made me an addict. I’ll be back at least once a week for my fix. I can’t wait to try the rest of the apps and...

Heard about the Fish & Chips for a couple of months now but schedule finally allowed me to try them out for myself . . . y'all . . . IT. LIVES. UP. TO. THE. HYPE!!! Sweet yummy deliciousness that gave literal waves of chills, it was so perfectly cooked!! Their tarter sauce, divine!! The portion sizes are HUGE!! While I wanted to eat the whole thing, I was good & stopped halfway . . . granted, I did finish the chips - but you better believe I ordered a side of chips take away to go with the rest of my fish!! And the reason for stopping halfway, was to try their dessert - today's choice: a Scottish Cranachan . . . aka delicious summer berries cooked with whisky to almost bursting (as the Scottish do), folded into thick heavenly whipped cream & topped with oat crumble. There was definitely a (few) moments of silence taken for the chill inducing enjoyment of this perfect ending to a superb lunch!! Heather provided exceptional service & I'm pretty sure I just made a new friend that speaks my foodie love language. The only unfortunate thing about this experience is that this place is dangerously close to my house & now that I know how excellent this place is . . . I'm going to want to come here all the time!! (I'm not angry about it but will need to plan accordingly 🤔😏) My British/Scottish taste buds have found their happy place & you better believe I'll be back (with many friends)!!...

Update- I’m editing my review of The Cheshire arms because we have visited twice since the original review to give them another chance and we are so glad we did! We have been so pleased with everything from service to food on both occasions. The onion soup is our favorite. The Wayghu burger is also yummy. The fish n chips have been perfected and I’d recommend it to anyone wanting this classic dish. Everyone there is so friendly and welcoming and they are open on Mondays which is a big win for us!

I'll start with the positive- our server was great! The restaurant is cozy and the decor is nice. This place was our weekly Sunday lunch spot for a long time when it was the Black Bear Tavern. We were so excited to try the new restaurant. We started with the onion soup and it was good. The fish and chips were barely okay. Had it been cooked just a bit longer I think it would have been delicious. The breading was doughy and the cod was barely done. The veggie burger was a total disappointment. If you like slimy, runny sweet potatoes that squirt out the side of the bun when you take your first bite then this is for you. It was not a veggie patty as described. It was mush. Hardly any black beans and nothing binding it together. We gave feedback to our waitress and the burger was comped, but...