Bistro Roca — Restaurant in Blowing Rock

I am a chef and restaurant owner from Charleston and this place is a joke now, heed my warning! I have eaten here for over 20 years (since I was a teen with both parents whom are Doctors in the area and now feel the same way) and it’s just keeps getting worse since they acquired Gideons Ridge and opened Hell Bender, all the good A team chefs and staff are at the restaurant they are trying to win a James Beard award at, not Bistro Roca and that’s painfully obvious. We waited in an empty restaurant on a Sunday for an hour for a table. Bar tender David (had a mysterious white powder on his nose) is a miserable human with horrid customer service and an ego. While waiting the reservation was removed from the system and I was left setting indefinitely In a bar where everyone was over served (more than just alcohol), slamming tables, screaming, and aggressive yelling back and forth across the space(not family friendly). The entire staffs pupils were huge for some reason and they were all extremely aggressive acting, a very uncomfortable experience for my family. The manager came to take us to our table after our long wait and then we were accosted by the very aggressive and “up” bar tender “David” accusing us of trying to not pay for drinks. (Unlike normal restaurants in 2025 they are unable to transfer your tab (high end for sure) to the table but we were not informed of this by neither the manager that seated us nor the bar tender before we were escorted tot he table the manager with very large pupils as well. Waitress was so “up” she couldn’t talk or take an order so we sat for another 20 minutes in an empty restaurant waiting to order why she spent all Of her time trying to earn a tip from what she determined would be a higher tipping table. Mac and cheese was over cooked and slop, the burger buns were old and the food was cold when it arrived. They forgot what salt is and how to expo food in a timely manner so everything was disgusting. Service was the worst I have ever had in the area. The small thinking chef (“pomegranate” is what I call him now after he served gravy with pomegranate and fish, insanely bad.) came out a was on lots of something white he shouldn’t have been, told us we were in the wrong and tried to fight my son when he shared his feelings on the evening? Wow! Don’t waste your time on this dinosaur living off times past, take it for what it is. It’s glory days are far over and there are many other great options in the area were you won’t be disappointed and disrespected. Sad it’s named for a iconic historic hotel and bar, no longer serving that...

Definitely moving back up to 5 star after my experience tonight. Was a busy time in the area with wolly worm festival and college flooding back in. Yet with reservation made 24 hours in advance i didn't wait more then 6 minutes before seated with bar open seating to wait. Mainly this time I felt even though I was paying a high price for the food that the experience and flavor and care for the food and service was dead on with what you would expect while splurging to treat youself/family. You could make a meal of the appetizers.

Appetizer Note; rarely say this as does my fiance about something being the best we have tasted... but the CALAMARI appetizer stands above all I have had ever. I love good calamari but so rarely order it because it is RARELY ever cooked properly . These were cooked perfect and the the toppings they add are amazing just ask for extra 😉.

2 words; lobster Mac...

Service: Door dude was welcoming and quicker expected at finding our table and locating us at the bar area. Our table tender was amazing even when asked the tuff questions about which to order and why. You could tell she had actually tasted the food and not just trying to sell it which truly refreshing and impressed me. As far as the negatives in my last review of drinks and mainly water timing to table was all was spot on. Server was on it and asked just before my last drink was finished for another and had a jug of water we could fill our selves without bothering the very busy staff.

Much improved and have been here 12 to 16 times over many years. Will be back. It was for the lobster mac but now it is for the calamari! You ruined eating it anywhere else!

Below review from few years ago ........................... From my other experiences with Bistro Roca this was typically 5 stars. Tonight we had an awsome waitress & wait staff, BUT when you order an 18 dollar drink you expect it to be made correctly. And it wasnt, twice. (They did fix and remake) When your paying the over priced prices you expect your food to be decently on time and amazing... it wasnt. It was an hour and 10 minutes to get the appetizer longer for the meal all of which lacked luster (EXCEPT the pork spring roll appetizer which was AMAZING!) 25+ minutes to get a refill of water.. aso.. I will go back as my other experiences havent been this bad on so many aspects all at once. It was the day after Christmas so I'll chalk this up as a one off as every restaurant has a bad day.. BUT when your customers pay this much for an experience and food they are used to they should get it...

Cozy Blowing Rock restaurant delivering delicious, beautiful food via chaotic service.

Bistro Roca has been around Blowing Rock for quite awhile now. It is a bit more upscale than many of the options in the area, and has consistently been popular with locals and tourists alike.

It is a medium-sized, one-level restaurant with indoor and outdoor seating. The interior can best be described as cozy with dark tones, fire places sprinkled throughout the dining area, and lots of wood colors. For the most part, this theme is well-executed. However, the area around the bar is covered with framed photographs of dogs (generally) posing with some sort of alcohol. While I love dogs as much as anyone, it doesn’t fit with the decor of the rest of the restaurant. It is like one of the owners decided they liked dogs, and suddenly wanted to pepper one side of the restaurant with it. Cute or not, maybe it supports a good cause? or not… I think it makes the restaurant look less sophisticated, and makes the bar area more of a dive rather than an upscale restaurant.

Food has been consistently good over the years. This latest encounter was no exception: Well-prepared swordfish artfully plated, a fun and savory take on macaroni and cheese rounded out the entree for me. They were both tasty, and I have no complaints about either one.

The only real issue I have is that the service was not up to par. The dining room was not fully set for early reservations so we had a short wait when we probably should not have, and our appetizer was delivered to another table. Obviously, we were seated (and did not wait long), and the restaurant corrected the appetizer problem. But, there was definitely miscommunication amongst the front-of-the-house staff, and my guess is that they have had a lot of turnover recently and/or there are some new employees. Our primary server had more experience and did everything she could to keep things on track, but the dining room is a team effort. This falls back to the dining room/front-of-the-house manager. They should be more engaged to ensure that changes in staff do not impact guest experience.

Overall, very close to the Bistro Roca I remember from a few years ago. They are still doing a good job. Some minor tweaks are between them and superior...