The Speckled Trout Restaurant and Bottle Shop — Restaurant in Blowing Rock

The High Country of NC holds a special place in our lives because my wife and I spent our honeymoon in Beech Mountain. So, for our 26th wedding anniversary, we decided to celebrate in Blowing Rock.

When looking at dining options for our anniversary dinner, I wanted something within walking distance of our motel. I selected several dining options for my wife to choose from, and after reviewing the respective menus, she chose The Speckled Trout, and what a great choice it was for our special evening!

We arrived early for our reservation, and within 10 minutes we were seated. Although it was a very pleasant evening in Blowing Rock, we chose to dine inside. We were blessed (I mean it!) to be seated in Keeli’s section. She cheerfully greeted us and took our drink order.

Looking over the menu while waiting for our drinks to arrive, surmising that a restaurant that has “Trout” in its name must be known for its trout, both my wife and I decided to order the Carolina Mt. Trout; my wife ordered hers blackened and I ordered mine hickory smoked. We both ordered our trout with two sides; my wife ordered the fennel & potato salad and collard greens, and I ordered the collard greens and smoked gouda grits simply because I am Southern, and the grits were produced in my home state of South Carolina.

When our entrees arrived, our trout was perfectly seasoned and prepared. My wife enjoyed her potato salad, and my grits did South Carolina proud! And while our collard greens were delicious, a word of caution – they are seasoned with hot pepper vinegar (my late father NEVER ate collards without it), so don’t let that first mouthful take your breath away!

Although we don’t normally order dessert when dining out, when Keeli asked if we wanted to see the dessert menu, I mentioned to her that since it was our anniversary, absolutely! Keeli congratulated us on our anniversary, and she THANKED us for choosing The Speckled Trout for our special evening! Pleasantly full, but wanting to treat ourselves on our anniversary, my wife and I decided to split cheesecake with blueberry compote.

When Keeli delivered the cheesecake, it tasted as good as its presentation. I will also say that chain restaurant that has “Cheesecake” in its name could take a lesson from The Speckled Trout. Not only was the cheesecake better tasting than that other restaurant, but it was also a fraction of the cost! Not that cost mattered on our anniversary, but I say this only because I took notice of the difference.

When the bill arrived, Keeli had, sweetly, comped the cheesecake because it was our anniversary. Her kind gesture was totally unexpected, but greatly appreciated by my wife and I, and only confirmed that we had made the right choice as to where to dine on our anniversary.

Although I don’t know the name of our chef at The Speckled Trout on the evening of September 5th, I DO know the name of our server, and thanks to Keeli (and the chef), my wife and I had a dining experience that perfectly celebrated 26 years of marriage. Great food AND...

Every aspect of this place was incredible. I went for dinner with my parents at this restaurant less than 2 hours ago. We made a reservation an hour before we ate and we were very lucky to get in as it was very busy and not a massive space. We scanned the menu and my mouth started watering. We unfortunately decided to skip starters as we had just had some chips at a pub down the road whilst we were waiting for our table. For a drink my parents had a bottlw of wine to share and a beer and a cocktail. I had a 'surprise me' mocktail which was a mocktail that had been made specially. There was a bit of confusion in the bar and I got two of them instead of one but whose complaining about that. They were both delicious. Instead of a starter we had a cup of soup. I had chicked and dumpling and my dad had the same. My mum had the white bean soup and they were both lovely however there were no dumplings in the chicken and dumpling soup. I did find some dumpling wrappers in it though. It was delicious however. For the mains (entrees) My dad had a wagyu burger and fries, my mum had almond crusted trout with hopping jons (rice, beans and black eyed peas) and beans and greens. But let's talk about my main. It was the best thing I think I have ever eaten. I don't think I can talk enough about how incredible this tasted. It was a peppery bone-in grilled pork chop which was cooked medium and was deliciously tender and juicy. It came with a buttery ricotta stuffed ravioli covered in what I believe was a demi glacé sauce. It also had local mushrooms and pumpkin seeds for a great crunch. If anyone working there is reading this I would love the recipe for the whole dish. I also ordered a side of moonshine roasted carrots which were just a little to crunchy for my liking but the flavour was incredible. Unfortunately we made the staff work later than usual as we left late. They were lovely about it and didn't seem to be bothered by it, our waitress was a really lovely woman and tended to us really well. The atmosphere in the restuarant was amazing and bustling. Even more Unfortunately we didn't have dessert, (we didn't want to make them work any later) we were full and it was late. I will make a flight from the UK to the US to go to that restuarant. The only sad thing about it was that the pork was only a seasonal dish. It is a must visit if you are in or near the area. Immaculate food, staff and a beautiful location. You will regret if you don't make a...

This was one of the worst meals ever. The pumpkin soup was so spicy (no warning) that after 3 bites I had to drink 3 glasses of water. Very heavy on the pepper. I told the server, but that was a dead end. When someone finds the food inedible, a replacement or refund should be offered.

The main course and salad came out together. No excuse for that. Either your food gets cold or the salad gets soggy. We opted for warm food. I had the veggie plate. The roasted beets were great. Unfortunately, the maple sweet potato had so much pepper it was, you guessed it, inedible. The succotash had so much pepper...inedible. My husband' veggie burger was okay but the fries were cold and without salt. But guess what? Pepper! I let the server know the issues. Dead end.

Oh,wondering about the salad? Nope it wasn't soggy because there was barely any dressing. Also it was warm...By now, the whole experience was so bad we didn't ask for additional salad dressing. And we left most of the salad after rooting around to try to find some bites that had dressing.

Although we had a reservation, they seated us 15 minutes late. After initial water was placed on the table, the server was mostly MIA. Before leaving, I asked for the manager to let them know the issues. I was told there was no manager, but he would be back soon. What?

I hope enough people read this to think twice before spending $96 for two people. The wine was pretty good, and that's the best I can say, since the atmosphere is loud, the bench seats are made of two slabs of 2x10 oak, and they only have 2 single restrooms for the huge number of people they have seating for. There was always a line right around the corner from our table. And the kitchen door opened right in the middle of the line. Yikes. Isn't that some kind of...