Timberlake's Restaurant — Restaurant in Blowing Rock

They have a gem, and they are wasting it. We walked in and the place is BEAUTIFUL. There was something going on. I think like a private party or reception but parking was still accessible and easy. The man at the front gate was so very nice and helpful. People were dining on the patio, the music from the tent was present but unobtrusive. You walk to a foyer with a giant stone fire place that is open but cozy and the hostess was incredibly polite. We had a slight wait, but that was expected since we didn't have a reservation and it was shorter than expected. That was were the good experience ended and is why this place should even have a star at all. After being sat in a room we had to wait a full 20 minutes just to get water. Our server passed our table 4 times without a greeting as she doted nicely on the table winding down next to us. When she finally came to our table, she wasn't rude, but definitely brief. We ordered drinks after being asked about "just water?" After how long it took to get any service we went ahead and ordered the duck and dumplings for an appetizer. It was good, flavorfull, duck was barely present in tiny little pieces but over all not bad. The drink I got was the purple haze was excellent, best part of the meal. We finished the app and played the waiting game again to order/get food. My husband got the filet. Which he said was a great cuts of meat but under seasoned, the green beans had no caramiled shallots on them despite being called 'shallot greenbeans', and the best part was the fries he was able to substitute for grits. I got the crab linguine. Crab was good in it and thats it. The pasta was overdone, the sundried tomatoes had stem pieces that weren't trimmed off, you could barely tell there was butter in the sauce because the amount of lemon made it nearly inedible. The onions in it I dont even know how to describe. They were cooked to translucent but so hard as if they'd been left in a fridge uncovered to dry out so even cooked they were hard to the point you couldn't chew through them. Through all of this, we were checked on once. When told the food wasn't bad, te waitress said ok and left before I could even ask about any of it. The tables that cleared out around us were left uncleared for the entirety of the meal, including one that was dirty from before we were sat ruining the ambiance, and the door to the patio was left open with a fan in even when the temp dipped to low 60s, so it was uncomfortably cold for most of the meal. Its a rare day that my husband. Who was a waiter for an incredibly long time through college just wants to bail and tip only the standard 20% and even he couldn't get out of there fast enough. If this place was even half as good as it had seemed it was we would have shut the place down with drinks, dessert and dipping the bill. As it was we will never be coming back and encourage you not to try. If you want an experience so bad it makes you not want to even try staying at the resort itself, this is the...

Dissapointing. My wife and I wanted to treat ourselves to a nice dinner out while staying in Blowingrock so we decided to try Timberlake's based on its reputation. I want to preface all of this by reiterating that at this price point, an expectation of high quaility food and service is expected. That is the baseline I'm jusging on. Also, my wife and I love finding good food while on vacation, so this was something we were really looking forward to.

The venue itself was clean and the grounds were beautiful. We arrived 5 minutes early for our reservation, and had to wait 10 minutes when there were many open tables. Our server was energetic and friendly, but many times during the meal we sat unattended. I think she was covering many tables and may have been one of two waiters working that evening. The appetizers took quite a while to come out and we sat finished with them for a long while before the main dishes came out.

The food itself was not good. Both my wife and I stopped eating well before we were full. For starters, I had the tomato and gouda soup and my wife had the Ahi Tuna Nachos. My soup was presented with a comically small desert spoon, which made eating it tedious and the soup itself was bland. My wife's tuna was good, but the topping was bland as well. For our main dishes I had the Ox Tail and my wife had Duck 2 Ways. Neither of us finished. Mine was served over sauteed peppers and onions and rice. The rice was mushy but had many grains that were also hard and crunchy and undercooked. It also had a strange plastic like taste. The peppers and onions were overcooked and nearly mush. The ox tail had great flavor, but there wasn't much on the plate. My wife's duck was dry and bland. The grits they were served with had nothing to them either. No salt or pepper or anything. It honestly tasted like instant grits with just water added. The asparagus it was served with was great and well cooked. We decided not to get desert. We left, extremely dissasisfied, and I spent the evening with an...

I posted a review about 2 weeks ago and I went to see if it was posted and it was not. So I’m going to write my review again. The worst restaurant experience I have ever had in my life. We had a party of six people for Thanksgiving. First thing I had to ask for was a wet towel because the table was so sticky. Restaurant was not full and the service was slow. This was a $90.00 per head dinner. We all ordered and it took about 15 minutes to get our soup that was Luke warm at best. My friend had the crostini and the bread was so hard you could hear it when she was hitting it on the side of her plate. The Cesar salad had long cuts of lettuce that I had to cut with my knife. It was like eating spaghetti. I had the turkey with mashed potatoes, stuffing and gravy. It was cold and the stuffing had no flavor just like the mashed potatoes. The turkey was tough and chewy. I sent it back and did not request another plate because I knew I would receive the same awful food. I have had better meals at a diner. Two of my other friends had to send their prime rib back because it wasn’t cooked properly and one had 2 hunks of meat that were just thrown on his plate. How can you price a dinner at $90.00 when you have prime rib compared to turkey. I was charged $40.00 for soup, salad and a desert. I payed close to $600.00 for a meal that I wouldn’t pay $60.00 for. It felt like someone came into my home and robbed me of $600.00. I have cooked and managed restaurants in my life and this restaurant needs a new executive chef, kitchen staff and managers. With all the bad reviews you think they would do something about it. When they reply back to a bad review they say they take the quality of food very seriously , no they don’t. I was so disgusted with this experience and there’s nothing I can do about it but write this review. Do not go to this restaurant. Save yourself a lot of money for a very...