The Beacon Restaurant — Restaurant in Boone

It is rare that a restaurant’s aesthetic is on par with the food that is served.

On their website the current owner, Tina Houston, a local favourite from her reputation as a caterer and of Reid’s Café fame explains that, “The Beacon Butcher Bar features re-purposed barn wood, local river stone, white concrete tabletops, succulent greenery by Callista Designs. Colours are of dark sea and cloud, forest, stone, sky, and sunset. The vivacious heart of the restaurant resides in Jerry Cantwell’s paintings”

The Beacon Butcher Bar was formerly an event space and when the Coronavirus hit, Tina Houston made the sagacious choice to turn it into a restaurant for take-away and dine-in patrons. We were so pleased that she did. I had to list all of the things I love about this place and explain while I would return below;

First, this restaurant takes very special care to ensure that all of the tables are socially distanced, the staff wears masks and encourages patrons to do the same prior to dining and whilst visiting the WC.

Secondly, the seating is comfortable and very generous – collapsing into blue velvet brass chairs at a large table makes you feel like royalty.

Third, their staff is extremely knowledgeable and happy to answer any questions you have on the menu or venue itself. They are extremely pleasant and their energy is infectious.

Fourth, The paintings by Jerry Cantwell really draw the diner in. Patrons, including us were commenting on how they really set the tone for this Mediterranean based menu with an accent on Italian cuisine.

Fifth, the wine list holds some perennial favourites. As I am half Italian I liked that they did a good job of combing the best of every country represented at moderate price points for first time patrons to enjoy and hopefully purchase for home consumption along with the restaurants excellent dinner options. Brian Hendershot, their front house manager and wine expert made a great suggestion. By the way, they serve wine both by the glass and by the bottle.

Sixth, their pastry chef made two of the most amazing desserts for our dining pleasure; classic Tiramisu with local blueberries and a cloud-like Pavlova with a fresh fruit puree. While her name now escapes me at present, we learned that she owns a chocolat company that sells her confections in Boone, N.C and beyond.

Seventh, Yes – I did save the best for last. Malcolm Gladwell shares in his book The Tipping Point that once someone has completed 10,000 hours of a craft or vocation they master it. Well, the self-taught Chef at Beacon Butcher Bar has obviously done his. We had the pleasure of meeting Sean McCullen, Head Chef and listened to his journey from back of the house chef, saucier to now Head Chef. This young man’s food is James Beard Foundation worthy. I sincerely hope they send someone to try his dishes. He is beyond talented and humble to boot. His charcuterie is original and one can see how they earned the moniker of “Butcher Bar” from the seasonal meat selection. There pastas are all, as we say in Italian, “Fatto in casa” or made in house and his main dishes are phenomenal.

In closing, this place is worth the drive from other states as it is truly a hidden gem in Boone,...

Wow, where to start. This was our first trip. The atmosphere and vibe were very cool right off the bat, but that unfortunately was the high point of our visit. We were seated and waited almost 10 minutes before our server arrived. Ordered a bottle of wine and a Parallel IPA which were great. The server stopped by half way through my beer and we ordered the crab cake app which was awesome. She took our dinner order and asked if i wanted another beer, to which I replied not yet, but shortly. Then she pretty much disappeared. There was no wine service for my wife, which is fairly customary at upscale places when you order a bottle. After sitting at least 10 minutes with an empty beer glass, I approached another server because ours had vanished. And then things got dicey. The manager delivered our meals and we told him we were not very impressed with the service we were getting after ordering a $52 ribeye and my wife's pizza. He spoke to the server who told him I was done with beer which was hardly the case. He stood by his server and told us our complaint had been addressed and the matter was closed. At that point I asked to get our entrees boxed and we left with him reiterating that he was standing behind his server. I've never experienced anything like his treatment of us and the way he completely ignored trying to make anything right. I mentioned Tina, the owner's name, and he said he could get her on the phone for us, which I said yes to right away. Needless to say, he never made the call. We brought our meals home and they were awesome...probably one of the best ribeyes I've had. Unfortunately, (and I told the manager this) we always return to a restaurant if the service is great, even if the food isn't top notch. But we never return for great food and poor service. Probably the reason they weren't busy for such...

I tried hard to love this place but it fell short on my wife and I's 28th wedding anniversary. I should have complained but moved along hoping it was just me.....it wasn't. Another couple complained about the chewy steak, same as we had that seemed like something the restaurant needed to get rid of by calling it "the Chef's favorite." I really think based on reviews it is "hit or miss" on some of the food, particularly the specials. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt hoping it was just what we ordered tonight. My advice is to stick with traditional Italian menu (we saw a ton of people eating pizza, seems most people who positively review eat this).

The good: Atmosphere, wait staff, specialty drinks/teas, salads, appetizer (Calamari and sauce were actually great).

The bad: Entrees, which carry the most weight and spend, pull the entire rating down for me. After all, this is mainly what you go to a restaurant for. It is the anchor. Maybe it was an off night but it was so off I most likely wouldn't go back. Desert was also terrible unless you enjoy dry lemon corn bread repurposed and called cake.

I had Picanha which was the night's special, a shoulder cut of beef. Buyer beware. One of the toughest steaks I ever tried to eat, popular in Brazil I was told (and , again, "Chef's favorite). I had to keep spitting pieces out over and over (hiding them under my salad) and got to the point where I thought I was going to choke so I stopped. I am not sure the chef has tried tonight's cut. My wife had the chicken cacciatore. Chicken was strong and gamey, undercooked by her standards.

Not sure guys, I'm thinking maybe a re-do and update on this one. Again, if I return I would stick to the main Italian dishes (i.e. Pizza) and ...