Pisgah Fish Camp — Restaurant in Brevard

Pisgah Fish Camp in Pisgah Forest, NC, has for decades been offering the best fried oysters in western NC (or so I have persuaded myself) -- always fresh mollusks, never overdone, large, not over-breaded. Heading back home to Brevard from Hendersonville earlier today, I knew I would drive by it. I became possessed of an irresistible urge to indulge myself with those delectable fried oysters again. As I pushed thru the front door about 3:30pm, I was delighted to see that I would have the spacious dining room virtually to myself, My friendly waitress, "Leslie" (do they still call them "waitresses?), settled me at my table and promptly took my order. She also persuaded me to order today's chef's special sides (fried okra and cheese grits), as they're fresh and cooked at once to the customer's order. "Oh, boy," I thought, "The planets are aligned perfectly today!" I expected soon to enjoy my best meal in weeks.

Alas, it was not to be! No sooner had I first sipped from my water glass than a score of new customers tumbled through the front door. The hostess seated them all in areas of the dining room that were apparently Leslie's exclusive province, as the four other waitresses on the floor continued their chatter with each other unabated. Leslie waited on an elderly couple who had just been seated next to me. They wanted to know all the ingredients in every menu item. Leslie should get the Nobel Peace Prize, as she patiently recited the ingredients of every entree. From memory! (How did she do that?!) After duly considering Leslie's comprehensive recitation, the customer finally instructed Leslie to bring her the "garden salad" but to hold the onion, tomato, olives, celery, capers and bell pepper. (Anybody remember Jack Nicholson's hilarious similar caper in "Five Easy Pieces?")

Leslie continued feverishly to wait on the many other customers who by now had settled within the area of the dining room for which she was apparently responsible. Leslie maintained her smile, but after all orders had been taken and submitted to the kitchen; all beverages and appetizers had been served; extra lemon wedges, more sides of tartar sauce, three take-out boxes, and scores of individual paper salt and pepper packets had been requested and delivered (Leslie explained that the restaurant had run out of salt and pepper shakers but that more "were on order"), my anticipation had ebbed considerably. My meal would probably have been good when first prepared, but by the time Leslie got it to me it bore the ravages of a few too many minutes of dehydration under an infrared lamp followed by at least as many additional minutes under a burned-out bulb.

"Not to worry," I consoled myself, "as Providence gave man microwave ovens for the rescue of just such calamities." I stuffed my meal into my own take-out box and headed home. As I passed the hostess at the front door, however, I noticed from my receipt that I had been overcharged for my oyster entree. The hostess explained that the recent bad economy had forced the restaurant to raise all its prices. I wasn't going to argue about their failure to update prices on the menu. I had already paid by credit card. By now I was late for my next engagement, and I was tired. I just growled as I left.

Post script: Later this evening (Friday) I re-deep fried my oysters, okra, and hush puppies in my Presto deep fryer at home in batches at 325 degrees for two minutes each batch. The result? Not bad. And the cheese grits responded acceptably to a 50-second nuke burst. Perhaps all's well that ends well? (But now I've got to clean up...

Great place if you are looking for a nice local basic hearty lunch. The service was slow in the sense that serving staff is not very attentive. However, I must say, they are very nice, and once you get their attention, they do work on helping and assisting you. The ambiance is homey! As the locals are super friendly & welcoming! I love it! The dining hall is very cozy, clean, and welcoming in a southern charm kind of way. The vegetable soup - 7 out of 10. It was well made full of vegetables and with fresh meat i thought it was bland yet go heavy on the salt and pepper and it will be very tasty soup. The salmon I give it a 2 out of 10, it was bland but seasoned aome what... however, it was overcooked and not fresh. The salmon was previously frozen, i thought the salmon would be of better quality since it is a fish diner. The salmon had a strong fish game taste. Make sure to use your lemon heavily, and it will taste better. The onion rings - they highlight of the meal! they were freshly made, crispy and Savory.... perfectly seasoned 10 out of 10. The potato salad was mustard/mayo based, a little bit acidic 4 out of 10. Hush Puppies! how can you go wrong with Hush Puppies! 10 out of 10. The shrimp is grilled to perfection, not overly spiced but not fresh (previously frozen) 3 out of 10. Mashed potatoes 4 of 10 bland. French fries 2 out of 10. All in all this is a good place to stop by if you are looking for a warm, familiar meal but if looking for good fish meal this will not...

We've been going here for years...always loved the food, people, and atmosphere. However, over the past 6-12 months the quality of service has gone down severely. Every time we go it takes longer and longer to get food, with wait times often exceeding 45 minutes even if the place is empty (which has been the case more often than not recently). During our last visit we sat down & we were greeted by our server. She took our drink/dinner order, and then vanished for 15 minutes. I had to flag her down to remind her to bring our drinks. Once we got our drinks it took an additional 25+ minutes before we saw any food. To make matters worse, when the food finally arrived both mine and my wife's orders were wrong. Waitress apologizes...says it's her fault, she put the orders in wrong, and she'll be right back with the correct food. Then she vanishes again for another 20 minutes. I finally had to flag her down (again) to remind her (again). She goes back to the kitchen and disappears (again). By this time, it is apparent she forgot to fix the order at all. Once she finally comes back to the table we tell her to bring our check, we are fed up & ready to leave. This would have been acceptable if it were busy, but there were only two other tables seated at our time of service. Unfortunately, this most recent visit will be our last. If you're looking for seafood in Hendersonville/Brevard, do yourself a favor and go to Bay Breeze instead. The food and wait staff are...