Rocky Face Tavern — Restaurant in Canton

Four of us had drinks and dinner at Rocky Face Tavern on a nice brisk fall Friday night. The restaurant had a good crowd but wasn't packed. Signage could be improved a bit. At first we didn't see the entrance and had to ask someone in the parking area where the bar/restaurant was.

Although Springdale Country Club/Resort is a bit off the beaten path, to say the least, the new owners reportedly have ambitious plans for the golf course, facilities and lodging. A good deal of money has been invested in the facility over the past couple of years, and the restaurant/bar, called Rocky Face Tavern, is attractive with beautiful stone work.

We arrived early and had a couple of drinks at the bar before dinner. Call brand drinks are moderately priced (around $10 or $12) but frankly aren't very generous pours. You'd be better off going with the well liquors -- a vodka martini from the well -- Smirnoff, I think -- was only around $6.

The four of us in the party all ordered from the Friday night specials menu. The regular menu has entrees such as mountain trout, a steak, short ribs and chicken, most in the low $20s to low $40s. There's also a "snacks" menu with small plates mostly priced in the teens.

From the specials menu, a couple of us had the house burger with blue cheese and caramelized onions (around $16 plus an extra few bucks for fries) and two of us had the fish and chips ($23.50). We all enjoyed the food. In fact, I thought my fish and chips -- a large portion of lightly breaded Atlantic cod plus steak fries -- was probably the best fish and chips I've had in the Asheville area.

Service was pretty good, although the restaurant seems to suffer, like many others these days, from occasional staffing issues. Dishes from the kitchen did come out promptly. Guests seem to be a mix of regulars from the Cruso/Canton area and visitors staying at the property to play golf.

The restaurant has two nice fireplaces, one inside and one outside. However, the staff did not start fires in either one, even though a fire would have felt good (even inside) on the cool autumn evening. Again, maybe that's a...

We recently went to Rocky Face Tavern for a birthday celebration, and we enjoyed the experience. It is a beautiful, rustic bar/restaurant with a nice terrace overlooking the golf course. The menu seemed a little limited, but enough choices to satisfy most. We first had an appetizer of crab stuffed mushrooms. These were OK, but the mushrooms seemed slightly overcooked and a bit tough, the stuffing wasn't well combined and fell apart, and you only got 5 pieces for $18. Not a great value. For the entree, all of us had steak, salad, and form of potato. The salads were good with an unusual but tasty pimiento cheese ranch dressing (although a little clumpy). Steak Diane was plentiful and got good reviews at the table. Loaded mashed potatoes were a good-sized portion and savory. Two of us ordered the ribeye. Now here's where things get subjective and why I generally quit ordering restaurant steaks - the steaks were a good size, but only about 1/2-3/4 inch thick. This is far too thin to get a properly cooked medium temperature steak. But this seems to be the same everywhere. Also, I'm kind of an oddball in that I don't much like the taste of fatty steaks like ribeye. I much prefer leaner steaks like tenderloin or sirloin, and these just tasted a little bland/fatty overall. The "steak butter" that came with them didn't add any flavor - just more fat. I probably should have ordered the filet medallions, although a nice full-size, thick tenderloin filet would have been better (not available). Again, this is highly subjective, and if you generally like ribeyes, you probably would like these. Finally, the desserts were excellent (chocolate bourbon pecan pie and brownie w/ice cream), and one of them was free for birthday. Nice touch. Overall, the meal was good, the service was very friendly, and in a beautiful building/location. Granted, the meal was pretty pricey (e.g. $32 cheapest bottle of wine they had), but that's unfortunately typical for nicer...

There were great things about the place, and not so great. I feel like most of go out to eat and know that restaurants are understaffed by now, the entrance doesn’t showcase you are at the restaurant, but none the less we found our way in. At first greet the manager/host was nice enough and welcomed us but was on the phone. The place had 2 large parties and a small table eating/dining. The bar had 2 guests.

The host/manager let us know it would be a minute before we sat down. Once there our waiter was extremely casual in greeting us and quickly took our drink order. From there I’d say things arrived rather slowly. The rest of the time was just mediocre at best. Our waiter was really the only multitasking person on the floor. The bartender on that evening was not a team player in my opinion, we watched our server make several drinks and just move several steps faster than the bartender. Our first round of drinks sat for a minute before we ever got them.

The bread served was ok. Once we finally got it. The special was a blackened chicken pasta over linguine which was good. The chicken was super tender! I’m certain if the staff was better proportioned that service would have been much better. We learned this was new for the owner and still a learning phase for them. I worked in the service industry for many years so I feel like I observe better than your average patron but I try really hard to be in their shoes. Hands down our server seemed to run circles around the other staff and on several occasions he helped every other person on the floor that night, I can’t say the same for the other servers as far as helping as a team. Not sure if we would be back anytime soon, but worth a go again if we are ever back in the...