Elk River Depot Family Restaurant — Restaurant in Newland

It's good to have a restaurant back in Elk Park. My family and I have taken in a few meals since this place opened. So far we've found the food good and the staff friendly. While perhaps not the bargain that the classic Elk Park restaurants (the original Country House and the Times Square Dinner) were, the selection is familiar enough that everyone will likely find something to suit their tastes.

UPDATE: My family and I visited this establishment again on a Saturday morning recently, and to be frank it was not a good experience thanks to a lack of coordination amongst the waitstaff. Yes, the restaurant was busy, but we found an open table which a staff member cleaned as we waited. It took well over ten minutes for that same staff member to bring us menus, even though we saw her provide menus to other patrons who were seated after us. Even after bringing menus, she didn't bother to take our drink orders. At least four waitresses were on duty, yet all of them seemed to spend more time standing around and talking than serving their customers. As an example, we saw several plates of food sit in the kitchen pickup window for over ten minutes. We also saw patrons get up and leave out of frustration, and so did we after the poor level of service we witnessed.

I hope this was just a bad day, as previous experiences here have been positive. But if this poor service keeps up, we will not return, and the future of this eatery will surely be in doubt. Hope your luck is better...

3 years later and it's completely different. No real food, just burgers, sandwiches, and pizza. Tea used to be great. Now it's just sugar water. Terrible service. Only two tables and another man at the bar but i couldnt get a menu. Still can't get my ticket or a togo box, even though a server came up and asked me if i need anything. She's disappeared. Another girl just came up and asked me if I needed anything! Not a place to go any more. Can't even pay for the food because the two girls act like I'm not here. 3 years ago - This used to be Times Square Restaurant. Open Under New Management and obviously a new Chef. It was good before but it's absolutely great now! It has quickly become my go-to place for a good meal. My favorite is the meatloaf, my son's favorite is the grilled chicken sandwich. We are both experts on those meals and these are definitely the best ever. This has got to be the best restaurant meatloaf I've ever had. The veggies are always very tasty, the wait staff and the rest of the crew are also really great. Portions are huge, too. I always end up taking half of mine home for dinner . Unfortunately, they're only open through lunch time during the week but they're open through dinner on Friday and Saturday. If you get a chance and you're up in the Banner Elk or Newland area, it's worth the trip out into the country to get...

We visited in June and it was fine.

Came back in September and the waitress kept forgetting everything. Took our drink order and never came back (not even with the drinks). Had to track down another waitress to help us. After we finally did get our food she again, never came back. Had to find someone else to get us our bill so we could leave.

Hoped that visit was a fluke so we tried again this week. It is "Seat Yourself" and there were plenty empty tables but all will still dirty. We picked one and stood around by it. A couple other families came in after us and did the same. No one came out to clean it so I started tidying up the table to make it easier when someone did come out.

Eventually a waitress did come by, walked through my standing family, cleaned tables for the other two waiting couples, walked back through my standing, waiting family and just kept right on through to the back room. We tracked down another waitress and asked her to clean it, she said "Sure" and kept cleaning 2 or 3 empty tables no one was waiting on and never came over to clean ours. Another customer beside where we were trying to sit saw all this happening and went to get a rag to help us clean it off. I told him thank you but don't bother, we're leaving. We can't even get a seat I doubt the food service would have...