Kallisto Restaurant and Lounge at Nantahala Village — Restaurant in North Carolina

Came here to celebrate my birthday thinking from the reviews this place would be worth the drive. When you walk in, there is a beautiful bar. We did get a great table by a window and the view was beautiful here. However the ambiance was slightly tainted by club music. We were slightly confused since it was such a beautiful restaurant why they were playing dance club/edm/rave music which kind of took away from the beauty there completely. On the other hand, our server was absolutely fantastic. She was prompt, kind, and down to earth, which was great. We ordered the pesto pizza for starters since there was no crab dip which is mentioned in the reviews and they should correct this on their Google page. They have a feta dip instead but was looking forward to the crab dip so ordered the pesto pizza instead and it was definitely not great. The pesto was overly salty and dried to the pita since it was cooked on the pita and the tomato since it was baked with them on became leathery. Would be better if the pita was cooked first then add the pesto and tomatoes and cheese after with good evoo drizzled on top. It's almost a sin to over cook pesto like that. Pesto is suppose to be delicate. It was like eating dry mushy pita bread. We even asked our server if she could bring us some olive oil to drizzle on the top to make it less dry. My husband ordered the chicken alfredo since the reviews seemed good. However, it was rather an odd alfredo dish. Large pieces of red onion in the sauce tossed with the pasta, which made the dish overpowering and awkward but edible. Call me old fashioned but purple onion doesn't belong in an alfredo dish. The chicken, however, wasn't edible. It was as if the chicken was of lower quality, similar to rib meat or what happens when you thaw and refreeze chicken several times in a row and became dense and chewy and texture was way off and not good, kind of like eating a banquet chicken patty without the breading. The alfredo sauce was lacking flavor terribly. If you can't use fresh garlic in your sauce, garlic powder and garlic salt would do some major good here. The server did notice my husband just eating the pasta part after picking out the huge chunks of purple onion and chicken and had a manager come to check on us and he said he has never had anyone until now complain so he didn't know how to make it right and that they were still somewhat new. For the price of this dish you could order a stouffers chicken alfredo and have similar quality if not better and save money. Nothing about this was worth the price, and he admitted the pasta isn't freshly made in house,but everything is ordered by truck but for the price you pay this was a huge disappointment. He did not offer to take it off our bill or have us come back to try them again but that's okay since we were not looking for a hand out. I ordered the trout, which was honestly pretty good by itself. However if you get the side of sautéed potatoes you will get very different slice sizes which I'm wondering who in the kitchen was to lazy to cut them all the same size or invest in a mandolin slicer this could make eating this dish so much better along with using yukons. They did make a fantastic drink and lemon creme brule was spot on. I think this is a newer restaurant that hasn't yet ironed out all their kinks and has potential to be very amazing but they should decide what direction they are going with it and if going in more of a fine dining option definitely make some improvements so guests are getting their money's worth. The view alone is beautiful but most coming here are paying for the food that should be worth the price and for and memories they will have that last a lifetime. The beautiful view will not outweigh the poor food that was served, I think most reviews are, "Hey, this place is beautiful. Come here to see the nice restaurant and view and eat mediocre, overpriced food because of said view." I hope in the future things will improve and quality gets better. Not sure if I'll be back, but thank you for the great service...

This is definitely on our list of places we have to eat at when we are out here. There was a decent wait but the staff were so friendly and we were able to go to the bar to get a drink and then sit in the lobby area while we waited. Once we were seated we had an amazing view outside. The drinks were delicious. We got the Pitza as an appetizer and it was great. Had the salmon and steak both of which tasted amazing. But the staff were just beyond friendly and welcoming. Even with a hectic night and a sudden rush they were so kind and polite and handled everything as best they could. Overheard one of the owners having to handle some less than patient people and still maintained a very respectful and polite attitude. The bar service was great, the bartender was obviously busy and doing multiple jobs but checked in to make sure we had what we needed. Even when things took a while (again totally understandable in the middle of an unexpected rush and large tables) everyone was apologetic and kind and you could just tell they were doing the best they could and working hard to make sure everyone had a good experience. Definitely recommend stopping in. It took us looking it up online to realize it was a restaurant inside the hotel that was open to the public. Wish they had better signage bc I think it would bring more people in. Overall the food and drinks were delicious, but it is the welcoming atmosphere and view that will have us...

If you want to have a fantastic dinner this is the restaurant for you!!! This place is an experience and not just good food. The bar and restaurant are exquisitely decorated and have a relaxing and welcoming atmosphere. You can start at the bar with a few drinks where Julie will take care of you and prepare the best cocktails. When you are ready move to the dinning room or the patio if you prefer, and Brett will definitely make you have the best dining experience of your life. He will describe the chef’s creations in such a way that you will savor the food before it arrives, he was friendly and made us feel like we were old friends. He was also very friendly with my kids, they even got to share a few jokes. When the food arrived we were absolutely stunned by the magnificent flavors that chef Matt created, we thoroughly enjoyed every bite. The good thing is that there was more deliciousness to come…we wrapped up our dinner with pastry chef Sara’s fabulous Banana Cheesecake!! I don’t have enough words to completely describe the flavors and the fantastic food we had. You HAVE to visit Kallisto and let yourself be amazed by this little hidden gem in the mountains of...