The Depot Restaurant at Cody Creek — Restaurant in North Carolina

Let me count the ways that I despise this place! I know it stays pretty busy, but is that just because nothing else is around?!?! I saw the latest poor review and can completely believe it! I went yesterday for Father's Day. It was about as busy as it usually is when I've been but we waited over an hour to get our food. My family has food allergies and we requested special care from the waitress who wrote everything down. Then our fun began. After waiting an hour with three hungry kids (one of which is 1 year old and didn't understand the wait) we inquired about our food and asked if we could just get some french fries for the kids to hold them over. We were told no that the food had to come out in order. Another 10 minutes passes and the food for the other families we were with came, but not my family's food. We were told from the waitress in an annoyed tone "It wasn't my fault, I wrote it down, but the chef didn't pay attention. They're redoing your food now." So now, my kids, very hungry at this point, have to sit and watch everyone else eat. So another 10 minutes pass by and they bring out my family's food. The grilled chicken we ordered for our kids was done correctly but our steaks, which we ordered medium, were dark red throughout and were medium rare. Evidence that the cook just slapped the steaks on the grill to brown them on the outside and then rush them out. We informed our waitress who argued with us and said they were medium. I'm sorry but dark red through out is NOT medium. Medium is warm PINK center, not a steak that is virtually still mooing. At this point I'd had enough and we just sent the steaks back and ate a small amount of the grilled chicken which was more than enough for our kids. Not as filling as we would have liked but I was ready to go. They did not charge us for the steaks (I would have refused to pay anyway) so at least they did that. I went to pay and wanted to talk to the manager but found out that the owner was actually there. I spoke with her to let her know of our situation and was told "The server knows it is supposed to be 20 minutes for food. This kind of thing never happens here." Not even a real apology or anything. How does this place stay in business with the attitude displayed by the servers and the OWNER of all people?!?! Needless to say this is one restaurant I will NEVER go to again. If I were you I'd find somewhere...

We come to Mt. Airy once or twice a year and have been to The Depot many of those times. We agin wanted to get a good meal but, this time was disappointed on many levels. We realized from the past that the owner must be very politically oriented and especially bias. I guess it’s his toys and his rules. However, my opinion is if businesses want all to feel welcome, drop the political BS and create great food and leave all else out of the mix. But again his rules. We were seated promptly and service was quick. We had had the “Blooming Onion” before so that was on top of the list to start. It was served quickly but with a minimum of the coating and dripping in oil. Nothing under the onion to absorb the excess at all. I was disappointed to learn that they no longer served the prime rib, I recall the owner making a point one time of explaining g that he purchased more prime ribs than anyone else. (On the east coast?) My second choice was 1/2 rack of the baby back ribs w/ baked potato and baked apples. My wife ordered the NY Strip w/baked sweet potato and a side salad. Food arrived in a very reasonable amount of time waitresses was pleasant Salad came first almost all ice berg lettuce not much else. Her steak was cooked very nicely MR. Baked sweet potato was cooked to mush. My potato was fine however the bb ribs were the worst I have ever had, dried up and tough. No type of distinctive bbq sauce but definitely made in some sort of artificial smoke brine or something totally uneatable. The baked apples were out of some jar with no flavor except for coconut? Thats what I picked out weird. Waitress returned and ask if everything is okay, no and I explain she apologies (no need) she didn’t cook the food ask if I want to order something different, no I finished my wife’s steak and that’s enough. The BB ribs are removed from the bill but I am charged for the 2 sides @ $3.00 each that comes with the meal. I guess in some kind of way I did eat the sides. This is supposed to be a “higher end” restaurant at least the prices would suggest that and they don’t even serve butter but some sort of “whipped spread” yuck and a golf ball size piece of bread. I can’t help but to think that ownership must have changed or a management/chef changed. It is different enough that we will not...

I have always enjoyed eating at Cody Creek and have referred many others there as well. The place is absolutely beautiful. It is rare to find something so unique that also has good food. Even with the long drive, it has always been worth it. Unfortunately, after this past Saturday night, I don't know that I will ever go back. I have never in my life been treated so rudely at a business establishment. My family wasn't able to get together for Thanksgiving, so I wanted to take them all out on Saturday for a special treat at Cody Creek. After trying to call all afternoon to request a table for a larger party, I walked in at 5:30 to put our name on the list for a party of 11. I was immediately told, in a hateful tone, that we would have to split up because they could not sit a party of 11 together. Now I know they have larger tables, but it is Christmas, so I thought maybe they were all booked. It wasn't a problem. I told the lady that if that was all they had it was fine, but we would need to sit close together because 6 of our 11 people were children. She told me that was all they could do unless I wanted to wait until 8 pm, again in a very hateful tone. Then, the other lady proceeds to say we can either sit you at separate tables or NOTHING. Wow!! I was so taken aback by the fact that I was being treated so horribly at a place that I loved and was planning to spend a right smart of money at, was talking to me, or any other customer for that matter in this manner. It took me a second to get my composure together. I didn't want to have to tell my family that we weren't going to eat here after driving all this way; however, I can assure you that the answer I wanted to give her was NOTHING, and under any other circumstances would have been NOTHING. I proceeded to tell her that we would stay. I ended up spending a lot of money on mediocre food (food has gone downhill since the last time I was there) at a place I didn't want to give a dime to. Thank you for ruining my night with my family and my positive experience with your restaurant up until this point. You may have a beautiful place, but if you treat others like you treated me, it won't matter how...