Purple Onion — Restaurant in Saluda

I've been trying to get to this place for a while now & was really excited to try it this past weekend. The atmosphere is great, our service was excellent, but overall the food was extremely mediocre given the prices.

Highlights: Pimiento cheese dip appetizer, tomato basil soup

What we tried: tomato basil soup, pimiento cheese dip appetizer, smoked trout & tzatziki board, local cheese & honey board, Mediterranean plate.

The soup was amazing. The pimiento cheese dip was incredible, but the serving is teeny-tiny, definitely a skimpy portion if you're sharing. The tzatziki was good; the smoked trout was very hard & chewy--not the normal consistency of other smoked fish, this was almost more like jerky.

The biggest disappointment was the cheese board. They poured some honey straight onto a board and served it with--I'm not kidding here--a torn up block of orange cheddar cheese that you could buy in the grocery store, a few plain almonds, 6 tiny rice crackers, & what was apparently supposed to be "chutney," but appeared to be some shredded, beige...cabbage, maybe? That was totally tasteless.

Maybe I've just been spoiled by incredible cheese boards, but I expected there to be more than one kind of cheese, and I'm pretty sure neither the cheese or honey were "local" (my dining companion said "maybe they meant from the local grocery store?")

The Mediterranean plate was fine, the vegetables were fresh. It didn't seem like the hummus or tabouleh were house-made, but they tasted good. It wasn't bad, but in my opinion, definitely not worth $14.

Still, the town is cute, the place is cute, and our service was truly wonderful. Maybe we just ordered the wrong things? I definitely want to go back & give them another try & will update this review...

Oh my goodness! What a treat. The food was outstanding. The bloody mary was delicious, and our server was more than kind and personable. It was my first of many visits to come. I had no idea the amount of music this place also has. My wife and I are very much looking forward to going back.

I must say the pulled-pork breakfast sandwich was one of the best sandwiches I've had since I moved to Lake Lure in 8/2022. It was lightly sauced in a mustard &something, with the slightest amount of sweetness, which I prefer as I'm a vinegar based lover. It as a poached egg and some super crispy and fresh slaw. I chose the soup as a side and it was a sausage white bean soup that I almost ordered a bowl to-go. These were the Daily Special, not on the regular menu.

My eyes were so impressed and my stomach couldn't wait for the goodness, I forgot to take any pictures. Sorry, no sorry lol. I will say, make reservations just in case. We did and didn't need them as we went fairly soon after they opened (on Sunday, which is a treat to find such great food available on Sunday's). But it did start picking up quickly when we were headed out. Oh, I also couldn't leave without desert. Since I was full, I got the blackberry crumble to go.

Glad to have found my favorite...

This is probably our 4th time here. We continue coming back to try new things to see if maybe we’ve missed something. But we haven’t. This is our last time coming here. The food is mediocre. Today we had a Cesar salad which barely had flavor except for the poached egg (that was kicking). The baked brie with chutney , what a joke. I removed the breading to find three small pieces of Brie cheese… and chutney??? Where? The berries were cooked in water at best, can’t call that a chutney. The Mediterranean dish was served on a bed of greens, barely any dressing just greens. The tzatziki - I’ve had better store bought. The hummus was not great. This is a restaurant with uninspired food, great staff and pleasant environment, which is sad considering we are surrounded by farms. This is a foodies nightmare and I would steer clear. Also the prices just don’t make sense…the barely there baked Brie was $15! We will gladly not come back and hope a proper chef is introduced as our town is lacking truly good food. Until, then best of luck!

PS

We did not order desert as last time we ordered it was like having a sweet from the Publix section right before closing. It screamed cafeteria, old, soggy and not worth the...