Conference Center & Maple Restaurant — Restaurant in Talking Rock

I stayed with my family back in November for an annual trip and the hotel was beautiful inside and out, the views were amazing, and the lodge is spacious, the staff were all so kind and took care of us and made our stay very memorable. It was probably the most fun I've had on a vacation and the location was breath- taking. We got a room with a patio and waking up early to blanketed mountains was amazing. The sunset was beautiful to watch as well but some guy who thought he was the bees knees was going on and on and on on the main deck patio about himself and that's all we heard the entire time watching the sunset. (TOTALLY NOT THE LODGE'S FAULT BY THE WAY, I just found that funny.) He completely missed the entire sunset because he was facing everyone watching it talking nonstop. The only bad thing I have to say about anything is that the restaurant needs some improvements. (I know it's part of but separate from the hotel side.) But it stinks because the lodge is amazing, you'd think the restaurant would be awesome because the only other choice is to drive down the mountains and into town. The restaurant was short staffed our entire stay, (I get things happen, that's really not the end of the world for me.) Their bar is also super tiny and understocked and their menu for the bar was inaccurate and needing to be updated. We also ate there during our stay and the food just missed the mark for me, It was all a bit bland. It is buffet style, which leads to food just sitting out and the quality seems to suffer from that. I feel like getting rid of the buffet style for the dinner entrees would probably help, (that was the worst part in my opinion, I remember vividly that their steak was overcooked and under seasoned) maybe making it into like a soup, salad, and potato bar so the entrees are fresh and made to order would really help this place out, not to mention save them money on food. I'll definitely be back and all the venue rooms in the lodge make this place an amazing location for a destination wedding, but definitely try the food before the wedding to see if you're okay with the quality of food. Maybe I came at a bad time during the...

I came here with my church for our annual womens retreat and one of my best experiences came from this dining restaurant inside the hotel. Emma was our server and she was amazing!!! She did such a great job treating us kindly after a different server dropped the ball. I had to call her supervisor out and give her some Kudos. Ms Jackie loved that we wanted to share our experience and she made sure we were happy with our dine ins for the remainder of our stay. I just love seeing the other comments mention her and see that's her spirit on a daily basis. Thst woman is truly a blessing to this restaurant.

We did the buffet style selection for breakfast and lunch and it wasn't bad. The breakfast food was delicious. The lunch was Ok but they do have a separate regular menu not buffet style and they do have some good menu options.

The view makes you want to just stay and sit there all day it really does. The mountains, the sun, the peak of the top, praise God for all his wonders and works. When you go, take time to appreciate the scenery.

Overall we were welcomed with so much love and patience from Emma and then to have met Ms Jackie just put the icing on the cake. She has great leadership and it shows. Yes we did also experience what others are saying about some staff members & their attitudes but I promise, do not let the one bad apple spoil the rest of them. Ignore the ignorance. Embrace the love. That's what we did and it turned into a great experience. We will be back up for...

I was really excited to learn the restaurant had gone back to menu items instead of the buffet. My last visit was in November 2024 and this most recent visit was April 26th, 2025. I was sad to see the restaurant was still severely under staffed. I felt bad for the staff, as they were trying to keep up, but you could see everyone's frustration all around the dining area, amongst the staff and customers. After promptly being seated for our 6:30pm reservation, we waited over 20mins before we eventually had to catch someone to ask to place our order. The food took over 45min to arrive. All in all, the food quality was decent. I ordered the ribeye with a medium cook, it arrived with a well cook, but the taste was good. Others in our group of 4 agreed the food was fair; ordering the burger, shrimp and grits, and the fried chicken. The menu is small, but has a good variety. When we were done, we waited another 20mins before catching someone again to request our check. The lodge restaurant seemed to have overbooked, as they had a very large party in the back along with a wedding below. I hope they can get the staffing up in order to accommodate those wanting to patron...