Carver's Applehouse Restaurant — Restaurant in Newport

Update Returned with family on 12/21/22. Restaurant wasn't too busy. I had the chicken and dumplings and the rest of my family had the fried catfish. The dumplings were great and everyone else said the catfish was delicious and not to bother using the tartar sauce - not needed. Also purchased another apple to try from next door. For us at least, the ever crisp apple turned out to be a very tasty choice! Picked up a pack of fried peanuts to try as well - good - taste like roasted peanuts.

Original review: Visited after 3 p.m. on a Thursday in October.  We were surprised at just how busy they were. We decided to get our shopping over with before sitting down to eat.

They have an amazing selection of apples and, even though they were short-staffed and busy, several employees offered assistance and to answer any questions we might have. We explained that we were looking for a good snacking apple and what we typically liked and she recommended the carousel and cosmic crisp apples. We purchased both, along with some tomatoes and a purple bell pepper to try.

The restaurant was clean, well maintained and beautifully nestled within the orchard and surrounding mountains. We were seated promptly next to one of the windows (beautiful views), orders taken and food served in a timely manner with a friendly smile and service.

I enjoyed the fried chicken with mashed potatoes and fried apples - hands down the best fried chicken I've had in a really long time. The sides were okay. My mother had the chicken and dumplings with green beans and fried apples. She said her chicken and dumplings were delicious and, since I helped myself to a bite, I concur! 😋 Yum!

Unfortunately, they didn't have any apple fritters available for us to try so we decided to get a couple of fried apple pies to take home instead, along with our large amount of leftovers from the generous portions that were served. The fried pies weren't bad, but neither of us really cared for them. The crust was fairly thick and the filling reminded me more of a chunky applesauce than the type of filling I'm used to in a homemade fried pie.

The carousel apples and tomatoes we purchased were delicious. We didn't enjoy the taste of the cosmic crisp apples quite as much. I wish I could tell you about the purple bell pepper. Unfortunately, my malamute must have thought I bought it for him and snatched it off the table for himself. HE gives it 5 out of 5 stars!!! Bless his heart!

Overall, both of us are definitely looking forward to returning. The fresh produce was wonderful and reasonably priced as were our meals. Hope to eventually get to try the apple fritters as well as the purple bell pepper my fur baby...

TL:DR - I would probably only go again if I wanted to get bulk apples for canning. Most apple types were 50 cents to a dollar per pound for a bushel, which is pretty good for around here. They were out of cider, apple pies, apple fritters, and apple cider doughnuts. The Chicken and dumplings were delicious, but the dining experience was miserable.

More details- It is hard to tie everything into one review with everything they have, and I never want to tarnish a business. That said, I grew up in orchard country, and I have been to MANY great, good, and okay orchards. This one is okay-ish.

First the Restaurant - We got there at lunch time on a Sunday (after church, so you know it will be busy), but it took 35 min to get a table for 2. The restaurant is so loud that it is disorienting, and they had only 3 servers. It took another 10 min to get a server. However, once our order was in (we got the chicken and dumplings), the food came right away. The chicken and dumplings were delicious, though a smaller portion for the price. The green beans were excellent, but the fried apples were totally mushy and runny, and the mashed potatoes had no gravy. They were also out of apple fritters at 1PM. The server was very friendly, but they are incredibly understaffed.

Second the Shops - The prices on fresh apples were excellent. For the last week of Sept, they had a pretty good variety of apples, and they all looked great! They also had a large selection of winter squashes and pumpkins and some good looking slicing tomatoes. They had a pretty extensive selection of canned goods, too. It was disappointing that they had no cider and no idea when it would be back - they mentioned they do not have the staff to run the equipment. Because of that, they had no apple cider doughnuts, which is frankly the only reason we made the drive. They were also already out of apple pies.

It was also really disappointing that the caramel apples that are like $5 or $6 and awful. It seems they used the caramel sheets that just wrap the apples, which are not good at all. If that isn't what they used specifically, the caramel is super chewy and tough and lacks flavor.

I would probably not go back except for...

Edit: After getting back home and eating the blueberry jam. We are wishing we bought more. I truly wish they shipped. I do not like blueberry, but their's is such a delicious taste. They have something special. I stand by what I Said below, but their products, the apple cider and their jams are delicious and worth every one of the 5 stars.

We went here several times to purchase so many different items. We brought our entire family back to shop there. This is the reason for 3 stars. Two things I was disappointed with. The person working there both days I went had the personality of a wet rug. She did not want to be there and could care less if we were customers or not. This made it hard as I was trying to ask questions that she did not answer or barely answered. The second reason is that my entire family is very disappointed about all the jars of apple butter that we bought. We bought 4 jars ($5.00 per jar). The kids bought their own 1-2 jars (another 6 jars). This stuff is just basically applesauce. I would not have wasted my money on that. Apple butter should be thicker and spreadable fresh apple cider is delicious. The flavor is there but not overly sweet. We also bought several different jars of flavored jam, which are wonderful. The variety of apples were great. The kids loved picking out their apples. We also bought different dressings etc. REVIEW OF RESTAURANT Excellent Service We did eat at the restaurant. Service was wonderful and food delicious. I had a beautiful view as well while enjoying our...