OT: Asheville
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Was there for a few days in March (2022). We did the Biltmore of course but that is expensive and takes some planning.
We dined at Wicked Weed, Twisted Laurel and Tupelo Honey---all are good choices although none are can't miss stops either.
We found the Omni Grove Park Inn on a whim. Awesome resort---too expense to stay on my own dime but a great place to visit---tremedous lobby and beautiful back decks. Would be a fantastic place to grab dinner and watch the sunset while overlooking the modest Asheville skyline.
By the way, for fun one evening we visited the Asheville Pinball Museum. Ten bucks for all the pinball and 80's acrade games one can muster in 2 hours or so.
Great town to visit--many places to see and visit indoor or otherwise.
We dined at Wicked Weed, Twisted Laurel and Tupelo Honey---all are good choices although none are can't miss stops either.
We found the Omni Grove Park Inn on a whim. Awesome resort---too expense to stay on my own dime but a great place to visit---tremedous lobby and beautiful back decks. Would be a fantastic place to grab dinner and watch the sunset while overlooking the modest Asheville skyline.
By the way, for fun one evening we visited the Asheville Pinball Museum. Ten bucks for all the pinball and 80's acrade games one can muster in 2 hours or so.
Great town to visit--many places to see and visit indoor or otherwise.
Asheville is great. Go downtown and just walk around. Wicked Weed is good for sure. For good food and good beer go to Sierra Nevada, not downtown but close enough. Highland Brewing (not downtown one) as good beer and a great outdoor atmosphere in the back. Plus you get some Oktoberfest stuff at the breweries. For dessert try Sunshine Sammies. For breakfast try Early Girl Eatery is good.
Farm Burger is really good also. Omni Grove is best during Christmas with the trees and gingerbread houses.
Rocky’s hot chicken shack is good.
Funkatorium is worth going to also.
You cannot go wrong walking around town and just trying stuff. Thirsty Monk is a good starting point and just go from there.
When we go we start at Sierra Nevada than park near thirsty monk and just walk around.
Farm Burger is really good also. Omni Grove is best during Christmas with the trees and gingerbread houses.
Rocky’s hot chicken shack is good.
Funkatorium is worth going to also.
You cannot go wrong walking around town and just trying stuff. Thirsty Monk is a good starting point and just go from there.
When we go we start at Sierra Nevada than park near thirsty monk and just walk around.
Been there 4 times. Always liked it but recently it’s been over run with the street crime stuff.
That is correct on the crime issues. They have seen a huge increase in carjackings and car breakins.
Was there long ago and it was very good. It's a chain now though so I'm not sure (they opened a location in Pittsburgh).
Tupelo is good, but so many other options that are better.
Stop at Grandfather Mountain if driving or take the drive there from Asheville.
131 MAIN restaurant is pretty good, one of my customers always wants to go there - small Carolina chain I guess. A bit south of town too.
A couple breweries I'll throw out there that aren't the names you might usually get:
Eurisko Beer Company - just off the south slope area, across southside avenue
Riverside Rhapsody - a few miles north of Asheville of rte 26 - outstanding beer and probably my favorite
Seems I always end up at Wicked Weed one night when I'm there since they're open late and serve food late.
Yes, at Station Square---can dine outside near the Smithfield Street Bridge as an option. It is southern cuisine but not really for the diet conscious patron.
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Asheville is great. Greenville is better, IMO. And only an hour south. I like to find a place to stay in between and hit them both up over the course of a stay. Two of the coolest small cities in the country.
The spanish restaurant, oh what the hell is it called? Curate. Definite must. Tupelo Honey has other locations like in Greenville and Charleston.
I lived in Greenville, it also has a great restaurant scene, but Asheville's location in the mountains at this time of year is hard to beat.
I lived in Greenville, it also has a great restaurant scene, but Asheville's location in the mountains at this time of year is hard to beat.
Downtown Greenville, some bar restaurant with a top quality chef, great burgers, and a very good liquor selection? Can’t recall name.
Saw Curate was mentioned, which I’d second. I’d also recommend The Admiral for dinner. Taco Billy is a good lunch / brunch option. Top of the Monk if you want a cocktail. Lots of breweries, if you like beer. Burial is the best IMO, especially for stouts or hazy IPAs. Green Man has more traditional styles. Wicked Weed Funkatoreum is good for sours, as long as you don’t mind drinking InBev A-B. There are plenty of others.
Not sure. I've only spent the random day/night in town on the way back from the gulf. The stop used to be Asheville but Greenville is more convenient (and far cheaper to get a hotel room). It's a mix of the hipster-ish nature of Asheville and South Carolina. It's booming though so who knows what it looks like in a few decades. I think it grows quickly given it's cost of living and location right between Atlanta and Charlotte. Asheville probably always retains it's character given how much more remote it is.
we were only there one night. our favorite bar was Ben's Tune Up and we had a great dinner at Storm Rhum Bar. (sounds a little odd, but it was excellent)
Greenville has a great downtown. My son managed the Greenville Drive for 4 years and loved being there.
Unsure if you are being facetious but we did see a fair amount of homeless people wandering/lying around the downtown area. It was a bit jarring and sad.
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Friends of ours have a summer home in the mountains of western North Carolina.
We visited them there a couple of years ago and they took us on a fascinating tour at the Biltmore House in Asheville.
Here is a description of that tour, should you be interested:
Biltmore House Backstairs Tour
Limited Capacity: 12 Guests per TourTravel back in time as your guide shares the fascinating stories of the people who worked and lived on the estate in the Vanderbilt’s era. Taking you behind the scenes to rarely-seen domestic staff’s areas, this exclusive 60-minute tour gives you an in-depth look at what it was like to work at America’s Largest Home®.
I've lived 30 minutes from Asheville for 12 years. It's reputation for weirdness remains true but it has gone downhill. Crime is high as the leadership has caused the police force to be 40% under-manned. I don't go downtown anymore and go to Greenville instead.
But the food and brewery scene remains strong. Curate, Chestnut, and Corner Kitchen are all top-shelf dinner places. 131 Main is excellent (best ribs ever) but is out of town. Casual fare places include White Duck Taco and Tupelo Honey. Vinnies is a good Italian place.
I'm more into cider than beer but Highland is always good. Sierra Nevada is good for its visuals as the building itself is amazing and beautiful. If you like hard cider, Noble is good and Bold Rock is out of town.
Grove Park Inn is good for a drink from the lobby bar and watching the sunset from a historic hotel.
Asheville is all about the outdoors. Great hikes and drives are everywhere. Chimney Rock is an OK hike for its views of Lake Lure. Most any hike off the Blue Ridge Parkway is very good. A visit to the waterfalls at DuPont State Park is worth every second. It was featured in The Hunger Games.
But the food and brewery scene remains strong. Curate, Chestnut, and Corner Kitchen are all top-shelf dinner places. 131 Main is excellent (best ribs ever) but is out of town. Casual fare places include White Duck Taco and Tupelo Honey. Vinnies is a good Italian place.
I'm more into cider than beer but Highland is always good. Sierra Nevada is good for its visuals as the building itself is amazing and beautiful. If you like hard cider, Noble is good and Bold Rock is out of town.
Grove Park Inn is good for a drink from the lobby bar and watching the sunset from a historic hotel.
Asheville is all about the outdoors. Great hikes and drives are everywhere. Chimney Rock is an OK hike for its views of Lake Lure. Most any hike off the Blue Ridge Parkway is very good. A visit to the waterfalls at DuPont State Park is worth every second. It was featured in The Hunger Games.
Try the Dripolator coffee house in Black Mountain.
By the time everyone knows about a place it is over. Nashville was great 25 years ago. No Homeless no beggars etc. Used to go down for 3/4 dayes get hammered eat listen to music walk back to my hotel late night.. Slowly watched it go downhill and get more crowded. Have not been back in 5 years probably not going back (not that they care or need me). Need to find the next place and invest…
I was going to go today to go to the Moog Factory but they dont pick up the phone. Maybe they were closed for Columbus Day but that just seems silly.
Pssst….Cleveland. (Don’t tell anyone else…keep it a secret.)
2nd Choice….Bradford, PA. (Keep that a secret too.)
You’re welcome…. 👍
I heard about that and wanted to hike there but our group voted and picked Chimney Rock! Maybe will hike there another day as we are there for a week. Thx
It would be worth it. If you're so inclined, there's a cool bike shop/beer joint at the entrance of the park. They had food trucks the day we went. Stop there on your way out.
Yeah living in Greenville and also my last company was headquartered there so certainly have been to most of these. I loved in Greenville on Saturdays or Sundays (especially Sundays at first when I was down there SC still had stupid alcohol blue laws) would be to go up to Chimney Rock, Lake Lure, Asheville, Hendersonville, Tryon etc...and hike, bike, golf, canoe etc.....
Went a few years ago and really liked Black Mountain, about 20 minutes East of Nashville. Nice little town with shopping district and restuarants, home to my all time favorite brewery, Pisgah Brewing Company.
Greenville is another place worth checking out. I was in SC this weekend, and heard something I have never heard before…and that’s that Greenville is the #1 city for crime now in SC. So I guess that place has seen its best days too.
Definitely do Chimney Rock overlook. The stair climbing up will give you a workout but worth it for the awesome panorama up top. There is a B&B called the Esmerelda Inn close by, wife and I stayed there for a long weekend it was great, very rustic and the restaurant menu there is fantastic. We did the Biltmore as part of that trip and the winery on the grounds was great.
Really? Wow. But I guess that same laissez faire attitude. It is why I know it is not or is deemed to lack compassion, but you got to nip it in the bud. People say "but the poor people" yeah, but what about the people who invested their money or took out loans to start businesses and then have them robbed or looted or have gaggles of street urchins scaring people away. So you really have to stop it before it mestastizes into something more.
I always heard that college towns were big collectives for homeless because there is so much food waste. (which is depressing when you think about it). But now with this anti capitalism tilt from some of these folks, and their drug use, it just leads into becoming real problems.
I mean, SC is a state with no big cities so it's not too surprising that one of its few cities would top the list. I've never gotten a bad vibe downtown Greenville. Sure there are homeless people but you'll get that anywhere the weather is warm and there are lots of people downtown.
Speaking of SC, I like Columbia as well. Not to the same degree as Greenville but it's got a nice area of bars and restaurants downtown near the University. Really impressed with the time I've spend in the state in general.
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