We stopped by on our trip and had a nice experience! Our server was polite, prompt, and the food was good! We ordered the taco, club sandwich, chicken Caesar salad, and kids chicken strips. All were good! We were glad we stopped and didn't put all our emphasis on the reviews we saw! read more

We were visiting from Florida, and this was the best food we had our entire trip to North Carolina! It was simply delicious! We had the Delmonico steak with onion rings, cheese curds, country fried steak with mashed potatoes, chicken livers and fries. The chicken livers were light, crispy and delicious! All the food was "clean"... not greasy and amazing! The Customer Service was fantastic. They were attentive and friendly! We decided to eat inside with the air-conditioning and we were very happy! They do have a porch outside with fans and tables and chairs for anyone who wants to sit next to the small brook. There is a TV inside and tables of all different sizes. We truly enjoyed our meal! We wished we had time to come back for a second time before we left NC! read more

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The corn nuggets are just ok. Frozen and dropped into a deep fryer. No seasoning no dipping sauce. Just blah. The elk burger was very dry. It was burnt. The fries were very soft and no seasoning. The 12oz ribeyes special. were ordered medium rare. They came out over well done. They were super thin and tough. The corn had no butter or any other seasoning. The cubed potatoes were swimming in oil. The club sandwich was really good. Lots of meat and toppings. I went in to find our waiter. No staff was seen. After about 25 minutes he finally comes out to the table. We had him remove the steak dinners since we couldn't eat them. For some reason he showed us that he put them into the system medium rare. Thinking that would change things. Our waiter thought he should get a $50 tip on a $50 order. He did not check to see if we needed anything. He did not refill drinks. He was not seen for about 25 minutes. read more

Very disappointed with our experience at Paul's Restaurant. We waited over 30 minutes just to receive water and over an hour and a half for our food to arrive. What made the situation even more frustrating was that the restaurant only had four tables occupied at the time, so it was not particularly busy. There was very little communication from staff regarding the delay, and we were left wondering when our meal would be served. When customers choose to dine out, they expect reasonable service and timely food delivery. Unfortunately, this experience fell far below those expectations. Hopefully management can address these issues and improve both service and wait times for future customers. read more

I can certainly understand why the ratings are so low. I could have hunted down our meal and prepared it (likely better judging from these comments) in less time than it took to be waited on (we left after 45 minutes). read more

We stumbled on Paul's Restaurant and I'm so glad that we did. The atmosphere of this restaurant is reminiscent of having dinner at grandmas house. It's very relaxed and quaint, with a lazy Susan sitting in the middle of the table. There are plenty of choices on the menu and the service was great. We started off with the cheese curds and they were delicious! My daughter had the cool ranch chicken wrap with fries, my son had boneless buffalo wings with fries, my husband had the traditional buffalo wings with a salad, and I had the chicken quesadilla with fries. All of us enjoyed our meals. We did end up also ordering fry bread and a piece of carrot cake and they were tasty. The prices are very reasonable and the service was great! We would definitely come to Paul's again. read more

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Food and service was excellent!!!! Had the Indian taco!!! Our server was very friendly and patient with us. read more

Paul's Family Restaurant - Our server. - Burgers Near Me - Cherokee, North Carolina

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After trying several breakfast spots with 1-2 hour waits, we stumbled upon this little place. We were greeted right away and seated with no wait, which was already a great start. Our waitress was attentive, got our drinks quickly, and gave us plenty of time to look over the menu. The menu isn't very large, but that usually means better quality and it definitely showed. We started with fried mushrooms, which were amazing. For mains, we ordered chicken fried steak with mashed potatoes, gravy, and salad, as well as a club salad with fries. The food came out quickly, tasted fresh, and was overall delicious. The only downside was the fries they were cold, almost like they had been sitting for a bit before coming out. Still, between the service and the rest of the food, we had a great experience and would absolutely go back. read more

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Elk Burger too dry to eat. Fish and Chips half batter fish too dry to eat. Fries were cold.

We took a side trip to try out Paul's Family Restaurant. The restaurant was clean and quiet. Our waitress was friendly but she didn't offer to refill our drinks even when we had emptied our glasses. The food was good but not outstanding. There are better options in Cherokee. read more

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First time here. Came on a Sunday around 11:30. We ordered sweet tea and it wasn't that good we added sweet n low. But we like SWEET tea and we ordered the club sandwich with fries and a side of onion rings and we shared. The food was good and the service was excellent. Probably wouldn't go there again though read more

Paul's Family Restaurant - Club sandwich - Burgers Near Me - Cherokee, North Carolina

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The server in the picture you see is a very horrible server does not communicate does not check up on us or tells us the status on the food never refills drinks unless we ask. and this is the second time i've came and he was our server twice overall they should fire him and find someone new!!! read more

Paul's Family Restaurant - bad server - Burgers Near Me - Cherokee, North Carolina

Very slow service. Sat on patio, fairly crowded. Only 2 people inside seated. Strong musty smell upon entering. 40 minutes from order to food delivery and everything was cold. Both burgers and fries. After finished eating we waited another 15-20 minutes to get our ticket, saw no employees coming or going and all other diners had left by then. Husband finally went in to pay so we wouldn't have to wait even longer for card to be returned. Will not return or recommend, read more

We saw a TikTok video about this restaurant, we were absolutely blown away by the cheese curds. We had ok service (I'm pretty sure she was new to the industry) . From what we experienced we noticed there were only two servers but that didn't stop them! We noticed that everyone in the restaurant ordered chicken. We ordered burgers they were pretty decent for the price. It is a little hard to get into the parking lot (that's understandable for being at the base of a mountain). We really enjoyed the atmosphere it felt like home I really liked that the TV's weren't on so everyone could enjoy family time. It was also well-lit inside and had a river running under the porch. read more

Paul's Family Restaurant - Cheese curds - Burgers Near Me - Cherokee, North Carolina

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Food was great. Also enjoyed the atmosphere. The service was a little slow but it was due to a new waiter.

We ordered the buffalo burgers and they were terrible. Over cooked and dry. Also, they did not have any ketchup in the entire restaurant. We even had trouble getting silverware. Avoid this place. read more

Food was good, service was also good, and timely. Ambiance was friendly. Very good overall experience.

AWESOME DINNER AT A FAIR PRICE. We had 2 orders of Mountain Trout, grilled and lightly fried, both were fantastic! BEST DINNER over 3 different restaurants in Cherokee. Came with good hush puppies. Substituted regular fries for onion rings and sweet potato fries - both very good. Previous review denigrated the food, others complained about waiting for a table and/or service - must have been personal problems - because we so no such issues. Very casual & relaxed place so don't expect plush chairs, linen table cloths and napkins, fine china and silverware and tuxedoed waiters. If you want to pay for that crap, then you should go somewhere else. Also, Cherokee IS a tourist town, so expect restaurants to be busy with tourists - especially during peak days, hours, and seasons. If you crave constant personal attention from waitstaff in a busy tourist restaurant in a small tourinst town, then go to the casino and pay 2x the money for dinner. However, if you want excellent food (at least the trout) at a fair price and decent enough atmosphere, then please try Paul's Family Restaurant. read more

Paul's Family Restaurant - grilled trout, hush puppies, coleslaw, & sweet potato fries / lightly fried trout, hush puppies, coleslaw, & fries. - Burgers Near Me - Cherokee, North Carolina

Service was horrible, sodas were flat and it took 25 minutes to get waters to replace them. Waited 90 minutes for food!! Took it to go because it took so long and the burgers, chicken strips and club were dry, no condiments on them. Indian Frybread with chili had about 4 plastic spoons of chili and the frybread was super thick and soggy. Do not go to this restaurant unless you have hours to waste and want food that appeared to be cooked by a kid who is just learning to cook. Just awful and I worked in numerous restaurants in my life and I would have fired the staff. 1 star because there is nothing less read more

Terrible. Understaffed on Memorial Day weekend. I asked for my burger to be medium. It was well done dried out. Baked potato was not cooked all the way. Never again read more

This is our go to place when visiting Cherokee. We live about an hour and half from Cherokee but stop here every time we are near. Our favorite is the Indian fry bread with chili. The chili is homemade and the fry bread is a touch sweet. So it's a great combo. This trip was great, good service and great food. At checkout was greeted by a wonderful lady that invited us back for Thanksgiving dinner there. Great experience read more

Was one of the most pitiful restaurant experiences I've had. Dan out of baked potatoes, lettuce for my salad. Didn't bring our water back had to go get it. Charged us for full meals. Ask them about charging for full meals and didn't get half. Will never return and sure many others won't either. read more

Wish I could tell you about the food but it's been 1 hour and 30 minutes from the time we ordered and still no food. I really want to like this place. We have a diabetic in our party and her blood sugar monitor is going off because they need to eat. I'll be so hungry by the time it comes out anything will be good . The table next to us said that it took an hour to get their drinks and 1.5 hours for food. They also said the food wasn't fit to bring home for the dog... the waiter said our food should be out soon... not holding my breath. (Update: we did finally get our food and it was fine. I had Paul's burger and enjoyed it but not enough to change the rating) read more

The service was horrible.We ordered the elk burgers and the were over cooked.The waitress never asked us how we would like them cooked and she never came around to ask if our order was good and she never came around to ask us if we needed anything and she never came around to give us the bill....She just never came around....the restaurant wasn't even busy.The French fries and garden salad wasn't even that good!! It cost us almost twenty dollars each for a bad burger.All and all the worst restaurant this year and we dine out quite a bit.We spent $70.00 for lunch when it would have been more tasty brown bagging it!! read more

Waited two hours for microwaved food. Could not pay me to come back. Wanted to try this forever and this is crazy.

Food ... Ambiance ... Service Nachos were bad ... fries were cold! The fried flounder was good! Just not the most pleasant dinner! read more

The food is good. We had elk and buffalo burgers. Both were really good. So were French fries and sweet potato fries. Service was a slow. They were fairly busy while we were there but there were only two waitresses. It took a while to get seated, a while to order, a while to get food, and a while to pay. We didn't get refills or another visit once we started eating. Hopefully the service issues were particular to our visit. I'd also like to add the WiFi was called Paul's Guest but they wouldn't give out password. read more

When we arrived they put the closed sign out and they still had an hour and half till they closed. I dont recommend it to no one

Really great food and service. the workers are very friendly and there are nice views if you are inside and or sitting outside on the patio. The burger was really good. my friends got the steak and said it was amazing. read more

Paul's Family Restaurant - double cheesy burger & fries - Burgers Near Me - Cherokee, North Carolina

I was pleasantly surprised by my visit to Paul's family restaurant in Cherokee N.C. located just past a large gem and gold panning attraction. The Highlight is the food, and the downfall is the service. Vibe: This is an Indian (native American) owned and run dinner/cafe/family steakhouse style restaurant. Upon arrival there was an old refrigerant smell that was unpleasant, and I think was coming from the pie case. However, all of the pies and cakes looked delicious. No one greeted us when we first arrived. The front of house seems to be run by local teenagers. Food: I came here with my dad who ordered the steak dinner. He was very pleased with the flavor and cook on his steak. The steak had a nice sear on the outside while boasting a good amount of seasoning. His meal also came with a generous portion of salad. I was torn between ordering the trout or the bison burger. Our server recommended the Bison Burger, so I went with that. This burger was fresh and delicious! The fries were warm and crispy, my LTO was freshly cut and not wilted. Bison meat was thick and flavorful. Lastly, I had to try the fry bread and blueberries. The presentation on the fry bread left much to be desired and needed some whipped cream. It was delicious though and tasted like a fluffy funnel cake with fresh blueberry preserves on top. Service: Our service was slow, and they made mistakes. It took around 45 minutes to get our order, but our server warned us the kitchen was on a 45-minute wait before we sat down. They forgot the cheese on my burger and forgot to bring ketchup and mustard to the table. At the end of my meal, I had to track down the server to order dessert. However, he was always polite and willing to accommodate my request despite being absent throughout most of the meal. Overall: This is a hometown feel old style steakhouse. If you miss or like that kind of thing this might be your kind of place. Don't come here if you're in a hurry. They have an indoor area as well as outside front porch dinning. Enjoy if you don't mind a wait. read more

Paul's Family Restaurant - Fry Bread with Blueberries - Burgers Near Me - Cherokee, North Carolina

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Last time we were in Cherokee (November 2024) we tried Paul's out because it was late and not many things were open and we had a great experience, we ordered the chopped steak, country fried steak and fried mushrooms as an appetizer. We enjoyed everything and couldn't wait to return. This time we excitedly came back and brought our mom for a great meal. It was anything but. We got there pretty early at just after 5 pm and it took us quite a while to be seated, not because they were busy (there were only two tables seated), but because no one would come out to the front of the house. When we were seated our waitress was nice and stayed on top of things. She was very accommodating to our questions and allowing us to order extras. My sister and I both had the same meals we had ordered last time, the country fried steak and the chopped steak. These both came with salads as well,which would end up being the highlight of the meal. Mom had the "Indian Special" of ribs, bean bread, pinto beans and cabbage. My country fried steak was noticeably smaller than before, was cooked less crispy and didn't have much flavor. The mashed potatoes texture were perfectly lumpy but again, tasted like the forgot to add any butter or anything. Just that raw potato taste. My salad was wonderful. My sister ordered her chopped steak well done and it was more medium. Flavor wise it was good. She ordered the pinto beans and cabbage as sides and they were basically inedible. Absolutely no seasoning. You can add salt and pepper to cabbage after the fact and it will help but it's near to impossible to season beans after the fact. They both tasted like hospital or nursing home food. Mom's ribs were tender and came off the bone with ease but had no rub or sauce on them. She had the same pintos and rice as above. The meal also came with bean bread, which is a dense crumbly bread similar in texture in Masa but that tastes like beans. Aesthetically this looked awful, but flavor wise it was interesting. Bland but unique. I think it could be used to make a cool fusion style of tamale. All of us ate what we could of our meal to justify the price and left sad and unsatisfied and vowed never to return. We ordered a pizza when we got back to the hotel. read more

The food was amazing but the staff was even better. Great family oriented place. Fair prices! Next time we visit we will be coming back!

We stop in here for Indian Taco's every time we are in town. I've always had good food and good service here. Paul's is also a local joint that locals go to eat at. Very popular and an awesome meal. I usually buy some of their jars of home made jelly and jams too. Mountain berry is one of my favorites. read more

Waitress was nice and we were seated quickly. The menu has a lot of options. The atmosphere has a local vibe and seems to cater to a family appeal. There is a bar but I'm not sure if they serve alcohol. There wasn't any on the menu. They had TVs on sports if that's your thing. There is outdoor seating. The restaurant is family owned and authentic Native American. The pies and cakes look delicious. The service is a little slow but the waitress maintains communication while you wait. She told us that our food was cooking. I had the shrimp meal, my wife had the elk burger. Both meals were very good. The shrimp were very large and though deep fried, still had very good flavor. The burger was good and my wife loved the native bread. Overall, it was a good stop for lunch. Don't expect a four star fine dining experience, but for a hearty good meal, it's perfect. read more

The wait time here is painfully slow. It took them 12 minutes to even offer us a glass of water. After that, over half an hour just to make an appetizer. We do not have the patience, after an hour of waiting, to see if the entrées are coming. The floors are littered with paper and bits of food. There is a used mop bucket in the corner just sitting there. The only bright side that we could see is a server look they're trying very hard, but just understaffed. Also, the floor looks like it's brand new. As for the walls, there's scratches and gouges in them, and the TVs are smeared with grease. Grease. read more

My steak was not cooked to order. It was very rare. The baked potato was not done and it was not hot enough to melt the butter. The service was slow. Several people left after waiting a while for service. read more

Never,ever go to this place. We waited nearly an hour for someone to even ask us what we wanted to drink, and they never did. Twice we were told someone would be "right with you". After an hour we said screw it and left and went to the burger joint down the street. The problem was that they weren't even half full of customers. THIS IS A NEVER AGAIN RESTAURANT unless we want to get old waiting for service. read more

Nice people. I came in at 1 on a Saturday And ordered the elk burger. It came after 18mins and tasted great. I would recommend this place. Looking around wings and Indian tacos looked good. relaxing and quiet place after the rush. read more

We came here to try authentic Cherokee dishes. This is a diner. There's a lot of moving going around. Our waitress was kind & did well waiting on us. We ordered an appetizer & entrees. The food came out in an expected amount of time. What we didn't expect is that our waitress cooked our food. She said our order was in the back of the line & we would have waited forever. That was very kind of her & the food wasn't bad. It was a lot & plenty to share if you wanted. Overall my experience wasn't bad & that's because of our waitress. The place was clean & spacious with seating inside & out. Good for families & plenty of time to chill. If you're in a rush not the best place to dine in. read more

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We had just finished going through the Cherokee Museum and I really wanted to have the full experience so I looked for a restaurant in the area that serves Frybread. I was excited to see fry bread on the menu of this place, but thought I would ask someone local just in case there's a better place that serves frybread. I was told this is the place for frybread. The directions on Yelp takes you round and round. We finally stopped at the Visitors Center who told us it was just down the street! Most of the outside tables were taken. There were so few people inside we decided it seemed safe to eat inside. I ordered fried green tomatoes and frybread with honey. Husband ordered an Indian taco. The fried green tomatoes were a bit greasy, but tasty. The frybread was wonderful! Husband didn't particularly like his Indian taco. He said it was just okay. Wait staff seemed nice and attentive. read more

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