EXCELLENT food. We had their special which was flat bread with farm raised smoked chicken pulled from the bone, with a blueberry glaze topped with cheese. OMG it was awesome. To finish it off we split a piece of peanut butter pie. Great food, great atmosphere with a friendly wait staff. read more

Stopped on our way from Asheville to Charlotte NC. The pizza was really excellent... crust was thin basted in oil and crisped to perfection. The avocado, pesto, chicken, Basalmic vinegar really a delight. The craft beer and wine were well represented, but I needed a cafe au lait to complete the drive to the airport... and that... hit the spot. Its clean, the staff is helpful, and we will hit this place again coming and going from the airport to Asheville.... read more

Fantastic food! I love the baconzola pizza and black bean & chipotle dip. Service is hit or miss. Good beers on tap. Great atmosphere and live music! read more

Best turkey and avocado sandwich I've ever had! Salads and service were excellent. Thanks, Matt!

One of the best places around the area to eat! We've been to the purple onion multiple times, love the food in the live music.

Bordering inedible. The food here was "ok" about 3 years ago but has experienced a steady decline towards terrible. Last night was the end of the journey when I was served a ribeye that was on par with an Arizonan casino steak. My wife's salmon was closer to a smoked lock than a proper fillet. There is really no excuse for such poor performance especially for the exorbitant prices. If it weren't for the music and the decent wine, I would give it one star. read more

We love going to the Purple Onion! The live pianist on Friday nights is great! Usually there is a long wait so we've eaten at the bar the past few times. The Ceaser pizza is awesome!! read more

Wonderful experience and great food. Sat on the patio and enjoyed the beautiful mountain air. Definitely going back the next time we're close by. read more

We enjoyed two dinners in a row and only their being closed on Wednesdays stopped us visiting a third evening. The staff was friendly,efficient and knowledgeable. The food was absolutely enjoyable with an adequate wine selection. We certainly will stop in again. read more

This place is really very mediocre in every way. As a restaurant, the food is overpriced and unexciting, with poor service. As a music venue, they bring in listenable local musicians, but nothing that makes up for the shortcomings as a restaurant. All of this might be moderately excusable if Asheville, and all of its options, weren't so close for an evening out. Clearly, being a big fish in the small pond of Saluda, North Carolina has not been motivating to this place. read more

Oh how happy I am to have found this place! Recently relocated to the area from Boulder, CO and thought we'd never find this kind of fare here. Salads and pizza just the way we like them. read more

Worst meal ever. Walked in @ 6:45 on a Wednesday night, there were 3 empty tables and we were told it would be 20-25 min wait. Should have turned around because that meant 1 thing. They were short of help. My steak was not med rare. Barely 1/2" thick and was $28. The potatoes were cold and undercooked and veggies were cold and hard. Sat at bar and took 15 min to get our drinks and 10 more min to be seated. Hostess took order, never saw waiter till after we placed order. Never got bread, but other tables did. Owner said she had no control over when we were seated, but she did if she had more help. Been there many times, but too many good restaurants to go back there. read more

We have a cabin in the woods near Saluda and go to the Purple Onion whenever we are in town....why? Because we have eaten there 30 times at least and we love it. The atmosphere combined with great food is the draw that keeps us coming back. Their mussels are the best I have ever tried and I get them any time I see a menu with mussels. If value is your thing, they do pizza that is always on target. I enjoy their trout and have never gone wrong with the pork chop. They also have a decent wine list with a few surprises from time to time. I'm not a beer guy but they always are doing North Carolina craft brew tastings. read more

The food at Purple Onion is always delicious and the atmosphere is always vibrant and fun. It never disappoints.

Great food. They use fresh, local ingredients. Live music on the weekends. Great ambiance and packed on the weekends.

Run for your life. Frankly that will be the only fast thing that happens in this place. Incapable of efficiently seating people, taking a reservation or even estimating a seating time. read more

We stopped for lunch on a recent trip and although 6 tables were empty near the front door, the hostess asked us to sit on a bench and we waited 10+ min. to be seated. The hostess then got our drinks and we waited another 10+ min for a waitress. We ordered pita chips and pimiento cheese which was good but slowed down our receiving our sandwiches for another 20 min. The rueben and chicken club were both tasty. When we were almost done, we ordered dessert thinking we could get it quickly but - no! We had even told the waitress we were traveling and in a hurry, but everything was SLOW! Food was good, desserts were delicious but DO NOT eat here unless you have 1 1/2 hr. to spend waiting. Our waitress was kind and don't think the snail's pace was necessarily her fault - just not the place to stop for a lunch when on a schedule! read more

I debated between one and two stars after taking in account it took us 3 hours to finish dinner I definitely had to go with the 1 star. We had a large group of 13 and let them know ahead of time we had a big ass group coming. Our reservation was at 7 and didn't get seated until 7:30. The service straight up sucked. I knew we were in the mountains and everything is suppose to be laid back but from being seated to getting our checks took 3 hours! The restaurant's interior was nice enough and there was live music that was pretty good. Our table was constantly out of water and wasn't even offered bread as we waited for 2 hours to be served. The biggest reason for the 1 star rating was the food and menu. The menu is made up of the most random things: seafood, pizza mexican, italian, mediterranean and worst of all it did none of them well. I was able to sample a large amount of the menu since I was with such a large group. I ordered the flounder special (typically I avoid seafood specials bc they're probably looking to get rid of extra stock, but the waiter convinced me otherwise) it was old fish, very gritty, too salty and that wasn't from the parmesan crust. The polenta was luke warm dry and scooped out of something. The pizzas ordered by the group were average to poor and possibly a frozen crust. There are a bunch of different kinds, but none of them looked or tasted especially good. The ciopinni was the best dish, which is pretty sad once I start describing it. The broth was one dimensional; red pepper flakes overwhelmed any other flavors, but I'm guessing it wasn't a homemade broth either. The seafood in the cioppino was pretty good quality except for the fish, which like the flounder was extremely dry and crumbly. Save your time and money and don't go here. You'll be disappointed. Go to Saluda Grade Cafe, which is right down the street. read more

My wife and I stopped by on our way back from the mountains yesterday. This was her first time there and my second. Service was very good. The menu is eclectic and everything we had was great. Their desserts are GREAT. They make everything fresh and it changes constantly. They also pride themselves on their coffee and espresso and it shows. While we didn't have any beer (desserts and coffee) they do have a good rotating beer list with thoughtful items. read more

Went here twice on my last trip...the second time to hear the live music and give it a another chance since it looks like it could be such a great place. Unfortunately the service was even worse the second time. Inattentive and even arrogant. Food is only ok so I would try somewhere else. read more

Great little place. Service was good and friendly. Had a pizza outside under the awning.

Went with a group of six grad school friends on vacation. Stopped by because of excellent reviews and local recommendations. Well worth the visit, and I understand even Asheville residents often make the trip to eat here. Overall, a great dining experience. The ambiance is rustic but comfortable. Our group was automatically escorted to the outside patio area, which was nice (the weather cooperated), but seemed odd they did not at least offer inside seating. The menu is sort of Mediterranean, with locally sourced ingredients as much as possible. I had the chicken rioja, which was very good indeed, but differed a bit from the menu description. My wife had the trout, which she raved about, and the others had various pasta dishes for the most part, all of which looked great. Did notice that service was a bit slow--we waited almost 45 minutes for our food to appear. Given the amount of wine we consumed in the interim, not a huge problem, but did seem excessive, even for a larger group. Bottom line, we'd definitely repeat if we stay in the area again. read more

Great spot in an awesome little town! Met some family here for dinner while on a business trip to Greenville, SC, definitely worth the 45 min drive, food was excellent and very reasonably priced. We had the crab dip (note I am a Maryland born crab dish snob) which was very good and smoked trout caprese also great, I had the duck leg confit special which was well prepared and very tasty. Beer and wine list was well developed and reasonable and the service was top notch. I will be back to eat here again and check out the rest of main st Saluda! read more

Saluda is one of the most charming towns I have ever been to. But let me sum up The Purple Onion. It's a great place for a sandwich, salad, or afternoon glass of wine. But dinner, not so much. First off, our server was wonderful and she described the items on the menu well. She catered to our every need. The pear Gorgonzola salad was tasty and delicious. I ordered The Vegetable plate. Little or no taste. The okra which was supposed to be roasted was actually steamed and very bland. The buttermilk mashed potatoes ended up being a spoonful of nothing to brag about. My whole plate tasted like side items from an Applebee's. My girlfriend however got the rib eye steak. Not one complaint from her. She kept going on about how good hers was while looking at my face. Of course her entree was $33 while mine was 15. So her food was much better than mine. All in all, if you are vegetarian, stick with the salad and go for lunch. read more

Wonderful soup, terrific pizza, and I'm from nyc, and superb pecan pie. An unexpectedly delightful lunch time surprise in this sweet small town read more

Absolutely FABULOUS food! My family and I sat outside and it was very pleasant even though it started raining very heavily halfway through our meal. We didn't get wet at all! The seating area outside is covered and has fans and retractable "walls". The walls are sheets of canvas that lower down and have clear plastic at the top so you can see out without getting wet. Our server was very sweet and friendly! Tori and Michael got the Purple Onion Burger and said it was excellent one of the best burgers they've had. Tori even commenting on how great the pickled onions were. The burger came with chips that were tasty and the burger was juicy! We got chips and salsa that was also very good. I got a chicken club sandwich that was absolutely fabulous! Foodgasm worthy good! It was juicy and absolutely perfect! Don't think I've had a better sandwich! Absolutely would recommend The Purple Onion to anyone who likes good food, great service and foodgasm worthy sandwiches. read more

Every time I am in the area this is a destination for me. The food is always excellent. You will not get a better kale salad anywhere and the pizzas are awesome. Service can be a little slow if they are busy but always are very nice and the food is worth it. read more

The wait staff is always attentive and kind and the food delicious. We had lunch there yesterday for the second year, celebrating my father's birthday. Everyone enjoyed their food and it was the perfect place to enjoy catching up with family. The turkey and avocado sandwich was great and others raved about the black bean soup. read more

The reason I tried this restaurant was because my tour guides from "The Gorge" ziplines kept recommending it. So we figured walking in after a hot sweaty day of ziplining in our exercise attire would be fine, but I felt completely out of place. The place is supposed to be more upscale. The waitress was nice, but someone came over when she was trying to seat us and moved the tables a little further away from the other customers before seating us. Who can blame them, we probably smelled like a gym. The food was expensive, three adults ate on our tab, and it was over $100 and no one chose anything extravagant. I tried the corn and potato soup and it was really bland. I also asked for the smallest sized pizza, and I was brought out the next size larger, plus charged the price for the next size up. The pizza was okay, nothing memorable. read more

Very pleasant atmosphere and the service was great. It was very crowded and I was expecting a great meal. We ordered a classic pizza and a crab dip appetizer. The appetizer was good but the bread and oil was stale and bland. When the pizza came I was very disappointed. It looked like a frozen one from any store. The first bite confirmed it. Not good at all. Do not order the pizza.. read more

Excellent lunch spot after picking apples. Waitress actually knew the details on the craft beer options. I had the Reuben and an excellent kolsch from NC. Will be back when I'm in the area. read more

The ambiance and food far exceeded our expectations! The desserts we made in house and were as tasty as they were beautiful! We can't wait to go back again! read more

We visit the purple onion every time we come to saluda, and we always have an excellent meal. Great wine selection and the food is fresh, local and well prepared by the chef. read more

It is now one more of the reasons I am moving here! The service is great, personal, the food; creative and delicious. Best bang for the buck anywhere in the mountain region. My husband and I have travelled to many areas of the world but to get the selection, freshness, attention to detail and wine in a community this size we are way beyond impressed to find such a great restaurant in the village of Saluda. read more

2nd time visitor. Memorial Day,2012, also wife's birthday and 24th anniversary, all same day. Thought this would be a culinary gift.WRONG!!! Restaurant half full. Lukewarm hostess,waiter. Ordered Lamb dish $23. Smaller portion but served with a meatless bone that stretched across the width of plate. Were they proud of this? I personally have never been served a large meatless bone before. Wife had a veggie plate, $17. One restroom for both men and women, located beside kitchen. Unkept. The longer I stayed, the creepier this place was. Wife couldn't wait to leave. Cute town, STRANGE, unclean and overpriced restaurant. Save your hard earned money for something special (and clean). read more

Great place, excellent food, good choice for vegetarians, especially at lunch. Wait staff is terrific. Music on weekends! Wow.

Such great people. We had the seafood chowder and the turkey sandwich. Both were perfect on a rainy day. Because of a very minor mix-up with the wait staff, the owner brought us a brownie on the house. The joy of small businesses with caring staff and owners. Lucky folks who live in Saluda/ read more

I was in town for a visit and a friend took me here. I was not prepared for what I experienced in a town this size. It was fantastic. The food is creative and and the mix of flavor in their various dishes awakens the palette. I really like the decor with the old brick walls and wooden planked ceiling. They kept the history alive and modernized it to have warmth and coziness. I even like the old screen door, it is authentic and not a prop to give the restaurant a home down feel. The desserts are homemade and exquisite. I am committed to bringing my wife there and I live 2000 miles away. We are going this summer so she can experience this wonderful little restaurant in a very cool town. read more

I had a not so great experience here! First off my soup came and it was good except it had a "bread tie" in it. So i discretely told the waitress and she took that off the bill. Heres the thing though...we ordered a 10" pizza and it was $18, the App and my Entree were both "specials". Now restaurants usually do specials at a fair price, seems as though theres a reason the waitress never gave prices because they charged me $13 for a very small plate of mushroom and squash and my entree was a tiny piece of fish, two tiny black bean cakes and a spoonful of greens. That was $27! WTF...are you kidding me it was very small servings and it was a special! The food was average, def not a $27 dish by nay means. Anyways I would not eat here again just because i hate getting ripped off when I eat out...the tourist areas really take advantage of people here! read more

I flew in for a work trip and stopped by for a take out order. I had the special of the day which was pan seared scallops over linguini with bacon and green and yellow tomatoes. There were ton of other ingredients but the end result was phenomenal. So fresh and full of flavor, Great beer selection while I waited. Would definitely return...I need to try there gourmet pizza. read more