We drove the one hour trip over from Cherokee on recommendation of friends who had eaten here earlier this year after hiking and camping at Hangover Mountain. While it was a long trip with nothing much in between, the amazing food, staff, and atmosphere will certainly have us coming back. We arrived around 2:30 pm on Saturday, Sept. 29th with beautiful weather. Even though it was past prime lunch time, we expected it to be busy as we knew this is a popular spot for sports car enthusiasts and motorcyclists driving the Tail of the Dragon. Still, there were a few open tables on the patio and indoors. We requested a table on the lowest level of the patio right next to the river. If you are sitting on this lower level in the middle of a warm day, there is nothing in the way of shade to protect you from the sun and heat on the lowest level. Most of the tables on the main patio are at least covered by umbrellas and may be worth waiting for one to become available. Between the four of us, we ordered a medium Slick Rock Pizza, two Stella Chicken Sandwiches, and the Hippie Bowl. The pizza was kind of between a hand-tossed and thin-crust and had amazing flavor. I was only able to eat three slices before getting full. The rest of my party tried two slices and our waitress happily boxed the remaining three slices for us to take to go. The Stella Chicken Sandwiches with thick cut apploewood smoked bacon were large, juicy, and full of flavor. The Hippie Bowl was also good, but not exactly my thing. I imagine if this type of item interests you, then you likely will not be disappointed here. Our waitress was friendly and kept us stocked with drinks at all times and even offered to-go drinks on our way out, which was much appreciated for our hour long drive back. She was also happy to take several pictures of the four of us at our table next to the creek, making sure we got a good one. Aside from being in the sun when it wasn't blocked by clouds, the atmosphere is hard to beat right next to the rushing creek. After dinner, we walked upstairs and browsed around the lodge gift shop, lobby, and taproom and had some great conversations with the staff. Overall, while there aren't a ton of other options around, I recommend making this a destination if you are anywhere near the area. I look forward to going back. read more

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The atmosphere and views are definitely better than the food. I got pizza and my husband got the bbq. He said bbq was okay but a little greasy, but fries and chips were both really good. My margherita pizza was good nothing entirely special but I'd eat it again. The views, River, and gift shop are all lovely! read more

Tapoco Tavern - Resorts Near Me - Robbinsville, North Carolina

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I have done two retreats at the lodge. The facilities, food, and atmosphere is unparallelled. Just a phenomenal experience. Their hospitality team and employees go above and beyond! read more

Great place. Have only had lunch a few times and the food was delicious. Great service. Haven't gone during the water release days. Would definitely recommend, it's worth the drive. Looking forward to going in December when they decorate the lodge. read more

This place is so beautiful! It's located right when you come off The Dragon and right when you turn in you see the beautiful grounds of the resort. Theres a shop and a restaurant in the front house. It has a little river than run right in the front along with a whole garden area with chairs and tables you can bring a drink to sit and enjoy. There is seating along the river but there were a lot of bees so we sat closer to the building. They have an interesting menu with a lot to chose from. We started with trout nuggets that were really good! They gave us two dips with it that were super yummy. I'd heard about their smash burger, Ethans signature burger, so that's what I got. I liked it a lot but it wasn't the best I've had. I also got hash brown casserole and it was dry and cold. My daughter always gets The Stella chicken sandwich which she raves about. Overall the beauty of this location is the reason to go, it's truly stunning. read more

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Came to Tapoco after a long ride and adventure to The Tail of the Dragon. There's really nowhere else in the near vicinity to eat (especially if you've been riding all day and are starving). We were staying at the lodge so we figured we'd shower and make it to dinner before the 9:00 pm closing time. It's a very nicely decorated restaurant with plenty of indoor and outdoor seating. There are quite a few things on the menu to choose from and a few vegan choices as well. I really wanted to try the Trout Tacos, Country Style but the slaw is made with dairy and god forbid they make it without the mayo. So I decided on the veggie pizza which was huge. I ordered it without cheese and it was pretty good. We also ordered the trout nuggets which were really good as well. I'm giving this restaurant 3 stars because of our waiter. I don't know it was just because he was a goober or what but any questions we asked he had no idea how to answer them. Then when we asked the food runner to print out a shaker of garlic with the pizza she looked at us like no one had ever asked that. She brought fresh garlic then came back with w Amal bowl of granulated garlic. I had also asked for some marinara with the pizza because it was a little dry. Our waiter made this condescending comment about, "oh is this build your own pizza?". Kinda rude. Other than that the food and the ambiance was great. It was a very romantic dinner and we had a great night staying in the lodge. read more

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Really enjoyed it here. Beautiful location. Sitting outside by the raging river was amazing. Service was good and everyone enjoyed their food. The street style trout tacos were so good! read more

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My wife and I missed a turn and stopped at the lodge to get directions. Decided to try the tavern before we hit the road again. Best missed turn ever. We split the cheese burger with a side salad and was very impressed with the food. But the best part was our waitress, Patience. She was very attentive to what our wishes were and gave us great service. Her patience and personality were wonderful. Will be coming back. read more

The food was good, the atmosphere was very pleasant and the servers, although very busy, were pleasant and took care of our every need. What more can you ask for? read more

We went to Tapoco for dinner and had a great experience. Our party of 2 had the chips and salsa, Stella's chicken sandwich, and the hamburger steak. Everything was excellent. Though the restaurant was busy, service was exceptional and there was no sense of chaos among the staff. Or amazing server, Mackenzie, was knowledgeable about the menu and made fantastic recommendations. She consistently checked on our table to ensure we were enjoying the meal and kept our drinks full. Overall a very pleasant experience from a well managed restaurant. read more

There's not many options out here but this place puts out consistently good food. Service can sometimes be a little slow but they're also perpetually busy, so that comes with the territory. When I stayed at the deals gap resort I came here a lot. read more

We have been coming to Tapoco to eat for the last 8 years and have never had 1 issue, truthfully, not 1 until the last 2 visits. We let the last one go and never said a word marking it off as a fluke. We have also stayed there a couple of times. But no matter where we stayed, be it here at the cabin in Robbinsville or over in Gatlinburg we always made the trip to eat at Tapoco. I've driven over 2 hours just for the pizza. Tonight, was horrible and the staff couldn't have cared less. We ordered trout nuggets, 2 large pepperoni pizzas, 2 mushroom swiss burgers and a gluten free pizza. One burger, perfect and our son said it was delicious. The second, it had to be sent back twice because it came out with onions after my husband asked for none and the second time they brought it with nothing but cheese. He asked for it to be corrected and there were so many excuses about who was going to kill who over the incorrect order that they took forever to bring back out the THIRD burger. Shift to the pizzas. The first pepperoni was very obviously burnt to a crisp top and bottom of the crust, but was still brought to the table, so we sent it back. The 2nd one came out and it was also burnt on the bottom and around half the edges, but was edible enough, so we kept it because we were all hungry. The 1st pizza came back out the second time perfect, which we appreciated. My daughter's gluten free pizza was burnt as well, but because we'd already sent 2 other things back, so she didn't want to send it back. We started out with the sweetest server, but she ended up literally ignoring our table over issues we didn't cause. We had to ask other people multiple times for refills and to go drinks. We still ended up with an astronomical ticket with no manager to be seen. I have no problem with paying for food that we got, none at all. What I have a problem with is the ticket being full price with all the issues with food and with staff. I will 100% say we are not impressed with the new management so far and even less impressed with the staff that was present tonight. Still a beautiful setting for the restaurant. #tapoco read more

We are staying at Tapoco which has been great. I saw the Alfredo on someone else's table and it looked great. Mine came and I was underwhelmed. The pasta was over cooked and under salted. The blackened chicken was good and the garlic rounds were perfectly seasoned. Too bad the pasta itself was disappointing. My husband had the Ruben and it looked amazing. He said it rivaled his favorite Ruben from back home. We will be going back because we can walk there and the rest of the menu seems promising. The view is also really great. read more

My wife and I were able to stay at Tapoco a couple of days this week and of course, ate at the Tavern. WOW! Ok, so we started dinner the first night with the Tapoco chips. They are GREAT and they can feed a table... or just two people who eat like a full table. You know, whatever. I had to start with my favorite, the Stella sandwich. It is AMAZING! I can't say enough good things about it! It's my favorite thing on the menu and I'd likely get it for every meal if I didn't have the desire to branch out. It's just fantastic. I typically pair it with the sweet potato fries that are more sweet than salty... DELICIOUS! The first night my wife had the BBQ chicken sandwich and it was really good but not life-altering good. For dessert, we had the Reeces pie. I've had Reece's pie before, but none like this. IT IS LIKE EATING A REECES CUP. It was so rich, we split a piece and I'm glad we did! The next day we had wings and pizza for lunch. If you want a GREAT wing experience get the "off the menu" dry rub. It's so good. We had the slickrock pizza without the olives. The brick-oven pizza lives up to your expectations no matter how high they are. Cheesy, great topics, the crust is crispy and chewy all at the same time... it's just great pizza. For dinner the second night we ordered the campfire nachos. They are cheesy, salsa covered nachos with chicken and almost lead to a fistfight between my wife and I over which appetizer we liked better. We then split a ribeye. Ok, I'll be honest - I didn't have super high expectations for a ribeye for a place known for pizza and sandwiches. I can be nieve at times... WOW. I ordered it medium rare and guess what? It came out medium-rare. A true medium-rare. I was raised on a beef ranch so trust me when I say I know steak better than most. It's sadly rare to actually get a steak prepared the way I ask for it, but they nailed it. The steaks are cut in house, it was well-marbled and they prepared it beautifully. It was tender, juicy, and everything I didn't expect it to be. It is top end steakhouse quality!!! For dessert, we ordered the carrot cake. It comes out warm and gooey and oozing with fall flavors. We ordered a second one to go.... you know, just in case we came out of our food coma for some reason in the middle of the night. I've had other food at Tapoco, I could rave about the fish tacos or the burgers or any number of other foods, but you need to go experience it for yourself. Trust the fat guy, you won't be sorry!!! read more

What a gem of excellent food and an awesome setting next to the River. The trout was delicious in the trout bites, grilled trout and trout fish and chips. Side salad was delicious as was the sweet potatoes and regular fries. The chicken sandwich was also delicious. Make the trip. read more

We went on probably one of the busier days - Saturday of Memorial Day weekend - plus the Cheoah river was on - so we expected a little longer wait time. The general manager Valerie took excellent care of us once we were seated! The food was delicious and I can't wait to go back! read more

We had never been here before and were very excited to try it out. When we got there they were really busy so we expected a wait. The hostess, I believe her name was Taylor, was extremely hateful. Told us it would be about an hour and 15 minutes to get a table. We drove over an hour just to eat so we decided to wait. After telling her that would be fine she rolled her eyes and said ok then. Right then we knew it wouldn't be that long she was just trying to push us away. We waited 20 minutes before getting a table. Other than that our waitress was great very respectful and the food was hot and delicious! read more

Why 3*? Well, it's just a Tavern. Granted: Location x 3, but the pizza oven is the dominant smell inside. Maybe the patio is better, but it still won't change the food/drink selection. About 8/8 reds/whites, about 5/5 apps/bar-fare. read more

After driving the tail of the dragon, our group stopped here for lunch. We waited about 15 minutes for a table and were led to one in the direct sun so the hostess was able to wheel over a large umbrella for our comfort. We decided on making our own pizza with spinach, mushrooms, tomatoes and mozzarella cheese. It was fantastic! The crust is slightly sweet yet crisp which was unique. We had a view of the gorgeous creek and rocks while enjoying our lunch. The reason they lost a star is that we never had an actual waitress for our table - the hostess got our drinks and helped with order, a guy brought the food and we asked him for silverware, nobody ever checked on us and we paid at the hostess stand before we left. read more

Tapoco Tavern - Mushroom, spinach and tomato toppings with mozzarella cheese - Resorts Near Me - Robbinsville, North Carolina

Good service. Good and fast food. Comfortable setting This is our second year coming here. They easily accommodated out larger party size. read more

Great bbq, great chicken, and a great view. Service was a little slow but it was slammed so I understand. Definitely coming back!! read more

stayed in one of the cabins for a couple of nights. Ate dinner each night at the restaurant. exceptional service from Karlee and Jessica (bar service). both went out of their way to make my group feel welcome and made the stay that much more enjoyable. kudos to both of them read more

Sunday evening. It was busy, a 35 min wait. We sat at the bar which had room. We sat down and we're greeted with menus. Ordered a sweet bourbon tea and an ice tea. Jessica G had to run to back to get the tea. We ordered dinner. Blacken chicken sandwich on GF bun and chips. I was happy they could accommodate a GF option. My son ordered 12 garlic parm wings. Order went in. We finished our drinks. Completely ignored for a refill on iced tea. It's ice tea. Then after 45 mins my food came out but my sons did not and Jessica forgot to tell us they are out of wings! Now it was Sunday night and they were busy. So he ordered a burger. I had finished my meal by now as his is coming out 15 mins later. It was luke warm at best. Fries were hot tho so who knows how long that burger sat around. Then we asked for a Side of ranch. Jessica was too busy to get it so another waitress said she'd grab it. Wasn't until 10 mins later she comes back and sits down, looks at us and says oh she forgot too. But she had plenty of time to shoot the breeze at her tables as Jessica took care of the bar. I had to ask for napkins, I had to ask for silverware. Completely ignored even when it came time to pay the bill. Then they charged $21 for the wings we didn't get and only credited us $19. Trying to pay the check even took 10 minutes. Will come back to the road but will not be eating or staying at the lodge. I dont know how things could have been worse. Really unexpected for a nice place. But they got ya, because there's no where else by the tail to eat that's close. Super disappointing. read more

The brick oven pizza was amazing, great beers on tap, good with a large group

We stopped here for lunch after driving down the Tail of the Dragon. It's a beautiful tavern with plenty of outdoor patio seating and views of the creek streaming down below. We ordered pizza and a couple of beers. One medium pie was plenty for both of us to share. They will only serve one beer at a time and you must completely finish it before they will give you another one. I guess this is supposed to be a North Carolina rule but I have never noticed that anywhere else I've been in NC, but just FYI. I was just about finished with my beer but wanted to put in my order with my husband's as he was completely done with his and I didn't want her to have to make two trips or wait a long time before I saw her again. Anyway, pizza was fine but they really cut up the veggies on it very chunky, which I don't mind, but my husband had to pick some of them off as he's not a fan of that. Service was friendly and it's a nice place to grab lunch in the area. read more

Tapoco Tavern - beautiful views for patio dining - Resorts Near Me - Robbinsville, North Carolina

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Stopped here this weekend during a spontaneous mountain drive. Have never been here before and based on finding Slick Rock Grill on Yelp and new signage my guess is this is under new management. Loved the dinner atmosphere with the rushing river next to the patio and quiet road. Dogs are allowed on the patio which was a big plus for us. Overall the food was just okay, nothing mind-blowing. We got the trout nuggets: they were lightly breaded and came with a ton of dipping sauce. I got the hippie bowl which was an unique blend of flavors. My friend got the nachos; he enjoyed them. We each had a beer and even sampled 2 others because the bartender was bored. I would definitely come back for the view! And likely try some other menu items...it seems that pizza at least was popular before but I had pizza the night before so wasn't craving that again. I am leaning towards a 3.5 star review. read more

Unapologetically bad service and a long wait for average food. Ruined a great afternoon at the Tail of the Dragon.

You can't beat the scenery, you just can't. It is all about the scenery. Get a pizza because it comes out of a different place than the other food (good for if they are very slammed), order a few drinks, and enjoy. If they're busy, oh well. It's like the weather around here, you just can't predict it sometimes. Try to go a little early maybe to avoid the crowds. read more

Wow! We had great food at Tapoco Tavern! Their med pizza has a great, crispy & flavorful crust and it's plenty for 2-3 adults. The wild black & berry salmon was perfectly prepared - not too well done with a delicious blueberry reduction drizzled over it. The sides of sweet potato waffle fries were cooked just right, crispy outside and still soft inside and the best superfood kale slaw ever. Finally, the Pasta Carbona with grilled chicken was delicious and plentiful, not too heavily creamy - just right. The decor for this Christmas season is beautiful and the store had a lot of unique gift options. Worth a visit on every level. read more

Located in a beautiful spot with great scenery. You can sit inside and warm your boxes on a cool day, Or sit outside and listen to the water flowing down the stream. The hand tossed pizza was delicious and the beer satisfyIng. Service was a bit slow otherwise a solid 5 star place. read more

I agree with all the reviews saying the service is horrible. They'll give you ever excuse they can to tell you why they can't serve you. The one of many excuses I heard was that the bartender is too busy to serve you, and the reason is our "forecasting system " said to only put one on schedule today. What the hell??? BS trickles down hill, and their General Manager is full of it. read more

My wife and I had lunch today at Tapoco Restaurant. We cannot say enough about the patio seating, the food, and most important the service. I love trout and their trout dinner was among the best that I have ever had. My wife loved the sweet potato fries! The host was very communicative and accommodating. Our waitress, Madeline, knew the menu thoroughly - she was very helpful and attentive. We will definitely go back again. ED V Loudin, TN read more

I stayed 3 nights at the Tapoco Lodge in May and had an absolute ball. I was The for the MINIs on the Dragon weekend and I rooms were at a premium. From the phone call to make the reservation to my checkout everything ran smooth. I stayed in the Sunflower room with a great view of the river and enjoyed the stay. The bed was great, the shower was hot and had great water pressure. The room felt like a trip to grandma's house. The Wi-Fi was powerful and had a great connection for the middle of nowhere. Food: Breakfast was like eating with mom and I enjoyed both the food and the staff. Lunch and dinner were absolutely great and they have some of the best pizza I've ever tasted. Sabrina the bartender is probably the absolute greatest bartender I've ever met. She multitasks and makes drinks with a smile and at lightening speed. She is a jewel that Tapoco has secured. Easy access, easy parking, quiet and friendly. I'll be back and you need to try it. read more

We have been to Tapoco to eat probably about 20 times in the past year. Not only is it a perfect stop after driving The Dragon, the entire atmosphere will make you want to never leave. It is absolutely amazing to sit along side the river and listen to the water roll over the rocks. In the evening, the table top fire pits come on. There's also indoor seating with a bar. The entire property is snuggled up between the rolling hills and mountains. Just gorgeous to sit and take in. Now... We've gotta discuss the food because IT IS INCREDIBLE! All of it! They have the absolute best gluten-free pizza crust!!! I'm sure the regular pizza is just as tasty. The meat-lovers pizza is the absolute best... it's because of the bacon!!! OMG I don't even like meat, but I'd eat that all day every day. The chicken wings are the best we've ever had. I do not know if they marinate them, but the taste is unique and sooooo good. The garlic Parmesan ones are mouth-watering!! Next, we gotta bring up the burgers... perfectly custom cooked, great grilled flavor and great seasoning. I'm super happy that they'll accommodate my request for a lettuce "bun" instead of the bread. Keto friendly! Yes!! Oh and totally not Keto, but again the best I've ever eaten, the sweet potato fries are topped with sugar!! They are like dessert!!! Speaking of dessert, that is the one thing they could maybe improve only because they don't make their cakes in-house. We absolutely LOVE Tapoco Tavern!! I seriously want to live here or at least work here. Everyone that does work here is so incredibly nice. I mean, I'm going on and on and can't say enough positive!! Come and enjoy it!! read more

Tapoco Tavern - The best ever wings!! - Resorts Near Me - Robbinsville, North Carolina

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I have no idea if the food is good or not. I couldn't get waited on if my life depended on it. My wife and I sat at the bar because the hostess said that we'd get faster service if we did. The bartender seemed far more interested in getting others their drinks and cutting limes. The barmaid couldn't be bothered to help at all. They really weren't that busy, so I'm not too sure what the problem was. After several minutes, my wife flagged down the bartender who was only about 6 feet away the whole time. It was like pulling teeth to get some water from him. After a while longer we asked for a menu, which the barmaid plopped them down and continued to ignore us. About ten minutes later we just left, went to the next town and gave them our business. We'll never go back to the Tapoco Tavern again. they might have decent food, but we couldn't get service so I don't know. They obviously don't need any new business. read more

Poor service. This has been consistent every time I have come. There are always excuses and they never apologize to the customer. They mix up tables, seat and serve others at different paces, and just clearly have poor management of food and servers. The good food, beer and atmosphere is just not worth how terrible the service/management is and this place, sadly, will not be a top pick for me and my family any more when we are in town. read more

I've stayed here 2 years in a row for a weeks time. I come to run the Dragon in my Mustang. It is an incredible atmosphere. Family owned and it shows. Everyone I spoke with loves their job and what they do here. Specifically, Jasmine makes sure that everyone's breakfast experience is perfect. She even helped me find some some great roads to ride. I look forward to returning next year! read more

Horrible service on 3 occasions. I have been here 3 times in the last year, each time in a different season. I must say that they are very consistent at being horrible. Orders were wrong, wait staff was inattentive, slow and rude. On all 3 occasions we waited over 10 minutes at our table before our server came. The food is average bar food in a beautiful setting. Anyone who thinks this is fine cuisine doesn't know food. They put Hershey's syrup on tiramisu. That's the kind of place this is. Great view. Just don't eat there. Drive to Bryson and go to The Everett if you want good food. read more

Start off with the bad.. for the quality of the food it was a bit overpriced. Not horribly but just a by a few dollars. The food wasn't horrible by any means just not up to the price point, except the wings.. the garlic parm wings were absolutely amazing!! Service was fast and friendly! I chock the slight over price up to the ambiance, aesthetics and views. They were absolutely second to none, reminded me of being in Aspen but better. So overall would definitely recommend stopping in for wings, a drink and bs'ing by the river with some buddies. read more

Very beautiful place to relax while enjoying a drink and good food. However, my last visit makes me not want to return. We had just received our pizzas and only got to eat one slice before some kind of bug flew on it with multiple bugs on its back that crawled off and when all over the pizza. Needless to say we lost our appetite and our whole pizza. The server was there when it happened but only joked about it. She didn't offer to take care of the pizza or to get us a new to take home. Nope just charged us full price for a whole pizza that we couldn't eat after invested with bugs. Coming from the service industry I would think you would want to take better care of your customers. While it was a coincidence, the lack of customer service shows you don't care about guest experience. read more