Joe C.'s Profile

Found an article about this place in the Tennessean and it piqued my interest. Who doesn't like comfort food once in a while for lunch, right? I then reviewed Yelp and saw that there were five good reviews and I set out that day to try it.

My first experience was with the Crab Melt, since it was the one item people raved about the most. Let me just tell you that the Crab Melt is everything you want it to be. It's a little pricey at $8.99, however I FIRMLY believe you get what you are paying for. It's a monster of a sandwich and there is no doubt at all that it's laden with crab meat. Also ordered fries (which were about $1.50). I'm not a small guy and after the sandwich and fries I was STUFFED. It was a lot of food, and I felt the amount (and quality) of the fries was an excellent value for the money.

The sandwich itself was excellent, I had expected deep-fried crab cakes and was surprised to find that it wasn't anything like that. It was much more subtle with Monterey Jack cheese and it was only browned, NOT deep fried, so the taste is lighter than you'd imagine, which I liked. Topping it off was a slice of tomato, which, if it wasn't February would have been epic. Even the out of season tomato slice was a nice compliment. I TRULY hope they run down the street to the farmers market when tomatoes start coming in season and make use of local yummy tomato-ness.

On my second visit I tried the Fried Oyster Grilled Cheese which was composed of a pair of GIANT fried oysters and what seemed like 5 layers of white american cheese. It was tremendous! I highly recommend this sandwich if you like fried oysters. Learning from my previous experience a friend and I shared an order of fries and I didn't push away from the table in the arcade thinking I needed to exercise for a month to work off what I had just eaten.

This establishment is an excellent and welcome addition to downtown and I hope the owners, who were friendly and understanding when asked about options, stick around for a while. The place itself is TINY, so only dine in if it's you and a friend, there are some outdoor tables available, but they aren't going to be an option until spring. I'd like to point out that the inside is clean and cheery and very well decorated. Unlike some other family-run places downtown, they really made an effort to impress with the decor, and not just the food.

This restaurant will be a regular inclusion on my downtown lunch-eating choices.

We visited here recently when we traveled to Asheville for a mini-vacation. The food (and service) were both remarkable. We throughly enjoyed the atmosphere and the wait-staff was engaging and pleasant. Also, they were very helpful. I had the Beef Thai Coconut Red Curry on noodles. And it was simply amazing. The flavors that were in this one bowl just blew my mind. I took my family and my wife had the same dish, but with shrimp. My kids (15 & 9) both had the Teriyaki Noodles dish (one had shrimp the other had Tofu). I highly recommend this restaurant to anyone living or traveling to the Asheville area. The seating is a little close, but not uncomfortably so. The portions are LARGE and the pricing is reasonable. Really, the location and the vibe of this place are too good to miss.

I've always been impressed with the service and quality of the coffee at this location. It's VERY small, but they move customers in and out with ease. The staff is always very friendly and even inspired me to send a note about them to Starbucks corporate at one point. So, it suffices to say that I like this location and recommend them. Sadly, my building has a Starbucks "cart" thing that can't really compare to a full store. So, when I have a desire to get Starbucks and I'm downtown - I head to this store and I'm never disappointed with the experience.

I have been eating at The Chile Burrito since it opened and I worked just across the street at the L&C tower downtown. Since then I've moved on and I now work down at the Nashville City Center off of Union. Anyways, I still make the walk to Chile Burrito because of two reasons: Fish Tacos and the Nachos. The portions are nearly at insane levels for the nachos, so don't eat lunch there and expect to have anything for dinner. And I would be remiss if I didn't mention the fish tacos. They are simply amazing. They take great care to make it well - the ingredients are all very fresh and well worth the cost. For a fast-food Mexican place, it really is hard to beat.

One thing to watch out for is the lady working the register isn't always the happiest person in the world. The owner is almost always there, which is nice - but that woman behind the register usually sours the experience for me a little. Anyways, if you can get past her - this is an excellent place to eat for lunch.

The food and selection here is really first-rate. The costs are a little expensive, but worth it considering what you get for your money. The environment is wonderfully private (at most of the seating areas, anyway - there are a few general tables that are less private, but these are few). It's dark and the wait-staff do a fantastic job of explaining everything as you come in and sit down. We've never had bad service here and we've been several times. I'd recommend this restaurant to anyone, but PLEASE pay attention when they are explaining the cooking times to you so that you don't get sick on raw meat.

Atmosphere.

Great (friendly) staff.

Excellent quality of foods.

I rank Melting Pot up high on my list of good places to eat, it's a lot of atmosphere AND food. Because remember, this is a fondue restaurant - there aren't a lot of amazing culinary spices and things being added to your food here. Oh, and GREAT for older kids (9+ who will be into the "cooking your own food" thing).