Banner Elk Cafe

One of the best in BE and vegan– and gluten-​free friendly. Dogs welcome. A tad overpriced but well worth it. Nice staff. Love the vegan Thai wrap. Sweet potato fries are great, just wish baked.

This is your cozy small town gathering space with a super friendly staff and great service all 4 seasons. Good menu with great variety and most everything is deliciously homemade-​and did I mention very affordable? Summertime music delights in a lovely outdoor patio area.

Great breakfast but get there before 11a for breakfast. Eggs Benedict was awesome. And the French toast was good as well. They have great pies and deserts as well. Great bloody Mary. Cheers

Yum! Great local place. My boyfriend and I both picked country fried steak with mashed potatoes and corn! It was delicious! We also got the raspberry white chocolate cheesecake, so good! Their iced coffee was nice and strong!

The Gorganzola Ribeye is one of the best steaks I’ve had. Fried asparagas, mashed potatoes and cornbread also very good. There are also lots of menu choices.

Needed a casual place with outdoor seating to take our dog Cody for dinner. This was suggested to us at our hotel and it was perfect. The outdoor seating was really indoors with comfortable chairs, totally covered, tvs to watch sports, and very friendly server. The food was fine, sandwiches, and other choices. Reasonable and we would come back, especially since Cody enjoyed it, too.

There aren’t all that many options in Banner Elk, but this place hit the spot. Had the DC Burger (burger, egg, cheese, bacon) with… TATER TOTS. Yes, they offer TATER TOTS. That was a definite win in my book. They kinda tasted like they had been fried with some fish, which wasn’t my fave, but TATER TOTS! They also had sweet potato fries. The burger was good.
They had a dessert rack that was LOADED with desserts. I wanted one of everything. Cheesecakes, pies, chocolates, fruits, soo much delicious goodness. Sadly, I was too full from lunch to eat dessert, but if we were in the area again, I’d definitely save room for dessert.

Everything I expect from a classic breakfast place. I ordered the Mountain Man breakfast, a great value at $ 10.25, which included two eggs, two pancakes, bacon or sausage (I had bacon, good and crispy) and hashbrowns or grits (I had hashbrowns and my mother had grits… The grits were better, very creamy. The coffee was also pretty decent. Fast, friendly service.

Great food and service. A larger selection of food and everything I’ve tried I’ve liked

I ordered a crispy chicken wrap and fruit. The wrap was pretty good. The fruit didn’t seem very fresh.
Server was nice but it seemed like he was ready for me to go even though there was still 20 minutes before closing.
Overall, not a bad place. I wish I would have tried the desserts but I was too full.

The area surrounding the Banner Elk community and the Elk River was inhabited by the Cherokee before western settlement, although no evidence of a permanent Cherokee settlement has ever been found. This is a pity, as I imagine the Cherokee would have enjoyed the gracious service and extraordinary menu items found at the Banner Elk Café, located across the green from the historic Banner Elk School, lovingly preserved in its rock-​built splendour.
Over the course of two days, we consumed a variety of menu items ranging from exquisitely seasoned Seared Salmon, mustard-​rubbed pork steaks, to-​die-​for fresh crab cakes, gourmet hamburgers (available in two tummy-​filling sizes!), tender sirloin steak sandwiches, and a grilled feta-​raspberry pork steak! All items were well above average in taste and presentation, and were accompanied by unexpectedly large side orders of smashed red potatoes (rich/​creamy), curly fries (tender, yet crispy), sweet potato fries, and heaping batches of fried asparagus (don’t knock it till you try it!).
Our appetisers consisted of perfectly fried onion rings and an amazing Ginger Teriyaki Shrimp plate with home-​made chipotle drizzle.
A wide selection if regional/​seasonal wines and beers are available. Prep times for our meals were very acceptable, as was the attention of our waiter, David. Vegetarian selections were amply represented on the large, easy to read menu. The chef had no problem with our ‘no salt’ requests.
ADA access is ‘fair’. While I noticed no stairs, restroom conditions would prove a challenge for wheelchaired patrons. There is limited on-​site parking; one might imagine parking issues would arise at ANY Banner Elk venue during ‘peak’ leaf & snow seasons. As our visits occurred between the summer rush and autumn leaf periods, parking and crowded venues were not an issue.
The Banner Elk Café began years ago as a one-​window, burger take-​away eatery, featuring two picnic tables under an awning, and has carefully expanded into a full-​fledged, casual, yet special, dinning destination worthy of a quick meal, or a memorable occasion.
The noise levels during our meals were such that quiet conversations were enjoyed, even with live music wafting through the dinning area.
I can’t imagine your tribe not enjoying their visit to The Banner Elk Café.

I wish I had taken a pic of the rotten lettuce this place served as salad. It was way past garish lettuce and probably wouldn’t have passed for hog food. It was brown and wet and OLD!!! Lettuce is the main ingredient in salad — it should be fresh and crisp and delicious. Otherwise you’re just serving SLOP!

Horrible service. Sub par food. The salad bar is a joke — lettuce, croutons and tomatoes with 6 different dressings. Pita was dry with no sauce, buffalo chicken sandwich was supposed to have «crumbled blue cheese» had nothing on it – asked for blue cheese, waitress took sandwich from table and brought it back with blue cheese dressing squirted on it. Really disappointed.

Eating here becomes immediately interesting as we sit outdoors in a beautifully covered dining area between two kitchens. We may select from the café or the lodge… very different menus. Makes for great selections from both restaurants! Service is nice and our server provided great guidance for lunch choices. We are ordering from both kitchens to keep so we get a more complete experience! Good was great and loved the experience. Just good food and good service!

I’ve been to Banner Elk Café 3 or 4 times now. There are three parts to the Café complex — the restaurant with a full menu, the coffee shop and the ice cream shop. This place is a staple for locals and tourists and is pretty much «the» coffee shop in town. Admittedly, I’ve only ever had coffee drinks, baked goods and ice cream (Breyer’s) here. The quality of product has been consistently good, as well as the friendliness and helpfulness of the staff. My favorite part is the coffee shop with the giant coffee table made from a tree trunk surrounded by comfy leather sofas. It’s a great escape especially on a chilly day, when the fireplace is going.

We are on vacation visiting family in the mountains and we were told this place was good. It’s better than food. It’s tasty.
This is our second time here in 2 days and the food is hot and full of flavor.
I had the Calzone yesterday and today is the Greek gyro and sweet potato fries.
Wish we had one in Atlanta

This restaurant was pretty good! Not my favorite, but it still was delicious!

We went to Banner Elk for my niece’s graduation this past weekend. We decided to have dinner here the night before her graduation. She kept telling us how great it is.
Well, she was right. Everything was awesome! Our waitress was so sweet too. There where 12 of us and she accommodated all of us.
The food is soooooo good!!! I had a little of everyone’s plate! The Bells Cheeseburger is the best! The pizza has amazing cheeseon it! It was so good that we had Mother’s Day lunch there!!!
If ever in the Banner Elk area — go to the Banner Elk Café.
Snikerdooo coffee is the best too!
The chocolate chip muffins are delicious!

We came here hungry and are leaving STUFFED! The service was fast and friendly and the food was definitely prepared with fresh ingredients. I had the grilled chicken club and my husband had the Hawaiian chicken club wrap. Yummy!

Good food, good service everything from sandwiches to seafood specials are available. The dessert selection is extensive. We had the best server, he was attentive and even ran our leftover out to car we forgot. Did I mention big servings?
The bad reviews that talk about coffees and cappuccinos are not for this place but for The Lodge coffee shop next store to this place. The signs are stacked and look alike but they are not related.