Dining Out Southeast: Maggie Valley Restaurant, Maggie Valley, NC

 

On our recent visit to North Carolina, we spent the day visiting Maggie Valley.  I love everything about this little spot of heaven in the mountains.  We asked a local shopkeeper for a good lunch spot and she immediately recommended Maggie Valley Restaurant for "simple good home cooking."  Yes, please!!

Now remember my rule:  If the outside of the restaurant or any sign near the restaurant mentions a particular food, that's what you better order.  You see the "Fresh Southern Fried Chicken" sign being loudly proclaimed on the sign in the above picture, right?

Well, check out this sign in the parking lot.

So, we knew what we were going to order, but which one of us would order which???

We entered the restaurant and felt like we were at home at our local "meat and three."  

Here's the menu:

And in case you'd like to order breakfast because it's served all day:

We discussed and debated and then Sweet Harold looked at me with those puppy dog eyes and said, "You know how I LOVE fried chicken."  Well, yes, I do know much you love fried chicken.  So, he got to order the fried chicken.  Now if you look closely at the menu, you'll notice that the #1 seller at the restaurant is ONE HALF OF A CHICKEN with two veggies.  But as he justified that to me, "It's a breast, a thigh, a drumstick, and a wing."  Yes, I know sweetheart...that is INDEED a half a chicken.  😄

There's a disclaimer on the menu that it will take a minute to cook that chicken, but we were in no hurry and sipped our sweet tea (which was delicious, btw) and waited with eager anticipation.

It was worth our wait. It was worth it for Sweet Harold because he devoured it and loved every bite.  It was worth it for me to see him enjoy it so much.

There's nothing like pressure cooked fried chicken (think back to the 1970s when KFC was actually Kentucky Fried Chicken). This chicken was all that!  The green beans were well seasoned like good Southern green beans are supposed to be and the macaroni and cheese was definitely creamy and cheesy.  

So with the fried chicken option claimed, that left the trout for me which was perfectly fine!    

I removed the sides from my plate simply to show the very generous serving of this piece of trout.  The breading was light and crunchy.  The fish was cooked perfectly.  I understand why they prominently advertise North Carolina trout on their sign!

Now here's my plate with my trimmings!

The mashed potatoes and gravy were yummy.  They could have been served at a little warmer temperature, but regular readers of the blog know, I want my hot food served HOT.  The okra was tasty and I enjoyed the homemade tartar sauce.

The entire lunch experience was delightful.  Our server was friendly and kept our tea glasses filled.  The atmosphere was homey and welcoming.  The view of the mountains from our table was awesome.  The food was a great value in proportion with the ample serving size.  

We'll have fond memories of this meal.