North Carolina — Buncombe County

Asheville

America's most surprising food city — the Blue Ridge Mountain town that has more breweries per capita than anywhere in the US, more James Beard nominees than cities ten times its size, and a farm-to-table conviction that predates the term.

6Restaurants Listed
$$–$$$Average Price Range
9Avg Food Score
8Avg Ambience Score

Best Restaurants in Asheville

Five essential tables, ranked by occasion.

$ Under $20  |  $$ $20–45  |  $$$ $45–100  |  $$$$ Over $100

Cúrate Asheville
#1 in Asheville
Cúrate
Spanish / Tapas$$$
ProposalFirst Date
Katie Button's James Beard–nominated Spanish kitchen — Asheville's most celebrated restaurant and the tapa bar that earned Asheville its national culinary reputation.
Food 9Ambience 9Value 7
The Market Place Restaurant Asheville
#2 in Asheville
The Market Place Restaurant
New American / Farm-to-Table$$$
Close a DealBirthday
The farm-to-table restaurant that opened in 1979 before the term existed — Asheville's original culinary visionary, still producing the most locally sourced menu in the Blue Ridge.
Food 8Ambience 8Value 7
Buxton Hall Barbecue Asheville
#3 in Asheville
Buxton Hall Barbecue
Carolina BBQ$$
BirthdayTeam Dinner
The whole-hog Carolina BBQ that earned James Beard recognition — the smoke in the Blue Ridge Mountains and the tradition that the piedmont has been perfecting for centuries.
Food 9Ambience 8Value 8
Hemingway's Cuba Asheville
#4 in Asheville
Hemingway's Cuba
Cuban / Appalachian$$
First DateBirthday
Cuban cooking with Blue Ridge ingredients — the most creative cultural fusion in Asheville, executed with the conviction that Hemingway would have approved.
Food 8Ambience 8Value 8
White Duck Taco Shop Asheville
#5 in Asheville
White Duck Taco Shop
American Tacos$
Solo DiningBirthday
The Asheville taco counter that made 'local taco' a complete thought — creative, seasonal, and the lunch that every Asheville local recommends before any of the James Beard nominees.
Food 8Ambience 7Value 9
Sovereign Remedies Asheville
#6 in Asheville
Sovereign Remedies
Bar / Small Plates$$
First DateSolo Dining
The cocktail bar that treats Appalachian botanicals as seriously as the kitchen treats Appalachian produce — the most creative drink list in the Blue Ridge.
Food 7Ambience 9Value 8

Asheville’s Top 5

01

Cúrate

Cúrate is the restaurant that made America take Asheville seriously. Chef Katie Button, who trained under Ferran Adrià at elBulli and José Andrés in D.C., opened this Spanish tapas bar in 2011 and has been accumulating J...

02

The Market Place Restaurant

The Market Place opened in 1979 with the conviction that Western North Carolina's farms produced ingredients worth building a serious restaurant around. That conviction was forty years ahead of the mainstream, and the re...

03

Buxton Hall Barbecue

Buxton Hall earned James Beard nominations for doing what Carolina barbecue requires: the whole hog, the wood smoke, the patience to cook for sixteen hours, and the conviction that this specific tradition is worth the ef...

04

Hemingway's Cuba

Hemingway's Cuba is the kind of restaurant that could only exist in Asheville — a Cuban kitchen that uses Western North Carolina produce with the specific creative logic of a chef who sees the Appalachian highlands and t...

05

White Duck Taco Shop

White Duck Taco Shop is the Asheville recommendation that locals make before any of the serious restaurants — a taco operation that applies the same sourcing philosophy as the fine-dining establishments to a $4 taco form...

06

Sovereign Remedies

Sovereign Remedies is the bar that Asheville's cocktail community built — a serious cocktail program using foraged Appalachian ingredients, local spirits from Western North Carolina's growing craft distillery scene, and ...

Dining in Asheville

Asheville is America's most surprising food city — a Blue Ridge Mountain town of 94,000 that has produced more James Beard nominations per capita than any other American city, more breweries per capita than anywhere in the United States, and a farm-to-table conviction that predates the term by decades. The combination of the Appalachian food tradition (ramps, pawpaws, heritage-breed pork, wild-harvested botanicals), the creative class that relocated here from coastal cities, and the Blue Ridge's extraordinary agricultural bounty has produced something genuinely unusual: a serious culinary culture in a small mountain city.

The Farm-to-Table Origin Story

The Market Place opened in 1979 with the conviction that Western North Carolina's farms deserved a serious restaurant. That conviction predated the farm-to-table movement by a generation. Today, every serious Asheville restaurant sources locally — not as a marketing claim but as the operating principle of kitchens that have built relationships with specific farms over decades.

The Brewing Capital

Asheville has more breweries per capita than any city in the United States. The combination of the Blue Ridge's exceptional water (soft, low in minerals from the granite geology) and the creative culture that has made the city a transplant magnet has produced a craft brewing scene whose quality and variety match any city in the country. The beer culture and the food culture reinforce each other — the breweries and the restaurants share the same philosophy and often the same sourcing networks.

Practical Notes

Asheville is served by Asheville Regional Airport with connections to major hubs. The city is 3.5 hours from Charlotte by I-26. Downtown, the River Arts District, and Biltmore Village are the three primary dining districts. The summer season (June–October) is the peak; fall (October–November) is the most spectacular for the leaf season and the harvest produce. Card payments are universal.

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