Laurel Room Restaurant

I should have trusted my gut and chosen another restaurant when I looked over the menu JohnnyO brought up to our room at the Green Park Inn. But I liked the idea of having a nice dinner with wine and not worrying about driving so we stayed in and dined at the Laurel Room.
First of all, the dining room you first pass when you walk through the lobby is not the same one you dine in at the Laurel Room. The dining room to the right, when you enter the lobby is what I expected to dine in at a «Grand Dame» hotel. The Laurel Room has been remodeled but it doesn’t fit with the rest of the hotel. There are contemporary touches that simply throw the whole vibe off. For such a beautiful hotel, there should have been white table cloths and table settings; not placemats and silverware rolled in napkins like you’d find in a chain eatery. I understand the owners are attempting to make the hotel approachable to everyone but that is done with graciousness and good service. The service was just ok, definitely not «Grand Dame» worthy. By the way: The working man enjoys class and excellent service just as much as the wealthier patrons.
Second, I was shocked to find out after dinner that the chef of The Laurel Room Restaurant is a James Beard Nominee. Seriously? I am a french trained chef turned heirloom & micro vegetable producer and found the food so appalling that I finally left 2 bites into my entrée. That said, I am not a food snob but definitely appreciate well prepared, thought out food. Our dinner left much to be desired.
I began with the award winning Watermelon salad. It was plated messily and the flat bread served with it was soggy. It was drenched in so much Balsamic vinegar that the mozzarella was unrecognizable and the lettuce it was bedded on was not properly prepped (it still had the brown stems attached).
Next, was the mixed greens salad. Again, messily plated and way too much balsamic. The lettuce was limp and room temperature. JohnnyO had the Shrimp Cake, which was late coming out because it «didn’t turn out.» When it did «turn out», it was crispy and brown on the outside and a gooey, wet mess on the inside. The arugula it was plated on was clearly limp and wilted.
On to the entrees: I had the pecan crusted rainbow trout and almondine green beans. Although the fish initially appeared to be well prepared; it was absolutely swimming in what I believe was supposed to be a tarragon-​orange butter sauce but in reality, an overly sweet mess that completely overwhelmed both the fish and the pecan. The green beans had a good flavor, but were too oily.
JohnnyO had the oh, so unspectacular espresso crusted tenderloin with chocolate served with vegetable couscous instead of the gratin potatoes simply because JO doesn’t do cheese. We were really excited to try this dish. Well, I would have been excited about the gratin but hey, not my dinner… We’ve had tenderloin prepared similarily to this once before and loved it.
The Laurel Room’s Espresso Tenderloin with Chocolate? Notsomuch. It was ordered rare, was served medium rare. The espresso was overpowering instead of accentuating and there were no other flavors to balance the espresso and chocolate out, including salt. Salt would have actually been quite nice, giving it a sweet-​saltiness. I read later Chef James’ dish was originally prepared with a Bailey’s cream sauce. That might have rounded out some of the flavors a bit but as the cream sauce was missing, there’s no way to tell.
We completely skipped dessert as we figured it wasn’t worth it.
Maybe it was an off night or maybe Executive Chef James is one of those Ex Chefs who doesn’t actually do much face time in his kitchen anymore and is relying on poorly trained staff to turn out his dishes.
Overall, my impression before finding out the Chef’s name, was that it was an amateur without any real training trying way too hard to be gourmet. Now knowing who’s cooking or whose name is attached, I am flabbergasted. What happened? This should have been a foodgasm-​worthy meal. This restaurant is just a few short steps from being a really great restaurant in a gorgeous hotel. Start with finding a good manager who will put forth the time and effort to train staff both in the kitchen and out. And for heaven’s sake, put some table cloths on the tables! A lady should never show her ankles.
Cheers!
Mrs. JohnnyO

Simply wonderful. Great service, first class menu, beautiful presentation and delicious food. Chef James Welch is definitely one of the finest and creative chefs in North Carolina. It’s no wonder that two of his creations on the menu items have been recognized as «best in North Carolina».
We noticed quickly that most of the guests were locals. They definitely know about this hidden jewel. Most of the herbs and vegetables are grown in their own garden or harvested locally. Everything from the habanero infused olive oil dipping sauce to the maple pecan ice cream is made onsite.
Do yourself a favor and check this place out.

We loved our meal in the Laurel Room last night. The dining room was quiet and there was a pianist in the lobby that added to the ambience. The duck and the salmon were both presented in a little different way and were delicious! The dessert, a chocolate truffle concoction with a cream sauce was to die for. We both had a piece instead of sharing. Glad we did. The wait staff were very friendly and attentive.

My wife and I thoroughly enjoyed our meals in the Laurel Room last Friday and Saturday. I went to Unilocal to write this review and was surprised to see that there was a previous critical review! Our experience was quite the contrary. Our meals and service could not have been better. Granted we were on a prime weekend in high season, so minimal delays might be expected and accepted. After all, we’re on vacation and supposed to be relaxing. That’s what God made wine for. We weren’t trying to make an 8:00 curtain on Broadway.
We actually had the same Halibut. The menu and server said that it had won the Best Dish of North Carolina contest, and it was spectacular. Not at all over anythinged, unless there was some sort of kitchen accident with the other guys dish. When we had the Halibut, we shared it and were more than full. Of course we both had appetizers before that were equally good, and I guess that fills the time gap while the entrée was being prepared.
The food and selections were so good that we went back for more on Saturday because there was so much we wanted to try. We each ordered three courses, much of which we took home and enjoyed the next day, all of it was exceptional. If your order gets screwed up and delayed, by all means pan the service and cut the tip, but don’t let that annoyance carryover into a rant against the quality of the food when it is truly exceptional across the board.
Should I return to vacation in the Blue Ridge Mountains again, we will not hesitate stay in the Green Park Inn and eat in the Laurel Room. The chef is creative, the menu unique and the wine list is good and reasonable. They also give a full made to order, served breakfast with the room. It sure beats out the microwaved stuff you get most places. Maybe the servers get tired after a full day.
P. S. My wife read this and thinks I should be more critical of the critic. I say no. We’re from a big eastern city. There are all kinds of people in the world with different dining experience and tastes. Some don’t understand fine dining. Unilocal gives every dog his day. Speak your mind reviewers. Fairness is for sissys.

We spent the weekend at the Green Park Inn and I assumed that one of the highlights would be dining in their restaurant, the Laurel Room. Everything that I read led me to believe that it would be a great experience. I was mistaken.
They have done a great job renovating this historic space. It is very inviting.
We had reservations for 7:00 PM and were immediately seated. Our server was as sweet as she could be and I expect that the poor service we received was not entirely her fault. We ordered a very nice Argentinian Malbec and we were off to a great start.
None of the appetizers got us all excited so we went directly to the main course. The main course was not delivered to our table until after 8:00 PM. The wait was awful.
My wife ordered the Espresso encrusted, bitter-​sweet chocolate stuffed beef tenderloin with a Bailey’s Irish Cream sauce. It was spectacular. The chocolate flavor worked perfectly with the beef. It was accompanied by a goat cheese pistachio au gratin which although, the size of a tiny square of chocolate, was also quite nice.
I had the pan seared Halibut with pecan crust served over wilted arugula with goat cheese and a red pepper coulis. The flavors were nice and it had the potential to be a nice dish. However it was so heavily salted that it was completely ruined. Frankly, at $ 31 it was over priced by half. Very disappointing. I told our waitress that the dish was very salty and she thanked me for the feedback. Really?
We completed our smallish entrees in 15 minutes and I ordered dessert. Almost thirty minutes later, dessert still had not arrived. Our server finally came by, apologized and said that the kitchen was busy with salads. I have no idea what that had to do with our dessert taking 30 minutes to not arrive… We cancelled our dessert order, paid and left. So, to sum it up, one bottle of wine and an entrée took one hour and fifty minutes.
The restaurant was fairly busy for a Saturday night but, not completely full. The service was as bad as I have experienced in a long time. We will not be returning.