The Sweet Onion

We went on a Saturday night at 8 o’clock. We had reservations and only wait a few minutes to be seated. The food was good but not great. The biscuits I read so much about were overcooked hard and dry. My husband had a steak and lobster tail and it was absolutely delicious. I had the country fried steak it was nice and crispy but lacked in seasoning and flavor. We waited for over 15 minutes for the server to bring our check after we were done eating and then another 15 minutes for her to run our credit card. I would definitely give it another try and hope to have better service next time.

Outstanding lunch! The ambiance is casual slightly funky and the fook is fantastic. I had the blackened catfish for lunch which is served with housemade tartar & seafood sauce, cucumber salad and collard greens. Everything was fresh and very flavorful.
Limited kids menu so we had the kids share an adult meal which they also enjoyed.
Highly recommended. We will be back for dinner if we are back in the area.

I had some of the best food I have had in a long time. Great price for the atmosphere and quality of food. Our server was so sweet. The blue crab tuna nachos were amazing !

I ordered the Blue Crab Ahi Tuna Nachos for an appetizer, and Shrimp & Grits with a side of veggies for an entrée. Audrey ordered a Pecan Chicken Salad Melt and fries, but I did not taste either of those.
The crab nachos sound weird, sure, but they were pretty good, even though the crab meat is not the best, and definitely not fresh. I have had these on many occasions and really like them. The portion a little smaller than it used to be though, still a decent appetizer for two people.
When the Shrimp and Grits arrived things started to go south. Then menu said «Applewood smoked bacon and jumbo shrimp served over white cheddar stone ground grits, topped with a lobster cream sauce». I did not think the «bacon served over» literally meant a piece of bacon planking the dish! I was pretty much laughing when she sat this dish in front of me. How about chopping up the bacon and put it in the grits, oh wait, you can’t because it is served with grit cakes or logs, not sure what they were. Then while still laughing about it, 1970 called and said they want their parsley plate garnish back! (Corny, I know.) Also, it wasn’t topped with Lobster Cream Sauce; it was in a bowl of it. WTF kind of disaster did they serve me? Did someone fail out first semester in culinary school?
We all know looks can be deceiving, so I dive into the dish. First think I find is a lemon slice under the bacon which had seeds in it. Not sure if the lemon was supposed to be here, sat that off to side of the plate with the 1970’s parsley. The grit cakes were gross and not all the same thickness, looked like they were a Sysco grit log or something that you slice and fry. It should state on the menu that they are cakes, and not nice creamy grits. The shrimp was way over cooked and total rubber, the lobster cream sauce was just way to rich, but probably the better of the three components. Highlight of the dish was the bacon, and now I see why they laid the entire piece on top; so you could have some enjoyment from the dish. The veggies as you can see in the picture were pretty dead. The color on beans came out darker than the actually were and all the veggies were just a soggy, over cooked mess.
So we have this beautiful restaurant in our quaint little downtown with a fantastic sounding menu. Excellent front of the house staff, but they cannot execute their own menu. There were specials that night as usual, but at $ 28 dollars I never order them, because you never know how it’s going to be. I usually play it safe and order things I know they make half way decent. Tonight was the first time ordering the Shrimp & Grits, and they were a disaster! Don’t get me wrong, there are some good eats on the menu, and once in a while they make some decent food, but for me, I think I am done going here. For $ 21.50 for Shrimp and Grits you can at least use good shrimp and cook it right.

I absolutely love The Sweet Onion. I admit, I only ever order one thing because it’s my favorite, but I’ve sampled off my family’s plates and tried a few different sides, they were always fantastic. I always order the Chicken salad melt with the cranberries and pecans in it topped with cheese, bacon, lettuce, tomato, it’s my family’s favorite. I live a few towns over, it’s a 30 minute drive and I usually order my food to go, but it’s always worth it. I’ve also had a fantastic, rich corn chowder, and their penne Mac and cheese is good too. The few times I’ve eaten in house the service was great, and even with placing to-​go orders, which I have a feeling they don’t normally get, they are always polite, friendly and accommodating.

Delicious dinner here with my family. My twin sons had the bacon wrapped meatloaf with fries which they loved. I had crabcakes with the white cheddar grits which were delicious. Our daughter had a delicious and large burger.

Very good food and not your typical menu. It’s nice to have a menu with not all the same food. Had the snitzel and beef short ribs and both were very good. This is a relatively small place so be sure to make reservations. Our server was friendly and the service was good and food came out at a reasonable time. Would go back if in the area again.

The service was fantastic and the food was even better. Very fresh and not over sold and under delivered as so many places do. Would recommend to anyone who enjoys great food.

The atmosphere is very quaint and the food was absolutely delicious. The only drawback is that it is slightly overpriced for the food. The service was adequate at best. The server took long periods of time to to take our drink orders, get the drinks, take the food order, and refill drinks when asked. The server lacked any social skills in terms of trying to interact with our table short of what had to be done. For all the restaurants in Waynesville, I would not recommend this establishment to any tourist, Guest visiting friends or family, and very rarely to any locals. As a local myself I expected a lot given what I’ve heard and was sorely disappointed.

We walked in and got a seat on New Years Eve. Can’t believe this place wasn’t booked. solid… but happy it wasn’t. We presented the fried onion side dish which was addicting! I had the crab cake… OMG!!! No filler. Just crab and SOME breaking… cooked to perfection. My husband had the Pink Sunburst Trout which we also perfect and so flavorful. Also, the biscuits were like Red Lobster biscuits without the cheese or bad seafood. Brad, our server, was spectacular!!! He made great suggestions… and his mustache is awesome :)
Ask for him and EAT HERE!!!

The food was incredible. At first, we thought it was a bit overpriced, but by the time we’d tried our entrees we were all of the opinion that everything was actually slightly underpriced. Our waiter Jessie was stellar and not pushy at all. The wait was surprisingly short and we scored a comfortable booth next to lovely French windows.

The food was delicious, but the wait was rather long. Be sure to make a reservation if you are eating here on the weekend. I had the tomato basil shrimp and it was a nice surprise that there were 6 very large shrimp included. Most restaurants try to get away with 3 or 4 when they are in a pasta dish. Overall, I strongly recommend this restaurant.

Was great 3 yrs ago; not anymore. Mushy over sauced fish, wilted lettuce, chicken ok. We complained about the salad-​all we got was a weak apology. Only offered beer from one brewery) and here near Asheville – beer Capitol of the south)!?

I wanted so much more from The Sweet Onion, I went there with my husband for our 1^st wedding anniversary. I ordered the mushroom ravioli with a salad (the miso dressing was fantastic) and he had the shrimp and grits. The portions were massive I will give them that but my entrée was a salt bomb, I didn’t notice it until about half way through the entrée when I started to feel parched. The maderia cream sauce was good but very heavy. I couldn’t finish the dish. J’s shrimp and grits were okay, he was disappointed that it was grit cakes rather then a bowl of grits because the cakes were dried out. He also got a side of fried okra and it was bland and cold. I won’t say we won’t give the place another shot — but it certainly wasn’t what were were expecting.

My husband and I were staying in Maggie Valley for our anniversary and we were looking for a nice restaurant to celebrate. I can’t tell you how happy we were that we chose this place! The staff is super friendly and the food is AMAZING. I didn’t try any of the drinks because I’m pregnant but I’m sure they’re just as good. We got a jalapeño chicken spring roll appetizer, I got the special which was a ribeye topped with buffalo shrimp and bleu cheese and my husband got short ribs in a blackberry sauce. I will say that my steak was a little rare, since I asked for «medium», but I didn’t care. Everything was absolutely delicious. If you’re ever in this area, I highly recommend this place.

À né manquer sous aucun prétexte, ce restaurant est probablement l’une des meilleures tables de la région. Cadre, plats et service parfaits. Un très agréable moment.
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Not to be missed, this restaurant is probably one of the best in the region.
Very good menu, nice place and perfect service. A very good time.

I’d give them zero stars, if possible, since we never got the chance to eat here. We were a party of 12, heading their way, so I called to get an estimate of wait time. I was told 30 minutes for a party of four, I asked approximately how long for 12. The host checked with the manager who said they would not seat us at all. We planned to wait, but apparently, they do not want our business.

Very disappointed after reading previous reviews
It’s called Sweet Onion for a reason. The «grits» in shrimp and grits were actually grits cakes rolled in cornmeal and deep fried. Almost no flavor except a sweetness that reminds one of hush puppies except hush puppies have more flavor. Fried onion rings would have been good if they didn’t also have a sweet taste. The dip tasted more like chipotle mayonnaise instead of chipotle ranch. Biggest disappointment was the onion soup. A sweet tasting soup that lacked depth or distinction. If you didn’t know the name of the soup you might have thought it was a mushroom soup except there were no mushrooms. With all of the items ordered having a base sweetness to them, flavors ran together and the meal quickly became boring. We left half of our food on the table.

Mozzerella tomato salad good but unique. Mozz was lightly breaded and fried just to slightly melt. Had a honey balsamic vinigarette reduction and frisée. I had salmon fillet with spinach and risotto. Salmon cooked perfect and spinach was really good but risotto not up to par. She had tomato basil shrimp with angel hair. All top of the line. Had choc peanut butter cake for dessert which was Devine. Manager actually comped that because of risotto fiasco. A little pricey but overall worth the visit. We come over this way couple times a year and check out places. This is one of our faves

This is a solid four star restaurant. Were I to have an opportunity to return, possibly five star.
The menu had a great variety of entries most of which included your choice of two sides. I chose the trout with collards and fried okra. The trout was excellent as was the collards but the fried okra was just very good fried okra. My wife had the salmon special with strawberry risotto and mango salsa. This was a five star dish because of creativity and multiple flavors.
Waite staff was excellent.

Our party of six had a great lunch at The Sweet Onion. We ware in Waynesville for one afternoon and decided to look up a restaurant for lunch. So glad we found The Sweet Onion. Since it was around 1:30 in the afternoon, it was after the usual lunch rush and we were seated immediately.
My husband and I shared their Sweet Onion Soup, which was delicious. At the front door, they had a blackboard of special items which sounded interesting to us both. One was the brat burger and the other, free range fried chicken. So we decided to get both and try each other’s plate. Well, both were very good choices because they were absolutely delicious.
Others in our party also remarked on how good their meals were. We all ended up sharing desserts and really loved their apple crisp. Their service was friendly as well, so all in all, it was a really nice dining experience.