Overall Rating: 
J. Arthur’s restaurant is hands down the nicest restaurant in Maggie Valley, NC. While on the high side price wise, the food, service, and environment are excellent. J. Arthurs is run by the the Tierman and Mahoney family and has been in Maggie Valley for more than 23 years.
My wife and I first ate at J. Arthur’s some years back when camping in the Waynesville area. Soon after we moved to Waynesville, we began looking for restaurants to visit on our weekly date nights. We remembered J. Arthur’s and decided to give it a try.
The Restaurant
J. Arthur’s is a beautiful restaurant with a sophisticated mountain atmosphere located in the heart of Maggie Valley, NC. The restaurant is two stories and has more than ample seating capacity. Large parties often reserve the upstairs area for companies parties, wedding dinners and such.
My wife and I prefer a more casual eating environment, and thus requested to be seated in the bar area. The entire restaurant is smoke free, which we really appreciate. Entering the bar we found the bar situated in the center, surrounded by booth seats and in front of the bar, a warm and crackling fire filling a large rock fireplace. We were seated in on of the booths on the far side of the bar. One nice feature is a set of really comfortable leather chairs placed in front of the fireplace. A great place to sit, drink your favorite drink and enjoy the warmth of the fireplace.
We enjoyed our meal there so much, we frequently visit J. Arthur’s.
J. Arthur’s Menu
J. Arthur’s has a extensive menu containing salads, steaks, seafood, chicken, and pork. Of particular interest are their signature dishes which include prime rib, Filet Mignon, and baby back ribs. One of J. Arthur’s specialties is their Gorgonzola salad, which if you like Gorgonzola is absolutely fantastic. The grilled chicken Gorgonzola salad is one of my favorite meals.
My wife is a steak eater and loves their ribeye steak served with a creamy Bearnaise sauce. I’m not much of a steak eater at all and every so often will get one of their steaks as they are that good. My wife also likes the steak Gorgonzola salad although she doesn’t like near as much Gorgonzola as I do and generally gets it on the side.
Another dish I would highly recommend is the Mediterranean Shrimp Pasta. The dish is grilled shrimp, in a creamy pasta sauce tossed with sun dried tomatoes and spinach. If you like pasta, this is a dish you can’t pass up.
Each meal is proceeded by basket of fresh biscuits and rolls. I don’t care much for the biscuits, but the rolls with real butter a pretty decent. Speaking of before dinner, they also have a number of various appetizers. Our personal favorite and to be honest one of the primary reasons we go is their onion rings. They are lightly hand battered and cooked to order and are frankly the bets onion rings I’ve had anywhere.
To be real honest, the only item on the menu we can’t say great things about is the Pork Chop which is served over apple chutney. The pork chop was dry and frankly didn’t have much flavor at all. This was a bit of a surprise given the high quality of the other menu items and the fact the chop is served on apple chutney.
We’re not big dessert eaters, but J. Arthur’s does have an assortment of various desserts. The standard menu fair is okay, but what you need to ask for are the specials. We were there one evening and they had a chocolate pecan pie, that was frankly the best myself or my wife have ever had. So make sure you ask about the dessert specials!
The Staff
We’ve found the staff to be a mix of great and marginal. The ladies that greet you at the door aren’t overly friendly and one of them is frankly a bit unfriendly. The wait staff overall is great but there are a few exceptions and unfortunately one of those works the booths in the bar area. As a result, we started sitting up at the bar, and fortunately this resulted in us meeting one of the shining stars of J. Arthur’s: LouAnne.
LouAnne is the bartender for J. Arthur’s, and not only does she make a great drink, she’s just a wonderful person to talk with. Each time we visit, LouAnne makes our drinks as soon as she sees us. She remembers events in our lives and our children and regardless of how busy, she always seems to make the time to spend a few minutes chatting with you. Warning, she’s hard not to like.
Family Friendly
While we’ve never seen a large number of children, J. Arthur’s is a family friendly restaurant. Not only do I mean they have high chairs, but they have a full children’s meal AND they have “kid’s corner” with toys, coloring books, and crayons to ensure that parents and kids enjoy their experience. Nice tough, I have to say.
Price
I’d be lying if I told you J. Arthur’s was cheap. It’s one of the more expensive restaurants in the area, but sometimes you get what you pay for, and J. Arthur’s in one of those situations. The environment, combined with the quality the food makes for a great dining experience that is worth paying a little more for.
J. Arthur’s did recently revise their menu, and now offer a significant number of dinner meals that are less than $10.00. Also note, Wednesday is buy one get one free night. If one adult purchases an entree from the menu, the second adult menu is free. We moved date night to Wednesday evening.
J. Arthur’s Hours
J. Arthur’s opens for dinner at 4:30 pm, 7 nights a week from May through October and Wednesday through Sunday from November through April. They also have extended holiday hours during the winter so give them a call for details: 828-926-1817.
J. Arthur’s Ratings
J. Arthur’s is currently at the top of the list for favorite dining places in the Waynesville and Maggie Valley areas. Highly recommended.
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