We got into Asheville around 2:30, just in time for the campground office to open. There are a lot more people here now than last August, and they have a little snack bar in the middle now. I guess that's because it's October, high tourist season here.
They put us in the cliff house! It's amazing. First of all, it's huge. I think they said 3,000 square feet. It has 2 bedrooms and 3 full baths, plus more people could sleep on the 4 futon couches around the house. Two fireplaces, but we're probably only going to use the one in the living room. The other one is in this little conversation area upstairs.
It's not just on a cliff; it's built into the cliff, with cliff rock inside the house in places. It looks to me like it was built in the late 60s or early 70s. I don't know why it feels that way to me. Maybe the way the space is divided into small areas, and the odd staircases and paths to get to those areas. It would be a great house for parties, but if you lived here all the time it might get tedious to navigate. Or maybe I just think that because I'm so used to living in a small house. But the circular staircase does make me nervous.
The decor is the polar opposite of the yurt. The yurt was sleek and modern with slate tile, shoji screens, etc. The cliff house is totally rustic: dark wood furniture, an old-fashioned wood stove in the kitchen (there's a modern gas range too), and antiques like a roll-top writing desk, old Singer sewing machine, quilts on the beds, and so forth. It fits in with the design of the building. All that wood paneling, stone walls, and exposed beams on the ceiling.
I have to admit, the cliff house is totally swank, and I'm very happy about the bathroom situation -- I wasn't really looking forward to walking to a bathhouse in the middle of the night in October! -- but I'm also a little sad that we aren't in the yurt. She told us they had gotten everything done in the yurt except installing the gas fireplace. It's not as cold up here as I had expected, but I still wouldn't want to be sleeping in a tent with no heat.
After unloading the car and checking out the cliff house, we headed to downtown Asheville to walk around and check things out. We stopped in at Malaprops, a nice bookstore, and I picked up a book of North Carolina birds with nice photos. I've been wanting a bird book since we put the feeders out front. We also checked out a new comics/gaming shop -- and you know a comics shop is hardcore when the space set aside for gaming is equal to the space for merchandise. We didn't want to interrupt the gamers but I did buy Georg a "Knights who say Ni" bobblehead. Also looked at a cute plush killer rabbit, but the bobblehead seemed like the better choice.
There's an open square in the middle of town where, one night on our trip last year, there was a trance DJ spinning a great mix. Alas, tonight there was a horrible rock/blues band. The few minutes we heard while walking by were literally painful. Sad to say, the audience for the awful band was about ten times larger than the audience for the DJ last year. He only had a group of kids who appeared to be his friends, us, and some homeless people.
Of course we had to have dinner at our favorite restaurant here, Salsa's. It's always mobbed but we went pretty early so we didn't have to wait more than a few minutes. The food there is wonderful. Every dish is so complex. I had a tuna and crab enchilada, and Georg had a sweet plantain stuffed with lamb. We also got the sample plate with chips and 3 salsas -- we chose avocado and ginger, pineapple chipotle, and chayote and corn. We agreed that if we had a Mexican restaurant that good in the Triangle, we might never eat anywhere else. Actually, Patio Loco is pretty good. Their best specials are as good as everything on Salsa's menu (at least, everything I've had). But Patio Loco is much more traditional. For example they'd never serve seaweed salad, which is what I got as a side with my tuna and crab enchilada. Also rice, beans, plantains, and grilled tomato/corn/chipotle salsa. It was great.
We had talked about getting dessert at Chocolate Fetish, but after Salsa's we were both full. So we walked around a bit more, then headed back to the cliff house. We're sitting in front of the fire now, in our jammies, watching Food Network. I'll post this tomorrow from a nearby cafe that has wireless net access. What a great vacation.
Asheville was great... except for Salsa'a. It was the worst dinning experience I have ever experienced. First of all the restaurant stopped seating at 9 pm on a Saturday night. When we finally were seated, our server told us that they were out of salsa among other items on the menu. When our food finally came, my boyfriends entree came out first. I told him to go ahead and eat since I didn't have mine. He finished eating before my entree came out. HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE, restaurant, DO NOT GO!
I must respectfully disagree .. we've eaten at Salsa's at least once on every trip to Asheville and it's always been a fabulous experience. Sorry you didn't have a good time! We have always found it to be very crowded, maybe it's not so good to go there right before they close.
I live in Asheville and went to Salsa's on the recommendation of a friend. The food was OK. The service was beyond bad and verging on rude. The atmosphere was non-existant. I have eaten at Salsa's that once and I won't be back. There are too many other good possibilities in Asheville to waste time on this one.
Salsa's is the best restaurant in Asheville. The crowding and overworked staff is a factor of its popularity. Everyone should give it a second, third, or twentieth try.
I worked at Salsa's for the past 2 1/2 years, so maybe I can shed some light on your frustrations:
#1- The restaurant stops seating so early (even on the weekends) because all the food is prepared fresh in a 200sq. foot kitchen in the 2 1/2 hours before each seating begins.
#2- They were out of salsa (among other things probably) because NOTHING is made in advance. It is someones job to make all of the salsa for the whole night in 2 1/2 hours!
#3- If a mistake was made with your order 2 things should be kept in mind-- 1) 99% of the kitchen staff speaks little to no english (which makes mistakes confusing and hard to fix) and 2) the TINY size of the kitchen makes it difficult to hold food items for any length of time to wait on other dishes.
#4- If the service seemed bad/ rude- did you stop to consider how it must feel to work in such an incredibly busy, cramped, loud, often hot space where there is usually not even time to drink a glass of water for hours?
The food is some of the freshest I've ever seen prepared, with more love than many people put into their home cooking.
Thanks for posting your experiences & perspective. I still think Salsa's is terrific. The food is outstanding and I don't remember ever having a problem with the service.
It makes me want to go back to Asheville so I can eat there again. Mmm ... Salsa's.
I live in Asheville and LOVE Salsa's...eating there tonight, as a matter of fact. Cramped, yes. Hurried, yes. Delicious...absolutely. For a more spacious, relaxed meal, try Zambra, a tapas and wine restaurant immediately below Malaprops Bookstore. Same owner as Salsa's but a very different restaurant...darker, quiet, with little alcoves here and there filled with pillows. Excellent wine cellar. Fabulous.
I agree with the original post regarding Salsa's! We all loved it!! I actually was doing a search to see if the owner has written a book, because I love to cook..We recently returned from visisting Ashville and was so pleasantly surprised to have stumbled upon Salsa's! With every bite I took I couldn't stop raving about how delicious the food was! We went during the day with our kids and the service was fine.
We were at a party today speaking with a woman who had also just visited Ashville and she also thought it was the best mexican/carribean whatever it is she ever had.
Salsa is one of the best restaurants around Asheville. No matter what the peopple said I love it. Salsa's, salsa's, salsa's, salsa's, salsa's.