The Speckled Trout Restaurant – Blowing Rock, NC
Having heard nothing but good things, but never having been in, we made sure to get reservations to eat at The Speckled Trout. Located right at the beginning of what I would call downtown Blowing Rock, NC The Speckled Trout and Bottle Shop is a staple of this quaint mountain town.
With our reservation being right at the 11am opening time there wasn’t too much of a crowd, at first. The bar area was quite stunning and inviting, however, our reservation was for the plastic enclosed patio area. You can see the area we sat in on the right side of the above photo.
We were initially concerned about the area being warm enough, however, we quickly learned the opposite was the case. Our table was closest to the outside plastic and with the unseasonably warm weather and sun shining directly in on my husband he quickly became overheated. It was like being in a greenhouse and he was visibly sweating. We had to shift the table around and eventually prop the door open to make it comfortable. With all that said, fear not if it is cold out the heaters in there work and I am sure it would be comfortable even on a snowy winter day.
Having sorted out the heat situation we settled in and ordered some drinks. I ordered a French 75 with Empress Gin and everyone else ordered a bloody mary, which I must say looked amazing.
With our thirst quenched we settled in to get started with our meal. To start things off we ordered the Smoked Gouda and Sage Fondue which is served with ciabatta bites and fresh apple slices. Our friends ordered the Crispy Pork Bites which came with a garlic, honey, and bourbon dipping sauce (our friend will order anything if you put bourbon in it).
Both of the appetizers were very well received. The fondue, however, stole the show. I don’t know how they did it but this cheese dip was one of the best things we ate this whole weekend. I was apprehensive about the apples but it just works. The pork was also very good it was just overshadowed by how good this cheese dip is. It was also around this time we spotted what would be the first of many good puppers seen this day.
Moving on to our main entrees my husband and I opted to split the Blackened Trout Po’ Boy with creamy slaw, tomato, remoulade, on a baguette, with a side of fries. Our friend ordered the Chicken and Dumplings while his wife ordered the Poblano Caesar Salad which had romaine, radish, roasted poblano caesar dressing, and parmesan toast with cracker crusted trout.
Overall we absolutely loved everything we had, The Speckled Trout did not disappoint and I would highly recommend it if you planning on being in Blowing Rock, NC. The atmosphere of the restaurant was great, the service was outstanding, and the food was delicious. 10 out of 10 would recommend!
One thing I would recommend is to make reservations ahead of time, everything in Blowing Rock was packed on the Saturday we were there.