Best/Worst Dining Experiences on the Trail

[tanichols]

All,

I always like to hear peoples dining stories.

So here's 2 questions for those who feel inclined to participate.

1) What was your best dining experience on the trail? Elaborate
2) What was your worst dining experience on the trail? Elaborate.

Just because someone has a bad experience at a restaurant doesn't necessarily mean that the place is "bad." The experience could have been due to other people in the restaurant, or it could be food/service related. We all know that some restaurants have a bad day, so no harm to any that get named. I've been to several of my favorite restaurants and had a bad experience.

I look forward to reading what you guys post.

[Lone Wolf]

Best? Homeplace Restaurant in Catawba, Virginia. No explanation needed.
Worst? The Chinese restaurant in Hiawassee, Georgia. 2 fat, white guys were cooking in the back. I've had better from a can.

[Jaybird]

i'm a NOBO section hiker...so, my dining experiences are limited to the trail down south...@ this time....but in my 3 years of section hiking (Springer to Damascus...so far) my best expereince has been ....after we ("TeePee" & i)were picked up by our wives @ Standing Indian & driven to our lunch "surprise" locale....

the Dillard House (Dillard,GA)..an all-u-can-eat....(& we did) place ....man, i think they told us never to come back on the way out....

not had any really BAD experiences....(i guess thats because....all food tastes better on the trail) but, sure i will eventually....i've had some bad freeze-dried food...does that count?

[Tha Wookie]

Ok, sorry this is not from the AT, but rather the WCT.


At a famous California-stlye BBQ place in the middle of nowhere near the coast, Island Mama and I stopped in with our backpacks for a dinner. I was expecting a southern-style BBQ place, but instead of chopped pork sandwiches for 2 bucks it was bbq steak for $45. Vegetables were separate, at 7 bucks a pop.

We had been walking over a grand, so were of course starving out of our gourds, so were going to get some veggies anyway because it was the only restaurant in fifty miles. Even, though, I peered through the window at the cattle in the surrounding fields and wondered how a freakin steak here could cost $45. But it was ok.

That was until the waitress came up and said, "hey there. If you guys could do us a favor and leave the table as soon as you're done eating, that would be great -we need the table for other customers."

Huh?

They got their table back real quick, and in a matter of seconds we were walking down the dusty road with grumbling stomachs.

[One Leg]

the Dillard House (Dillard,GA)..an all-u-can-eat....

I'll echo that.....Dillard House rocks--almost as good as the Homeplace.

[Glee]

The Worst:
Chinese restaurant in Gorham. The waiter was a major jerk and threw the check onto the table. When I went to pay the bill I was going to say something after I got my change.. However, the guy threw the money and it went all over. I just had to laugh at how stupid this guy was acting. We had the all u can eat buffet, so it was not like we had to ask him for anything except for maybe one refill on our drinks.

The Best:
Chinese restaurant in Waynesboro...
Great food, and service at the all u can eat buffet....

[rocket04]

Best:
The one pound burger at White House Landing. I'd just dreamed of it for so long it made it the best.

Worst:
The half-gallon challenge (not quite dining, but it's food). I don't think my system handled the lactose too well, and I did throw a burger on top of it after... That night, I felt like crap and the next day I felt too sick to hike. A zero day at a shelter feeling miserable was the result of that "meal".

[Moose2001]

Wow...my mouth started to water just thinking of some of the places to eat along the trail. I can't say I had a "bad" dining experience anywhere on the trail. Just about anything in town is better than what you're eating on the trail. Here's a list of places I recall. I'm sure I left many out. Ohhh...my stomach is rumbling just thinking of these!

Cookie Jar - Blairsville, GA
Smoky Mt. Diner - Hot Springs
Erwin Burrito - Erwin, TN
Homeplace - Catawba, VA
Chinese AYCE - Waynesboro, VA
Pizza at the Doyle!! Beer and pizza...perfect hiker food!
Blue Mountain B&B - PA309
Mountainside Cafe - on US7 in CT (killer omlets and pancakes)
Duff and Dells Variety, Dalton MA
Whistlestop Resturant - VT103 Clarendon, VT
Bar food at the Inn at Long Trail. Biggest nachos I've ever seen
Harrisons Pierce Pond Camps, Pierce Pond, ME
Burgers at Whitehouse Landing.

[Footslogger]

Best had to be the Family Restaurand in Catawba, VA. Hiked over Dragon's Tooth and got in just in time to FEAST !!

Worst ??? ...that's a toughie. It would probably be something I threw together on the trail from left overs in my food bag the night before I went into town for re-supply.

'Slogger
AT 2003

[The Solemates]

As most have agreed, hands-down The Homeplace is my favorite on the trail. I had eaten there before we thru-hiked so I new how good it was, and when we passed by the Catawba valley on a tuesday (its only open Thurs-Sun), we were mad. So when we reached Peaks of Otter or so we got a hitch back down to the restaraunt, by this time it was Sat I think, and gorged ourselves.

The worst would have to be something we made ourselves while on the trail. But the worst food establishment experience would probably be a place off US19E in the Roan Highlands area. The people were downright rude, the food wasnt that great, and it was pouring raining and we had nowhere to go but back out in it. I dont even know the name of the place.

[Haiku]

Best: AYCE Pizza Hut buffet in Marion, VA (near Partnership Shelter). The first of two AYCE Pizza Hut buffets I hit, the next was in Pearisburg. Cinnamon sticks, dessert pizza, what can I say?

Worst: I read a register in Virginia near Glasgow about making breakfast of Ramen and hot chocolate (obviously not adding the flavour packet). I forget who wrote it (good thing, too, or I'd be tracking them down now), but they said "I know it sounds bad, but don't knock it until you've tried it." I tried it, and it's the only meal I ever had to throw out. I felt like I was going to hurl. ...Okay, I thought I was going to hurl after both of the Pizza Hut buffets too, but that was an entirely different problem.

Haiku.

[jackiebolen]

Haiku...I'll have to add a strong second to the Pizza Hut buffet in Marion. I still remember fondly the stack of plates on the table!

[Mountain Dew]

Miss Janets biscuits and gravy are the BOMB !

[TankHiker]

Best:
1. Homeplace, Catawba (damn good food, fun "family-style" atmosphere)
2. The Bakery, Delaware Water Gap (awesome pastries and veggies)
3. Breakfast Restaurant, New York (I don't know the name of this place. It was near that water-spigot shower on the power plant. Breakfast was incredible)

Worst:
1. AYCE Chinese restaurant near Kincora (even my hiker appetite couldn't make this food appetizing)
2. Pizza Hut, Daleville (made me sick for 4 days)
3. King's Pizza, Harper's Ferry (again, made me puke)

[bearbait2k4]

Best dining experience, although it was takeout, was at the chinese restaurant in Palmerton. The people asked if we were hikers, and when we replied yes, they yelled back to the kitchen, "they're hikers!," and we then saw them dump A LOT of extra food into the fryers.

Worst dining experience, this year, was the River's End Restaurant at the NOC. We night-hiked into the shelter a couple of miles out of town, and I was dreaming of nachos that night. In the morning, we ran down to the NOC, only to get there maybe 15-20 minutes too early for lunch. We sat outside on the patio (we'd just come out of the woods), and ordered coffee and drinks, and told the waiter we would order at 11, when lunch started up. Half an hour went by, and we never saw the waiter even give us a second glance in our direction. We had to refill our sodas and coffees, and then were reprimanded by the staff for doing so, even after the explanation that our waiter wasn't offering the refills for us. After about 11:15, we still had not seen our waiter, and were growing hungry. So, at almost 11:30, I went to talk to the hostess, who then had the manager come out to tell us, quite curtly, that they had JUST started taking orders for lunch, without an apology, and that our waiter had told her he had been by the table several times. Coincidentally enough, as she was explaining to us that they had JUST started taking lunch orders, there were 2 tables in the background being served burgers. The waiter finally came out about 5 minutes later, with lunch menues, and I saw that they no longer served the nachos because of a menu change. So, we were basically treated like dirt, lied to, and then my favorite menu item had been removed from the menu. Apparently, the restaurant changed hands over the past year, and it's such a dissapointment, because we had such great service the previous year.

It's too bad things like this happen.

[rickb]

Best (in no particular order):

1. Fried Chicken, milk, pie and all the otherstuff at Shaws July 1983. Never had a better meal since.

2. Turkey, stuffing, yams, rolls, cranberry sauce with my wife one Thanksgiving at Ethan Pond Shelter in 1998 (+/- ?)

3. Meal at the Pondorosa Steak House as guest of the Shipes (Bonnie was the legendary Ice Cream Lady, her wonderfull husband Steve and children) in the fall of 1983 somewhere in the middle of the Cumberland Valley Road Walk..


Worse:

1. Can number 140 (+/-) of sardines eaten as part of solitary trail lunch number 130

2. Can number 139 (+/-) of sardines eaten ast part of solitary trail lunch number 129

3-130 See above :-)

[Tim Rich]

I came into the Whistlestop in Clarendon hungry, hungry, hungry. That may have affected my recollections, but it was unbelievably good. To top it off, I took a sandwich to the next shelter for supper.

[saimyoji]

...I stumbled back off the ridgeline down into the nearest town (2200 ft off the ridge down to the fishing village) and into the first restaraunt I found. The raw sea urchin bowl was to die for. A little shredded seaweed and soysauce made my summer. I caught a ride along with some divers and was treated to some fresh-off-the-bottom-urchins. How about a Scott Peterson burger?

[Cehoffpauir]

Miss Janets biscuits and gravy are the BOMB !

Shaw's 5-up French toast is pretty fookin awesome too.

Best meal--breakfast at Shaw's. Home-cooking, AYCE.
Worst--oatmeal. I got so--sick of it I still can't eat it.

Food at Port Clinton Hotel bar is really good and sizeable. (You don't need to shower for bar dining.)
Food at The Doyle is really good. The owners were very hiker-friendly.
Erwin Burrito.
Ramunto's Pizza (Hanover).

Just a few. Come to think, I rarely had a meal I didn't like out there.

[oyvay]

Worst--oatmeal. I got so--sick of it I still can't eat it.

I second the oatmeal, I would have scattered it in the 100-mile, but then I wouldn't have had food and it would have been littering.