Nicks Restaurant & Pub

We are tourists and the experience wasn’t too bad. Food OK, service good but some of the locals clearly didn’t like us having a large group there. One gentleman from Florida was the nicest person there. Not too bad, not too great.

I really like this restaurant. First, the staff is always very friendly. They have a Terrific Buffalo chicken salad (order your chicken any way you want) and a seared tuna salad that my husband and I love. They have a outside porch area where you won’t get rained on because it is pushed back from the street. The prices are good. Their desserts are reasonable and delicious
Denise

Ok so you don’t really go here for the food so much as you do for the location and to go drinking with your friends. As they say in Banner Elk «It’s a drinking town with a skiing problem.» It’s your typical dark little bar and grill that has several types of sandwiches and a few different plates.
I can say that the «Hot Diggity Dog» is ok. Its a big hotdog all the way loaded with melted shredded cheese on top. The Chicken Bacon Swiss sandwich is pretty good. All of the sandwiches come with a side of potato chips so if you want fries or slaw or something else there is an upcharge. Not really a place that I would purposely go to eat again, but in Banner Elk when its not the peak season you never know what’s going to be open or closed. So go for the beer specials they have every day of the week.
PS…a tip from a local «whatever you do… don’t get the fish.»

Food is not bad but service is atrocious and I am being nice about it. Took about hour and half for our food which is ridiculous. Just on food wise I will say it’s 4 star worthy especially for a pub. Service is a zero.

Great bar food. Everything tastes homemade, especially the chili and daily soups. Must visit plane when in the high country.

Great place but the wings were wayyyy too crispy. Kind of hard to break them apart even with your mouth. The service was great and so was the other food. The only thing if recommend is getting all drumsticks and having them soaaaak them in sauce to soften them. Other food was good too.

I used to like to go to Nicks. Today, I’d have preferred to go across the street and have a hot dog at the Scotchman.
I wouldn’t feel as though I’d been thoroughly rogered by a cutthroat band of Bob Barker look a likes.
As it were, I had a $ 2.50 glass of iced tea. It’s iced tea. Sweet Jesus, a hot dog is cheaper and there’s part of a living creature somewhere inside there. Somehow the owner places a higher value on sugar and water… probably straight from the tap. I realize this probably isn’t the case… it’s more like: «the customers probably won’t think to look at the soft drink prices before the order… and who cares what they think about the bill… most of them are tourists anyway.»
Is it me or is that just crooked?
On to the meal. Fish and chips used to be a pretty safe bet. Used to be. Apparently when they ordered new menus and adjusted their prices to match local inflation, they changed suppliers and now serve fish filets manufactured by the Gortons fisherman. No kidding.
I saw the yellow rain coated beast snickering from behind the grill. I could almost feel the cold wet squish of his rubber boots against the old sea scallops.
I’m not going to say anything about the cole slaw except that I didn’t eat it and I couldn’t for the life of me get any of it to stick to the ceiling. Crappy cole slaw that won’t even stick to the Sheetrock is utterly unacceptable.
Shame on you Vicky.
We will not be back.

My husband and I stopped in last Friday night and both of us were thrilled with the service AND the food. We got a half rack of ribs and a steak for $ 12 each and they were delicious! Were we come from you will pay twice that amount for those items. In fact, we loved it so much we are going back again tonight. Our server was attentive and knowledgeable and we got the bonus of karaōke night.

I ignored the low rating. Lesson learned. Service was pitiful. Took 1 hr to get 2 sandwiches and hot dog. Food was okay when it finally got there. The table beside us had issues with their order and sent 2 meals back. Probably better as a bar.

I’m being a bit generous on this one. But I feel it’s fitting. This place is not anything special as far as atmosphere or vibe. But its easy and comfortable.
The food is fine as far as pub fare goes. I went there on a Saturday at noon to catch a football game with my daughter. We eat quite healthy and are picky eaters, but were fine with the vegan black bean burger, dinner salad and fried pickles. The french fries that come with the burger are great — we even ordered an additional side and it was only $ 1.50 (that may have been the reason for the extra star. Or maybe the fact that we had a terrific and friendly server –Andrew. Even after the place filled up with some large groups, he found a way to check up on us.)

I’m guessing either there’s new management or they’ve taken these reviews to heart.
We stopped in after a day caving, tired and hungry. $ 2.75 for a draft pint was a great deal, and the food we ordered was great. The salads were especially good, and $ 9 for a plank of salmon on a house salad sounds like a deal to us. Our waitress was attentive, yet the food was slow to come out, which was the only negative for the night.
We had a variety of food: salads, quesadilla, fried fish, and french dip. Nothing to complain about there. It’s mostly simple food (though some of the salads are more experimental), and we had a great time.
Bumping from 3 to 4 stars in relation to our experiences at other restaurants in the area at this time, where every place seemed to be out of their signature items.

I checked the reviews before choosing this place while in Linville at the Highland Games. I love other ppls opinions but sometimes you got to find out for yourself. I thought Nicks was a great place. Beer specials and good food with super fast service. I will definitely go here again while I’m in the area. Don’t let the negatives scare you off, I’m glad I didn’t.

Not sure why the rating is so low. Ate here after asking a few locals. The food was so good. The burgers were definitely hand made. And I had the best potato salad I’ve ever had. I wish it was near my house so I could be a regular here. I will be back.

Stopped in because of the lack of options (Banner Elk in early spring is DEAD).
It was 8p and we were limited to generic options from the fryer which the waitress said were from Sisco (frozen food). As expected, it tasted like fried frozen food.
We were literally the only two people in the bar and while the bartender was nice, over shared a bit too much personal info…
I appreciate it being family owned but I expect more and can’t honestly recommend it.

The service was lacking in that I had to go to the bar to get a refill on my soft drink not once but twice. The food was burned and they left a door open to the outside thus nullifying the air-​conditioner. In their defense they were slammed at the time I got there and it was the weekend of the Scottish Games and the music festival at the same time and I honestly font think they were prepared for the influx of people.

Stopped by after time at Grandfather Mountain. Service was on the slow side and the restaurant could use some updating. The carpet was sticky and looked like it had seen a lot better days. The food was very good though. We had wings, French dip and tuna salad and everyone finished all of their food.

It’s kinda crappy looking — kinda like the bar the snowboarders hang out at in «Out Cold». But the service was ok, the beer was cold, and the wings and fried mushrooms were delicious. It’s a good place to stop after a long day of skiing at Sugar Mountain or Ski Beech.