Southern Rail

Cool place, limited menu. I had a beer and a friend green tomato BLT it was all perfectly good, but not anything to write home about. Prices were a little high for the cuisine, which is why I give this place 3 stars instead of 4. The restaurant is built between and incorporated inside 2 old rail cars which is pretty cool.

Bloody Mary hits the spot but the Sunday brunch is limited. Great Carrboro atmosphere!

Decent service is the only highlight at this boring and (substantially) overpriced hangout.

If you want good food and friendly service, go here! This place is amazing and has so many wonderful options.

Interesting ambiance– this is the train car restaurant in Carrboro. However, most seating is actually not inside the train sadly. Service here is hit or miss when one occasion being so poor, we nearly got up and left. Craft beer list leaves something to be desired, especially given the sheer volume of local beer available to the area now. Steak frites, when it was available, was delicious. No longer on the menu. Current menu is solid 3-​star flavor wise, so sadly it has gone downhill. Came back for UNC homecoming recently and was disappointed.

Never once had a good experience here. I keep giving it second chances but no more. Last time I was there for brunch they gave me a salad with lettuce that was literally rotten to the point of liquefying. If you go, stick to the tots, any number of their strung out staff can easily pop those in the microwave, if they even bother to come by and take your order.

I’ve been for food twice. It was ok, nothing special. I’d be more inclined to go to Southern Rail for a post-​work beer in the garden than for an actual meal.

My review is based on ambiance alone. The menu is so limited we didn’t find anything of interest to dine there. Server was decent and understanding. The rail car atmosphere is really fun. Cocktail menu is basic, but decent variety of craft beers.

Go for the atmosphere, not the food. I’ve been here several times for food and/​or drinks and honestly never been impressed by anything I have ordered. It is all pretty mediocre bar food. However, it’s a great place to go for brunch when you can sit outside and enjoy some people/​dog watching. Bloody Marys are pretty good. If you’ve never been, it’s also pretty cool to sit inside the train car, just don’t go with too many expectations about the food. Even the tater tots that everyone loves just taste like fried from frozen tots to me. Service for the most part is not great either, but again, you just have to go expecting that.
I like going at night for a drink or two. Good casual spot to have a beer and relax.

I hate to post negative reviews but, honestly, worst meal I have had in this area. Based on previous reviews, we made a reservation so we could sit in one of the train cars. Needn’t have bothered as we were the only two people there. We were looking forward to the tater tots, but when our waiter arrived he said the fryer was broken so no tots, fries, fried chicken, etc. We weren’t in the mood for a burger but the special was shrimp and grits (no description was given). We both ordered that. The grits were oddly milky and the watery dark brown sauce tasted like bottled barbecue sauce watered down with vinegar. The shrimp were cooked fine, but we could barely eat them due to the sauce. It came with nothing else and cost $ 15!
Also, out waiter was very friendly but reeked of cigarette smoke. Not very appetizing.
We won’t be back.

Good service, great breakfast food, very affordable. I give you he bloody Mary a 7 out of 10. The place is cute & trendy. Only a tiny portion has a/​c though! We had 2 babies w/​us and they were accommodating.

Meh. We’ve tried this place twice because it’s such a fun concept with the train cars. However both times we’ve been stuck with an incompetent hostess or a rude bartender. It’s always weird to enter a restaurant and feel like you’re inconveniencing the staff by being there. The food is fine, I like the tea, the outdoor seating is nice. It would be nice if the staff warmed up and acted more professional. We’ll probably give it another try.

Southern Rail has always been a unique experience, rather than just a place to go eat. Built around a vintage railway train cabin, the charm is definitely apparent right when you approach the building. If it is your first time going there, you definitely need to eat in the cabin area of the train itself. The ambiance is romantic and historic in style. If you have been a few times, dining in the bar area is cozy during the winter months since they have two small cast iron stoves burning to keep everything warm. If you are visiting during the spring or summer months, their outdoor seating area is absolutely beautiful, situated underneath a canopy of trees, overlooking a garden path walkway area that leads out the back.
While the ambiance is top notch, I’ve always been a little confused by the menu. It changes somewhat each time we have been, although it’s always interesting. I just haven’t been able to find a favorite dish yet at Southern Rail. Thankfully the one thing that does not change is the offering of tater tots. That is a MUST HAVE when visiting Southern Rail. They are just the right kind of texture, and as Napoleon Dynamite would say, «You gonna eat your tots?» Ha ha ha! Of course you are!
So if you are in the Carrboro, North Carolina area, and have some time downtown along main street, stop in to Southern Rail. Parking is usually packed in Carrboro, but Southern Rail has their own parking spots, although only about 7 open spots. I might be mistaken on the amount of parking spots they have privately, but they do have their own small parking lot, so if you get there at a good time, parking will not be an issue or you can try parking in the weaver street market parking area, which is adjoining.

Pet Friendliness: outside patio is perfect for pups. They brought mine a bowl of water which isn’t very common.
Food: Have only been here this one time, for brunch, and I had to say that my selection was really good. Pretty basic, scrambled eggs, home fries, bacon, toast. And got the pup (yea I know lol) a chicken biscuit.
My plate of food was very tasty. Have to say I would definitely order this again. Wish they had more bread options though (just sourdough) but my plate came with butter to self butter and jam. Dex’s food wasn’t bad. I usually don’t get fried for him but I forgot to ask for grilled. He ate most of it and liked the biscuit. He’s a picky pup when it comes to food. Have to say that the chicken was a very large size so he didnt even finish it all.
Oh and also got a $ 5 mimosa. Sorry but for the price, the glass was super small though I’ll say they did do a good job with the ratio of champagne to OJ.
Ambiance: very casual and relaxed. Patio has shade and coverage. Good breeze running thru that day.
Staff: not overly friendly but satisfactory. Seater never smiles i notice so I didn’t get a really friendly feeling when I arrived. And server was adequate but he obviously wasnt up for chatting at all. All business. Which is fine. Again, just didnt get that super friendly feeling. Also he was MIA for my whole meal. Had to hunt for salt from another table, he accidentally added an additional drink to my bill and didn’t refill my drink at all. So average on this point for them.
So I’d go back, just to try out other food. Curious to see where the other comments are coming from to see of I just kicked out with my selection. I hear they have good music at night but haven’t been yet.
P. s. the other server on the patio, Cameron, was super friendly with all of his tables. Chatting them up. Just being very personable. I like that. Found myself wishing I had gotten him since I was there solo with the pup after obedience class.

I love the ambience really wanted to check this place out and actually I really wanted to love it. Unfortunately I really didn’t. We ordered the special a chicken pot pie and I honestly can make better myself it was very disappointing. I really wanted to love this place so I could bring my three-​year-​old son to sit in the train but the food was so disappointing that I really don’t think we can come back. Too bad.

The bar car here used to be awesome but my last few visits have felt flat. The current Saturday night bartender is so blah, and what is up with the cocktail list, or lack thereof? Beer selection is good (Surfin’ Buddha IPA on draft!) but there are only 4 cocktails listed on their current drink menu and 1 of them is $ 11; another is $ 12. I will pay that price for a well-​crafted cocktail at Alley Twenty-​six and similar establishments but I’m not going to pay that at Southern Rail. Come on. Their live music/​DJ room was pretty dead this past Saturday too. I applaud having a DJ who plays more obscure/​less mainstream music, but once 10:30/11:00 rolls around I want more accessible music and something I can dance to!

Great food! Southern twists on classics. We came here for lunch before heading to the airport. I got the Fried Chicken BLT. It was superb!
Also fun to sit in an old-​fashioned rail car.

Stopped here for lunch with out of town visitors. We had never heard of the place, but the other nearby restaurants were mostly vegetarian stuff, and that’s not what we wanted.
Atmosphere in unique and kind of fun. Sadly, the place was nearly empty at lunch. We worried that the food might be lousy, but it was surprisingly good. My pulled pork sandwich with cole slaw was excellent, and the sweet potato fries were declared «GREAT: by everyone at the table (we shared). The salad that came with my sandwich was fresh and tasty. Others enjoyed their meals. Portions were smaller than many restaurants, but that’s something that I’m beginning to appreciate. Prices were reasonable.
I suspect that the small menu is what is keeping people away. It’s REALLY small — we thought it was just the menu of daily specials when it was delivered.

Um, apparently you need to go to the station for drinks. I asked for a duck rabbit milk stout– a staple of nc, yeah like the brewery is 1 hour east… Nope they don’t have it. They ran out of bottles… Beer on tap running out, I kinda of understand. So, lets try rogues hazelnut… no go either. Um, so instead of looking at the beer menu, why don’t you just tell me what you guys actually carry. It’s a Friday night, and unless you restock on Saturday, you guys are looking at a fairly dry weekend. They had four beers on tap.
Hmm, I gave up and at least got some bulleit. Possibly the smallest pour I’ve ever got. Not impressed
Moral of the story: come for dinner get drinks at the station.

We went for a couple o’ drinks on a Sunday afternoon.
The Dining Cars (which we weren’t allowed to sit in since we were just there for drinks) are really beautiful, but we had a choice of having our drinks out front in the non-umbrella’d area (as opposed to the nicer umbrella’d area reserved only for the more respected food-​orderers of which there was 1 table filled), or to take them to the «Beer Garden».
We were always in the way of rushing employees who were unapologetic for pushing by (BTW it was 2:30 and only a couple of other customers were there). Even getting a drink at the bar I had to lean over an empty chair with a coat hanging on it, and if I took 1 step back from the chair, again I was in the way of an employee trying to get something done. My impression was that the employees come in and do their assigned jobs, but nobody cares about being polite or pulling weeds in the planter boxes (and I mean ALL weeds, no plants) or sweeping up all the dead leaves taking over the place, or taking the lone chairs scattered about in the beer garden and matching them up to an empty table. The drinks were good though, I’m now a fan of Pickled Okra in my Bloody Mary!