Zookeeper Bistro

Zookeeper has a terrific French onion soup that keeps me and Sophia coming back for more. They also have a daily homemade soup that is always delicious.
If salads are your thing, they have a good selection, too. Their chicken salad is a winner. We haven’t had a bad meal here, and the menu is extensive enough for everyone to find something to their liking.
Good iced tea is a must for me and Zookeeper’s is very good. The wait staff are friendly and welcoming. The owners are always present and keep the place humming.
I would give them 5 stars instead of 4 but the décor is a bit spartan. We come here for the food though, and we’re never disappointed.

Breakfast was very tasty — recommend the sandwich or pancakes. Make sure you don’t have anything to do afterward because service was particularly slow. Other than the service speed, the restaurant is enjoyable with excellent food.

Really good omelette, lots of high quality fresh ingredients, great service, reasonable price. I’d definitely come back.

This is a MUST place to eat at, the kindness, the attention to detail, oh my God words cannot explain the excellence of the staff! A big SHOUT OUT to my server «Alora» your the best!!! I came in for some good old country breakfast, I got that plus more.

A beautiful day in NC mountains is off to a great start after a delicious breakfast. We had the 2-​eggs breakfast. The scrambled eggs were fluffy, the bacon was lean & crisp, and the toast was thick with sweet cream butter. The staff was most pleasant and attentive. It’s a nice casual place to start the day right!

This place is what it should be: a small, local restaurant that serves a very nice breakfast in a casual and friendly atmosphere. The servers were as nice as they could be, and my breakfast was just what I wanted. I had a brief visit in Cashiers and needed a good breakfast before a day of hiking. Zookeeper fit the bill!

Breakfast recommendation from Innkeeper, Adam. Crab benedict was yummy, everything was well prepared, huge portions, very tasty. The breakfast sausage was unique and very yummy.

Great breakfast. It was probably the best omelette I have ever had. Perfectly seasoned. The potatoes were so good. The toast tasted like it was freshly baked. Very friendly service. I would highly recommend this place.

Sunday brunch menu had many tasty sounding bites. Everything I enjoyed excepting the awful friends who stood me up.

One off very few breakfast options in the area. Not bad, but overpriced and slow service. Very plain and limited menu.
They are friendly enough, but we have been there twice this year and will be looking for another option next time we are up there.

Had a very good lunch today at Zookeeper. My salad was fresh, the soups were piping hot, the sandwiches were pretty healthy in size, and the fries were awesome, fresh! Definitely would go back! The atmosphere does need a little work, could be cozier but service was good and vet friendly.

Had breakfast here recently. Everything was nice. Just a small little place. It’s not pretending to be some fancy eatery. Prices were on par with what’s around in the area. I had an omelet, very good. My kid had the pancakes, also very good. Great service. Not much more you could ask for.

Not impressed with the food or ambiance. They did, however have great service which why it hurts to give a bad review but the food is NOTHING special. I went for brunch and honestly It felt like a cheap diner and the food was cold. If I order a hot dish (eggs, pancakes, bacon!) I expect it to be piping hot! It seems as though the food had been sitting under a heat lamp for quite some time before it was served to us. I didn’t like the ambiance. It’s way too random and not cozy at all. I’m pretty sure they got most of their furniture from a corporate building that was going out of business and they just took what they could get. It needs some serious attention to the décor. It would be beneficial for them to hire an interior decorator or atleast get a consultation! It has a lot of potential but is still rough around the edges. Also, it was quite toasty inside. We had to request to turn a fan on bec it was uncomfortable. I hope they can get it together! Like i said. They have a lot of potential. Great service goes a long way…

This place is a half-​hearted, bland attempt at being different but instead it’s just another strip mall eatery with overpriced and underwhelming fare. We sampled four different breakfast entrees: all were tasteless, visually unappealing, and expensive. It’s really a one-​star, tourist-​fleecing kind of place but at least it was clean, so I gave it two. There aren’t a lot of choices for breakfast in Cashiers, but you are well advised to choose another one.

Gotta love a BYO, but beyond that, this spot doesn’t have a lot to boast about. The «exceptional» onion soup was tasteless, briny water, and the chicken pasta tasted a step above a lean cuisine. The rest of the menu (and our large party tried most of it), fared relatively the same. The highlight of the night was definitely the bread pudding, which could have easily doubled as a french toast casserole. Bottom line, this restaurant needs much work (and perhaps a new chef) to prosper in an area filled with great dining options from Sapphire to Highlands.

This Bistro is one of the best places to eat in Cashiers. The menu is diverse, and a great place for breakfast. The décor is wonderful, and you will love the old painting of the zookeeper over the mantle in one of the rooms! The staff are very friendly, and the service was great. Definitely a place I would return to for breakfast when I return to the area.