The Purple Onion

Great place for local music! Its like three different places on one. There s the dining side with an adjacent outdoor patio, and a pub side with tables and live music. The bar serves beer including many local craft beers and wine. Near the entrance is a dessert glass display case with some really fantastic looking sugary confections, and a coffee/​espresso machines. The menu is quite diverse. The night we came, it was to listen to some music, so we only had a couple of the appetizers. The flash fried oysters were perfect. A nice crunchy breading but the oyster was still moist and tender. We also had the marinated olives. Really different and went perfect with the Two Hearted Ale. But looking about at other peoples orders, everything from the pizzas to the salads, burgers and some really good smelling soups looked really tasty.
They even offer a flight of wines for $ 9. You get 3 different wines of about a quarter of a normal amount that comes on a rack that the glasses hang onto. The beer selection is pretty good with an across the board variety of pales, stouts, IPA’s and bottled beers. Great place to eat and listen to local music. Try to make it on a Friday night when the piano player is there. Entertainment at its best.

Aside from the price, everything about this place is excellent! You pay for excellent food, a nice environment, live music, and great service. Try to go early on the weekends because it gets very busy.

I’m surprised that such a small town has such a great restaurant. It’s a must try if you’re in the area. They have a great selection of food. The pork dish I had was incredible. The meat fell off the bone. And the juice from the pork was amazing with the mashed potatoes and root vegetables the dish came with. Stop in when they have live music… and save room for dessert!

We love going to the Purple Onion! The live pianist on Friday nights is great! Usually there is a long wait so we’ve eaten at the bar the past few times. The Ceaser pizza is awesome!

Wonderful soup, terrific pizza, and I’m from nyc, and superb pecan pie. An unexpectedly delightful lunch time surprise in this sweet small town

The ambiance and food far exceeded our expectations! The desserts we made in house and were as tasty as they were beautiful! We can’t wait to go back again!

Great food. They use fresh, local ingredients. Live music on the weekends. Great ambiance and packed on the weekends.

The food at Purple Onion is always delicious and the atmosphere is always vibrant and fun. It never disappoints.

In my opinion, the best option in town for a nice meal. Things are a little pricey, but not outlandish. Food is very tasty. I took them down one star because my burger crumbled apart, so it was kind of hard to eat in the traditional way. My wife was very pleased with her meal. Would go back.

Bordering inedible. The food here was «ok» about 3 years ago but has experienced a steady decline towards terrible. Last night was the end of the journey when I was served a ribeye that was on par with an Arizonan casino steak. My wife’s salmon was closer to a smoked lock than a proper fillet. There is really no excuse for such poor performance especially for the exorbitant prices. If it weren’t for the music and the decent wine, I would give it one star.

Great ambiance on the patio. Good wait staff. My steak was tasty and cooked right. Rest of the family seemed to really enjoy theirs as well. Great overall experience

Saluda is a great little town. If you are ever on the road coming back from Asheville, definitely stop by Saluda for a lazy, laid back, small town, downtown atmosphere. The Purple Onion is a unique special restaurant located downtown. They have an eclectic menu, good selection of beer, wine, sometimes a live band, great atmosphere, inside and outside dining area. This restaurant has a lot of character and it makes it worth the time to have a meal here.

My husband and I took my mother here to celebrate her 89^th birthday and it was well worth the drive. The food was some of the best we have ever had! I ordered the large garden salad, all mixed super fresh greens, real tomato, purple onions, just divine. My mother is a VERY picky eater but she cleaned her plate when they served her turkey avocado sandwich on wheat with a side of the best beef soup she said she had ever had. My husband went for the artichoke panini with melted cheese which came with a side of fresh pasta salad. For dessert my mother had the crème brulle and they served it with a lit birthday candle! She was delighted and cleaned that plate too. My husband and I split a piece of the peanut butter pie with chocolate shavings, probably the best peanut butter pie I have ever had! We will DEFINITELY come back here again!

One of the best places around the area to eat! We’ve been to the purple onion multiple times, love the food in the live music.

Not a bad place at all. I had lunch with a friend and we both enjoyed our meals. She had a salad and I had a sandwich with avocado on it. Delicious! Service was excellent, food quite tasty, prices not bad though it was lunch. It was an all around nice place to meet up with a friend for lunch. Definitely give this place a try.

The reason I tried this restaurant was because my tour guides from «The Gorge» ziplines kept recommending it. So we figured walking in after a hot sweaty day of ziplining in our exercise attire would be fine, but I felt completely out of place. The place is supposed to be more upscale. The waitress was nice, but someone came over when she was trying to seat us and moved the tables a little further away from the other customers before seating us. Who can blame them, we probably smelled like a gym. The food was expensive, three adults ate on our tab, and it was over $ 100 and no one chose anything extravagant. I tried the corn and potato soup and it was really bland. I also asked for the smallest sized pizza, and I was brought out the next size larger, plus charged the price for the next size up. The pizza was okay, nothing memorable.

It was a frigid afternoon and darkness was falling. The drive was long and I had been up since 4 AM. My stomach reminded me I hadn’t had a decent meal all day. WNCW 88.7 reminded me that Bluegrass music is alive and that the Purple Onion has Gypsy Vegetable Soup. Mmmm soup. Next exit Saluda.
A friendly local directed me to double doors that opened up into a large rustic room, its walls adorned in rural paintings. I was seated at a table next to a delightfully warm heater and had a cappucino to melt the chill in my bones.
What happened next can only be described as a beautiful dance, a dance between server and patron. Risa, my waitress led and I followed.
Despite many years of squash aversion (spaghetti, acorn and butternut, oh my!) I broke down and tried the Butternut Squash soup. It had legs like a tall blonde, was full of garlic and more class than Daddy Warbucks.
Next the PEI Mussels came –Disney Fantasia in a bowl — the mussels swam in champagne, leeks and tomatoes as if they were synchronized swimmers. Do I dare sop and drink the broth? I do. I throw caution to the wind!
Homemade Blackberry cobbler followed. Very manly teardrops fell as the flavors, tart sweet, and doughy, transported me in time to my Grandmother’s kitchen.
And just as quickly as it had begun, the last morsel was eaten and the dance came to an end.
A very happy, well fed man drove off into the cold dark night only to dream of his next five star Unilocal visit to the Purple Onion.
The End.

Just Wow!
A wonderful restaurant located in a beautiful town — Saluda.
We came in here on our way to Ceaser’s Head. There was a wait time of around 20 mins — which is OK considering it was a Saturday and we were a group of 6. Once we got our spot, we ordered the Chicken Pizza and Mediterranean Pizza along with some sandwiches. The food came out a bit late but was worth the wait! In the end we had some coffee and locally made desserts.
The whole experience was amazing — food, service, ambiance. Once must come in when they have some live music on. We are definitely visiting again soon!

I have eaten here a few times, and the menu is fantastic. However, the service is mediocre at best. Our last experience was on a busy Saturday evening when they had music. The music was great and the hostess and bartender were both very
nice. We were seated in about 20 minutes, after being promised a 45 minute wait, so that was pleasant. We tried the pimento cheese appetizer and pizzas. The red sauce on the pizza tastes fresh and delicious! We have also had the mushroom and arugula pizza twice and it is consistently good.
However, I really couldn’t get past our server’s thinly veiled disdain for us. We had three different people (including our server) drop off food and each one of them ignored empty dishes and glasses, so we ended up having to flag people down to order refills and clear room on the table. I don’t care if you have designated busboys who are supposed to be keeping your tables clean for you; it’s your tip– don’t walk away from a table with empty hands and leave dirty dishes in front of your guests!

Hmm where to begin? Prior to our first visit to Saluda, people recommended The Purple Onion. After checking out the menu we were excited to try it, despite reading some of the reviews on here regarding service.
We arrived Thursday, July 3. I couldn’t get a dinner reservation so we decided to wing it. We got our name on the list around 6:45 and was told it would be approximately 45 minute wait. So we went to the nearby Green River Beer Depot for some drinks while we waited (awesome quaint beer joint). Came back around 7:15 and was told there was still a wait so we got a drink and took it to their lovely patio/​courtyard area. We were in no hurry and had no place to be.
We were seated around 7:35 — 7:40. Had a great table on the patio, perfect on a cool evening! Our waitress introduced herself and took our order in a timely manner after being seated. We ordered the crab gratin appetizer; hubby got the pork chop with Lusty Monk mustard and bourbon glaze; I ordered the North Cackalacky Shrimp Stew which I was super excited to try! Hubby ordered another beer as well. The appetizer came out fairly quickly and was pretty good, although runnier than I would’ve expected. It was served with toasted cheese bread. Hubby had to ask for his beer as our waitress never brought it. I told her I’d get another glass of wine with dinner.
Now for the reasoning of the one star. .. we waited, and waited, and waited, and waited. The waitress stopped by a couple of times saying the kitchen was busy but our food would be out soon. After about 20 – 30 minutes I ordered a glass of wine. .. still no food!!! Waited another 30 minutes and still NO wine or food! People around us were slowly getting their food, but it was obvious that they weren’t turning tables over quickly as everyone was waiting and waiting!
Finally, I looked at my watch and it was 9:00 pm. .. keep in mind we were seated around 7:40 and ordered fairly quickly. I told my husband then that I was over it!!! We decided to give it 5 more minutes. Then at 9:05 with NO waitress, NO wine and NO entrees, my husband laid $ 20 on the table and we left! Totally ridiculous!!! I was SO disappointed as I really wanted to try that stew! And $ 20 was VERY generous for the appetizer and one beer!
We both have been in the restaurant business, so we understand how crazy things can be. However, for a holiday weekend AND the notorious (unbeknownst to us) Coon Dog Day when thousands of people invade this little town with a population of 700, a restaurant should prepare for this! Either increase staff or offer a limited menu of what the kitchen can realistically handle!
But, call us crazy, we still wanted to give it another shot since it was highly recommended. So we had lunch there a couple if days later. (That’s another post!) Considering there are very few restaurant options in Saluda, it was worth a try!