The Best Restaurants In West Asheville
The best restaurants in West Asheville, from dive bars to brunch spots.
West Asheville is home to a surprising amount of restaurants, from local brunch spots to dive bars, coffee shops, Thai favorites, date night spots and even the famous Neng Jr’s.
The culinary scene in West Asheville is so impressive that you could design an Asheville getaway around exploring and enjoying the various options. After all, almost half of the eateries on our best restaurants in Asheville list are located in West Asheville.
So, to help guide your on your next West Asheville dining adventure, we compiled our top picks and recommendations for the area.
You’ll find great places to eat with kids (Pizza Mind and Taco Billy), awesome date night spots (Jargon and Admiral), awesome new-ish spots (Tastee Diner, Botiwalla and Neng Jr.’s) and Asheville institutions (OWL Bakery and Sunny Point.) See, we told you that the dining options were fantastic in West Asheville!
What You’ll Find In This Article
Where To Dine In West Asheville
Below is a map of all of the West Asheville restaurants highlighted in our guide.
Below you’ll find our top dining picks for West Asheville. You really can’t go wrong with any of the restaurants on this list.
Dive bar with a great breakfast, lunch and dinner
Tastee Diner is a dive bar in West Asheville with exceptionally good food. It’s open pretty much all day and you can everything from a delicious breakfast to a charcuterie board and even caviar. It’s a locally-loved spot with a pretty dedicated crowd.
Tastee Diner is at the top of our breakfast in Asheville guide for a reason– it’s fantastic. And it somehow still has a hidden gem quality to it. Perhaps because it feels emptier in the mornings than we think it should be.
They have a great outdoor seating area and the inside is pretty cool, too. The bathroom door is tiny, though, so watch out!
Perfect spot for a date night out in West Asheville
The Admiral is a charming restaurant in West Asheville. It’s in a modest cinder block building with booths and low-lighting. Outside you’ll find a patio with picnic tables and bistro lights.
The menu at The Admiral changes seasonally but typically includes a few house pastas, sharing plates like like beef tartare and a cheese board, and a few mains. We recommend going hungry!
The food, drinks and service are all noteworthy at The Admiral. It’s an especially great place for a date night.
Local taco shop with outdoor seating and breakfast all day
Breakfast tacos, frozen margaritas, queso and a casual feel– Taco Billy has it all! We enjoy dining at Taco Billy because the food is exceptional and it’s an easy spot to grab a bite. Though I must mention that parking isn’t the best at times. What we love, though, is the counter service and the outdoor dining area out back.
Our top picks for tacos are the classic ground beef Grandberry, the sweet potato based Support Group and the beef medallion Kirb Service. Our kids enjoy the quesadilla and we always get a side of queso. Taco Billy has coffee, beer and frozen margaritas.
Elevated pastries, coffee and an outdoor dining area
OWL Bakery is an exceptional bakery in West Asheville with the most delicious pastries, bread and coffee around.
It’s located in our favorite part of West AVL– our favorite because it’s grouped with two other awesome local restaurants: Pizza Mind and Gan Shan West. You can read more about these eateries below. But first, let’s chat OWL!
OWL tops our list of places to visit during your first trip to Asheville and is a weekly destination for us.
Their baked goods are elevated, delicate and delicious, with daily offerings like an almond rose croissant, cardamom bun, savory danishes and coffee walnut strudel. They serve Methodical Coffee out of Greenville and it’s absolutely fantastic.
You’ll find outdoor seating out back that is shared with Gan Shan West. They operate at different hours so there’s always space. It’s a great shaded courtyard.
Local pizza joint with great fare and a laidback setting
Pizza Mind tops our best pizza in Asheville list because the pizza is great, the setting is cool and the people are so nice. It’s a great place to enjoy a fresh slice of pizza while enjoying gorgeous weather on their covered patio.
We love their Happy Wheel Pizza (it’s a Big Mac on a pizza!) and their Doctor Pizza. And if your looking for a fun appetizer, their waffle fry nachos are worth a try.
Pizza Mind is one of our most recommended places for dining with kids in Asheville. They have a few video games to play and kids can build their own pizza.
Asian fusion perfect for takeout (and they make one of our favorite dishes in town!)
Gan Shan West is a delicious Asian fusion restaurant in West Asheville. It’s one of our most recommended restaurants both for dining in and takeout. They are actually at the top of our best takeout restaurants in Asheville list for their easy online ordering, quick turnaround, packaging and overall deliciousness.
If you can only order one thing, definitely get the GSW Rice Bowl. It comes with sweet soy, mayo, chili oil, peanut, roasted eggplant (so good!!!), house pickles and kimchi, and then you can add a protein and additional toppings if desired. We always add Korean pulled pork to our rice bowl.
What’s cool about Gan Shan is that you can eat at the outdoor patio shared with OWL or enjoy it next door at Archetype Brewing. They have a rooftop patio and plenty of indoor seating, too. Archetype doesn’t have a kitchen so it’s a totally normal thing to get either Gan Shan or Pizza Mind while hanging there.
Casual Thai restaurant with delicious food and a great drink selection
If you are looking for great Thai food in Asheville, Thai Pearl is an excellent option! It’s relaxed and casual, which isn’t always the case with Thai restaurants. We love their drunken noodles, various curries and Pad Thai.
Thai Pearl was opened in 2020 by Chef May, who trained and cooked at The Royal Palace in Bangkok, Thailand. Thai Pearl also has a full bar with a selection of local craft beers, Thai imports, and wines.
Local favorite made-to-order doughnut shop
Hole Doughnuts is a precious donut shop in West Asheville with hot and fresh donuts made to order. It’s typically seen on all of the must visit in Asheville lists. And we agree- the donuts are delicious and it’s a cute shop!
Hole offers four flavors per day, including three classic flavors (vanilla glazed, cinnamon sugar and toasted almond sesame cinnamon) and a weekly seasonal flavor. They announce the week’s flavor on Instagram and you can always find out their flavor of the week when ordering online.
Hole Doughnuts serves locally roasted hot coffee from Penny Cup Coffee Co. You can also buy a bag of a special dark PennyCup blend from Hole.
Breakfast and lunch at a to-go only spot inside a coffee shop
Tiger Bay is an awesome breakfast and lunch spot located inside BattleCat Coffee in West Asheville. It’s a match made in heaven really. Tiger Bay is a takeout only spot, so we recommend ordering in advance and grabbing a coffee drink from BattleCat before picking up your food.
Our top picks for breakfast are the breakfast bagel (everything bagel with cream cheese, tomato, avocado, scrambled egg, and fresh cracked pepper) and breakfast panini (scrambled egg, tomato, bacon, cheddar, swiss, and herb mayonnaise.) They also have great lunch options.
Wine bar with outdoor seating and an epic grilled cheese + soup combo
Leo’s House of Thirst is a casual wine bar and eatery in West Asheville. Their menu includes everything from steak tartare to a roasted half chicken, but the real star of the show is their grilled cheese. It’s a masterpiece of a grilled cheese, with Beemster Gouda, Looking Glass Ridgeline and Aged Tillamook Cheddar.
You’ll find a great outdoor patio at Leo’s House of Thirst and will love their use of local favorite East Fork dinnerware.
Breakfast and brunch eatery that’s worth the wait
Grab breakfast or lunch at the well-loved Sunny Point Cafe in West Asheville. It’s a great garden-to-table spot and has some of the best breakfast dishes around.
Our go-to order at Sunny Point will always include their carrot hotcakes with cardamom cream cheese. We like to switch up our other dishes each time, though.
The huevos rancheros is absolutely amazing. It has feta, chorizo, potatoes, cilantro cream, black bean cakes, eggs and tortilla chips. You can sub the chorizo for tofu chorizo for a meatless option.
The Sunny Point owner a second eatery just next door in 2023. Rabbit Hole is the perfect place to grab a coffee and pastry while you wait for a Sunny Point table.
Ramen bar in West Asheville with tapas and vegan options
Itto Ramen is an authentic Japanese Ramen bar with 8+ various ramen dishes. They offer great food (the broths are always amazing!) and fun menu items, like a Ramen Burger, Curry Ramen and Miso Eggplant.
Itto’s menu includes several tapas, so it’s a fun place to dine with friends and keep the food coming. We recommend the gyoza, beef jalapeno tataki, garlic butter edamame and the miso scallops.
Apart from West Asheville, you’ll find Itto in South Asheville and in downtown Asheville.
Date night restaurant in West Asheville
You’ll find a beautiful restaurant hidden inside the unassuming Jargon in West Asheville. They also have a great outdoor courtyard with a few tables and bistro lights overhead. And the food is standout, too!
Jargon’s menu is seasonal and ever-changing, but you can always count on excellent food and presentation, from a great steak dinner in Asheville to various salads and small plates.
As far as cocktails go, we especially love their Eat a Peach with thyme-infused Tito’s and the Ice Breaker that comes inside a smoked ice ball.
If you make reservations at Jargon early enough, you can opt to sit at the Chef’s Counter. It makes for a very fun date night restaurant in Asheville.
All-day breakfast spot with farm-to-table fare
Early Girl Eatery is a local farm-to-table all-day breakfast spot. You’ll find all the classics as well as a few ‘only at Early Girl’ menu items. We love their Bow to the King breakfast— chicken strips, cinnamon biscuits, berries and whipped cream. Their grit cakes are also great as well as any of their omelets (especially the goat cheese one!)
This location is pretty great because there are a few West Asheville shops worth visiting in the same area. We love the plant shop Flora– it’s just across the parking lot and has plants, home goods, accessories and a ton of gift options. The coffee shop Forage is located inside.
Darling of Asheville’s dining scene
If you aren’t familiar with Neng Jr.’s, it’s a queer-owned 17-seat Filipinx restaurant tucked away in West Asheville. Though the menu changes frequently, it’s full of Filipinx flavors with a southern flare. It changes so often that they don’t even bother posting it anywhere. That’s part of the fun!
There was already a lot of buzz surrounding it before it even opened in July 2022 and it has only picked up since then. It was a 2023 James Beard Finalist for Best New Restaurant and most recently recognized as a top restaurant in the nation by both the NY Times and Bon Appetit.
Reservations aren’t impossible, but you do need to plan ahead. They release new reservations 30 days in advance so you just have to be ready to snag one when it happens. You can book for parties consisting of 1 to 4 people. If you are looking for a reservation sooner than 30 days, try booking a table for one. There are often reservations at the bar for one person available.
Indian street food in West Asheville
Botiwalla is a casual Indian restaurant in West Asheville. It’s part of the Spicewalla portfolio along with crowd-favorite Chai Pani. You’ll find easy to eat bites like okra fries, vada pad and an Indo-Chinese cauliflower appetizer.
Part of their menu is focused on flatbread rolls like a chicken tikka roll, paneer tikka roll and a lamb kofta roll. You’ll also find a lamb burger on the menu. Grab a mango lassi or raspberry gin rickey slushie and enjoy the cool + casual atmosphere.
The concept is based on the late-night street food scene of India.
Locally-loved restaurant with Caribbean fare and three locations in town
Nine Mile is a Caribbean-inspired restaurant with a ton of vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free options. Their Live & Give appetizer is always great– tortilla chips, queso, hummus and salsa. PS they sell their hot sauces by the bottle (a great gift or souvenir!)
Their menu includes everything from jerk chicken to mahi mahi in an amazingly creamy yet dairy-free coconut sauce. They also have a red curry sauteed shrimp dish and chipotle maple glazed Alaskan sockeye salmon. And when we say everything is delicious at Nine Mile, we mean it!
You’ll also find Nine Mile in Montford and in Biltmore Park. Check out our guide to dining in Biltmore Park for additional for more info.
Flavorful Lebanese food with easy takeout options
Gypsy Queen is an excellent restaurant for Lebanese food in Asheville. It’s a great spot for dining in or taking out, and a perfect place to get food for a group.
Their menu is full of great dishes (Chicken Shawarma, Kafta, Hummus, Baba Ghanouj…) and everything is always fresh and delicious. One of our favorite items to order is their fried brussels sprouts and cauliflower. It’s salty and heavy on the oil and just SO GOOD!
Gypsy Queen is the only restaurant on this list that isn’t in the main Haywood Rd corridor in West Asheville. This one is located on Patton Ave but it’s less than a five minute drive from most of the other spots on this list. It feels like a different world, though, because parking isn’t so bad!
That wraps up our West Asheville restaurants list! If you are looking for more dining options in Asheville, make sure to check out our ultimate guide to the top restaurants in Asheville. Our food and drink page is also a great place to see what’s happening in Asheville’s dining scene.
