JADSJBD

Hi all,
We are going to make a quick (1 night, 2 days) December trip to Raleigh. What area of the city should we stay in? We'd like a walkable area that has restaurants and pubs, as well as something interesting to see. We're going to Theater in the Park's "A Christmas Carol" , but that will be after we check out of our hotel, so we don't have to be in that area as we'll be in our car at that point. Really looking for an interesting, walkable, fun area with a nice hotel. Thanks for any input!

thursdaysd

Posted this in the Lounge by mistake. Rarely visit it. Would orefer to kep the discussion here.

I don't live in Raleigh, just outside, but the happening area is Glenwood south. You don't mention your budget. There's a Marriott near the Convention Center.

Loads of restaurants on Glenwood and around Moore Square, you're spoiled for choice. Budget? Type of food?

Not sure what you mean by pubs. I grew up in England, and the US doesn't have anything I recognize as a pub, lol.

starrs

This may be far too small, but you may enjoy Fearrington Village -
The Inn -
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Re..._Carolina.html

http://www.fearrington.com/granary/

It's definitely "an interesting, walkable, fun (okay, quiet) area with a nice hotel"

thursdaysd

But it is miles away from Raleigh, and, indeed, anywhere else. Except perhaps Chapel Hill. Not what the OP is asking for.

starrs

I don't know where you are coming from and headed to next, but Vivian Howard's destination restaurant is 1.5 hours away -

http://www.vivianhoward.com/chef-the-farmer/
https://www.yelp.com/biz/chef-and-the-farmer-kinston
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaura..._Carolina.html
https://www.ourstate.com/chef-and-the-farmer-kinston/

"They’re not chilling soup in the bathtub anymore. Before they came to Kinston, Vivian Howard and Benjamin Knight, wife and husband, lived in a small apartment in the ungentrified part of Harlem and eked out a living working in kitchens and waiting tables. One winter, they started a soup business out of their home. Every week, they emailed the menu to their client base, cooked it up in their 35-square-foot kitchen, chilled it in the bathtub, and delivered it around the city on their day off. Some investors offered to put them up with a real kitchen and a storefront. Then Howard and Knight got the kind of opportunity they’d never get in New York — an offer from her family to help open a full restaurant in eastern North Carolina.

And so they came to Kinston, this beautiful ex-tobacco town, and opened Chef and the Farmer in a former mule barn, former gift shop, former print shop a block off of the main boulevard.

“Our goal is for this to be the best restaurant anywhere,” says Howard, the restaurant’s eponymous chef. “We don’t want to be a good restaurant for Kinston or a good restaurant for eastern North Carolina. We want to be the best restaurant in the state.”"


Not at all what you were looking for but possibly something you might be interested in.

thursdaysd

See from your post on the Lounge thread that you just want some "decent food". For Italian you might look at Cafe Luna. The only Cuban restaurant I know about is in Cary, but suggest you consult yelp. Or take a look at the dining section at newsobserver.com. I think the Hibernian has reopened if you want a bar type place, have no idea how noisy it is, but the Glenwood restaurants tend to be too loud for me.

Should you want a celebrity chef, which it sounds like you don't, Ashley Christensen is a James Beard award winner with several restaurants in Raleigh:

http://ac-restaurants.com

Poole's Diner was the original.

The Holiday Inn Downtown and the Friendship Inn (which I think is the former Velvet Cloak) are the closest to Glenwood, but they have been in existence for decades, have no idea what they are like inside. I might settle for the Marriott.

starrs

If you want an area with lots of restaurants, etc. that is closer in we stay at the Embassy Suites Brier Creek and there's a lot of restaurants/pubs to choose from nearby -
http://embassysuites3.hilton.com/en/...CES/index.html
https://www.zomato.com/research-tria...ek-restaurants

starrs

If you want an area with lots of restaurants, etc. that is closer in we stay at the Embassy Suites Brier Creek and there's a lot of restaurants/pubs to choose from nearby -
http://embassysuites3.hilton.com/en/...CES/index.html
https://www.zomato.com/research-tria...ek-restaurants

thursdaysd

Well, that's certainly closer than Fearrington, but it's still outside the outer beltline. Totally different vibe to downtown too. There are a number of restaurants, but they are more the chain/franchise type (Applebees, for instance). Although Azitra is good if you like Indian.

JADSJBD

Thanks so much for the replies! I'll check them out, just didn't know where to start since the city seems so spread out.

starrs

It is very spread out!

ekscrunchy

I'd also be interested in Raleigh, in my case for 1-2 nights en route to--or from-- Florida from NYC. My main interest outside a good hotel, is food.

Ashley C. is the daughter of my neighbor and I sampled her cooking in NYC at the James Beard House a few years ago. Would love to dine at one or two of her restaurants.

From what I hear, Poole's Diner might suit the OP. I was wondering about the newer, Death and Taxes. Would love to read comments from Fodor-ites who are familiar with her places.

Are there any good hotels within a walk of Death and Taxes? Or Poole's Diner?

Gretchen

EK--since you do the FL route often it seems you really might want to make Kinston and The Chef and the Farmer a destination for a night's stop. Make reservations.
Take a look at her PBS show, A Chef's Life. DH and I have a "birthday coupon" for a trip to the restaurant. DS and DDIL went last year for significant DS's birthday.
I have just gotten her cookbook-it is a gem.

Another classic Raleigh restaurant is the Angus Barn. Has one of the leading wine lists in the country (a surprise to me).

thursdaysd

Hi eks - would love to see you if you come through Raleigh!

Would recommend a lovely B&B in the historic Oakwood district, but it closed because of competition from AirBnB....

The only hotels in possible (stress possible, I'd need to check for sure) walking distance of Glenwood and Moore Square are the two I mentioned, and as I said they have been around for decades.

A friend and her husband did an overnight at The Chef and Farmer for an anniversary and were disappointed, so YMMV.

I have eaten at Poole's Diner, and it was very good, haven't tried her others. There is some good Asian food in Raleigh and good Indian in Cary, but you'd need to drive. Second Empire is the posh place in Raleigh and there's a French restaurant to the north that gets good reviews.

If you want some down home BBQ (eastern NC style) I have a recommendation for that. Would suggest checking the News and Observer's top restaurant list (would post a link but I'm traveling and my stupid iPad will log me out of Fodors if I try to look for it).

kvick

I think the French restaurant in north Raleigh is called St Jacques. It was quite good, but changed hands a year or so ago and I can't say how it is now.

Gretchen

I will say about Vivian Howard's restaurant--ANY restaurant on any given day can give a bad meal. Our kids, restauranteurs themselves, had a mediocre meal at Husk in Charleston. And her style may not be everyone's. It is, of course, disappointing to have it on such a special occasion. Our son and DIL LOVED their experience.
I met her this aft at a cookbook signing and she is a genuinely nice person. Her cookbook is astounding and beautiful. Just my opinion.

starrs

Friends/coworkers RAVED about their meal and experience. I was in Kinston but a change in the work schedule prevented me from going. I will return soon.

thursdaysd

As I said, YMMV, and indeed, the best restaurant can have an off day. The Little Hen, south of Raleigh, also gets rave reviews, but my meal there was a big disappointment.

ekscrunchy

You guys are great!

I have driven through Kinston and once even had reservations at Chef and Farmer, which I cancelled because we changed our route plans. Now there is a hotel in Kinston so makes even more sense to stop there and see the area.

I'd love to meet you, Thursday! All of you, really.

The "problem" here is deciding on stops along the route that allow us to do a certain amount of driving during the day. We usually stay the first night in or near Edenton, so Raleigh is too close to there to warrant stopping for the second night. (According to the driver!!) Suggestion has been put to me that we might think of passing through Raleigh in the spring on the road north. Raleigh could be the second stop. I have to look at the maps and the mileage and see what "driver" means by this.

We've "done" the BBQ spots a few times and, as much as I adore these, I would like to veer off the usual route(s) and visit Raleigh. Even Asheville which is, of course, far off the fastest route. I have a better chance of being able to convince the driver to do this on the way home, I think. And in spring the mountains should be gorgeous. My ideal trip would be to allow a week for NC but I have little chance of getting that idea past SO, who would like to just drive straight on through, not dawdle as I prefer.

I'm away from home now (northern Spain) but will turn attention to this trip once I get back..

Please keep the ideas coming....

starrs

ek, here's another option that's a bit out of the way but worth the visit -
http://chefnc.com/

It was the New Southern Kitchen. I fell in love with Chef Sokun's food when she was in an out of the way place in Georgia.