Restaurants in Walnut Cove, North Carolina: A Local Dining Guide
Walnut Cove is a small Stokes County community with a surprisingly varied dining scene. The town has traditional Southern cooking, family diners, Mexican food, pizza, Japanese food, burgers, sandwiches, coffee and specialty desserts. Several of the restaurants are locally owned, giving Walnut Cove a distinctly small-town dining character. Current listings identify more than a dozen restaurants and food businesses in town.
Hillbilly Hide-A-Way Restaurant
Located at 4375 Pine Hall Road, Hillbilly Hide-A-Way is one of the most distinctive restaurants in the Walnut Cove area. The restaurant is designed around a rustic log-cabin setting and serves traditional Southern food family-style.
Rather than ordering individual entrées, diners receive a selection of home-style dishes brought to the table, with additional servings available. Fried chicken, country ham, meatloaf, pinto beans, mashed potatoes, green beans, cornbread and hoe cakes are among the foods featured on its rotating menu. The restaurant also offers a Sunday breakfast and seasonal live music.
Olympic Family Restaurant
At 632 S. Main Street, Olympic Family Restaurant is a traditional family diner with an unusually large menu. Breakfast is one of its major attractions, with eggs, biscuits and gravy, grits, pancakes, waffles, omelets and other breakfast favorites.
The menu also includes burgers, sandwiches, seafood, salads and Greek-inspired dishes such as gyros and Greek salads. Its combination of Southern comfort food and Greek diner specialties gives customers considerably more variety than might be expected from a small-town restaurant.
The Milk Bar
The Milk Bar, at 213 N. Main Street, is a family-owned American diner and café in downtown Walnut Cove. It combines classic comfort food with an old-fashioned ice-cream-shop atmosphere.
Burgers, sandwiches, tenderloin biscuits and other casual foods are available, along with milkshakes, sundaes and desserts. The restaurant has been serving Walnut Cove since 2015 and has become one of the community’s recognizable local dining spots.
El Cabo Mexican Restaurant
Located at 234 N. Main Street, El Cabo offers Mexican and Tex-Mex-style food in a casual setting. The menu includes tacos, burritos, enchiladas, fajitas, quesadillas, nachos and other Mexican favorites.
Shrimp tacos, fajitas, queso, guacamole and combination plates are among the choices customers frequently mention. El Cabo is one of Walnut Cove’s established choices for a full Mexican meal.
Sam’s Pizza Etc.
Sam’s Pizza Etc., at 220 N. Main Street, is a family-friendly pizza restaurant that offers considerably more than pizza.
The menu includes pizza, wings, burgers, wraps, salads, taco salad, chicken and other casual foods. It is particularly convenient for families and groups because there are enough choices for people who don’t necessarily want pizza.
Kobe Japanese Restaurant
Kobe Japanese Restaurant gives Walnut Cove an Asian dining option, with Japanese food including hibachi-style meals and sushi.
Hibachi chicken, steak and salmon, scallops and sushi rolls are among the popular choices. For a small community, having a Japanese restaurant with both hibachi and sushi provides an unusual amount of variety.
311 Tavern
Located at 1137 N. Main Street, 311 Tavern is a casual bar-and-grill offering burgers, wings, sandwiches and other tavern-style food.
It has a more social atmosphere than the traditional family restaurants, with bar seating, music and a pool table. It is particularly suited to an informal lunch or dinner or an evening with friends.
Red Rooster
Red Rooster, at 1072 N. Main Street, has an old-fashioned lunch-counter and diner atmosphere. It operates inside Hicks Pharmacy, making it one of the more unusual dining locations in Walnut Cove.
Breakfast and grilled American food are among its specialties. Hot dogs, burgers and breakfast items are frequently mentioned by customers, making Red Rooster a good example of the traditional small-town lunch counter.
Our Place
Our Place is a local bar and casual gathering spot in the Walnut Cove area. It has a relaxed, neighborhood atmosphere and is geared toward people looking for a place to meet friends and enjoy casual food and drinks.
Its informal character makes it different from the traditional family restaurants and diners found elsewhere in town.
Milano Pizza
Milano Pizza provides another Italian-American option in Walnut Cove. Pizza is the primary attraction, along with other familiar Italian and casual American foods.
It gives local residents another choice when they want pizza or Italian-style takeout without traveling to a larger neighboring community.
Domino’s Pizza
Domino’s provides a national pizza option for Walnut Cove, with pizza, wings, breadsticks and other familiar menu items.
It is primarily a takeout and delivery choice and can be particularly convenient for families or groups.
Bojangles
Bojangles gives Walnut Cove a familiar Southern fast-food option. Its menu centers on chicken, biscuits, breakfast and traditional Southern side dishes.
It is especially convenient for breakfast or a quick lunch.
McDonald’s
McDonald’s, at 1075 N. Main Street, provides the familiar fast-food menu of burgers, chicken, fries, breakfast items, coffee and desserts.
For travelers passing through Walnut Cove, it offers a quick and predictable meal option.
Oma’s Coffee Shop
Oma’s Coffee Shop, at 335 N. Main Street, is a locally oriented coffee shop offering coffee, specialty drinks and baked goods.
Muffins and cookies are among the items customers mention, and the shop’s atmosphere makes it a good place for a morning coffee or a casual stop during a visit to downtown Walnut Cove.
Artist’s Way Cakes & More
Artist’s Way Cakes & More, at 333 N. Main Street, is a specialty bakery offering cakes and other baked goods.
The Walnut Cove location is currently serving as a temporary storefront while the business’s longtime Danbury location undergoes renovation. It provides another local option for specialty cakes and desserts.
The Cove Nutrition
The Cove Nutrition, at 318 N. Main Street, is a beverage-focused local business rather than a conventional restaurant.
It provides another option for customers looking for specialty drinks or a lighter stop while visiting the downtown area.
Local Food and Other Options
Walnut Cove also has several businesses that don’t fit neatly into the traditional restaurant category but are still part of the community’s food scene.
Ingles Market has an in-store bakery and deli, giving residents another source for prepared foods, baked goods and take-home meals.
Whicker’s Grocery is a small, family-oriented rural grocery and convenience store on NC Highway 89. It is more of a grocery stop than a restaurant, but it represents the traditional country-store side of Walnut Cove’s food culture.
Artist’s Way Cakes & More is particularly worth mentioning for people looking for specialty cakes and desserts, while Oma’s Coffee Shop provides a local coffeehouse experience.
A Small-Town Dining Experience
Walnut Cove has a surprisingly broad restaurant selection for a community of its size. Traditional Southern food is particularly well represented, with Hillbilly Hide-A-Way, Olympic Family Restaurant, The Milk Bar and Red Rooster offering different versions of classic American and Southern cooking.
The town also has plenty of variety beyond traditional Southern food. El Cabo provides Mexican cuisine, Sam’s Pizza Etc. and Milano Pizza cover pizza and Italian-American food, and Kobe Japanese Restaurant adds hibachi and sushi.
For a more casual evening, 311 Tavern and Our Place provide a social atmosphere, while Oma’s Coffee Shop offers a quieter downtown stop for coffee and sweets.
Perhaps the most distinctive dining experience is Hillbilly Hide-A-Way, where the rustic setting and family-style Southern meal make dinner part of the experience rather than simply a meal. Olympic Family Restaurant, meanwhile, demonstrates just how much variety a traditional small-town diner can offer.
Walnut Cove may be a small town, but its restaurants offer a surprisingly wide range of choices. From country cooking and family diners to Mexican food, pizza, Japanese cuisine, coffee and specialty desserts, Walnut Cove gives residents and visitors plenty of reasons to stay local when it’s time to eat.
