The Back Door Bistro & Bakery

Started out promising, but very quickly became a disappointment. Half the food we ordered on our last visit arrived at the table cold. The cut of steak one of our friends ordered came out as a much cheaper cut trimmed to look like what they ordered. The «cook» seems to think that piling ingredients on a plate transforms them into haute cuisine. Vegetables were far from fresh. Terrible service in the dining room. They started clearing plates while half the people at our table were still eating. Made us feel rushed even though the place was ²⁄₃ empty.

I hesitate to write a review for this place — it’s hard to fins and only open Monday and Friday evenings, and Sunday brunch, but it is so good that you should try it if you can. We were visiting the Lake Gaston area for the weekend, up from Durham NC. I stumbled across a review of this place on Trip Advisor, but nothing on Unilocal so far. It should be reviewed — it’s fantastic. We went for brunch and I had some of the best shrimp and grits I’ve ever eaten. They butcher their own meat, source local ingredients wherever possible and the chef really knows what he’s doing, having worked far and wide. The quirky opening hours are down to the fact they they run a catering business, and this is very much a sideline — an extremely delicious sideline, come to that. If you are within an hour of this place you should try it — it is easily on par with the best that the Triangle has to offer.