Sit back and relax. This place brings the seconds straight to you.
The all-you-can-eat meal comes family-style, so there is no buffet line to chase. Platters arrive at the table, the weekend menu changes, and fried chicken often gets first dibs.
Sunday starts even earlier with a full country breakfast, giving biscuits and grits their own turn in the spotlight.
The restaurant has been part of the area since 1977, and the family connection still runs through the business today.
Then Saturday evenings add another layer during the warmer months, when live country, bluegrass, and gospel music join dinner.
Three weekend days, three different lineups, and one very simple problem: deciding when you are actually finished.
The Story Started With A Wood Stove In 1977
Hillbilly Hide-A-Way began in 1977 after Louise Bray, who traveled for work, found few places in the area to stop for a meal.
She borrowed her grandmother’s old wood stove, cast-iron stew pot, and frying skillets and started cooking.
One early customer left breakfast with country ham biscuits, sausage biscuits, and tenderloin biscuits for a construction site, then returned at lunch with 27 people.
The restaurant later moved into a larger log facility.
Sam and Louise Bray were the original founders and owners. Their daughter, Rosanna Bray Jarvis, now owns the business.
The larger log facility became the home of the restaurant as the business expanded.
More than four decades later, fried chicken, country ham, biscuits, vegetables, gravies, ribs, fish, and meatloaf still fill the weekend menus.
The property now also includes a seasonal gift and antique shop and the Music Hall across the parking lot.
The restaurant has served more than one million customers and welcomed visitors from all 50 states and 106 foreign countries.
Family-Style Food Keeps Coming To The Table
This is not a self-service buffet where you carry a plate past steam trays.
Food is rolled out to the table on carts and served family-style, with additional helpings available as long as you want more. Drinks are included with the all-you-can-eat meal, while dessert is ordered separately.
The bowls and platters stay on the table while everyone serves themselves.
You can pass fried chicken across the table, scoop out mashed potatoes, add beans or corn, and ask for another round when a bowl starts getting low.
The restaurant is located at 4375 Pine Hall Road, Walnut Cove, North Carolina 27052.
Current hours are Friday from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m., Saturday from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m., and Sunday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Walk-ins are welcome during those weekend hours.
Small groups do not need reservations, while reservations are welcome for groups of 15 or more.
Tour buses are also welcome, and private parties for groups of 40 or more can be arranged Monday through Thursday.
The same cart service is used for ordinary weekend meals as well as larger reserved groups.
Dessert is available separately after the meal if there is still room.
The platters may be shared, but nobody has to surrender the last piece of chicken when another helping can come back to the table.
Friday, Saturday, And Sunday Each Bring A Different Menu
The menu changes with the day, so a Friday dinner does not look the same as a Saturday or Sunday meal.
Friday centers on white fish, fried chicken, and country ham with pinto beans, green beans, mashed potatoes, corn, chicken gravy, apples, mayo slaw, hoe-cake biscuits, and cornbread. The meal is served all-you-can-eat, with the same sides returning to the table as needed.
Saturday shifts toward barbecue pork ribs alongside fried chicken and country ham. Fried chicken and country ham remain on the table beside the ribs.
The sides include pinto beans, green beans, potatoes, corn, apples, Hillbilly slaw, hoe-cake biscuits, and cornbread.
Sunday lunch and dinner bring another change.
Homemade meatloaf joins fried chicken and baked ham, while mashed potatoes, chicken gravy, pinto beans, green beans, corn, apples, slaw, biscuits, and cornbread round out the table. Sunday lunch and dinner run from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. year-round.
Friday, Saturday, and Sunday each put a different set of main dishes beside the shared country sides.
Friday can lean toward fish, Saturday toward ribs, and Sunday toward meatloaf and baked ham.
Fried chicken appears on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, while the other main dishes change around it.
The all-you-can-eat service stays the same even as the entrées change by day.
Sunday Breakfast Starts With Ham, Bacon, And Sugar Cake
Sunday begins at 8 a.m. with a separate all-you-can-eat breakfast menu. The breakfast service is offered year-round.
Country ham, bacon, sausage, tenderloin, fried potatoes, scrambled eggs, milk gravy, red-eye gravy, grits, apples, hoe-cake biscuits, and Moravian sugar cake fill the morning table.
Breakfast runs until 11 a.m., when the restaurant switches to the Sunday lunch and dinner menu.
Sunday runs from breakfast at 8 a.m. through lunch and dinner service ending at 8 p.m.
Moravian sugar cake is served alongside the biscuits, apples, eggs, meats, potatoes, grits, and gravies.
Breakfast is also served all-you-can-eat at the table.
Instead of building a plate from a line, you stay at the table while the food comes to you.
A biscuit can meet country ham first, then gravy, eggs, and fried potatoes can take over the next round.
You can move from country ham and eggs to biscuits, gravy, fried potatoes, grits, apples, and sugar cake without leaving the table.
Unlike the seasonal music schedule, Sunday breakfast is served year-round.
Fresh Cooking Still Drives The Kitchen
The kitchen does not use a microwave or freezer.
The weekend dishes are cooked for the family-style service and rolled from the kitchen to the dining room on carts.
Fried chicken, meatloaf, country ham, ribs, vegetables, cornbread, biscuits, and gravies make up much of that weekend cooking.
Louise Bray’s first meals were cooked on her grandmother’s wood stove with a cast-iron stew pot and frying skillets.
Today’s menu still includes country ham biscuits, fried chicken, vegetables, gravies, and other Southern country dishes.
Each service follows its own fixed daily menu.
Friday, Saturday, and Sunday each have their own set of entrées and sides. White fish appears Friday, barbecue pork ribs Saturday, and homemade meatloaf Sunday.
Country ham joins Friday and Saturday, baked ham appears Sunday, and fried chicken remains on all three menus.
The meal is served from a fixed daily menu rather than a self-service buffet line. Each day keeps its own combination of entrées and sides.
Saturday Dinner Can Continue With Live Music
From March through August, Saturday dinner can keep going after the last bowl leaves the table.
The Music Hall across the parking lot hosts country, bluegrass, and gospel music every Saturday night from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
The performance comes with the meal at no extra charge.
After Saturday dinner, you can cross the parking lot for roughly three hours of live music.
The gift and antique shop also operates seasonally from March through August, giving the property another stop before or after the meal. The Music Hall follows the same March-through-August season.
The restaurant itself remains 100 percent non-alcohol.
Church groups and tour buses are welcome, and larger parties can reserve in advance.
Music Hall admission is included with the meal during the March-through-August season, with Saturday shows running from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
A plate of ribs and fried chicken can lead directly into bluegrass, gospel, or country music without another reservation or another drive.
Saturday can include dinner, a stop at the seasonal gift and antique shop, and a Music Hall performance before the drive home.
The gift shop and Music Hall operate seasonally from March through August.
A Rural Weekend Stop Has Reached Far Beyond North Carolina
Hillbilly Hide-A-Way may sit on a rural road, but its visitor history reaches much farther than Walnut Cove.
The restaurant has welcomed guests from every U.S. state and 106 foreign countries and has served more than one million customers over the decades.
The restaurant welcomes tour buses and large groups while continuing to serve its meals in shared bowls and platters. Reservations are welcomed for groups of 15 or more, while private parties of 40 or more can be arranged Monday through Thursday.
The current schedule remains focused on the weekend.
Friday brings fish, fried chicken, and country ham. Saturday brings ribs, chicken, ham, and seasonal live music.
Sunday starts with breakfast before moving into meatloaf, baked ham, fried chicken, and the full lunch-and-dinner spread.
The day you visit determines which main dishes arrive with the shared sides.
Friday features white fish, Saturday adds barbecue pork ribs, and Sunday brings homemade meatloaf and baked ham.
Fried chicken remains on all three weekend menus, and the meal stays all-you-can-eat and family-style.
Biscuits, cornbread, vegetables, meats, and additional helpings remain central to the meal across the weekend.
The restaurant has remained on the Walnut Cove dining map since 1977.