Collegiate Times

"Bolin, party of 10!" blared over the intercom, by none other than manager Kevin Wingate, Harold Wingate's son.

We all headed in after brief physical activities and were greeted by smiles and two cold pitchers of lemonade and sweet tea.

The service was excellent and tremendously punctual. Amid the chaos, my glass was never half full.

Deciding to spread the heartfelt food, Wingate finds himself conveniently located in Catawba, drawing customers for miles.

"The Homeplace is very well located, 10 miles from downtown Salem ... and of course it's really close to Virginia Tech," Wingate said. "But we draw heavily for hundreds of miles. We had people today from Tennessee, which we are very appreciative of."

Speaking of location, The Homeplace is a popular stop for hikers on the Appalachian Trail.

"If you're in our parking lot and you look back south at the mountain behind the restaurant, the trail runs from the top of the mountain," Wingate said. "Hikers have said The Homeplace is the best restaurant on the Appalachian Trail, which is over 2,000 miles. It's hard for me to imagine, but we don't mind taking the credit -- it's quite interesting."

Although The Homeplace retains its small town feel, Wingate rarely sees attendance slowing down.

Despite only being open four days a week, The Homeplace has known nothing but consistency.

"We will average around 100,000 to 115,000 people a year," Wingate said. "Our busiest Sunday of the year is Mother's Day with about a 1,600 attendances, then Tech graduation with about 1,300 on back-to-back weekends."

Even with so many customers, the crowd never infringes on its comfortable atmosphere.

You can tell people are really enjoying their food, which is good because the Wingates will always rely on word-of-mouth advertising.

"There is really no food exactly like it," Wingate said. "It's where to get a good country meal at a reasonable, fair price. You can buy advertising, but word-of-mouth is best and it's free. If people are excited about it, they know it's a place they can recommend. No salad bar, seafood and steaks -- we try to have a good country meal and we do it well."

"The view is impeccable, the food is delicious, and the service is outstanding," said junior biochemistry major Jennifer Thornton. "The biscuits and apple butter itself left me totally satisfied."

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