Five of the most dog-friendly restaurants in America are in North Carolina. Listen I love dogs. I really do. And I’m on board (if your dog can handle it and is happy) for taking dogs to places like breweries. Perhaps even somewhere with an outdoor patio to eat. But I’m a little more hazy on that one. But what I saw this weekend in Blowing Rock, was two different dogs one in a stroller and the other just laying under the table, inside in a restaurant. I’m sorry the line has to be drawn somewhere. Your dog will be ok at home for an hour by themselves. These were not service animals, just dogs that were accompanying their owners to dine inside a sit-down restaurant.

I get it. When my dog was alive I did wish I could take him everywhere. He loved to go to the drive threw, the bank,  or a pet-friendly store like Petsmart. But I never took him into a general store and certainly never to a restaurant. And in all honesty, he would have been miserable at a restaurant. He hated sitting still in a new place, would have been trying to eat everyone’s food, and the heat outside would have bothered him as well. But despite my personal feelings about taking your dog out to eat, numerous people do it. This is what led Yelp to create a list of the most dog-friendly restaurants in America. And not one, not two, but 5 North Carolina restaurants made the list.

Here’s how Yelp says the list was curated: “We identified businesses in the restaurants and food categories with a large concentration of reviews mentioning “dog friendly,” then ranked those spots using a number of factors including the total volume and ratings of reviews mentioning those keywords between June 1, 2020, and June 1, 2023. If a chain appeared on the list more than once, we only included the highest-rated location. When available, all businesses on this list have a passing health score as of June 1, 2023.” You can view the full list of 100 restaurants here or keep reading to see the 5 top dog-friendly restaurants in North Carolina.