Cherries Cafe

Very kind and sweet wait staff. Food was great. We were late in the afternoon & they ran out of dessert, not sad we missed the calories, but comforted to how fresh and homemade the desserts must be. We didn’t do our research first to know they didn’t accept cards. Take cash.

Lunch at Cherries Café is a place where you can reconnect and spend time catching up without feeling rushed. The pace is leisurely with the staff refilling your ice tea and coffee as you visit. My friend, Katie, and I arrived shortly after Cherries opened at 11am, and it quickly filled up. I recommend if you can’t get there by 11:30 to wait until around 1pm; a line does form! White table cloths, crystal water goblets, colorful art on the walls, and the unhurried atmosphere appeal to the female crowd. The menu features fresh ingredients and changes daily. Several must-​have customer favorites are always on the menu like Chicken Pie. This includes the famous Cherries Café salad dressing, the only dressing served in the Café. The sweet homemade dressing is one of our family’s favorites. I had purchased a bottle earlier for Mom’s Christmas stocking.
Katie had Pork Tenderloin Rolls with Sweet Potatoes. She commented that the potatoes were almost a dessert themselves. I had Shrimp Melts on English Muffins. Side salads come with every entrée (lettuce, cherry tomato, bacon, and croutons). Locals know how incredible the desserts are at Cherries. They can run out so ask them to save you a piece of cake or slice of pie. The warm frosting on the Caramel Cake makes it irresistible.
My Mom’s birthday is right after Christmas, and I wanted to be sure we had a special lunch together (just us girls). I knew ahead of time to have cash with me. Cherries does not take credit cards. We seated ourselves and were given a clipboard menu. Mom had the Chinese Chicken Salad with chunks of grilled chicken, Mandarin orange slices, walnuts, and crunchy chow mein noodles. Both of our meals came with a light, buttery yeast roll. I had the renowned Chicken Pie. Whereas some chicken pies have a heavy crust on the top, bottom, and sides, this chicken pie was simply capped with a flaky pastry that was unable to contain the generous amounts of white meat chicken and scrumptious gravy bursting out from under the browned top.
Dessert was a must. The Chocolate Caramel Fudge Pie and the Chocolate Walnut Chess Pie were both served warm. I’m sure there’s a bylaw, Robert’s Rule of Order, amendment to something or another that says you must order dessert whenever you come to Cherries Café.
Take your time. Renew your friendships. Cherries Café is a haven for those seeking sustenance for the body and heart. They serve lunch from 11am — 3pm and are open from 9am — 5pm for pickups (chicken pies, salad dressing, and their Secrets cookbooks). Visit our blog for our full review of Cherries Café at
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Cherries café has been a staple in my life for as long as I can remember. I used to skip school in high school to go to lunch at cherries café. I guess the cat’s out of the bag now, lol.
The lovely ladies that run it are super nice and professional. They are so busy running around taking care of business, but still make sure to check on the tables and come by to say hi. They communicate very well!
The service is always great, but the food is outrageous.
They have a different menu everyday and when things run out you’re out of luck. Also, the deserts run out before some of the main dishes do. When my mother and I go we always order desert first, lol. Whether we can eat it or not, it’s good enough to take home for later.
You may have seen cherries salad dressing in local grocery stores. Their dressing is one of my favorites — the salad they make in general is do simple, but so amazing!
I do wish cherries had a better location, i don’t want them to get lost in the shadows. They’re located behind the Waffle House in Clemons, not much else going on back there. BUT, if you don’t time it right you’ll be waiting in line. We try to go when they open or time it for about an hour later.

Delicious salad dressing, and amazing desserts! My mom and I shared two, and were in HEAVEN. The caramel cake was to DIE for. It was super moist and just sweet enough, and the coconut cake was just like my Grandma used to make it.
I ordered a chicken dish, and it was delicious. We even bought the salad dressing to take home.
Just remember, it’s CASH or CHECK only. So come prepared.
The staff was super friendly too!

Lunch was wonderful at Cherries Café! I ordered the chicken pie, which came with a salad. The salad was a good size, and it had the famous Cherries dressing mixed in with the salad greens. A few croutons, tomatoes, and bacon bits were the other ingredients in the salad.
The chicken pie was delicious. Well seasoned chicken flowed out from under the fluffy pie crust.
This was such a great lunch! I would recommend Cherries to anyone who is free 11am-​3pm M-​F!

Ok! I’m back in town! All I can think of is chicken pie, their famous salad dressing, and caramel cake!

Are you kidding me?
What’s going on here, really?
My husband and I stopped here on 12÷19÷12.
We arrived at 11:45 and the line was out of the door. I expected as much after reading the reviews. Yes, there were more women than men and most were 60+.
Hindsight being what it is, we should have left when staff yelled «shut the door» when I was holding it for a woman who was 80+.
We ignored the kitschy gift shop items that crowed an already tight space by the entrance. I counted two extra chairs, 2 side tables, and a bookshelf filled with Cherries dressing and cookbooks and bath salts or soap. Again, what’s really going on here?
We were seated in about 30mins and were handed a «menu» on a clip board that had the following items: Red potato and corn chowder, seafood bake, stuffed potato, chicken tetrazzini, chicken pie, creamy almond chicken, chicken salad with fruit on a croissant, Chinese chicken salad, Shrimp melt, etc. (cant remember one, maybe lasagna). Prices 10.95−14.95.
Our waiter explained the seafood bake as shrimp and crab with green pepper and onions in a wonderful crème sauce topped with potato chips. My husband ordered that; I ordered chicken tetrazzini.
Food arrives on a plate with a casserole boat sitting on top that is rocking back and forth (plate too small) side salad and roll. My husband looks at me and says what is this? there were maybe 2 shrimp and a bunch of imitation crab meat topped with crushed chips. The crab meat looked like rice or noodles. If there was a crème sauce it was invisible. It really looked like cat food. My meal had very little flavor and was so hot from the reheat that the cheese had turned to grease. and these were 14.95 and 13.95 respectively.
All told, this was THE WORST meal my husband or I have had in a long time, including college days of 3 for a dollar hot dogs and beanie weans. Average service, below average food, high prices, and a whole lot of pretense.
We didn’t stick around for dessert.
Are you kidding me?

Ridiculous prices, and skimpy portions! I made my way to this restaurant after a recent WSJ article, and wish I hadn’t bothered. Décor was outdated, and has clearly seen better days. Service was minimal at best, and the cakes that everyone seems to rave about were only so-​so. There are far better choices at better prices at other area restaurants.

This might be the best place for dessert in all of NC. Seriously. Their desserts are home made every day and are so worth the calories.
Cherries Café is hidden away in one of the most nondescript strip malls I have ever seen. The signage is minuscule. The wait, if you get there any time near noon, is long. Just finding the place is an adventure.
— Cherries is famous for their chicken pot pie, with good reason.
— The Creamy Crunchy Chicken is just that, and you’ll be glad.
— Their crab cakes come in little shells. Cute and tasty.
Dessert! Yes!
— The seasonal strawberry layer cake is sinful. I’m willing to sin again and again.
— The chocolate chip cookie pie is the best of both worlds, served warm.
The crowd is mostly women. The few men who join their women are smart men because they get dessert.
Cherries is only open for lunch. They only take cash. The menu is short and, with the exception of the chicken pot pie, the items on it change regularly. The only choice for dressing on the salad is Cherries signature dressing. It’s a good choice.
Do yourself a favor and stop by Cherries for lunch. Make it slightly leisurely in case you have to wait. Get dessert.
BF tip: Get the cookbook and make tasty food for your loved ones. They will thank you profusely.

Cherries is my favorite place to meet friends for lunch. The food is always fresh and delicious and made at Cherries. Chicken pie is my favorite with a green salad and Cherries famous dressing. All the desserts are freshly made and very good. It’s true that on any given day, women will outnumber men 10 to 1. The café is small, but not cramped. The walls display local artists’ work. A pleasant spot for lunch.

Cherries is clearly a local favorite, and I expect many others in the Winston-​Salem area will provide it with a higher review. However, I don’t think most of their clientele is computer savvy, or for that matter, has heard of the Internet.
1. FOOD. Cherries is a chicken and dessert spot.
2. MENU. We were there for lunch and the menu had less than 10 items. My colleague got the shrimp-​melt (like a tuna melt, with shrimp), and I got a stuffed potato.
3. SALAD. They are well known for their salads and salad dressing. Neither were on the menu. A side salad came with my stuffed potato lunch.
4. DESERT. They had at least 7 items on their desert list.
5. AMBIANCE. The décor is eclectic at best and looks like it was taken from a 1995 beach house. There is a good deal of clutter, not the clutter you’d see at a TGI Friday’s, more like the clutter you’d see at a plastic recycling area.
6. SEATING. The place was packed when we got there. We got the last seat. We heard this was normal. We were easily the youngest people in there and there weren’t more than five men.
Cherries is clearly a local favorite; if I lived nearby it seems like the perfect place to take a favorite Aunt or relative. The salad was good, but not great. I’d gladly go back if others wanted to, but it left me no burning desire to return.
NOTES:
I have Celiac disease and follow a wheat /​gluten free diet. I asked a lot of questions, and they didn’t have many answers.