Haywood 209 Cafe is located at 3360 Crabtree Road, less than a minute off I-40 at Exit 24 in Waynesville, North Carolina. The cafe is open seven days a week from 6:30 AM to 8:30 PM and serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It is connected to the Sam’s Mart Shell station and sits directly across from the truck stop on Highway 209.
How to Get There from I-40
Take Exit 24 off Interstate 40. Turn onto Crabtree Road (Highway 209). The cafe is on your right within about a quarter mile. You will see the Sam’s Mart Shell station first. The cafe is attached to the same building but has its own entrance and a separate dining room. If you are coming from the east (Asheville direction) or the west (Knoxville direction), the exit works the same way. The drive from the interstate to a parking spot takes about 60 seconds.
What Kind of Food They Serve
Haywood 209 Cafe is a traditional American diner. Breakfast runs until 11 AM and includes eggs, bacon, country ham, biscuits and gravy, pancakes, omelets, hashbrowns, and French toast. Lunch and dinner options include ribeye steaks, cheeseburgers, country-fried steak, beef tips, chicken tips, blackened catfish, reubens, and daily specials. They also serve homemade desserts baked on site by their in-house baker, and milkshakes made to order.
The dishes that show up most often in customer reviews are the catfish, the country-fried steak, the omelets, and the homemade cakes and pies. Portions are large and prices are reasonable for the area.
Seating and Atmosphere
The interior is a full diner with booths, tables, and counter seating. It does not look or feel like a gas station inside. The dining room is clean, well-lit, and separate from the convenience store. There is also an outdoor patio with picnic tables. Dogs are welcome at the outdoor seating.
Parking
Standard vehicle parking is available in the Sam’s Mart lot. If you are driving a truck or towing a trailer, the truck stop across the road on Highway 209 has room for larger rigs. You can park there and walk to the cafe in under two minutes.
Who Stops Here
The cafe draws a mix of Haywood County locals, I-40 road trippers, truckers running routes through Western North Carolina, and tourists headed to or from Maggie Valley, Cherokee, and the Blue Ridge Parkway. It has been open since March 2015 and operates out of a building that housed restaurants for over 30 years before that. Locals still call it “the truck stop,” which is how most people in the area refer to it.
Reviews
We have close to 500 positive Google reviews. Over on TripAdvisor, we hold more than 140 positive reviews. People come back for the food and the portions, and they tell other people about it. That word of mouth is how most first-timers find us. We are not perfect, and a busy Friday night can test anyone’s patience, but the kitchen does not cut corners and the plates speak for themselves.
Hours and Contact
Open Monday through Sunday, 6:30 AM to 8:30 PM. Breakfast served from 6:30 AM to 11:00 AM (until 2:00 PM on Sundays). Phone: (828) 627-3331. Address: 3360 Crabtree Road, Waynesville, NC 28785.
If you are passing through Western North Carolina on I-40 and want a real meal instead of a drive-through window, Exit 24 is worth the stop.
