7 Off the Eat’n Path Restaurants in Marion County
May 20, 2016
You and the family have taken every vacation imaginable. You’ve hiked the Appalachian trail and swam with dolphins in Miami. You’ve screamed at Cedar Point and stared at the Grand Canyon. What’s left to do?
How about a vacation this summer dedicated to the art of scrumptious eats, savory smells, and small town favorites? This summer, we are going off the eat’n path to discover a Marion County food trail that’s bound to leave you begging for more.
You can’t eat this much good food in one day, so pack your bags, forks and appetites and take a trip with us to discover seven of Marion County’s best out-of-the way eateries!
Let’s begin in Fairmont with breakfast! All day breakfast to be exact. After closing three years ago for renovations, Mom’s Place is back with the same homestyle cooking, including their famous biscuits and gravy special.
If you’re in the mood for an early morning feast, Saturdays and Sundays are the place to be there for a breakfast buffet fit for a king!
Besides breakfast, this dine-in delightful place features best-sellers such as a bacon cheese burger, steak, sausage, or chicken hoagies, a heavenly giovanni and heaping meat and antipasta salads.
You won’t want to eat this all alone, so bring a cousin or two or twenty. This place does catering both on- and off-site, so make this a stop on your dining journey and celebrate at the same time!
Keep the family bonding going with a visit to Pricketts Fort State Park. The park houses a reconstructed 18th Century refuge fort used by early settlers as protection against Native American threats. Costumed interpreters demonstrate daily life on the frontier.
Breakfast still on the brain? Take a trip to the town of Fairview for a
local hang-out! This family-friendly diner has been serving up biscuits and breakfast bowls to the town of Fairview for many years.
For lunch, enjoy a delicious hoagie packed full of your favorite meats and cheese. This place knows how to humor a hungry heart.
With a local customer base of coal-county miners and workers from all over the county, you know you are sure to walk away filled up and fired up about your favorite breakfast treat!
From Fairview you are only 8.5 miles from the Barrackvile Covered Bridge. Listed on the National Register of Historic Landmarks, this 148-foot, single lane bridge was originally built in 1853 by Eli and Lemuel Chenoweth, WV’s pioneer bridge builders. On April 29, 1863, it was saved from destruction during the Jones-Imboden Raid preliminary to the Battle of Fairmont.
Ready for lunch with the locals in the heart of Fairmont? You won’t find this quiet corner advertised around on your Trip Advisor. Instead, this word-of-mouth cafe is truly a place where customers become family, and daily specials become weekly appointments with a delectable deal!
This former bar started serving special food in the sixties, and has been tempting the taste buds of Marion County ever since. With homemade food like your momma made, this is a place for nostalgia and nixing the diet as you sample the most famous peppers around!
Homemade peppers come on sandwiches, in fried potatoes, and on Fridays, stuffed in your choice of spicy or sweet. Homemade sausage and fresh breads will make you think you forgot to leave home!
Other Italian-inspired recipes include tealia and zucchini and eggs, making this a unique adventure for your ravenous road trip through the county!
Now that your hunger has been quelched, make your way to downtown Fairmont and roam the aisles of Arts & Antiques Marketplace. With almost 90 vendors, you will find everything from antique tools, kitchenware,clothing and furniture of all shapes and sizes.
For your next dining adventure you will need to buckle the seat belts and drive down Husky Highway to the town of Farmington. Don’t worry, it’s worth it for the plate you are about to see!
Cotton Patch Cafe
Take your pick of tasty treats at this out-of-the-way eatery. From fresh pepperoni rolls and hoagies baked in the back daily to savory salads with in-house dressings to the sweet welcome of West Virginia sauce on your hotdog, you may have to spend more than one day sampling the menu!
Allow some extra time before you head out because you are eating among gorgeous floral arrangements, plants and giftware. And they tie a mean bow if you want to try your hand at wreath making or need to tie a yellow bow around an old oak tree!
Just six miles up the road in Mannington is the Hamilton Round Barn. Once a dairy farm, the barn houses antique tools and farming equipment dating back to the 1900’s. If you time it right, you can watch area quilters sitting at the loom carrying out this time-honored tradition or catch a bluegrass concert on a Saturday night.
Hear the dinner bell calling your name? Just follow the Monongahela River down to Ram Country.
Located in the little town of Rivesville, Underwood’s is a new place with a whole lot of history! Decorated with family heirlooms and memories, this restaurant is unique in its dedication to God, coal, fishing, family and the old Rivesville High sports teams.
Homemade, handmade is a restaurant must for a place that has hand-breaded chicken and waffles, hand-made meatballs for hoagies, and home-style service with a smile.
Fish and chips, burgers, wings and fries are all items to try when taking a trip to see what Underwood’s is cooking up for your dinner!
You can’t leave Rivesville without a visit to Assumption Records. With over 27,000 unique titles in their catalog and thousands of records on the floor, there is music to satisfy every genre.
Now that you’ve eaten all the home cookin’ your stomach could 
stand, it’s time to start dreaming of dessert land!
In the small town of Monongah, visitors can stop by for a brush with history and ice cream perfection. While many come through to visit the memorial to the Monongah mine disaster, many others come to visit one of the oldest operating ice cream shops in the county.
The staff here wants to know about you as you slurp down a sundae or burrow through a banana split! Blitz and cones are always popular items as well.
This cozy kone also serves food, including hot dogs with the original sauce recipe. You may even see the store’s original owner, a lady in her 90s who knows where to come to get a good treat!
Another great treat is a visit to Monongah Furniture & Antiques. The name doesn’t do it justice!
After all this traveling around town for food, you may be ready to hit the hibernation button. Before you do, take a last chill pill and stop on Fairmont’s East Side for a challenging feat.
This one will test your endurance, your strength and your stomach as you sample a mile high ice cream cone from the corner! Don’t be afraid of the size of their dessert, just order whatever your heart desires and dig on in!
Other than the famous cones, you can also order a warm funnel cake or banana split here for a finale run. And, if you are still hungry after that, grab a few of their pepperoni rolls with sauce and cheese to take on the road with you back to wherever.
From here you are just an exit away from FIDO’s Backyard. This is a 4-acre off-leash dog park suited for both large and small dogs. So if you are traveling with your BFF, it’s a special treat for you both.
Take a couple minutes to soak in the fun, then grab your family, the
Rachel Ellis
dog, the neighbor or the mailman and come eat with us! Your summer food trail vacation has begun!