We spent the day in Colonial Williamsburg and decided to eat in the area. Amber Ox is a farm to…read morefork restaurant with seasonal favorites. We did not have a reservation, but easily found a table at the bar. The servers were personable and super helpful. We actually enjoyed sitting in the bar area watch the various trays exit the kitchen window. Mixed drinks had a fresh taste. We ordered the pimento cheese dip ( savory) and the soft" melt in your mouth "biscuits served with an array of butter/spreads. The beet salad was earthy in a good way with a great mix of beets, nuts, brie cheese,and fresh greens. The smoked chicken was not dry with a smoked flavor . The creamy greens had an excellent texture . I actually ate all of the grits ( I am usually not a fan of grits). They had a mashed potato taste/texture and were amazing!

Sophie was one of the best (best?) servers I have had in memory.Every request was meant with a…read moresmile and a 'yes'. She was engaging, accurate, timely. Food was delicious and hot. Cocktails unique and tasty. You folks know how do it right. You could teach a few other, similarly-priced, local restaurants a thing r two.Thank you.

Wonderful food, perfectly cooked to order, delicious drinks, absolutely flawless service and…read moreaccommodating ambiance. First shout out to our amazing server Karah. Attentive, without being disruptive, wonderful communicating, extremely knowledgeable, and intuitive. Our food was cooked perfectly! Each item had its own individual tastes which was very refreshing. Definitely a great date night, family dinner, and drinks w friends place.

I searched for French dip in Williamsburg. Second street bistro kept coming up on ChatGPT. I looked…read moreat the menu and saw a brisket sandwich. When I got to the restaurant I asked if they had horse radish: no. Au jus: yes. I wanted a piece of Carrot cake but I thought $18 was exorbitant. I opted for the pecan pie instead. The online menu said they had some crispy chicken dinner... It was no longer part of the menu when I arrived to the restaurant.. My significant other is allergic to shellfish, and does not eat pork... There weren't a lot of entrée options for him because there was pork all over the place. I did order him some salmon since he could not get the chicken. He liked the salmon. The broccoli had no flavor on it. And the brown rice pilaf was equally Bland. The brisket sandwich was ...okay... but dipping it in French onion soup calling it onion jus.... It just pissed me off. I think the menu was overpriced for tourists. The staff seemed to be doing the best they could. I guess I'll continue my hunt for the best Friend dip in Williamsburg. I'm down here a lot.

We had no reservation and it was busy! Luckily they had a high top table available so we were…read moreseated quickly. Service was outstanding. No one who works there stands still. Everyone was helping do whatever was needed. The food was delicious and dessert was great. Hubby had a mixed drink from the bar which he said was mixed well and I had the Hot Chocolate Skrewball which was amazing. Highly recommend!

The Hounds Tale delivered exactly what the night called for, good food, easy laughs, and even…read morebetter company. Me and my "Usual Suspects" made our way out to The Hound's Tale, and it didn't disappoint. The space hits you right away... cozy without trying too hard. Eclectic art, warm finishes, and a staff that knows how to read the room and keep things moving without hovering. Comfortable. Intentional. Dialed in. Now... it just so happened to be everyone's "cheat day," so discipline never stood a chance. Within minutes, the table looked like a comfort food summit... bacon cheeseburgers, loaded hot dogs, fries doing what fries do, and of course... the gratuitous side salad to keep things respectable. Bottom line: solid pick for a laid-back night with friends. Good energy, satisfying food, no pressure. Recommendation level: Go enjoy!

The Fat Canary remains our number one choice for a fine dining experience in Williamsburg…read more The food, service, and ambiance are all excellent. During our most recent meal, we enjoyed the blood orange martinis, the ham and mozzarella appetizer, short ribs, fish special, and crepes dessert, plus a bottle of pinot noir. The restaurant bills a 3.5% surcharge to support the kitchen staff. I would much rather see that incorporated into the menu prices. I don't understand why it's separate. I understand providing a competitive edge to staff, just build it into the prices.

We had an amazing time in the downstairs of Fat Canary. Only negative is that it is hard to get in,…read moremust make reservations waay ahead of time. Atmosphere is really modern and nice. Staff were very friendly and the menu options is divine(downstairs). Service was top notch and kudos to the chef, very tatsty. Please excuse some of my pics, i forgot the name of the dish. It was on the downstairs menu.

We stopped in for dinner before a show. The service was excellent and the food was good…read more This was our first time in a side room near the back. We liked that it was quiet and relaxed. Two of us wanted lighter food tonight, so we had grilled salmon in a house salad and the shrimp and brie appetizer. Our third diner had the red fish with shrimp, over some grits. Everything was enjoyable.

Stopped in while touring Colonial Williamsburg, drawn in by the one dollar oyster happy hour. Sat…read moreat the bar and was greeted by Will, who offered both drink and food menus. I placed an order for twelve york river oysters, a Bloody Mary, and the fried green tomatoes. The bar was small and intimate with two televisions, both on football games, and other customers who were friendly and social. My drink arrived first, and while very flavorful, for $13, I found it to be on the small side. I've gotten a larger Bloody Mary's of equal quality at other restaurants for less money. I think you should work on either the price point or the portion size here. The oysters arrived properly iced with lemon wedges and generous portions of cocktail sauce, horseradish, and terrific garlic butter. They were perfect. Shortly after, the fried green tomatoes arrived. Such a disappointment. The presentation was excellent, the diced red tomatoes a nice color accent, but the green tomato slices were wafer thin and were overpowered by the pimento cheese, totally wrecking the flavor profile of the dish.....the portion sizes should have been reversed. They were the absolute thinnest slices of tomato I have ever encountered on a serving of F.G.T. The dollar special on the oysters is enough to get me back in, but I will reexamine my menu and drink choices on my next visit.

It's always special for our family to dine at one of the Colonial Williamsburg taverns. Our…read morefavorite for decades has been Kings Arms. We have not not dined, or even spent much time at CW since the pandemic. After a hike behind Bassett Hall my wife and I enjoyed lunch. We arrived at noon and were promptly seated in an empty room. Around 20 minutes later the first floor was full. The atmosphere was cool and authentic. Nothing has changed since my previous visit. Our friendly waitress got menus and waters. I started off with an Apple Jack Old Fashioned utilizing Virginia Gentleman bourbon. We reviewed items on the menu that may have been served in the period. We started with apps. I got a salad, or "To Make a Fine Sallet". My wife crab croquettes. They pushed out first and we enjoyed. For mains. I got the pork shank, or "To Stew a Shoat in the French Way". My wife had "Chicken Hash", it was like a thick soup. The plating was beautiful and the taste matched. The old fashioned was disappointing because it was so weak. Service was decent, but not much attention. For dessert I got the bread pudding and wife chocolate tart. Both were outstanding! The bill was dropped on the table. It was around $150 w/ tip. Although pricey we had fun and felt like tourist just an hour from home. I would recommend.

The King's Arms Tavern is an interesting experience with decent service but nothing more to offer…read morethan that. I came here with my parents and girlfriend as a way to cap a nice day of introducing her to them and I was unpleasantly surprised by the visit. Despite the fact that you cannot park in front of the establishment , there was very little signage in the back to route you to where you needed to be to reach the host stand. Once we got there, there was some awkward interaction from the hostess to get us seated, and we reviewed our menus. We all opted for the peanut soup ($10 each) as an appetizer, and my girlfriend and I opted for the Roast Duck ($50 each) and my parents both opted for the Salmon with crab on top ($59 each). While the peanut soup was excellent (and available elsewhere), the roast duck was flavorless, the accompanying vegetables cold, and the mashed potatoes were not enough to save the entree. The "free" Sally Lunn bread and cornbread were quite nice, though again not enough to save the meal, nor was the bread pudding. My parents told me they liked the salmon meals but without sampling it I have to take their word for it. I risk seeming ignorant here so to be clear: I have enjoyed a number of elevated meals where the high prices were entirely justified by the quality of food, level of service, and upscale atmosphere. King's Arms failed in every respect: the food was middling at best, the service was okay but failed to make enough callbacks to avoid running out of water, and the ambiance was spoiled by a large party with eight children they decided to seat in the middle of the room, thereby ensuring a loud distraction for everyone. While this was indeed an interesting experience from a historical perspective, it is utterly unfit to charge the prices it does and I strongly recommend against coming here. The extra star is for the soup, definitely seek out the peanut soup (but do it somewhere else). Overall: 2.0 stars ---- Pros: - The peanut soup is excellent, as is the Sally Lunn bread - The historical experience of dining where those in antiquity have is quite cool. Cons: - By fine dining standards, the rest of the fare here is laughably bad. - The service is decent but nowhere near where it should be given the airs they put on. - Prices are exorbitant and horrifying to anyone with an eye for value. - Directions and parking are an additional pain point. - If you know you have a large party of children, plan seating accordingly. This is an awful way to ruin the experience of everyone else who is paying a lot to be here.

Went there for lunch! Food was so good. Staff friendly and attentive…read more Worth the drive to WMBG! We will be back for sure.

Hands down one of the best experiences we've had in Williamsburg!…read more No doubt the best burgers we've ever had too! Huge, juicy, well seasoned, fresh and delicious! My husband got the Pastrami Burger, I built my own double and we shared the Farmers Fries. We won't even talk about the house Garlic Aioli, yummy! Even the pickle spear was good! Customer service was on point too! We didn't wait for anything and we were constantly asked if we needed anything from all the staff. Everyone was friendly and extremely helpful. Bonus...this spot was clean.... Like clean clean! I have a bit of OCD and everything from the booth, hanging light over the booth and even the pictures on the wall near where we were sitting was spotless. We were seriously impressed especially since this was our first time eating there. We've been in Williamsburg for nearly 2 years and we waited 2 years too long! Thank you to the entire staff for being so courteous and making our experience everything it should've been. We'll definitely return!

Been going here for years. Fell in love with it the first time we went to Williamsburg. Small,…read morequaint, French restaurant within the Historic area. Our service by Sarah was very good. She gave us suggestions that were perfect. Started off with French onion soup, fried oysters, and Côtes du Rhône. We split the Boeuf Bourguignon $39. Very tasty, nice portion, just like we had in Paris. For dessert, Chocolate Mousse prepared table side. Two glasses of Prosecco. Definitely would recommend.

Visited Blue Talon Bistro recently. Our server with blue hair wasn't very friendly at the beginning…read moreand didn't communicate with us well, though she was better by the end of the meal. The food was alright--nothing amazing, but decent. The portion sizes were good and filling. We spent around $90 for a couple, which felt a little high for the overall experience. Overall, it was an okay visit, but the service could have started off much better.

I can't believe I never posted a review. This place is always awesome. The food, entertainment, and…read moreof course beer! The staff are awesome, knowledgeable and friendly.

Precarious is an energetic place to meet friends, have a drink, enjoy some good food, and play…read moregames. We recently went one Friday night and had a taco and burgers. All were very good. The noise level is pretty loud with music playing over speakers in the ceiling, the game machines, and people having a good time. You order your food and drinks at the counter, grab a pager, find a table, and retrieve your food. It's pretty easy and time goes by fast. You can dine inside or enjoy quieter space outside. They have fire pits on chilly days.

Had rwo wonderful breakfasts at the Terrace served by the most upbeat and friendly waitress by the…read morename of Sarah. She kept the coffee coming and was very attentive to the entire room of customers. I ordered the grain bowl which began with a smear of green goddess dressing on the bottom heaped with quinoa and wild rice with the most perfectly ripe avocado sliced on the side and a perfectly poached egg on top. There were other things to give this dish, texture and color simply perfection. Theme t day, I got the poached eggs dish with roasted potatoes and a tomato salad. Perfect!

UPDATE TO 1-STAR ORIGINAL REVIEW (2 days later): Were able to contact the exec chef who took this…read morequite seriously and made things right, assuring us that what happened was not nearly up to their standard. While we can't promise *you* won't have a similar experience, we can say that in this case the executive chef personally responded promptly to a respectful polite email and then handled it all very appropriately once informed. And for that alone, we revise to 4 stars. Perhaps ours was an isolated incident. Regardless, a big thank you to the executive chef for the response and swift refund. Much appreciated. We *think* any executive chef would want to KNOW what was going on, perhaps in their absence, right? YMMV. Thanks again. ORIGINAL 1 star review: New Years Eve dinner at Terrace Room. The photo shows "pan-seared" scallops with a ... risotto-like substance. Heh. $50. Uh huh. Scallops: No sear. Super chewy. Hard to even cut. Risotto was like mushy oatmeal stuff and zero seasoning or flavor. Maybe something was wrong in the kitchen, I dunno. Ack. We both ordered this and left most of it. Also a bottle of wine (white) that had to be chilled in front of us for a while before the server could/would pour it. Hm. $110 for that. Note: the *service* was excellent! It is never a waiter's "fault" when the food is awful. We tipped the excellent waiter accordingly, BTW. Just sharing our experience at this place on this particular night. Hope it helps. Be aware. Maybe it's "iffy."