We did some day hikes in the Shenandoah and wanted to have dinner before heading back to our hotel. My wife picked Element and I am glad she did. We came in as they were opening for dinner and were seated right away. They have a good selection of wines by the glass and by the bottle. The PEI mussels were delicious. Had to ask for more toast to soak up all that goodness. My wife had the salmon and I have the beef tips. Both were excellent. read more

Truly atrocious food. The menu is schizophrenic -- full of "Asian" sauces and "Mexican dishes" and a wave at something approximating farm-to-table, but the nachos came deconstructed with flavorless beans, burned pork, and what appeared to be velveeta? Good lord. The tostadas were smothered in something like mayo? The calamari had some kind of sour cream coconut monstrosity on them. Awful from start to finish. Save yourself. read more

I have yet to have a great experience here. I have sent back or been dissatisfied with more than one meal here. I do have a friend who really likes this place but... Service is usually ok and food (not sent back) is pretty pedestrian. Too many other much better choices to spend my $$ here. read more

Went here tonight. Overall, food was tasty. My one complaint is that both dishes that I had were EXTREMELY salty, and I like salt. But that was just a bit ridiculous. The cauliflower had too much soy on it, which made it salty. The flavor was really good though. The shrimp and grits barely had any grits to the dish. It was SO salty, I couldn't eat it. If there had been more grits, it would have been helpful to cut down on the saltiness. The chef really needs to be aware of how salty that food was. The other 3 people I was with all got something different and enjoyed everything about their meal. The girls behind the bar were working the whole side of the restaurant. They were friendly and nice but could have checked in a bit more. I'm willing to try one more time but I would order something else. read more

Best damn burger I've had in a long, long time. Everything was good. Go there now and enjoy.

I met a colleague here for dinner because it was halfway between where I was and where he was. It's a very nice restaurant and definitely on the way to being fancy. You'll do fine here for a business meal or even for a date. Warm greeting at the door and seen to a table, we could see that they have a pretty good selection of wines available and the menu showed a decent list of beers too. And cocktails. We opted for the spring rolls and calamari and shared them. The calamari was quite good, toosed in with some greens and a tangy dressing that was very nice. For mains, I chose the pork katsu. Probably closer to a weinershnitzel than a katsu, but still very tasty and served with green beans, potatoes and a delicious mustard sauce. Yummy and delicious. Good food, good booze list, good service. I'm a fan! read more

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Very nice and surprising find on a road trip back to D.C. Quality customer service, clean restaurant/bathrooms, and a good selection of options on the menu. Can't remember my waitress' name, but she was fairly new (from Marshall) and she was attentive and friendly. I had the quiche and fish & chips (I know odd). Tasted the quesadilla, which was yummy. And the food was not overpriced. Would come back if in the area. (Only reason for stopping here is they have a charger for electric cars.) read more

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The food and service quality has gone downhill during the past months. We took some out of town guest and were very disappointed. The quality of the food was poor and one dish was cold. They even deliverd the wrong dish, there were not that many people in the restaurant at 6:00PM. We had heard they are now rude and banning people from the restaurant who criticize the place, we now see why there is now so much criticism, poor food quality and at best acceptable service, too many other palces for speacial events and taking out of town guests in the area. No need to ban us, we won't be back, in talkiing to friends a lot of us have stopped going, maybe it was the bug problem? read more

Element a fine restaurant on Main Street in Front Royal. The local owners put their spin on the cuisines; the steak I had recently was wonderful, loved the house salad with beets. One of my favorites is the tomato crab soup at lunch with various sandwiches. Desserts are tasty as well, bread pudding is also a favorite. read more

Wonderful dinner. Pork tenderloin medallions were tender and flavorful. Service was timely and friendly. A high standard in a small town! If you haven't been, you should! read more

Delicious food and an upscale but not stuffy atmosphere. The house salad was surprisingly tasty and the chicken and mashed potatoes were really good. read more

The decor is what I loved most about this restaurant. It appears like they really thought about it. I felt like I was in a large city when I was really in a small town. The prices are awesome for the amount of food you get. We got wings and also I had a half of a sandwich with broccoli cheddar soup. Everything was delish. My husband had the same sandwich and devoured it. The service was good and I will be back if I make my back to Front Royal. read more

Element - Half sandwich and broc cheddar soup. - New American Near Me - Front Royal, Virginia

Still one of the best lunch places in Front Royale, but dropping a star because the new location (around the corner from the original) doesn't have the charm the former does, and the staff seems like they are getting accustomed to the place. After I was seated, I asked my server if they have a WiFi password. She seemed surprised I couldn't log in automatically, but promised to look into it and let me know. Nope, never heard back from her on the subject. The soup & sandwich combo is still excellent, and the deserts are especially delicious. I was disappointed they don't have wine from nearby Glen Manor, but they do have several other VA wineries. VA wine, represent! read more

Stopped in here for lunch before getting onto the Skyline Dr. Vegetarian sandwiches were ok, not great. Book Lover's Special - was not a fan of the bread because it was too hard. While biting into this sandwich the fillings fell out because the bread was so hard. Shenandoah Ranger - the bread was delicious, but the rest of the sandwich was just OK. The cream cheese was a bit overwhelming. I wish the menu had more healthy vegetarian sandwich options. read more

Element - One of two vegetarian sandwiches on the menu - New American Near Me - Front Royal, Virginia

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COVID protocols followed to a T! The food was delicious and the service fantastic. Bartender didn't know what a sidecar was but no problem! He whipped one right up and it was celigjtful. Aside from having to wear masks it was our first semi normal feeling dinner in months. We will be back to this gem in Historic Front Royal, VA. read more

Element - My sidecar - New American Near Me - Front Royal, Virginia

Different. The flavors here are a bit different. Very tasty, though. A tad bit more upscale. read more

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We had a great experience here. The food was outstanding. We had the chicken and Mac, which's easily the best take on Mac and cheese I've ever seen, and the Port Two ways, also excellent. The service was on point and the ambiance is perfect. This is the spot to go to in Front Royal. read more

Great decor, the food ran the gamut between mediocre and fantastic, and great service! Barely scrapes by with a 4/5 for me.

I enjoyed eating here. The service was good and the food was delicious. I had to build your own pizza and really enjoyed the crispy woodfired crust. If I'm ever in Front Royal again I would definitely return read more

First visit to Element while passing through town. Excellent food large portions. Will stop back again.

New to town and this place caught our eye. Great location and ambiance: trendy and romantic. Definitely a great date night spot! The house salad was delicious and colorful, the scallops were cooked to perfection, the blue cheese beef tenderloins were exceptional and the creme brûlée was divine! Highly recommend!! Top it all of, the service was excellent!! Thank you, Katherine! read more

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Stumbled upon element as I tried to eat at another establishment in the area and was basically told all the tables were reserved. Apparently this place just started doing brunch but it has the atmosphere of a "date night" type of place. We were greeted soon after we walked in and was seated right away as the place was really sparse. I am spoiled by certain brunches so i was sad to learn the mimosas werent bottomless but the one I had was delicious. On to the most important part, the food! I had the Luther sandwich as I wanted a something a little sweet and it was DELICIOUS! the chicken was the perfect amount of crispiness and the doughnut tasted home made. I opted to get the gravy on the side as I am not generally a fan of gravy and im glad i did because the sandwich didnt need it. The potatoes were seasoned well and the green mix was even tossed lightly and added the perfect something extra to the meal. Thanks for being there and having brunch when our other option let us down. read more

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My family and I recently had dinner at Element and had a terrific experience. Our table was ready and waiting for us, the staff very friendly and service was perfect-not overbearing, just right. When the entree I ordered was not available that evening, I ended up choosing the pork-which was so good, I didn't miss not being able to have the entree I originally wanted. The depth of flavor for my pork dish was outstanding and kudos to the chef for that. The appetizers were great-the sauce accompanying the calamari-delicious! All of our entrees exceeded our expectations, and such good quality I cannot wait to return and try something else. And don't skip the desserts-yummy! The portions are very generous and so we all had to ask for doggy bags. Re-heated-just as delicious. We will be back for sure! read more

We had the worst experience very rude!!! Manager was very rude the whole place was actually very nasty the workers were judging us because we had said our food wasn't good. It was seasoned at all just being honest no type of taste she insinuated we had covid having no taste! I will never ever go there again!!! It was definitely out of my element! The food was disgusting cold no flavor! Then she tried to say we we're scamming like wtf! Mash potatoes taste like box talking about add some salt and pepper if that was the case wbu didn't you season it in the back! Half of us never got are drinks just bad customers service!! Then saying the food is was expensive like really the food wasn't good! Very nasty food! I just can't believe everybody in there were so rude to us! Roasted potatoes was cold smh! I can't believe how they treated us. They were mad because they we didn't like their food. I would never go here again! I can say so much more but I'm leave that alone !! All I'm saying they might've needed is back there to help the season some food and too cook! read more

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Looks more promising than it is. Server was good. Food was ok but nothing to get excited about considering the price

The best restaurant in town, period. Food is varied, interesting, and well-prepared. Wait staff is friendly and knowledgeable. There is always a vegan option, ad well as vegetarian and a good mix of meat options. The desserts are inventive and yummy. Dress code is casual. read more

My husband and I enjoyed a perfect lunch at Element this weekend. We both enjoyed the 1/2 sandwich and cup of soup. The tomato crab dill soup was incredible! We reviewed the dinner menu and would certainly consider a trip back! The bar area seemed very neat! read more

This place was great, I got the General Tso cauliflower which was extremely tasty and breaded nicely. The atmosphere is trendy and casual and staff was friendly and attentive. read more

Greet nachos, great food, highly recommend. Nachos are super underrated. They're more deconstructed, but are AMAZING read more

I left a message on the reservation request line on Saturday morning. Got a return call on Tuesday. She said sorry it took awhile but they are closed on Sunday and Monday. I said that's why I called Saturday morning. She explained that the staff was too busy to return reservation requests that day. I suggest that if the staff is too busy to return reservation requests that the restaurant not have the option of leaving a message. read more

We were touring the Front Royal area during lunch so we ended up coming here, since it was highly rated on Yelp. We arrived here on the Memorial Day Saturday for lunch. The restaurant is located in a small rather shabby house along the main Royal Ave. We drove by the place and turned around to park in the rear dirt parking lot. The rear of the building was also shabby and the rear deck dinning was obviously closed. We entered through the front door. The place was not crowded so my party of 4 were seated on the left side facing the front window. The menu was limited to mostly sandwiches. They claimed to bake their own bread products for all their sandwiches so we all ordered sandwiches. We were all not impressed by the bread quality or the sandwiches. Our server seemed to be the owner or related to the owner, since she served our table as well as tended to the bar service. They do have draft beer on tap here, which was a positive. Her service of our table was adequate. Our sandwiches were not so impressive and one of our pickles had a dead bug on it. See my pic. When we left the place was packed with people so maybe we just had a bad experience. I was surprised with the Yelp rating. I probably would not return here. read more

Element - Front sign - New American Near Me - Front Royal, Virginia

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My reviews consistently touch on two things, food and service. Food usually trumps service on the star level with the exception of this particular review.... We were sat down at 7:15 after a short 10-15min wait in the lounge area(it was a Saturday night in the hopping city of Front Royal) which was pretty quickly in my opinion. Waiter/Host was friendly and accommodating while we were waiting in the lobby area. When we were seated, we were approached by what my buddy Russell described as a "handsome gentleman", who was friendly and quickly took our drink, appetizer, as well as dinner order at that time(7:15ish). We didn't receive our drinks right away as it appeared the staff was a little overwhelmed. In their defense, it seemed busy for a smaller restaurant. I mean, basically capacity on what I would imagine to be their busiest night of the week..... It was literally close to 15 min before we received beverages, and nearly and hour before appetizers arrived! We had just finished a 9.2 mile hike, and even at this point had not complained once even though we were famished. When the appetizers came, they were huge portions, and pretty delicious. I ordered the spicy bulgogi tacos, and they were a bit dry, but very flavorful. The tortillas were cold, so not as pliable as a soft taco should be. The rest of the appetizers, although I did not partake of them, looked good and very large. Thank God they were large, because we wouldn't see our dinners for another full hour and fifteen min or so. At about the one hour, I kindly but obviously frustratingly asked when our entrees would arrive. The waiter basically shrugged us off stating he was sorry but they had a "seven top" and it was slowing service. He also mentioned they only had one cook. I personally felt like I wasn't valued as a "three top". I don't even think we heard an apology at that point, but I can't be sure....When the runner brought our food he basically very apoplectic, and used the words "I know this sucked bad". This made me feel a little better. Food was OK, but not spectacular. I was so hungry, it may not have actually been OK, but for review purposes, everything was cooked, and the meal was hot when it hit the table. We scarfed everything down in about 10 min. We wanted to order dessert, but it was way too risky as we wanted to get to bed by midnight. We finally left the restaurant at 9:50PM. Close to three hours later. I would try this place again on another night, as I think it has potential for a good review, but not today. PS. No discounts were offered, and we tipped a full 20%. read more

Element - Longest dining experience of my life - New American Near Me - Front Royal, Virginia

This was one of the best restaurants I've ever been to. The appetizer (coconut shrimp) was so delicious we ordered two! The ribeye special was one of the best we've ever had at a restaurant. Service was amazing. Everything was quick. We were in and out in less than an hour and we were not rushed at all!! Delicious. Will be back when we're in town. read more

This is a a hidden gem in the middle of nowhere!! The Tao's cauliflower is a large bowl filled with a half a head of cauliflower lightly fried, peanuts, spinach and the delicious peanut sauce!! The secret to the sauce is the jalapeños!! If you are a cauliflower fanatic - don't miss this dish!! I also had the element salad which is one of the best salads I've ever eaten! Beets, onions, tomatoes, cucumbers, chickpeas, mixed greens and cheese! Add some guacamole if you want to go extra!! Or even protein!! I never got past these two dishes!! I was full!! Absolutely delicious!! This place stays busy!! A local favorite!! read more

My husband and I wanted to try The Element for a nice dinner out. Unfortunately, we were greatly disappointed with this restaurant and its chef. No flavor at all on the beef tips and the potatoes were hard. Even the salt the server offered couldn't help the steak. The flavorless coconut shrimp was terrible especially when accompanied by the dip that made no impact on the soggy shrimp. The server was great but knew we weren't happy with the food. The chef needs to get should of himself of this place is to survive in Front Royal. We will not be back. read more

My wife and I come through Front Royal every once in a while and few years back, when we stopped and had lunch at Element, we were delighted and not only came back several times, we also recommended it to friends. Well, I am sad to say that we stopped for lunch today and it is not the same and it's gone down hill! The place looks aged, a bit dirty, dirty counter at the bar, stained paper menu and the sandwich took way too long and came out with buns that were not warm and fries that was not hot. Sad to say that we will not be coming back here and I hope their management takes notice and make improvements. read more

I've been here twice with my dad, and I am consistently impressed with the food and service. On both trips, I had the mussels appetizer. If you go to Element, you HAVE to get the mussels appetizer. Period. The portion size is huge (it's like an entree), and the mussels are cooked perfectly. The white wine and garlic sauce is divine, and once you run out of mussels, you can dip bread in it (if you ask for additional bread they'll bring it to you). The first time I dined here, I had the scallops entree, which was excellent. On my most recent trip, I had the ginger miso beef entree, which was delicious. I was impressed with the quality of the beef, which was cooked to a perfect medium rare. My dad had a rockfish entree, which I don't think is always offered, but he said it was delicious. I was way too stuffed to eat dessert (or even to finish my entree), but my dad had the cheesecake. The cheesecake was INSANE. Even though I was very full, I still had some of it, simply because the flavor was so extraordinary. The cheesecake was thick and creamy, and it was clear to me that a lot of care was taken in crafting it. On both visits, I was as impressed with the service as I was with the food. The restaurant is very clean (including the bathrooms), the waitstaff is friendly and attentive, and the food arrives quickly. I'm sure I will make many more visits here in the future. read more

Element - Ginger miso beef entree, cooked to a perfect medium rare. I was very impressed with the quality of the beef. - New American Near Me - Front Royal, Virginia

We were very excited to try this local restaurant after reading their menu online, but were very disappointed to be served two entrees that included pork products that were not listed on the menu. My husband and I are both pescatarians, so it was quite surprising to eat shrimp and grits with bacon (not listed on menu) and salmon with pork sauce (also not listed on the menu). My husband bit in first and mentioned it to the waitress. She offered to get him something else, but he was already deep into his dish and didn't want to be too burdensome, so he said it was fine, but that it should be mentioned in the future on the menu for those that don't eat pork. The manager came over to apologize and said she would give us a free dessert. Then I took a bite and immediately realized there was something meat-like in the sauce. I stopped eating and told the waitress, who disagreed with me and said it was just part of the salmon. I found several more pieces of meat in the sauce, presumably pork, which made my stomach flip over and feel sick. My husband tried to persuade me that it must just be bread, so I handed the dish off to him. I asked the waitress again about the sauce and explained that I was pretty sure that the sauce had meat in it and that it should be listed on the menu. She said she would mention it to the staff and that she agreed that it would be important to list for people with allergies. We did get a free dessert worth $6, but that did not in any way make up for spending over $40 on two entrees that were not just unenjoyable, but compromised our ethical and health decisions not to eat pork, or meat products at all for that matter. I have not eaten pork since I was a child. As a note to staff, please list meat products on your menu. When you make a serious customer-service error as you did with us, please make up for it without putting the pressure on the customer to advocate for themselves. We are easy-going people and are not going to make flamboyant demands, especially after trying to politely tell staff three times about unmarked meat products. Our waitress should have checked on the ingredients of the sauce when I asked, not disagreed with me without full information. I did not enjoy my food at all and still have a bad taste in my mouth. Not worth the price. read more

Good meat pizza from menu. Don't recommend the white pizza. The hostess was very nice. If you're in a hurry, don't expect a quick in and out. I would recommend though. read more

Hubby and I decided to try this resturant here in Front Royal Va. Everything was awesome and omg soooooo delicious. Kearstin was the best! Highly recommend. read more

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