The food was good but the portions are too small for the price you pay! The Brussel sprouts are the only reason that I would go back.

I'm leaving a one star review as the result of my Tuesday karaoke night. When I signed up on the list, I was 8th after my wife Sara. After checking the board that gives updates of who's next, the host continued to put people ahead of us, which was not fair. When I approached her she told me, "I do this however I want, and put whomever I want up." Okay well, no more karaoke for me. Fair is fair. When you sign up on the list, do it in that order. Sorry if I'm a brat but I wasted a lot of time on her watch as she threw up her friends or whomever. Not cool. read more

Super fun place! Karaoke every Tuesday night! Such a welcoming environment. While we were there some TURD was rude to the staff but the bartender handled it perfectly. We will 100% be back. read more

It was hard to find a nice restaurant to have on a Sunday after 2pm. Some of the nicest restaurants were closed. We ended in this place. It was ok. My husband had a cheeseburger. The meat was super tender and juicy. It was very well done. But it was a little expensive ($16). I had an arugula salad with strawberries, peanuts, feta cheese and a honey vinaigrette from Virginia. It was delicious. The restroom was super dirty. read more

Come see Natalie. This place is nice and clean. But let me tell you, the food is superb!! Fried chicken sandwich is out of this world.

Dont bother with the Thai salad unless you like bland basic salad greens and a tasteless oily dressing. Throwing in a handful of peanuts does not make a tasty dish. Very disappointed. The added grilled chicken was cooked ok. read more

Prepare to be raptured! When we arrived everyone was excited to see us and they complimented our appearance which always nice, but I assure you the following review is not a biased response to their indulgence of our vanity. We ordered bloody Mary's- horse radish pickled green beans. Best on the mall. The Dixie Sparkler was also ordered. It was refreshing and much better than it looked on the menu. I got the special: pork meatloaf medallions with a home made gravy and eggs. The highlight of the brunch was the burger my wife had. We were informed that the beef was local and organic. The couple we were with ordered slight twists on the items on the menu which the kitchen accommodated. We all loved our food and felt relieved that we didn't end up at a nearby brunch spot. The staff was fun and engaging. The service was very good. read more

Ok, I understand restaurants aren't always money makers, but Rapture really ruined their place for me recently. Out with 3 friends for after work drinks and appetizers, our waitress was slow and unfriendly at best. She never refilled out waters, though constantly asked if we wanted one more beer. When it came time to pay she notified us that groups larger than 2 would not be allowed to split the check. How convenient as we were a group of four. The food was so-so, but as this is my second poor experience at Rapture I've sworn it off. Perhaps it's cooler if you're single and willing to bleed out the wallet during happy hour. read more

Just ate at Rapture. Overall terrible experience - hair found in the hush puppies, short ribs served cold, polenta was runny and not only was the mac and cheese served cold, but I found a hair in it as well. Don't waste your time or money. read more

Visiting C-ville and took a stroll on the downtown mall. Took a look at Rapture's new spring menu and I was ready! First I had their gumbo, and it was excellent. The roux was thicker than you'll find in New Orleans, but the flavor was great, with just the right amount of spice. Then, for my main dish, I had the blackened redfish. It was atop some delicious asparagus and grits with mushrooms. Really yummy!! The redfish melted in my mouth, just the way it should. My server, Amanda, was great - answered all questions with a smile. read more

After a great Tuesday night in downtown Charlottesville me and a group of friends decided to end our night at Rapture. I wasn't extremely excited to go there, as I have been there before to eat and the food and the service were not quite up to par. I ended up going and it turned a great night out into a nightmare. There was one particular bartender who was extremely rude to the guests and even went as far as swearing to the customers and calling them names. After he was in his mood I order a shot for bourbon for a bar patron and he ended up charging 10 dollars for it. I'm not sure if that is standard there but it seemed quite overpriced. I immediately left after that. It was quite surprising to say the least, as most of the restaurants and bars on the downtown mall maintain superb professionalism. It was amazing to me that 1 bartender could ruin the experience of 8 people so bad that they said they would never go back there. How this man has a job in this economy, I have no idea. There has to be better staff out there, that know the difference between working in an old pub, and the bar of a high end restaurant. Please consider other options for your night out. read more

Not only is the food fantastic but the short handed staff was so nice! I love this place!

A friend recommended eating the burger at rapture. At first I was a little disgusted because I know what that place turns into at night and did not feel like it would be a sanitary place to eat during the day. Yes it' still felt a bit grungy and dark. The hamburger however was very good. It was a bit on the pricey side at around $14, however they used local beef and the flavors were spot on. They even really know how to cook a burger to order. My boyfriend ordered a small salad and a seafood stew which were good. The seafood stew was a bit on the cold side however the salad was great. I might consider returning however the atmosphere leaves much to be desired. read more

I thought the 2 appetizers I had were very creative and oh too have gluten free breaded oysters yum read more

Rapture - They had me at fried and gluten free - New American Near Me - Charlottesville, Virginia

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This is one of the most weird restaurants I have ever been to(and I am from NY). The Caesar salad was awful (croutons were stale) and the dressing was good enough for the birds. The soft shell crab was mediocre at best. Weird people (almost comical as a patron was dressed as a king). This is a restaurant is for young adults who do not know any better. read more

I don't even know where to begin with this. My friend and I were out on a Saturday night, and our normal spot was super busy, so we looked at the menu posted outside of Rapture. A few people in front of us were waiting at the unmanned hostess stand, and we decided to wait behind them. A waitress (whose name we never caught), rudely told them she couldn't help them, and that only Charlene was seating people so "they'd have to track her down." This should have been a sign that we wouldn't have the best experience. Charlene ended up coming out soon after and seated the group, as they had a reservation. After taking a very long time to seat them, she came back for us and asked if we had a reservation. There were some tables outside that were open, and we knew we wanted to sit at one, so when she told us they were slammed and it was an hour wait, we asked specifically for an outside table. She enthusiastically agreed and seated us. The flustered waitress from earlier took our drink orders, and came back to remind us how busy they were. We tried to order deviled eggs, and her response was, "We're out of that. We're out of a lot." She laughed and my friend and I just gave each other a weird look. I asked what else they were out of, and she couldn't remember. We wanted to order wings, but asked how many came in an order, as we wanted to try getting two flavors. She told us the kitchen was so busy that she wouldn't ask them, and further, there would be absolutely no other special requests and substitutions. (Also, her other answer to how many came in an order was, "oh, I don't know, 6? The table behind you ordered them." Ok, cool.) I ordered the pork belly, my friend had the meatloaf. The food came SO late, and our entrees arrived before our wings were finished. My pork belly was completely burned, which I politely told to the waitress when she came to check on us. She told me she knew it was bad tonight, but that it's "usually a great dish." She blamed it on the fact that they were super busy and the chefs weren't the normal chefs. I was hoping she'd offer me a new entree or take it off the bill. Neither happened. She also would randomly come by to complain about how she wasn't actually supposed to be working that night, and that they ran out of bacon. Oh, and as she'd bus the tables, she would just pour out the drinks over the railing onto the sidewalk, right behind me. After all the talk of them being so busy... I went inside to use the bathroom, and saw 5 empty tables JUST in the front. I was just visiting my friend for the weekend, who is a local. She will not be returning, and I will definitely make an effort to avoid it next time I'm in town. Wings were actually really tasty, which is the only reason this has 2 stars. read more

The burger-pretzel bun, apple smoked bacon and fresh blue cheese. A party in my mouth. Normally its a spot for drinks for me but will be back to try some of the other food items. The food was a good value and we sat at the bar and the bartender was attentive and prompt .. Side note he made us some good drinks as well ... read more

What a pleasant surprise! On this busy strip in Charlottesville we entered Rapture with hopes of cooling off and having a good dinner. Four of us enjoyed the delicious fried green tomatoes and the super tasty hush puppies. We wished we had ordered double they were that good. Dinner of pork cheek was tasty but the portion was a bit too small for my husband. My kale salad with grilled chicken was very fresh and the carrot vinaigrette was a perfect pairing. The others enjoyed the seared scallops and the crab cake sandwich. Great service by Kyle and attentive staff added to the overall experience. Cool vibe in the decor made our visit great all around. read more

I love love love Rapture. I eat there pretty regularly, and today I went in for brunch around 1 pm. The service was quick and friendly as always and the food is SO GOOD. I had a friend from Chicago visiting and she was so excited to eat real southern grits. The owner recognizes me and is very welcoming and friendly always. Their bloody mary's are really interesting and unique and they have a really awesome assortment of dishes for brunch and dinner. They also do a burger and local draft deal on Wednesdays for like $8 which is amazing. Also had dinner there earlier in the week and I had the Southern Veggie Plate. I'm not a vegetarian but I ordered it anyway because it sounded so good. I was not disappointed. read more

Sit out on the sidewalk and have the wasabi steak salad. Really. Do it. (Isn't it sad that 3/4 reviews of this place are from San Franciscans?) read more

The cheeseburger was made with free range beef and topped with white Cabot cheddar cheese. The grits had thyme and cheese in them - they were unlike anything I've tasted before. Both the cheeseburger and grits tasted great! I also ordered myself a bourbon cocktail. It was a bit on the strong side, but also good. My favorite part of the meal was the vanilla bean pudding with whipped cream and Cointreau-soaked strawberries. read more

The coolest spot in such a neat area. The food and service was top notch. Prices were fair and everything we tried was very good.

Amanda was awesome!!! So was the food. Not sure what you want to eat? Let Amanda make some recommendations. read more

Rapture - Thanks for the great meal. - New American Near Me - Charlottesville, Virginia

Had a very poor experience at Rapture. I got the eggs benedict and got food poisoning from it one hour later. It was the only thing I had eaten all day and I was sick for five days. I called the restaurant to let them know and they didn't apologize or refunand said the manager would be in touch with me but he still has not (one month later). Horrible experience! Stay away read more

Racist. From the moment we walked into the restaurant, we were taken aback by the attitude of our waitress. We were not greeted with the warm welcomes that all other customers received and instead were met with horrible, cold costumer service. She demonstrated a clear unwillingness to even interact with our party of six, condescendingly answering any of our questions about the menu. We weren't sure why we were being treated so dismissively until a nice, WHITE couple walked in and she treated them like they were her own children. Patted on the back and walked directly to their table, despite being maskless which was clearly against the restaurant's policy (something we were bombarded over as soon as we stepped foot through the entrance though we were in the process of putting our masks on and showed no hesitance towards doing so). I wish tip wasn't automatically included because she absolutely deserved $0 for her treatment of us as respectful, paying costumers. Do not go here if you are a person of color. read more

This place is kind of odd. I come here for trivia, which is the only reason I go. But the drinks are whatever and the food isn't particular memorable (except I do love the hillbilly egg rolls). The service is underwhelming. The ambiance is like a dive bar that refuses to lean into its dive bar identity. It's kind of dirty and gross without any of the divey charm of a real dive bar. Come for trivia on Thursday! That's about it. read more

Looking for a place to have an after dinner drink and dessert. Sitting at the bar, I immediately noticed the unmistakable stinky bars mats that haven't been properly cleaned. We were shunned because we weren't there for trivia. When we asked for a specialty cocktails menu, it was tossed at us. The final straw was when the bartender asked the young ladies if it was ladies night out. When they replied, yes, he made the comment "I like to see you suck the meat off the bones" as they were eating wings. Needless to say, we immediately left before placing an order. For all I know, the food is good. However, I will never step foot back in this place. And, I will share this horrible story with as many people as possible to discourage them giving the establishment any business. Especially when they allow such a douche of a bartender to work there. read more

Sat down at bar on Thursday evening and was immediately asked whether we were there for trivia night. Well, no, we were looking for a drink and possibly dessert, the place looked sorta classy from the outside. Had to ask for cocktail menu, then as we were looking at the menu the bartender asked a group of three women eating wings beside us if it were girls night out. He the proceeded to say, "I like watching you suck the meat off those bones". And then he said it AGAIN. What a douchebag. Needless to say, we walked out. read more

Went for brunch early this afternoon after realizing that Twisted Branch Tea wasn't open on Sundays and this place seemed like it had an okay menu. As other people have mentioned, the service is very slow and on top of that getting what you actually ordered can be quite difficult as well. I ordered the poached eggs on a buttermilk biscuit and my girlfriend got the omelet. The waitress took our order without a pad, which is pretty common, but she apparently just listened to us ordering and didn't really put much stock in the idea of remembering it all. The omelet came with the wrong ingredients and missing a side item, but since it took so long to arrive there was no way it was going to be sent back. The taste was fine, just not what she had wanted. My poached eggs apparently came from two different cooks as one was very runny and the other was cooked completely hard. I suppose if you averaged the two you would have had one very nicely cooked egg. The biscuit was good, but the hollandaise sauce on top of it all was slightly congealed. The toast, which came near the end of our meal, was cooked to perfection. A+ for the toast. Also, while outdoor dining is nice, especially on a day like today, try not to be seated near the trash cans. We had many visitors of the bee variety who have taken on a near pigeon-like ability to not be phased by people and their swatting hands. All in all the price was fine for the quality of food, but not worth the wait time and other inconveniences. read more

The food was delicious, I only wish there had been larger portions. The beer recommendations were accurate and very tasty! The service was great with the exception of a longer wait than we had anticipated to receive our food. The only thing that I found off was the outdoor dining area is far different than the indoor. Since my husband and I ate al fresco and the food had more of a formal presentation I was expecting a very different interior. It had a bar and pool table where I would have expected fine dining. Nevertheless, I would definitely visit this restaurant again, I will just order more of the delicious food next time! read more

Similar to some other reviews, the menu and the fact that it's farm to table is what pulled me in. What pushed me away was the quality of the food and service. My wife and I are not picky eaters at all but it seemed like the plates were unfinished (oily fries without any sauce like ketchup or bbq, chicken & waffles without syrup...do people eat waffles without syrup?). As far as wait time, we counted 55 minutes between our appetizer and our meal, and our waiter visited our table maybe once during that time frame. I know our waiter was super busy attending to at least 15 tables I think, but it would have been nice to check in every once in a while. Thankfully we were not in a rush! If you need to hurry, do NOT eat here. All in all, we were there for about 2 1/4 hrs, the food was disappointing and the wait time was extremely long. I will definitely read the reviews next time before sitting down at another restaurant. I hope the restaurant reads these reviews and makes adjustments to better serve their customers. read more

Mediocre food at best for brunch and the AC unit dripped on us the whole time...Definitely not a spot to return to

After A terrible waiting experience at Blue Moon myself and a few friends walked to the downtown mall to find something. Thank goodness we found this place. The staff was very friendly and sat us near some TVs so we could watch football at brunch. I ordered the southern scramble or farmers scramble, don't quite remember the name. It was EASILY the best brunch I have ever had. Prior to moving here I lived in NYC for 7 years and have had the opportunity to try many different brunch places. The whole meal was topped in a sausage gravy that had a very strong and delicious apple flavor. I just drooled so much on my phone I think I need a new one! Big ups to the chef! read more

If you want food that has no flavor, is barely cooked, and service that's terrible, this is your place! I went with a party of 5, and each of us got something different. Every single thing tasted terrible. Even the chicken fingers that our kid got was bad; how do you mess that up? The potato wedges were raw, the chicken had no salt, the pasta was flavorless and drowned in oil, and the fish was very small and undercooked...and again, flavorless! The waitress neglected to mention any details about the dishes themselves, which is great when the menu is not very descriptive! I normally don't complain, but this was such a terrible experience, I felt like I should say something. I told the waitress that I'm not looking for any refund, just to tell her about our experience and she did not care at all. She cut us off to "get the manager," who also did not care. We then heard the waitress talking about us out loud while we were still there. Oh, on a positive note, the Cajun wings are good. Why isn't 0 stars an option? read more

We were looking for a place that wasn't fine dining but that wasn't pub food and this place looked like a compromise between the two. Kind of a random hodge podge, salads, sushi, and various and sundry items. We sat outside and ordered some wine while our waitress was clearly overwhelmed with all her other tables. We decided to order the ceviche as an appetizer and our waitress replied on how good it was but that there were a couple peppers we'd have it pick out. Ok, no problem. It came out in a cocktail glass, which made it hard to view what you were eating. We noticed the jalapeno peppers on top so we picked them out and just dug in for a bite. Except we didn't fish out all the peppers because they were swimming in the dish. And turns out they weren't jalapenos. THEY WERE HABANEROS! Like sliced WHOLE! I could have dealt with habanero juice or even MINCED habaneros, but serving whole sliced habaneros?! Who does that?! What restaurant serves the common population a seemingly popular ceviche dish AND PUTS SLICED HABANEROS IN IT!? I don't' need to tell you what happened from here. We were FREAKING. My friend wanted to run and hide from the pain, I wanted to stick my head in the walk-in freezer. Have you ever tried a habanero pepper? I don't think you have. It's the hottest pepper in the WORLD. It was beyond spicy, it was PAINFUL. So the waitress finally returns and says with a casual smile, 'The habaneros too hot for ya?" Very funny you B, BRING US SOME WATER AND BREAD PRONTO. Ten minutes and two holes in our tongues later, she returns with the bread and our entrees, 'oh the bread ended up taking awhile". Ya think?! Then you should have milked a cow and brought us a glass of milk. I mean OW!! We were like two burn victims trying to call 911 but being put on hold. After this, we could barely taste our meals because of the damage done from the habaneros. I still cannot believe how 1. A restaurant would serve whole habaneros in a mainstream appetizer dish without a FLAME symbol on the menu 2. How she casually mentioned the peppers and trivialized its presence. Ugh. I ordered the tacos (not hard, boo) and they were pretty EH. And my friend ordered the Terriyaki sushi roll and it seemed to be pretty good, for all she knew. I guess after eating a habanero and gulping down 3 cups of water anything could have tasted good. Also, my wine tasted like grape juice after this incident and homegirl later forgot to bring out the 2nd glass I ordered. She sucked. Piss poor service and mediocre food. Pass. read more

I would have loved to review the food here, but we were unable to get seated. In fact, we were unable to even get our presence acknowledged. We walked in at 4:15 p.m. There were no other customers. Three employees were 5 feet away. They would not even look up. We picked up menus, talked about the menu, wondered out loud if we could get a salad. They still did not look up. We left. read more

TL;DR: Came in with co-workers to have dinner the other night and, while the food was good (the eggrolls!), the service was not. We had to ask several times for napkins, and our waiter mixed up our drinks. It's also kind of shady inside, and wouldn't recommend staying after 8, as it gets very loud and the service turns to shit. read more

The food was good, service was fine, and we were able to enjoy our meal outside on the promenade. My husband had the shrimp and grits, and he liked them pretty well. I had a bite of the uncontaminated (hadn't touched the shrimp!) grits, and they were alright. Could have used a bit more butter! I had a vegetable plate with collard greens, mashed potatoes, black beans, and butternut squash, and ate almost every bite. There was definitely more than enough butter or fat in those veggies! Since the food is sourced locally, the menu changes frequently - I'll definitely be back to try something new next time I'm in Charlottesville! read more

Went here today for brunch around noon, and our experience was mediocre at best. It took awhile for anyone to greet us, even though we were the only couple waiting at the time we arrived. Once we got seated, it again took awhile for us to get service and water. When our food arrived, nothing tasted even remotely like it was fresh out of the kitchen. The cajun potatoes (more like burned potatoes) were soggy, my husband's eggs benedict had obviously been sitting for awhile (filmy on top), and my fried eggs were ok but had no seasoning whatsoever. Oh, and our biscuits were "gluey" tasting--not cooked all the way through and they had definitely been sitting around somewhere for awhile. I'm not sure why service was the way it was because the patio, where we sat, wasn't even crowded. With so many good places to eat in Charlottesville, I definitely won't go back. It's bad when the plain, fresh fruit on the side is the best part of your meal. read more

UPDATE 02/06/2014: I visited again at the suggestion of a friend. They seem to have done some cleaning, although the icky booths were still in use. We ended up ordering off of the pub menu and I was fairly pleased with my portobello burger. Nothing to write home about, but I feel that 18$ for a mushroom burger and two beers is a pretty darn good deal. Now the bad: we were greeted as soon as we walked in the door, but the waitress told us she could not seat us just yet. We waited an additional ten minutes as she straightened the seats to the right of the door. As in, she was literally just placing the tables at right angles. For ten minutes. Finally, she sat us at one of those tables. The waitress seemed to forget we were there. Repeatedly. And the owner of the restaurant was chatting loudly with a table next to us about the restaurant (one of the diners at that table was a reviewer for a newspaper), while my dining companion and I waited on water, beer, the check, etc. All in all, it appears their food quality has gone up, they've done a bit more with the sanitation, but the overall experience still leaves a bit to be desired. Original review: They have a decent beer selection and a fairly broad menu, but none of the food I have ever tried there has been anything to write home about. Also, they really need to shut down for a few days and do an intensive deep cleaning. The inside of the place is just gross with layers of crud. read more