My wife and I had breakfast here Sunday morning. I ordered the so called home fries, which turned out to be tater tots fried up with some onions and green peppers. It was horrible. The wrap with the egg in it was mostly wrap. If it wasn't for the hot sauce that I dumped all over the wrap it wouldn't of had any flavor at all. It doesn't do any good to mention the breakfast sandwich that my wife ordered, because it was horrible as well. The service was good. read more

Ate here after visiting The Grand Cave. Nice small local place with tons of character. Order loaded fries and grottoes dog. Don't let the loaded fries with cucumbers threw you for a loop, delicious addition that was totally unexpected. Everyone in the party enjoyed their meals. Wings come right off the smoker read more

My picky daughter loved the mozzarella sticks. And the BLT was amazing. The service was quick and pleasant. As we are here visiting from out of town this is a cute little restaurant. They can tell all the locals come to. I would definitely come again. read more

slow service and not nearly as good as jesses in hburg improvement...suggestion... the diced onions at jesses were way finer thats one thing you need to do read more

LiL' Guss' - American Near Me - Grottoes, Virginia

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Very kind workers. Burger was good and fries were great. Chill atmosphere and would go again read more

LiL' Guss' - American Near Me - Grottoes, Virginia

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I love the big Gus burger with fries and the Margarita's are so good. Don't let the size of this place scare you off, it may be small but it's mighty. read more

Thomas is a great owner of the restaurant, he runs it well and has friendly staff. There's often live music and provides a great atmosphere to relax at the end of the day. I usually get some fried chicken and cocktail of sorts there. They have a pretty extensive menu for the size of the restaurant. Stop by Grottoes and try this one out! read more

I had a delightful experience at this local restaurant and bar. They have live music! The owners are Greek and the place is lively and often loud. An amazing thing happened when I was there . The bartender MaryAnn was not only a great server but also a fantastic singer. She sang from the bar accompanied by the band . Her voice and performance while mixing drinks with one hand and a microphone in the other brought the house down! What fun ! I will definitely be back . Recommend they give MaryAnn the mike more of the time. Her drinks are really special but her singing is spectacular. read more

Found this place online traveling back through the country roads from a JMU graduation. Super cute, family owned type place with good food and friendly staff. Was a great pit stop for us. Thanks Christina and Bri (no e!) read more

We stopped here on our way to Weyer's Cave. I wanted a healthy option and their kabob platter was perfect! We left very full and satisfied. The staff was great and the interior was welcoming. read more

Good music and staff. Always helping the community. More specials would help draw more people in but a great place if you're craving a burger, friends, music, and drinks! read more

The food was fine, good chili hot dogs. The atmosphere however could have been better. While eating with my elderly parents, two men at the bar talked loudly about being pulled over by police. Everyone heard a play by play of this guys interaction with the police, then our waitress joined in telling her story. Both were horribly anti-police and their language was awful. If this is the norm then I would avoid this place. read more

Their big selling point is that they are the 3rd generation of Jess' Downtown in Harrisonburg. That may be, but they will need to improve drastically before they can be compared to that tradition. On my first visit, I had to endure the owner, Angeliki, berating an employee in the dining room. A patron had specifically asked to speak with this employee to thank her for her customer service. When Angeliki saw her in the dining area, she came to the customer's table to loudly admonish the employee for not remaining in the kitchen. That alone was enough to lose my business. I ordered chili dogs; they had the toughest skins imaginable and were dried out. They had giant chunks of onions on them, not the finely diced onions like you would find at Jess'. Okay, so they are new & I thought I would give them one more chance the next day, ordering bacon cheeseburgers & French fries. I wish I had used better judgement & quit while I was sorta ahead. I received a very small portion of soggy, super greasy fries. My cheeseburger had virtually raw bacon on it. Honestly, I couldn't get past the rancid aroma of the fries, which I did taste...yucky, and the raw bacon to even taste my burger. So, $50 wasted in two days. I'm not sure I'll be gullible enough to try them a third time. read more

LiL' Guss' - Bacon Cheeseburger & fries - American Near Me - Grottoes, Virginia

This is the 3rd location of the famous Jess's lunch. It's a different feel inside than the other two locations. More of a small town sports bar with outside seating. The hotdogs taste the exact same as the other locations and I'm very impressed. The owner was very nice during our visit. Asked if a couple times if everything was good and if we were satisfied. The food didn't come out as fast as the location on 33, maybe 2 minutes longer, which isn't a big deal since they are knew. Throughly impressed with this new location!!! read more

It's okay. If you want to go out to eat....just go to town. 3 of us went on a Thursday @ 1300. Not busy so we had our choice of seats.. we all chose the same thing - hamburger combo which came with fries & a drink. 32$ for lunch! Plus a tip!!!! Server was worth her 20%!! But seriously, just go to your freezer...it's holds the same foods...frozen fries & probably a pack of ground beef. read more

Had the Philly cheese STEAK, was amazing!!! Great service and outdoor seating was fantastic read more

LiL' Guss' - a meat sandwich and french fries - American Near Me - Grottoes, Virginia

When I walked in the first thing that I noticed was the floors were very dirty. The waitress took our orders after we were seated then the orders came out wrong. The waitress did not notice that the orders were wrong at first jokingly saying that they're stupid in the back. They brought us the correct orders after that point. We noticed them messing up a lot of people's orders and the manager telling the waitresses to use what they had. The manager was also very unprofessional using a lot of profanity around the customers. Needless to say I will not be returning to Lil Gus's. read more

Went to Lil' Gus's last Friday night and just had the best time and great food too!! We were surprised that even under the adverse conditions right now with Covid 19 they were able to give everyone there a pleasant experience. Food was great and service impeccable you can't go wrong here. By the way the entertainment was great Josh is very talented and we enjoyed his music!! We will be back I am sure many times read more

Lil Gus's is a hometown gathering spot that offers fresh ground hamburgers and the best chili dogs around. Weekends usually offers live music along with special menus items. read more

Yesterday we tried to go and grab some food really fast, we sat there for 10 minutes no one said a word to us. When we looked at someone they would immediately look away. Absolutely ridiculous "service" So we ended up leaving after 10 minutes of nothing. read more

We heard there was a new restaurant in Grottes so we had to try it out. This was on a Sunday afternoon and the place was about half full. I liked the friendly vibe. I ordered the lil Gus burger w/out bacon. It came out of the kitchen piping hot. It came with fried onions, swiss cheese, bbq sauce and fresh sauteed mushrooms - no canned 'shrooms here. My DH got two dogs with everything. We both enjoyed our meals. I'm new in the area, so I've never been to Jess' in Harrisonburg, and can't compare Lil Gus' to its "parent" company but to me this is a great addition to the neighborhood. read more

It's a bit of a dive, but the menu and price-point is spot on. The burgers are actually some of the better burgers in the area. When they run the caprese salad special, get it!! Sometimes hole-in-the-wall joints have the best oddities, and the caprese at Lil Gus' is on-point. read more

This restaurant is not all it's cracked up to be. When I arrived and entered the establishment it was very loud. I seated myself which was expected, but after sitting for around seven minutes I received a menu. The staff was very unprofessional, I heard a few of the employees cussing in the restaurant. My waitress was very rude and seemed as if she did not want to be there. After I waited another twenty minutes for my food, I was excited to try it. The burger was extremely dry and lacked seasoning. The burger to bun ratio was off, which meant to much bun. I had ordered the loaded cheese fries, and to my surprise I received French fries with melted American cheese slices, topped with tomatoes, jalapeños, bacon, and chili. The star of this dish was the canned hormel chili. The star of this restaurant is the BAR, this is the only reason the locals will return. read more

I have been waiting for 30 minutes for a hot dog and hamburger was completely ignored by the bartender it took 11 minutes to order and I am still waiting on the food. I arrived at 7:10 PM. It must be because I am not drinking like the people at the bar getting all the attention. read more

Sometimes you just want a decent hamburger or hot dog for lunch. If you are near Weyers Cave, this is the place. We went on a Sunday afternoon. Our server was very nice. I had the two hog dog special (w/ fries and drink) and my wife had a hamburger. We both enjoyed our food. There is a bar and sports were on three TVs but it wasn't too loud. For what it is, they do it very well. I'll be back. read more

|||THIS IS A SCHOOL PROJECT REPORT FOR A CULINARY CLASS||| The restaurant that I had chosen to make a food critic report about was LiL' Gus's. LiL' Gus's is classified as the third generation of Jess's Lunch. It reminded me more of a bar than a place to get lunch or dinner, for how big the actual bar was compared to place to sit and eat. The time for the waiter to get to the table was about 5 minutes, and to receive the food was addition 10 minutes. Quality; the meal that I had chosen was chicken tenders and fries, it was great for the proportion size given. On the other hand both of my grandparents meals were about the same except for the toppings; which were two hotdogs and fries each,they were cold and hard. As I looked around the place, up front looked clean and tidy, but as soon after getting to the table it was sticky, the cushion for the booth had a hole/dip which made you feel as if you were sitting on the floor. The windows were covered in a yellow stain, also had cobwebs and dead bugs such as flys and stink bugs along the window seal. They had music playing in the front and also the back. The music in the front was apparently cranked up to full volume, because they didn't want to hear the people sing in the back to a entire different radio station. Service; the waiter seemed to be in a rush to get us out of the place when there was only three other people. In less than four minutes of having our food, the waiter was handing our bill for us to pay without asking if there was anything else that was needed. The value rating that my family had chosen was a two out of five, because of the quality and service that was given. read more