I've been to Lafayette Tavern 4x since they've opened and have two more reservations on the books…read more I think it's a great addition to the Richmond dining scene, though not without some hiccups.
Visit 1 (March): My boyfriend and I sat along the wall of half booths. We were seated next to a couple of girls who were obscenely loud, to the point that my boyfriend said his eardrum hurt after we left. The food was phenomenal for the most part that trip - we had the bucatini with slab bacon (me), spicy shells (him), plus the leeks and creamed spinach.
For drinks, I had the Fogcutter (whew, strong) and he ordered a bottle of expensive orange wine. Dessert-wise, he had the banana-brulee cheesecake and I had the cream and berries (not my favorite, but different). Service was friendly and prompt. We were interested to try more, so I was pleased when I randomly woke up around 1:15 am on April 1 and was able to score some May reservations.
Visit 2 (May): Earlier this month, we stopped in again the night of Mother's Day. I was surprised to see the restaurant wasn't full, perhaps that was by design due to the holiday. We were seated in the two-tops in the middle of the room, which we much preferred, as we didn't have neighbors screaming in our ears. That visit, he tried the double mint Julip, and I tried the Tommy Collins and an Espresso Martini (both delightful). For an app, he ordered a sashimi special that he loved. I ordered the French dip that came with fries and added the lemon garlic aioli (yum). That time, he had the bucatini since he enjoyed mine so much the first go-around.
For dessert, I mixed it up with the $18 ice cream sundae: worth. every! penny. Our server was super sweet too. I had mentioned I had two other reservations on the books and was bummed I couldn't make them for 3 people, so she suggested talking to the host. As we were walking out, the host wrote my details down in a notebook, including that the one reservation was a birthday res, and said she'd follow up the next week. She didn't, so that was disappointing but I guess understandable considering their popularity.
Visit 3 (Mid-May): This visit started well with a "welcome back!" from our server to me. I was with a friend this time, and we were seated in the middle, so I was hyped about that. I had spent quite a bit of time talking up the food. She and I opted to split the fries and creamed spinach to start. Both great, but we wanted to save room for the rest of our meal too.
She ordered the salmon and I ordered the chopped salad for my main. Not gonna lie, the chopped salad was not my favorite and it was pretty hard to eat as it kept falling out of the bowl. I opted to box the whole thing to give to my boyfriend instead, and focused on dessert. We also asked if we could split the remainder of our sides since we were going to different places and were told that was no problem. Our desserts were delightful! My friend had the chocolate mousse and loved it, and I had the sundae again ha.
We had to ask for boxes for our desserts too, because we were so full. They were boxed, we paid the bill, and then right as we were going to leave, we reminded our server that we needed our other courses too. This is where things got a little strange. She came back and apparently our food had been given away to another table. She asked how they could make it right, so we asked if we could have the food remade being that we had so much of it left. She agreed.
A manager stopped over, assured us everything was being remade, and then shortly after came back with the bags. I asked to confirm that the sides were separated, and he said yes, the fries in one, spinach in another, so when I clarified that we were splitting them to go to two different destinations, he rolled his eyes at me. Like sir, I saw that haha. Anyway, eventually it was sorted but it did make for a long night.
Visit 4 (Yesterday): I stopped in for a mildly belated birthday dinner, as I wanted to celebrate here even after a weekend away. Our server was pleasant, but I did notice she doted pretty heavily on a couple celebrating their anniversary at the next table over. They were given free champagne to start and had "happy anniversary" written on their table. From what I could gather, they seemed to be a high-value table. If you celebrate a birthday here, note that they'll ask "who's birthday is it?" and then light a candle in your dessert and walk away.
For our apps, we had the fries with aioli and the fried artichoke hearts to start. Both were soo good, especially the artichoke hearts! For our meals, my mom teetered pretty heavily before landing on the chicken based on our server's suggestion. She said it was okay but heavily salted. She gave my boyfriend her leftovers (lucky dude, right?). I ordered the filet, which was lovely. We both had sundaes for dessert (love).
Yelp just capped my review ha, that's new. Anyway, all in all, I'd give this spot 4.5 stars.
