We stopped to get breakfast. I ordered a bacon, egg, toast & grits " small plate". The waitress just dropped off our breakfast & left. I had to get up & flag the waitress to ask where my grits were. Her response was " We're out of them. Do you want hash browns." I told her I'd take them if I had to but I really wanted & had ordered the grits. She came back & dropped off a plate of hash browns and said "sorry about that". So why didn't they tell me they were out of them when I ordered? Why didn't the waitress say anything about the missing grits when she brought my breakfast? Why wasn't I given a refund for part of my order when part of it was missing? Neither my husband or I ate the hash browns- we tasted them and they were not real potatoes. The toast wasn't really toasted. The bacon not fully cooked. Worst food & service I have ever had! read more

Excellent! Everyone enjoyed their meals while we visited. From the steak sandwich to the scallops and crab cakes we all left with full belly's and big smiles. read more

Ordered the scrapple breakfast special two days straight. The scrapple was prepared with a crispy outside and soft inside. My soft eggs were prepared nice and fluffy. read more

Great seafood -- southern style. Was a little busy as a couple large groups came in -- but worth the wait. Unassuming restaurant at a gas stop -- hidden gem. read more

Breakfast review for a Saturday morning. Stopped in about 10AM and they serve breakfast until 11 AM each day. Food: Ordered a Sausage/Egg/Cheese on a biscuit, Bacon/Egg/Cheese on a biscuit and their sweet potato biscuit with country ham. The sausage was not any of that frozen stuff but homemade and great. The biscuits were fresh and delicious. They were the doughy slightly savory type of biscuit. The sweet potato biscuit with the country ham, I would not order that again. I get the sweet and salty appeal but the sweet of the sweet potato did not counter the extreme sodium attack of the country ham. Service: It's slow. You will wait at least 10-15 minutes for your orders. They do bring it out to you and I do feel like it is worth the wait, but just be prepared. Price: Cheap - Each sandwich was $4.99 and the Sweet Potato was $1.99. The sweet potato biscuit is half the size. Decor: It has its own charm, but this is not a fancy place. The Cape Center is a rest stop with a gas station. Notable Extras: The sausage, egg and cheese and biscuit is really really good. I mean I'd get up early for this. read more

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This restaurant is the only one within miles in the area. Don't let it being at a gas station fool you! We were driving in the area in time for dinner and decided to eat here, as the other restaurants in the area were closed today. I had the queen's combo of clams and local shrimp (4) with two sides being the mac and cheese and hush puppies. My date had the shrimp basket which is pre-breaded shrimp, french fries and coleslaw. Both platters came with a nice serving of cornbread that had a moist consistency similar to yellow cake! They offer Pepsi products and sweet and unsweetened iced teas. The server bringing out the food and the drinks (because you order at a counter and then they bring it out) was exceptional at customer service! She didn't just bring you your items and ask how you're doing, she actually made it into a conversational exchange. Very pleasant, and friendly with everyone! She apologized because our wait was 30 minutes from time to order to the time the food was delivered. We understood, as they were busy and it was around 5:30 to 6:00. We weren't in a hurry and just enjoyed relaxing after our drive. We would eat here again next time we're in the area. oh and there's an ample gift shop in the gas station area and convenience store type setup. Sorry no pics. We were hungry and ate the food too quickly! read more

One word; Cornbread!!!! But seriously though It Delicious. They're potato salad was great and reminded me of my mom's; just needed Paprika. The salad was delicious, but needed more than 4 shrimp, 6 would've completed it. The Flounder was mouth watering and they well seasoned; and even the Brussels Sprouts though on the soft side were seasoned well. They even stayed opened past closing so I could get my order (was coming from Exmore) I'd take my family here. read more

Although from the outside doesn't look like much more than a gas station with a cafe. We stopped in at 10:45 am for a quick bite to eat. The whole menu was available to our pleasant surprise. Had a wonderful lunch. Service was excellent! Super friendly all around. I highly recommend this cute place with awesome food read more

stop there for breakfast it's located within a gas station. The breakfast was outstanding. The grits were nice and buttery eight cooked to perfection. The sausage links were snapping on the outside and warm on the inside. But the best was the sweet potato biscuit that was pure, sweet heaven would definitely recommend an extremely affordable and very pleasant staff. read more

The crabcakes are fabulous. The staff was very kind to us.. they have a little gift shop attached to the restaurant, and it was very very cute. We bought some big preserves there.. cooking it up for biscuits tomorrow. read more

Recommended by a local and We should have looked at the Yelp review before coming in... The food is ok. Its "school cafeteria" quality food as in, it works but you wish your mom would bring you something else instead. All my food needed salt. The chili is probably from a big can. The cornbread was so soft, i couldn't tell if it was undercooked or if it was cake that was drenched in butter. read more

Let's see, where should I start. So, yesterday my mother celebrated her birthday and requested to go to Sting-rays. My sister and I had planned to take her to The Island House, but my mother insisted on this restaurant. Mainly because she has enjoyed the food here for many years, but not recently. Upon arriving at the restaurant, we noticed they weren't busy per usual for a Saturday. We had a small party of 7, we all placed our orders and sat at the table and waited for our food. Finally, after about 20 minutes, the waitress starts to bring out some food. As soon as she placed a bowl of cabbage on the table, my aunt noticed something in her cabbage, it was a dead caterpillar. It had been cooked with the cabbage. Or should I say seasoned. Majority of us had also ordered cabbage as a side. So told the waitress to take back all the cabbage and replace it with another side. We had to send back so many things. There was something floating in the vinegar, there a large egg shell in my cornbread and catfish was horrible. It was fried in old grease, and it wasn't even catfish. I'm not sure what kind of fish they're selling disguising it as catfish. The catfish used to be so good here. I'm not one to complain a lot , but all the food was trash last night. Even the macaroni and cheese was off. It tasted like it was made with sliced cheese. I've eaten here for many years, I grew up in Cape Charles and I've always looked forward to stopping here when I visit home. Sad to say, this will probably be my last. Now, I know why they weren't so busy. I've heard some locals say the food has changed since they got new owners. I didn't believe them, I had to find out for myself. Well, it's true; the food isn't good anymore. Now, if the owner had came over to our table and apologized, I probably wouldn't be writing this bad review. I do hope the owners read this and do better! read more

Sting Ray's Restaurant - Cabbage - Southern Near Me - Cape Charles, Virginia

We stopped in on our vacation to Cape Charles in Aug 2020. We had 7 people and we all ordered different things. Everything was fantastic, right down to the service! I had fried flounder, fried clams, crab cake and hush puppies. Wow, let me tell you the crab cake was phenomenal, which is rare. Everyone at the table raves about the hush puppies. Definitely try them! Don't let the fact this place is at a gas station fool you. They have great local seafood!! read more

The food was mediocre and overly priced. I had a combo plate for 19.99 and Was served four oysters and one soft shell crab. They were fried very hard and seemed to have been done so in old grease. My baked potatoe was small and over cooked also. I think they may nickel and dime you to make up for the gas station part that is closed at this time. It was not worth the drive... read more

Best local restaurant. A must when you are in the Cape Charles area. The cornbread is delicious.

It's hefty with its fried foods. A good amount of their orders is fried and it doesn't seem like the fried seafood sandwiches are that special. I ordered the fried flounder and for while I paid, it was just a thin fried slice of flounder between two burger buns with premade fries and some tartar sauce. But I guess was still full. The waitress who walked around was nice and the desserts here seem to be huge. But all in all, I wouldn't drive all the way just for this place. read more

Sting Ray's Restaurant - Fried flounder sandwich - Southern Near Me - Cape Charles, Virginia

So disappointed, this restaurant has been our go to place when traveling the Eastern Shore. Stopped for lunch and chose the shrimp and chips lunch special. I never thought that I would have to ask if the shrimp were fresh or local. What was being served were butterflied heavily breaded frozen shrimp. There was no shrimp taste. I had avoided the fish and chips because when I asked what kind of fish it was I was told it was a pre-breaded flounder filet. The cooked cabbage and sweet corn bread were the kind of food I was expecting. When stopping here ask what is fresh, and local hard lesson learned. read more

So I came here for dinner last night and breakfast this morning and I can definitely say the breakfast is better. Don't get me wrong, the dinner is good just not as good as their breakfast. Yesterday I had their hot wings, which weren't really spicy, and they were more like fried chicken. It was good but I was just craving something spicy and since it said hot wings, I thought they would be spicy. I also tried their ribs and those weren't just ok. I've definitely had better ribs but I guess to settle the craving they were alright. Today I had their steak and egg bagel sandwich with hash browns (they were really like home fries) and it was SO good. I tried my husband's western omelette and that was also really tasty. I really recommend this place if you're ever in town. read more

Sting Ray's Restaurant - Southern Near Me - Cape Charles, Virginia

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Terrible service, terrible food. Cold food . designed as a full-service restaurant but you stand in line to put your order in and pay for it also. Than you search for a table, your screwed if you can't find a table. waited 25 minutes to put my order in sat down. Waited 10 minutes to get my drink served and almost an hour before I got my food. Our food was cold did not look good. I told my server my food was cold and she looked at me as though she didn't know what to do so I told her could you please heat it up, and she did. Prices were outrageous as though you were at a theme park. Looks like new owners had minimal help a busboy and 1 servers for a rather large restaurant and a husband and wife running it. The owner was taking orders and at the same time talking on the phone .this used to be a decent restaurant. It is absolutely terrible. $80 was spent on a catfish, dinner, on a open face, roast beef, sandwich, and fried clams and Swift tater fries three teas. read more

Great food! Charming little diner. Don't let the fact that it's attached to a gas station fool you. The food it's really good. Flounder sandwich is delicious. Cape Club is really good too. read more

Server was excellent. Kept checking on us during the meal. Very polite and friendly. Great home cooked food.

Good homemade food. Looks a little rough, but it's just a roadside restaurant that has great food! Try thier greens, mac n cheese, stewed tomatoes and the fried flounder! Comes with corn bread also! read more

What a cool place. Authentic Chesapeake Bay food and experience. Was passing through, stopped for a bite, and enjoyed a fascinating conversation with a local waterman. I learned more about the local fishing and oyster industry in 30 minutes then I thought I'd ever know!! Very cool! read more

Thanks, Joe D, for recommending this gem of a diner. We drive up to or via ESVA once a month or so, and hadn't stopped in until this latest trip. I am so glad we did! Let me give the caveat that we'd just spent a long weekend, eating and drinking our way thru Annapolis. Having said that, my crab cake was hands down the best one I've had in recent history. It was fried and contained just enough filler to hold the gobs of crabmeat together. I'd ordered the small plate with one crab cake, which also came with a huge piece of yummy corn bread & 2 sides (creamed corn and a sweet potato for me). Hubs had fried flounder, which was pretty darn good & also came with 2 sides (Mac-n-cheese and French fries). It was a lot of food, and seemed reasonably priced for the quantity & quality of food. We were stuffed, so didn't get a chance to try dessert, but next time for sure! read more

Sting Ray's Restaurant - My "small plate" of a crab cake, sweet potato, corn bread, and cream corn. Yum - Southern Near Me - Cape Charles, Virginia

Visited on a weekday evening with about a dozen people in my group. First time for all of us at Sting-Ray's. Ordered quickly without issue, found a spot for us all to sit together. Received drinks within a few minutes of being seated, and all had our food in a reasonable timeframe. We all enjoyed our meals and felt like portions were generous given the pricing. Very friendly cashier and waitress, who accommodated our group (including several young children) without complaint. We will definitely return the next time we're in the area. Thanks! read more

Known to locals as "Chez Exxon." It has NO ambience; a truck stop style restaurant, order at the window, in the back of a large Exxon with a gift shop. Pass through the gift shop, there's this large room with bright light and linoleum floor. What do you order here? Fried fish or crab cake. I've had catfish that was outstanding, flounder, etc. Skip the other stuff. Is this place "all that"? No, but the fried fish, when fresh, and the Southern-style greens and other vegetables are homey and good. Stick to the fish. Cape Charles (an out-of-the-way place you may have never heard of) is near the tip of the Delmarva Peninsula, where three states (DE, MD, VA, hence Del-Mar-Va) share this spit of land on one side of the Chesapeake. The town hit hard times, then revitalized with enthusiastic house-flipping of the well-rotted mansions during the real estate boom of the 2000's. Then the crash, but there are still some B&B's around that are nice for a weekend getaway, if you are tired of St. Michaels. read more

Diner attached to Exxon gas station. Need I say anything more. Difficult to mess up breakfast. Eggs and bacon were a lot cheaper than in Cape Charles. Order at counter. Very busy local restaurant read more

Sting-Ray's is great. It could be less expensive, but it's not a place where I eat often. Had I written this review about two years ago--the last time I was there--it would have been 5* but something has changed, namely the used to be close to the best thing ever Eastern Shore clam chowder. When I first had it, it was a revelation. Salty, and bacon-y, and full of clams and potato cubes. This time, it was mostly potatoes. To go with this, I had a bunch of sides, and besides the amazing cornbread, nothing was impressive. Husband had great fried chicken, all crispy and juicy. On our trip there for breakfast, grits were fine, and the sausage and gravy biscuits were a revelation. Just amazing. In the past, I've had good fried fish and wonderful country ham and sweet potato biscuits. I cannot imagine being in the area and not stopping there. And, honestly, I can't wait to get there again. read more

Seemed like a really bad place but was really good! Chicken tenders were actually made there. Not out of a bag or box. Corn bread was just like cake! Really good! read more

Great stop along the coast near Cape Charles. Friendly people, fast service with a smile. A great variety of choices from a country style dinner with cornbread and greens to fish and chips. Their made to order hamburgers were perfect. A lot of locals eat here and we could taste why. The food is delicious! We thoroughly enjoyed our dinner. This place was quite a find. They have something for everyone even the picky eaters. Great for aIl ages. I would definitely would stop here again. read more

I moved from Virginia Beach to exmore about a year ago. Youd have to be blind to not see this place. So a friend was over for a visit and we decided to try them for lunch. I ordered chicken livers and she the fried chicken. Neither of us could eat more than 2 bites and only because we were so hungry but after that our appetite was gone. I hate writing bad reviews but I think companies get complacent and both parties lose is the quality sucks. I have a close friend who lives in Cape Charles and she bought 2 take home orders and had a similar horrible experience and it was her second try and she said that's it not going back . Not sure how they keep the doors open. I guess enough new people that don't know better stop in. Well buyer beware. You have a warning on yelp! read more

Sting Ray's really stings! Cup of soup, fish&fries with ice tea was $17 plus. Got clam chowder, just to find bacon in it while eating. I don't eat bacon. So when I asked the lady if she could give me a beef veggie soup instead, she sarcastically said:" it has beef in it, you know that?" And fish fry had 3 or 4 small pieces of heavily breaded, deeply fried fish which was so greasy. I don't know what oil they use to fry their food, but I still got heart burn 3 hrs after eating there. Unless you have to stop to get gas, just drive right by this gas station "Restaurant". If you're a traveler, and like trying out new dishes like me, and you're really hungry, just save your money: get bologna sandwich and drink some water. If you decide to eat in here, enjoy that heartburn side effect! I hope it helps anyone who reads it. Thanks! read more

Can't judge a book by its cover. This little hole in the wall is adjoined with an Exxon gas station, has no fine dining decor, and the gift shop is larger then the actual restaurant itself. All of that combined with their name, the big sign that says award winning and enough parking for my tractor trailer is what brought me in. I sort of played it safe and ordered a crab cake sandwich, hush puppies, w fries. At first glance it wasn't the most beautiful thing I've ever seen, looked pretty normal and blah but when I took the first bite of that crab cake, WOW was I blown away and surprised. Amazing flavor and super fresh. I don't think it could get any fresher then that. It was so good. The hush puppies were great. The fries were crispy and crunchy. It was a fantastic lunch. Now that I write this review I'm sad because I don't know if and when I'll ever be back and my only regret is I didn't take a few crab cakes for the road and I didn't buy a souvenir from the gift shop read more

Sting Ray's Restaurant - It doesn't get better then this... - Southern Near Me - Cape Charles, Virginia

On our Richmond trip we decided to spend a day or so going to Chincoteague, so headed out in the morning and stopped at Ray's Shanty for lunch and gas and misc snacks to take along. Aunt Annie and Ms T had the crab cake sandwiches that they liked very much. They were not lump, but good pure crab and not a lot of filler. I went for a chili dog that was not a style I would order again. The chili was chunky, sweetish and fairly heavy on the cumin. Too sweet, too cuminy for my taste. The barbecue sandwich was smoky and pretty sweet. Slaw was a sweet creamy style. Ray's is an OK place. I would stop again if on my way by. read more

A disastrous detour took us past this restaurant--unassuming inside and out, it appeared to be a roadside joint with the usual suspects on the beach menu. The first hint that all was not as it appear d to be was the service: cheerful, kind and helpful--lovely people. We ordered the freshly made fried shrimp ( you can order the cheaper , pre-made frozen, but do yourself a favor, and trade up), coleslaw and greens. The shrimp, barely coated in crumbs and perfectly cooked, were the best I have had in years--sweet, plump, delectable. The coleslaw, livened by, I believe, sweet pickle juice was crisp, fresh and had a delicious, subtle kick-- and the greens and damn near perfect cornbread (better than my mom's, ok?) were stellar. I don't know who buys and cooks for this place, but I'd like to kidnap them and move them to Crozet, Virginia, so I could eat there every week. read more

Stoped here for both breakfast and dinner. Almost everything's homemade. And the deserts are amazing. Some of the recipes have been here for over 20 years. We had BBQ as well as seafood. Both fantastic. And you can pick out a bottle of wine on the way in and they will chill, and serve it to you with dinner. And there isn't even a corking fee. Nice surprise.!! Breakfast was good Ol country fair. Complete with deep fried bacon. We will be stopping here again on our next trip to Hatteras. Enjoy....B. read more

I come here every year with my family on our way to OBX. They have great breakfast and dinner. I always get some sort of a fried seafood platter for dinner. The fish is always fresh and it comes with two sides and a big piece of corn bread. Everything is always delicious and never disappoints. This is a "dive" as they are located inside a gas station and mini shop. Not going to be a fancy place but definitely worth the trip. read more

Stopped here to grab lunch after leaving Cape Charles. We ordered a Reuben sandwich and a club sandwich - both were great! I would recommend this spot for a great quick lunch! read more

Stopped here on our way to Virginia Beach for some lunch. This place is good home style food and sure beats most of the fast food options offered in this area. read more

Sting Ray's Restaurant - Southern Near Me - Cape Charles, Virginia

Food is good and inexpensive. It's diner food so don't expect anything fancy. Regular breakfast place when we are staying across at the Cape Motel. read more