Food was average. Chicken however was great. Okra was under cooked and kind of soft, ribs were over cooked and the ham had next to no flavor as it sat in hit water at the bar. Coleslaw was okay. Bread pudding was okay too. But over this well known diner didn't live up the hype from the internet and diners drive ins and dives. But to be fair the items on the show were not on the bar ‍ read more

The food looked awesome in reviews but when it finally came out to the table, it wasn't worth the cost. It was as dry and cold as can be. Looked like it sat for 10 minutes before even bringing it out. All of it. Burger had no flavor, Mac and cheese was so dry my son had to drink water to get it down. And the serving proportions with the meatloaf was small for amount of the cost. Another person said great value to Cracker Barrel and I believe him. The wait staff was nice, and pitched in to help each other. The cleanliness was mediocre. Food and napkins on the floor. Made me think I wasn't really getting a clean table. Huge establishment for breathing room so you're not sitting in top of each other but sure enough they lack situational awareness sitting a huge group in a room already stacked with people. The loud noise was enough to get me the heck out of there. Never going back. Tourist trap - don't be fooled but Guy Fieris visit from 2009. read more

I'm so surprised that this place has anything less than 5 stars. We stopped here on the way back from the Outer Banks so it was crowded but took less than 10 minutes to get a table. They had a buffet going on that looked fresh and had a lot of items. I had the fried chicken which was some of the best I've ever had. The macaroni and cheese and collard greens were the perfect sides. The portions were very generous for the price. My mother had the country fried steak which she said could have been pounded a little thinner. The star of the meal was the chocolate chess pie. The staff was beyond friendly and attentive, an all around amazing meal! read more

LOOK! I've driven by the place since 1996 when I was in college; heading back and forth to FL ... Never thought about stopping until today. I'm eating the buffet as I write this..This is the BEST SOUTHERN HOME STYLE food I've had since last Thanksgiving at moms house! Service is great! Environment is good too. STOP IN, and don't waste 21 years like I have read more

You know you enjoy a place when you drive from Norfolk to Wakefield to enjoy their breakfast, super sad this past Monday they are in the middle of redoing their floors so the store side was not up at all but our breakfast still worth the trip. I was looking forward to the buffett but it was not up ether and we order off the menu and it was so GOOOOOOD! Country fried steak and eggs. read more

We were seated at a 2 top which made us feel like we were eating with the people on either side of us. There was just enough room to turn sideways to get between the tables. No way to have a private conservation or to avoid feeling like an eavesdropper on the other tables. Husband had pot roast that tasted like the bottom of the pot and had one potato & 3 carrots. I had the roast beef sandwich & it tasted like it had been reheated several times & was tough. Our waitress was brusque & barely responded to questions we had. She seemed bored. On the plus side the peanut pie was interesting. read more

Virginia Dinner. Serving great food since 1929. Started in an old railroad car and grew over the years. Still has the old original railroad car lighting fixtures. Peanut Capitol of the world. I remember coming here as a kid over 40 years ago. read more

Virginia Diner - Virginia Dinner. Serving great food since 1929. Started in an old railroad car and grew over the years. - Diners Near Me - Wakefield, Virginia

See all

Worst dining experience I have had in a long time. I am a restaurant owner myself and I can tell you from the front door greeting to the 10 minute wait to pay an exit the experience was awful. Food was OK but the service ruined the entire experience. Kind of got the feeling maybe they don't like brown people, or Perhaps mixed couples not sure but DEFINITELY Felt the cold shoulder. It took 15 minutes or so to be seated which is understandable due to everything that is going on right now, but the 12 minutes Before we were even recognized in our drink orders taken was a bit unimpressive. And then no communication with our server for another 10 to 15 minutes, they did not have two items that I had ordered One of which I was not informed about until the food actually came again sometime later. And then as previously stated it took more than 10 minutes before anybody even came to the register to take our ticket 3 to 4 people or so in line all of us looking at each other. This was my second experience at the Virginia diner and I must say it wasn't any better than the first experience which I'm not even going to get into needless to say I will never be back. Don't know what all the hype is about but for me personally you could do a "lot" better. (Half star) read more

Very Disappointed! - Arrived on a Sunday morning recently just after 10:00am for breakfast. The staff was friendly and attentive. Even though it was a little crowded, we were seated immediately. That's when started going downhill. We (just two of us) waited for our breakfast through 3 cups of coffee. 45 minutes and still no food. Some people that sat down after we did were served before us, but they had waited a long time too. Finally, after about 50 minutes, the food arrived. Some of it was obviously sitting around for a while. The country fried steak was cold and the gravy was cold and congealed on top. The steak batter was falling off and seemed to not be cooked enough. It was way over salted. The grits were cold, lumpy, and devoid of any flavor. My wife's omelet was better, but nothing was hot. Pretty miserable food to wait almost an hour for on a Sunday morning. The kitchen staff seemed to be much more focused on setting out the hot lunch buffet items around 11:00am, instead of cooking breakfasts to order correctly and with any degree of quality. read more

I ordered chicken tenders and fries. I was expecting crispy chicken tenders. When my food arrived they were wet, soggy, cold pieces of meat. It gave me the shits. read more

I have driven by this resteraunt about a hundred times. So last Friday my niece,wife and I finally decided to stop in. The food was average, my wife and niece had the buffet, I had the crab sandwhich. Nothing special and a bit disappointing to be honest. The food from buffet was a bit bland and overcooked. The sandwich was okay. The interior was a bit dark and gloomy. Bottom line.....I have no plans to return. I can get the same quality food at a Hardees or McDonalds. read more

Sadly, it was a disappointing dining experience. We drove 45 minutes out of our way home from the shore to visit the Virginia Diner for breakfast. We waited approximately 20 minutes to be seated and then were informed that we just missed breakfast by a few minutes. At this point, I checked the time - 11:06 am and breakfast ended at 11:00. They continued to serve breakfast orders to the tables around us for the next 25 minutes. We ordered and then waited 45 minutes to receive our lunch food. Several tables that were seated after us received their food before our table. Food Review: The ham biscuits were good, biscuit was light and flaky. The other meals were fair at best. Most disappointing was the fried chicken tenders were very greasy, thick breading that fell off chicken, and bland seasoning. The signature dish "The Railcar Sandwich" was OK- the burger part was overcooked. Service: The waitress had very limited skill in table management. I asked several times for coffee refill, despite doing the classic "put the cup at the end of the table" refill sign. Granted, there was a large table seated in the same section. We spoke up to the "dining room manager" when she checked on us and she was very pleasant. She mentioned that the kitchen manager noticed the significant food delay and our check was 50% discounted. I would have gladly paid full price or more for a nice dining experience. The best part of the meal was the prompt and courteous check out process - "pay at the counter". We bought the a few cans of peanuts to go. read more

Love their lunch buffet. Their fried chicken is amazing. So is the pork chops. And all the sides were southern home cooked

Excellent fried chicken; and great place to gather with friends. Service is very good.

I purchased a take home order from this place about a month ago and when I got home the liver was overcooked (appeared not to be washed before cooking). I live out of town so I called back to the diner to let them know of my experience thinking that with a reputation for their "GREAT" food they would want to make good on my purchase. Upon calling to report the matter, the person who answered the phone asked me to bring the dinner back (apparently they did not believe me) and mind you, I lived out of town approximately 1 hour away. I WAS SHOCKED AT THIS RESPONSE. I asked to speak to the manager. The manager was not a nice person. She too doubted me. Her final reply was (after much conversation to prove I was not a scammer), I WILL SEND YOU A GIFT CERTIFICATE FOR YOUR PURCHASE. NOT SO!!!!! After a month had passed, I called back to remind the manager of her promise to me but she was not available so I left my name and number for her to return my call. AS OF TODAY I HAVE NOT RECEIVED A CALL NOR A GIFT CERTIFICATE TO MAKE GOOD ON MY "ROTTEN, OVERCOOKED, DISGUSTING MEAL. TAKE HEED IF YOU EAT THERE AND GOD FORBID DON'T PURCHASE A TAKE HOME ORDER....YOU WILL BE SORRY!!!! read more

This is the first time where I was underwhelmed by photos on Yelp but decided to go with a party of 10 anyway. We were all very surprised by the quality of everything we ordered! The food was delicious--- they serve incredible fried chicken; I think it's the best in Virginia. We went on a Monday night an hour before closing after a day visiting Richmond. We were greeted warmly by the owner and received excellent service from our waitress Madi. Make sure to order the Carrot Soufflé---it was so delicious. They have a nice shop to buy Virginia souvenirs of Wakefield peanuts too. read more

After many visits to this establishment the food prep and cleanliness have deteriorated to disgusting!! I ordered a western omelet. Arrived flatter than a pancake with itsy bitsy pieces of green pepper, onions and something that sort of looked like ham. The omelet appeared to have been either run over or stepped on. Never seen anything like it that was called an omelet. My wives food was cold and the biscuits never did arrive. I wont even go into the condition of the floor.....yuck!! If you're reading this stop in the tri-cities or Chester to eat. You'll fare much better!! read more

Virginia diner used to be a really really good place to eat after going there today or waiting for 30 minutes for them to set up the lunch buffet when it was supposed to been set up at 11 wasn't set up till 1130 you had people in there that work there it was standing around talking rather than working I'm setting up the buffet then the food wasn't that great like it used to be and I tell you right now I've been there numerous times in this place the quality and the service it's gone down drastically I will never ever there again I think they need to have New management come in or ownership come in and do a clean sweep. read more

I went in with low expectations but I guess I didn't lower them enough. I am pretty picky but this was just bad. I'm pretty sure the mashed potatoes were instant. And the "gravy" cooled into a slimy film that resembled snot. The vegetables were incredibly oversalted. The spoonbread, well, I'm not even sure what that was. It had no taste. There was also no cream, only the little packaged creamers that are supposed to be refrigerated, but they weren't. I guess they weren't aware of that. We saw a poster on the wall that Guy Fieri had visited and tried the peanut pie so we decided to try it since we had nothing to lose and we were waiting for our kid to finish up. If you like pecan pie and peanuts, then I guess you'll love it but there wasn't anything special about it. It has to be heated though because otherwise it's a brick. My kid bought a slice out of the fridge up front to go and he couldn't even poke it with a fork. Not impressed. read more

Seems like over the years it has gotten hit or miss. It's sad because it used to always be a hit. Food is bland a lot of times and comes out cold. Service is slow even when diner is slow. Best thing is the desserts! And the peanuts! Pricey for the quality. read more

We decided on a whim to drive 40 miles to check out the diner for my birthday dinner. We decided against the buffet and chose to order off the robust menu. It took forever for anyone to come to the table even though there seemed to be sufficient staff and not very busy. Once that was finally resolved, we ordered the kids burger, the bbq plate, and the ham plate. Where service was hit or miss, the food was outstanding. Spoon bread was almost as good as what I make from scratch! Tons of food and everything seasoned well. What really made the meal was the peanut pie for dessert. It was SO good. Like really good extra chunky peanut butter meets pecan pie filling (note - there isn't peanut butter in it, just wonderful peanuts). While we wont drive 40 miles regularly to eat there given the service and atmosphere was more of a 3, the food is worth making another visit - even if just for pie!! read more

Virginia Diner - Peanut pie - Diners Near Me - Wakefield, Virginia

We just moved to the area and thought we would try this restaurant out. Worst restaurant we have ever been to. This was our first and last time. We are an interacial couple and the waitress totally ignored us while waiting on tables occupied by white customers instead. My husband literally had to walk up to her to get service.The atmosphere highly prejudiced. The food is only okay. Would not recommend. read more

In the past, the Virginia Diner has been a great place to stop for a meal on the way to or from the Outer Banks. Recently, my wife and I ventured in for breakfast and experienced extremely poor service. With half of the normal customers during Covid 19, and after a 15 minute wait to be seated, our breakfast order was still not served after 45 minutes of sitting at our table. Our waitress came by twice and told us that our food would be out in a few minutes - so 20 minutes later we asked to see her. She never showed up. We went to the register to pay for our drinks and we never saw her in the dining room. We saw many employees who might have been available to provide better service, but it did not seem to be much of a concern to the management. It will be a while until we stop there again. read more

Busy place, had fantastic service from Jasmine. Food was great. The fried chicken and tenderloins were great. Unfortunately no room for pie. Also a wide selection of peanuts. read more

I used to love this place......it's not as good as it used to be! Fried oysters - not great. Way too much breading that's way too hard when it's fried. I don't think the person frying the oysters even likes oysters! Sad menu, good service, and food that's just okay. read more

I've been here a few times and always pick the buffet over ordering an item from the menu. That said, this review is a reflection of said buffet experiences. The buffet offers a nice range of items and usually covers what you'd expect to find. I'll start off by saying that the fried chicken is amazing. Not the healthiest of options but quite tasty. Whenever I talk about the Virginia Diner with friends, they undoubtedly start to talk about the chicken (or possibly the Diner's infamous canned nuts). The rest of the buffet experience is a bit of a mixed bag. Some items seem like they were canned and reheated, while others seems homemade or fresh. While staff members write what each dish is on the buffet guard above the food, it seems like food is swapped out at times so you may not return to the buffet to find what you had earlier. Not a big deal, but if you see something you like on your first go-around, grab while you can just in case! One trip with friends led to a discussion about why the peach cobbler tasted strangely like apple cobbler. There have been a few times that I've seen food run out completely (catfish and other meats, usually). Other times, foods that I would expect to be found in a buffet are completely absent (potatoes or corn bread, depending on what else is being served). With that said, food is always readily available in some form or another and it isn't too hard to find something tasty to eat. If consistency in choices is what you are looking for, you may be let down. The serving staff is usually very friendly (some members have made my otherwise "average" visits much more fun). I've never had a glass go empty and I greatly appreciate that. The buttermilk biscuits are wonderful and a great side-addition to the buffet meals. If I rated solely off experiences with the staff, I'd rate a strong 4. The place is usually crowded (right off 460, this is to be expected), and with the dining area and shop area merged together in front of the main doorway, it can be a little overwhelming at first. The parking situation can look a little crazy at first but I've never had a problem finding a spot. Despite the steady stream of people into and out of the restaurant, the staff seems to do very well with handling customers and keeping the place clean. I've never waited long to be seated or to pay, and the staff does a great job at remaining patient and pleasant. Overall, a good place to have dinner with friends. Given what it is, Virginia Diner is certainly not bad, but boosting the buffet experience a little could go a long way. Take a few minutes to look through the shop before leaving - those Virginia Diner tins make for good gifts! read more

I stopped for a piece of their famous peanut pie to take home with. I didn't want to take time to stop and eat. When I got home I was met with quite a surprise. There before me was the smallest piece of pie. It was the equivalent of a half piece from any other restaurant. The pie was quite good but the crust was only average. My guess is that the locals know other places that serve full size pieces. read more

We had driven by this location for several years and finally had the opportunity to stop in. I am not going to spend a lot of time bashing them, but will say we will continue to just drive by in the future. The food was okay, but nothing about the service was welcoming. Rather, we felt like they were pained to serve us and just wanted us gone. There are not many places to eat in that area, so I guess they can get away with it. read more

The Peanut Soup Scandal of 2012.... The Virginia Diner used to be one of my favorites restaurants....until they committed the ultimate sin of removing Peanut Soup from their menu. Let me give you some background. The Virginia Diner is located in Wakefield Va, not too far from the very location where the very first peanuts in North America were grown nearly 400 years ago. As such, it is not surprising that peanuts still play a large role in this community, as witnessed by the peanut packing plants in the area. There is a dish called Peanut Soup. It is pretty rare, and found only in "peanut country.". Most people have never heard of it, which is understandable. Peanut Soup, if I can describe it, is basically liqufied peanut butter, with chunks of peanuts sprinkled on top. I know that might sound disgusting...but trust me, if you are a real fan of peanut butter, it is absolutely amazing! On my last visit, I asked the waitress about Peanut Soup, and why it was no longer featured on their menu. She said "Well, a lot of people come here from out of the area and they don't understand what it is. They order it, and they don't like it...so we removed it from the menu." So...following her line of logic, perhaps we should just bull doze the Virginia Diner and build a McDonald's? That way, everyone will know exactly what to expect...after all, a Big Mac tastes the same everywhere in the country. Instead of honoring the long tradition of Peanut Soup, a tradition that dates back hundreds of years, the Virginia Diner choose to simply exclude this dish in a half-hearted attempt of "being all things to all people," For a restaurant that prides itself for being nearly one hundred years old, I find it shameful for them to change their menu based on the "tastes" of out-of-town folks. For this reason, and this reason alone, I will never eat there again. read more

Follow That Guy #3 We followed Guy Fieri and his show, "Diners Drive-ins, and Dives" to the Virginia Diner before hitting Virginia Beach. Normally, we wouldn't stop somewhere that's obviously a tourist trap but Guy's never steered us wrong. It's a quaint roadside stop featuring Virginia's famed peanuts and a restaurant full of southern hospitality. But the real reason why anybody should come to Virginia Diner is the AYCE weekend buffets filled with fried chicken, pulled pork, collards, cole slaw, candied yams, and more. While its certainly not the best that southern cooking has to offer, VA Diner's bountiful selection will keep you happy nevertheless. Besides, where else do you find an AYCE southern buffet? If memory served me correctly, the buffet was only $13.95. If you ever find yourself traveling along HIghway 460 on a weekend, don't forget to drop by Virginia Diner. [Original Visit: September 2009] read more

See all

Arrived at 11:30 for lunch and was seated right away. Our order went in right away and that's when things went south. It took 45 minutes before barely warm Brunswick Stew arrived and then 30 more minutes for burgers. There were only three orders in before ours. The burger was well done and not cooked to order. The mac and cheese was cold and there was no BBQ sauce which was supposed to be on the side. The onion rings were wonderful - all five of them. Next comes getting the check.......another wait. Then standing in line with the peanut buyers to pay. The line was wrapped around the tables of peanuts who had ordered takeout because all the tables were full and were not enjoying the long wait for takeout orders. So the food wasn't very good to begin with and came out of the kitchen cold after a long wait. Fun huh? read more

I have no idea how this place is getting 4 and 5 stars or ended up on Food Network. Our food took over an our to come out and they were not busy (we had 9 in our party, so we were willing to over look that AND the fact that 3 people's food was cold) -- what we couldn't overlook was the fly found (which had clearly been fried) in one our entrees. We quietly pointed it out to the server and the manager came out. She made no apology, said this person wouldn't be charged (um, thanks), and to "get something off the buffet". Our problem was that all but two people at the table paid an up charge for fries (rather than chips) and they were not removed from the check -- despite the fact that nobody ate their fries. 7 plates of fries just sat on the table. I must stress that it was clear the fly was in the cooking oil -- it was a large fly with crisp wings. But now onto the food we did eat. My husband and I spend thirty dollars -- we had two fountain drinks, a club with onion rings (a whooping 4 to an order - that I paid an extra for), and a crab cake sandwich and fly fries. The sandwiches were both acceptable - my club had home-cooked ham and turkey. The crab cake sandwich was nothing spectacular or special, but not a disappointment. The onion rings were completely cold, but the batter was very good. My husband is not eat his fries. So while it's not overpriced -- it's not cheap either. Judging the food we ate alone, I'd give it 3 stars. All and all, we were disappointed - and confused. Maybe they were having a horrible day -- but really paying for food which was was likely cooked with a bug and not eaten is extremely poor business --- as is not apologizing for something like that and directing somebody to your buffet after. I want to stress that we did not think all the food should be given free -- we just didn't think that anybody should have been up charged for the fries that NOBODY ate. Which basically would have broke down to be 1.50 per person. We'd never stop here again. read more

Mmmmmmm! Fried chicken, homemade biscuits with real Virginia cured ham, hush puppies, potato salad, and chocolate chess pie for dessert! Wash it down with sweet tea and it's a taste of your Southern childhood! read more

Virginia Diner - Fried chicken, cured Smithfield ham, potato salad - Diners Near Me - Wakefield, Virginia

The Virginia Diner food was not consistent. The country fried chicken was dried out. The server Tykia was an okay server wish she were more pleasant with speaking to. A customer fell in the restaurant due to the fact that they did not put a wet floor sign down. read more

One of the biggest letdowns I've experienced in the past year as far as restaurants are concerned. If you happen to be driving by while you're hungry, it's not a bad stop, but there's no real reason to go out of your way to get there. In short, my food was mediocre and my service was bad. I ordered the Rail Car burger, which is a burger that includes ham and bacon on a pretzel bun. Not the best burger/sandwhich I've had, but it wasn't bad. Felt overpriced for the quality (11.25). I think I saw my waitress 3 times. She came to take my drink order, returned to take my food order (this was the one time my drink got refilled), and came to bring me the check. I had intendend on ordering the peanut pie this place is known for, but when my waitress already brought the check before I could even ask about dessert (which she never offerred to me either), I didn't feel like waiting on her to get it changed and add the pie after how slow she'd been the rest of the meal, so I ended up just skipping dessert. Overall, it just was not a great experience. I'd hoped for a lot more after all I'd heard about this place. read more

We received a few tins of Virginia Diner's peanuts for Christmas, so when we were driving through VA we had to stop by for more peanuts. We were immediately charmed by the town, the building, the road sign, and the history of the diner. Can't speak much to the food quality, as we weren't too hungry upon arrival. But we thoroughly enjoyed the overall experience! Our waitress was super sweet and the food came out fast. My husband had a turkey sandwich and said it was great, really thick cut of meat. I had the ham biscuits. Biscuits were fluffy, ham was incredibly salty. We had a slice of the peanut pie for dessert and enjoyed it so much we bought a whole pie to take home. We will definitely return whenever we're in the area next to try out the buffet. read more

See all

Yes this place is legendary. It makes every list of "iconic" eateries created for the state of Virginia. The buffet was in full swing when we arrived and upon inspection, we discovered it contained heaps of every stereotypical "Southern" food that you can think of. Think lots of fried stuff with cooked to death greens and mac and cheese serving as the vegetables. We decided to pass on the spread and ordered the ham biscuits along with a grilled cheese sandwich with country ham inside. The grilled cheese was delicious and the ham biscuits were passable. Not as fluffy as I had hoped and a tad bit on the dry side, but tasty enough. I broke a rule by ordering something that just did not seem to fit on the menu. Normally it is a good idea to avoid such outliers. It remains a good idea as I never seem to learn my lesson. I was intrigued as to why the Virginia Diner menu has "New England Clam Chowder" on the menu. A made from scratch clam chowder can be a wonderful thing. However, you would never know this by experiencing the VD version. Whatever this shit was it clearly came out of a can and was as gloopy as uncooked pie filling. Very salty pie filling. I chewed on erasers in elementary school that were less rubbery than the "clam" chunks in this concoction. Avoid this item at all costs. read more

This place is WONDERFUL! Granted, it is out in the middle of nowhere, but they also have a wonderful and thriving catalog business to meet your needs! They are an old fashioned diner known for their country ham and biscuits, and their pies, and a ton of other wonderful 'down home' cooking! If you are not lucky enough to be driving by there, then you can check them out at http://www.virginiadiner.com/?r=1. They sell the BIGGEST PEANUTS i have ever seen (as well as the best tasting!) and the most amazing peanut brittle (they call it buttery, and they are NOT kidding, it's DIVINE!), as well as other candies, pies, hams, goodies..... We love to get their decorative tins to give to people, to introduce them to the wonderful nuts this place grows! Anyway, whether you eat there in person, or deal with them over the phone, the people are wonderful, and I cannot recommend it highly enough. You have never tasted a better tasting NUT in your life! :oP whether you like your nuts salty, or unsalted, or dipped in chocolate....they have whatever you need! ps.......There was no place for me to put their 800 number, and I did not want to erase their local number....so here it is! 1.800.642.NUTS read more

I had heard a few people over the years talk about the food at The Virginia Diner and decided to make the 45 minute drive to take my mother out for a nice meal. I have a friend a few months back tell me the fried chicken was excellent. I was disappointed. I had expected a better experience. It wasn't 100% terrible but it wasn't worth the time and gas to drive there. When we walked in the hostess seated us promptly. Then I went to the restroom. When I returned I saw that my table had yet to been visited by wait staff. This was close to 10 minutes. The dining area was sparsely filled so I didn't think this was good to go that long without being visited for what we wanted to drink. After I flagged down a passing waitress and got our drinks ordered, the waitress assigned to our section came over and apologized. She said she was held up helping another staff member. Accepting her explanation we moved on expecting some mind blowing food. My mother ordered the fried oysters meal with collard greens, onion rings and hush puppies. I decided on the buffet bar since it had most of what I had expected to order anyway. I am not a big seafood lover but I knew my mother loved oysters. She grew up in Gloucester and my grandfather was a waterman. She knows her seafood. For $14.99 these oysters were a joke. Each oyster was one bite. They tasted like clam strips to me. I'm no expert but I had expected better flavor. Guess that's the "light" batter they advertise in the menu. The hush puppies were so-so. The collards which were supposed to have been seasoned with ham was devoid of flavor. I've had better collards from my deceased aunts. The onion rings had too much batter. They looked more like an Andy Warhol exhibit than food. I went twice to the buffet bar. I had fried chicken breast, fried okra, and some Virginia Ham the first time. Then I went back for bar-b-que, collards and more okra and cauliflower. The fried chicken had good flavor but was a little cold. However, I was getting the last few pieces in the pan and it was still very good sized chicken. The ham was sliced thin and tasted fine. The collards again was disappointing. I had expected more flavor like my mom. I was also disappointed that there was no bread on this all you could eat buffet. Also while we were eating this older couple was seated next to us. The man went to the restroom and I guess the woman went to their car. Waitstaff came by and immediately cleared off the table. They had just ordered drinks. They came back looking bewildered. Never seen a table cleared so fast. The waitress resupplied them with their drinks. This business is 86 years old. I either came at a bad time of day, got poor cooking and wait staff, or it's starting to go down hill. I guess you can't trust these food shows on TV. If the business knows that a crew is coming to review their food I am sure the business will put more effort to impress a professional food critic for advertising. For $33 bucks this felt like I overpaid at a Piccadilly at the local mall. Actually, I have had better food at Piccadilly. I won't be in a rush to go back. Although the gift shop has an excellent assortment of Virginia Peanuts. I picked up a tin of very large cashew nuts. At least I can say something positive there. read more

We stopped here on our way to the beach, as it is the halfway point on our trip, and a convenient place for lunch. We both got the baked ham sandwich on rye, and regretted our choice. The rye bread was soft, more like white sandwich bread, but the baked ham was country ham, which we didn't expect, and it was way too salty to eat. We should have known better, since we'd made the same mistake at another restaurant in this part of the state. We just assumed that if it was country ham, they would have described it that way on the menu. We mostly blame ourselves though, not the restaurant. I got onion rings on the side. They were all large slices from the end of the onion, and the batter was heavy - probably the same batter they use for the fried chicken. We're fans of their peanuts, but we probably won't stop here again for a meal. We waited for about a half hour to be seated, and the service was slow. The staff seemed a little disinterested, so altogether the meal wasn't worth the wait. There's a burger joint just a little further up the road where we've had a good experience before that would be a better choice. read more