The Dark Horse Irish Gastro Pub — Restaurant in Virginia

I recently met friends visiting from out of town at the Dark Horse. It’s been a minute since I’d been there and although from the outside I was in familiar territory, the inside was much more inviting and the Bar looks and feels like a true GastroPub. My friends were waiting for me through the Bar out on the Deck. Was this even here before? Dotted with umbrella-covered tables and surrounded with beautiful flowering plants and creepers overlooking the garden. Weather permitting, the Deck has a great atmosphere for a casual lunch or dinner with friends. And then there was the Menu. It blew me away, light years removed from my previous experiences here. This menu goes on for days…Pub drinks, Starters, Lunch, Dinner, Aprés Dinner, Late Nite, Brunch…Dark Horse seems to have it all. There were 5 of us and we each ordered something different. Everyone was impressed that the chef could execute so many dishes so well at 2 o’clock in the afternoon! I ordered the Fried Green Tomatoes as a share plate which were an instant hit and gone just as quickly, along with the Dark Horse Burger and house fries. Awesome! My friends ordered Fish & Chips, Grilled Salmon, Seafood Chowder/Salad, and Bangers & Mash. A few espressos and ice creams later and not a doggie bag in sight, just a table of smiling, happy diners. Kudos to Mark for making this such a great place. Maybe the best (secret no more) place in the Shenandoah Valley. Sign me up, I live so close I’ll be a...

Been here many times but have never had worse service from our server than tonight. Our menus were promptly brought out with "your server will be right out to take your order" 17 minutes later, she came out and i placed our order for drinks, an appetizer and our entreès. Our appetizer was brought out by a runner 5 minutes before our drinks came out. Ok..... Our meals came out 10 or 15 minutes later. My husband's lamburger (ordered medium rare) was well done, his fries/chips were dry and cold. Another server came by and asked asked if we needed anything. He ordered onion rings instead. My pasta dish was delicious though! Our original server never made another appearance till 15 minutes after we were finished with our meal. I wanted another beverage and had to go order it at the bar .A different server brought it to me. When she finally came out, I asked her, with a smile, if they shared tips there. She said no. Normally i give a hefty tip for good service but I have had better service at a...

The restaurant is cute and the garden around the front porch is very nice. I do think the food is lacking here. We order calamari, steak frites, chicken alfredo and bread pudding. The calamari was chewy and hard. I believe it was overcooked. The sauce paired with the calamari was good. The steak frites were not great. The fries were not crispy. The chicken Alfredo is the only reason I gave them an extra star because it was very tasty and the mushrooms were very flavorful.

The bread pudding was not it. I’ve never had a dessert at a restaurant that was so bad I couldn’t eat more than just 1 bite. The texture was not pleasant and the caramel sauce was artificial. I wish we never ordered it because it really lowered the rating for me.

The service was terrible. The server took forever every time we had put in an order for a drink or food. At the end he forgot about us and we waited for 20 mins to get a box and the check.

Overall I won’t be coming back here if I visit...