The Local — Restaurant in Charlottesville

Went here last night for my birthday and was really disappointed. We made a reservation on open table and we were greeted by a very friendly hostess, my fiancé and I said she was the highlight of our night. We were seated on the main floor where it was pretty busy for a Tuesday evening.

We were greeted by our server who it was pretty clear she was experienced and running the entire bottom floor by herself with the help of a few food runners. She did a good job, she was just too busy to be at our table for more than 30 seconds at a time. Any questions we had regarding the menu we quickly realized we would just figure out for our selves because she was too busy.

We ordered the Crab Dip as an appetizer, which was on their specials menu and after waiting 30 minutes for it, it came out ice cold, it was pretty gross. Our server was kind enough to take that off the check for us and send it back to the kitchen for a fresh one. The appetizer that was refired came out again and this time it was super hot, because it just came out of the microwave. Usually, I honestly wouldn’t care but microwaving seafood is kinda gross so I was just kinda turned off by the entire situation. The chips the dip was served with were under fried pretty bad so they were soggy and the crostinis were hard as a rock.

On top of all of this I don’t think there was a single piece of crab meat in the dip at all, it just tasted like hot cream cheese.

Moving on to our entrees, we waited a while for them. I’d say it was a 30-40 minute ticket time. We ordered the Bison Short Rib and the NY Strip Steak. The short rib was overcooked and reminded us of pot roast. The mashed potatoes were good and the dish comes with rainbow carrots which one came out a burnt green color and the other was translucent. I get they are rainbow carrots so of course they come in all different colors, but they just weren’t appetizing.

The New York Strip wasn’t that bad, and the green beans and mashed potatoes on this dish were pretty good, the steak just tasted wayyy too smokey which was a turn off, like liquid smoke flavor. I ordered it medium and it did come out medium which was a plus but all in all we ended up taking two bites of our plates and when the server came back to ask if we needed a box we just asked for the check and left it.

Lastly, the drinks. My fiancé ordered an old fashioned and I ordered a mojito. The old fashioned was really really good and I ended up drinking that instead of the mojito. The mojito was pretty rough, and when I asked for a straw I was told they only have Bobba Straws, the kind you get when you get bubble tea… I honestly was just like okay and proceeded to try to use it but the entire point of be wanting a straw was because there was way too much mint in the mojito and I just wanted to drink it without swallowing clumps of mint every two seconds. The bobba straw was useless and my fiancé and I really hate sending stuff back so we just switched.

Overall like I mentioned, just super disappointed in the entire experience. We drove an hour in the pouring rain for cold, nasty food, and sub par service. I truly believe the server would have done a better job if she wouldn’t have been so busy, but the food was really really bad, especially for a birthday dinner experience. No one says happy birthday even when it’s noted on the reservation.

Highlight of the night, I left my phone on the table and the same hostess that seated us ran out and followed us to our car to get it back to us. She was a sweetheart and went out of her way to do that and that was really really appreciated.

We found this place because we love Tavolas right next door and have had great experiences there, we just wanted to branch out. We’re not branching out...

We went to try something new for restaurant week, and had some great food, but overall it was very inconsistent so I'll rate each dish.

Drinks, my wife had a beer so no rating there, I had a cherry blossom. Forgot to take a picture, but it was very tasty (Catoctin Creek Gin, Saint Germain, Lemon Juice, local honey and Bordeaux cherry juice). Garnish was a bit boring (one cherry in the bottom) and double straining would have gone a long way as mine had a lot of little ice bits leftover from shaking 4/5

For appetizers we had the Bison Empanada and Fried Cauliflower & Brussels Sprouts.

Bison Empanada was very good. The dough was crispy and the cilantro crema was delicious. The filling could have had a bit more flavor so the empanada could stand on it's own, but overall very good 4/5

Fried Cauliflower & Brussels Sprouts was the miss for this course. Presentation was nice, but the brussels sprouts were quite undercooked, so very hard and the sauce was completely inappropriate for an otherwise elevated plate of veggies. They called it a "sriracha aioli", but it was burger/fry sauce. Tasty on it's own, but did not fit this dish at all. 2/5

For entrees we had the Bison Short Ribs and Buttermilk-Brined Fried Chicken.

Bison short ribs were quite delicious. The short rib was fork tender, the sauce was good, and the mashed potatoes were a nice side. The carrots were barely cooked though and far too hard. 4.5/5

Buttermilk-Brined Fried Chicken was not as good. Presentation looked good enough, but hiding bone in chicken between the slaw and mashed potatoes surely didn't make it easier to eat... The chicken itself, cooked to perfection. The skin was crispy, meat was juicy, perfect. The breading definitely could have been seasoned more though as there wasn't much going on flavor wise. This didn't bode well for the rest of the dish as the "southern slaw" was barely dressed at all and the "hot sauce gastrique" was a small swipe of buffalo/franks/whatever you want to call it. The potatoes were good (seemingly the same as the short rib ones), but surely didn't provide the flavor the dish needed. Like the brussels sprouts & cauliflower, the sauce just seemed so out of place and this dish really needed something to give it some flavor. A better dressed slaw and a proper sauce would elevate this dish so much, but as we had it 2.5/5

For dessert we had both options the Flourless Chocolate Cake and the Basque Cheesecake

Flourless Chocolate Cake, no notes. It was smooth, creamy, and delicious. 5/5

Basque Cheesecake was bad, actually may have been the first cheesecake I've ever not finished. It seemed like it was overcooked as it was quite grainy and you could see the top was quite dark under the berries. It was also served to us crazy cold, like slightly above freezing. Flavor wasn't bad, but execution was off. 1.5/5

So yeah, depending on the adventure you chose, you either got really good food or would have been quite disappointed, a true roller coaster of courses was...

Review of the local

These 10 locals will NOT be returning to The Local. We had planned this night 3 months ago and picked The Local since it had great reviews, many food options, and could accommodate 10 people. We were celebrating Mother’s Day and my grandmother’s birthday. The night started off on the wrong foot. We arrived at our reservation 10 minutes early, and the manager was extremely rude about it. He said, “Everyone is arriving early to their reservation tonight!” and made a face about it. My mother (on Mother’s Day) pulled him aside later and spoke to him about what happened at the start of the meal. He later came over to the table and apologized and gave us a cheese plate platter. Also, we were sat outside despite making the reservation months ago. There were clearly tables inside that could have been manipulated into a 10 top table. We were not very happy about being seated outside.

Appetizers: The fried shrimp were delicious, but the rest of the appetizers were not. Three of us ordered the she-crab soup, and one of us sent it back. When the manager from earlier came over to grab the soup to send back , he said, “I don’t really like it either,” and we were all stunned.

Entrees: The entrees as a whole all tasted lackluster and were either overseasoned or underseasoned. My grandmother had the steak and could barely chew it because it was so tough. My mom also had the steak and had a difficult time chewing it as well. She also said the sauce was disgusting. Three of us ordered the mushroom pasta and it tasted okay, but was overseasoned and there was too much truffle in the sauce. We all felt that the food was mediocre at best, definitely not worth the price. None of us finished our food and none of us took leftovers.

To top off our disappointing evening —- Dessert: We had secretly ordered the “special” tiramisu at the start of the meal for my grandmother, since it was her birthday. At the end of the meal, however, the waiter came over and informed us they were out of the tiramisu. We reluctantly decided to surprise her with the ice cream sundae instead.

Service: We watched as our waiter was pulled in many directions throughout the entire meal. At one point, they/she was pulled aside by the manager and left the conversation crying. After watching that conversation, we felt bad asking for anything. They/she was very nice but was obviously overwhelmed and had too many tables. Overall, we felt this experience was horrible. The food was mediocre, the manager was rude, and the service was disappointing. From start to finish, this was a bad experience. My husband is a manager of a high-end restaurant in town and was astounded by everything he witnessed.

All of 10 of us live in Charlottesville, and NONE of us will be returning, nor will we be recommending this place to any of our friends. If you need a great place with delicious food with similar pricing , try “Marigold by Jean-Georges” in Keswick, “The Black Cow,” or “Tavola”. Steer clear of...