The Ridley — Restaurant in Charlottesville

They’re trying — and I appreciate the effort. Everyone there was very, very nice. But there were so many missteps that it’s hard to give more than two stars.

The service was rough. We were ready to order, but the server had an obligation to rattle off the specials first — which took forever while we basically zoned out and waited so we could order. The appetizers were screwed up, but that was fine — but before we could get halfway through them, the entrees arrived. Before we could finish those the server asked if we wanted a box and said she’d take these out of our way — leading us to both say in unison “we’re not finished!” I mean, ok, I’d put my fork down to have a glass of water, but let me finish my meal please. (They didn’t need the table — place was nearly empty.). And through it all the servers were just practically tripping over each other; they couldn’t refill water without getting confused about whether someone else had already done so, and having to tell us about it. They were so, so, so nice but the service was just very rough.

The food was ok. The deviled eggs had not been peeled properly, so there were shells stuck to them. The gumbo was a bit bland, but ok. The cornbread was a highlight, but hard to eat. And the shrimp and grits was ok, but bland (though the shrimp were well-cooked). This is also a pet peeve of mine: If you have shrimp in a wet dish, I don’t want tails on because there’s no way to eat that. You can’t pick them up without sticking your hands in sauce. You can’t cut them because they’re in a bowl of grits. And we didn’t have a plate to pull them out to take the tails off that way. So… I just sort of ate around them. Sad, because that was the best part of the dish.

I only had one drink, but it was also bland. I could taste tequila, but no lemon, no ginger, and no honey. If you’d told me it was tequila in water, I wouldn’t have disagreed — no other flavors came through.

We didn’t try dessert; nothing else had been worthwhile, so we didn’t think it was worth trying.

So all in all I appreciate the effort, and the people were very nice. But this just wasn’t a very good meal, so I just can’t give more...

June 15, 2024 Returned to The Ridley for dinner after another 12 hour shift since it is very convenient location, hoping and praying the new management had brought back the original fine quality. This time it was a great experience and great food. Had a very good waitress. The new drink menu was interesting Try the Royal Purple Gin Fizz! Interesting blend of flavors..not too sweet...liked it ..they do have a very good experienced bartender at The Ridley. The deviled eggs were perfection as usual..The Ridley burger was perfect..juicy, cooked perfect medium well as requested, very fresh lettuce, nice ripe tomato...excellent! So my rating is back up the chart again .Kudos to The Ridley!

February 4, 2024 I dropped my rating of The Ridley to Zero due to 3 incidences during my visit on the last night of Restaurant Week..I had worked 12 hours at the hospital and just wanted to sit down for a nice meal after work..I had made a reservation on Open Table for 7:45. When I walked in the lady at the desk acted all panicked and said they didn't have any tables but I could clearly see empty tables. They quickly wiped one off and seated me..I had a very young snippity waitress. She seemed happy to inform me that they "were out of" the wine I ordered, as well as pulling the prank of dumping my desert on the table and running away when I said I needed a spoon..over her shoulder she seemed to gloat as she said "we're out of them". Christopher the manager was very responsive and solved one of the issues of providing me with a spoon ..as to the food..the waffles were too thick and dry and smeared with some type of sauce.,their fried tomato dish was much better than the one served at Mockingbirds..the creme brulee was awful..do not order it..please Ridley chefs get the real recipe for creme brulee!...this brulee was almost brown like they had burnt it..all in all The Ridley is slipping in service and in the kitchen...just go for drinks at the bar! Kudos to their manager though Christopher had an attentive ear to my complaints but the damage was already done with the poor customer & impressions of chaos from...

We had Christmas dinner at The Ridley. My 1st time. The really good parts were our primary server, Christina and the other staff were terrific. My dog was allowed to be at our high-top table on her leash, a really sweet guy brought her a bowl of water. The food was disappointing. We ordered 2 starters: cornbread served in a small skillet and Korean BBQ cauliflower. The cornbread would have been wonderful because it was cooked well with a lovely crunchy crust, the issue was too much sugary taste. The cauliflower also had a sugary taste vying for your taste buds attention away from the spicey part. I ordered the blackened salmon medium rare. The medium rare part was perfect, but it was essentially inedible due to the ridiculously salty seasoned rub on the fish! It was beyond just salty to the point of asking, really?? Did the chef accidentally dump a salt container on the fish? I told our server, don't know if she told "the kitchen," maybe someone is okay with that extraordinary amount of saltiness, but I certainly was not. My friend tasted it and said the same thing. I don't think I will go back to The Ridley, which is too bad because I wanted it to be a really good place to eat and tell my friends to meet me there. p.s. "The Ridley" sent a reply to my review/feedback. I am SO impressed with the response and that they "heard" and took to heart my comments, that I will definitely return for a second dining experience. You never really know what can come from sharing honest words about our experiences that provides others to have a new perspective. Thank you very much, The Ridley, for your considered, thoughtful reply. Very meaningful especially in our world of hustle, bustle. And, yes your staff is terrific! And, I LOVE that my dog was received with...