Amber Lantern Restaurant — Restaurant in Chesapeake

Let me start by saying we are absolute foodies and love a good meal with good service . We dont mind paying top dollar for that at all if and when received. Sad to say this visit that is not what we got. My girlfriend had a surprise birthday party for me at Amber Lantern. She had 14 of my closest friends and family there waiting to enjoy a great evening. She had a reservation which all went smoothly . We were the only big table in the the establishment. There were a couple other 2 tops with people in them but the place was very slow at the time. Location around is not nice at all. It's near the landfill and on a back road of businesses thats not appealing at all. Most people would probably turn around. The building itself is nice and clean. The views of the water behind the building and the fountain are the only nice thing. The rest is not that nice. The service was good at first and the servers were friendly and professional to us. We all ordered our drinks which were OK. My dad asked twice for more tea and never got it. Refills stopped coming after the first round. A few appetizers were ordered and I didn't hear any complaints about those . We all ordered dinner that ranged from $30 to $48 dollars a piece . I had the fillet mignon , risotto , and veggies. The steak was 8 ounces and wasn't the best flavor or cook by any means . There was a tiny scoop of risotto on the plate that was ok but kind of bland , the veggies were good .The meal wasn't terrible but it wasnt good especially for $45 . I didnt complain I just wanted my girlfriend to be happy and everyone to enjoy themselves. 4 people ordered the Mediterranean chicken . They all complained how dry it was and a couple of them sent it back. It wasn't edible it was to hard to cut and very dry. We all still laughed and enjoyed eachothers company making the best of it but I don't believe anyone was very happy with the food. When desert came 4 people ordered the Lava cake with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. The server didn't tell us they were out of ice cream. Just took our orders and after a good while later brought out 4 lava cakes with half a dollop of whip cream and a thin slice of strawberry. So we read the menu to make sure it said ice cream because that usually comes with ice cream. So we asked for the ice cream then are told they are out and sorry about that. Trying to eat it and see if it will work it doesn't work. We ask for it to be taken off our bill and they could take it back since we weren't informed of the ice cream being out and they said they would give me $3 off. We had to ask multiple times for it to be removed because at this point we're getting a little upset with the quality of what we're paying for. Finally after over a $1,000 dollar tab. We went out back took a few pics near the fountain and left. Everyone today feels the same about the place and feel we didn't get our money worth and will not return . It's sad because I just moved in a nice neighborhood near by and I thought I found a nice little spot we could visit frequently. Hope the next table is better then...

The food was garbage. I think many people that post these reviews look at the restaurant because it looks high-end and give a good review because of the setting, but in reality the food was awful. It started when they brought my tea and it was not brewed. It was the premade garbage Lipton tea from the tap. I sent it back and got coffee. We ordered the baked Brie for an appetizer and the fried calamari. The calamari was OK. The baked brie looked very nice, but it was not creamy and runny. It was almost like it had been premade a long time before and then cooked up. It had a puffed pastry shell around the brie, and instead of being crispy and gooey. It was more like a stale croissant that you could barely cut with tough cheese inside. The meal continued with crabcakes that were supposed to be jumbo lump. They were not they were more like a pile of stringy crab beat mixed with about 25% Hellmann’s mayonnaise and I think they probably added some extra crab shells so you could try to pull them out of your teeth with every bite. $42. Some of the worst crabcakes I have ever eaten. With that I had risotto that tasted more like Rice-A-Roni. I’m sure it was made with fake chicken stock because it tasted just like the chicken powder you use for seasoning a soup instead of real homemade chicken stock It was bad My wife had gnocchi that had giant chunks of Thick bacon in it. The gnocchi was tough. I do not believe it was homemade or if it was, it was made in a big batch in frozen. Gnocchi should be like a fluffy little dumpling, but these were like tough little gummy old biscuits. This was mixed in with pieces of thick cut bacon that looks like they were fried until Brown and then mixed with the gnocchi making a big bowl of brown gooey grease for you to chew on. At least the grease helped the tough little nuggets slide down your throat. There is was no seasoning on the food so I asked for salt and pepper. They brought me disposable salt and pepper shakers like you would take to a picnic. We have driven by this place for years and finally decided to meet some friends there. The pictures looked great online and the reviews were not bad. We will never go back. All four of us had the same experience. The place looks like fine dining but the food is horrible considering the price that you’re paying. It’s more along the lines of a $15 diner where you expect greasy food, plastic salt and pepper shakers, fake Lipton tea, and food slopped up with mayonnaise and crab shell. Save your money if you want to eat bad food and eat somewhere cheaper If you want great food, try La Yucca in Williamsburg. Truly, high end dining with amazing food at the same price point. Don’t...

We found ourselves stuffed into a booth for 4 with reservations for 5 (2 lg males, 3 females, winter jackets and purses and no place to put them). Our request for a table (3 available from 6:30-9:00 pm) was declined. Service was extremely slow, water wasn't refilled, my duck breast was tough (cooked medium) skin rubbery, food temperature mediocre (I didn't address it because I was just over the dining experience by then) my friend's salad never arrived, it took 20 minutes to get another beer. My friend's steak was great, my husband did enjoy his shrimp stuffed with crab. The restaurant was out of risotto (@ 6:30) and unable to offer another variant). The best part of the evening was the dessert. A modest size slice of chocolate lovers dream come true for $10. Until our 3 separate checks arrived because they were all incorrect. Per restaurant policy the individual checks were explained to the waitress upon ordering and we expexted her to manage 3 tabs correctly, but things got mixed up. We sat and waited, the waitress didn't return with corrected tickets. After 20 minutes I asked for the Mgr. who came promptly. We had a decent dialogue but at the end of the day the bottom line is:

1. We were told the table(s) were reserved and per policy are held for 1.5 hours (?) but in 3 hours not 1 table was occupied
2. Instead of 6 waitresses only 3 were working, it's an explanation but we didn't see any of them clearing our plates and if our waitress did, she would only take half of them after being prompted
3. The Mgr. stated she had to tend the bar, couldn't make rounds and/or help out but mentioned I could/should have voiced my concern about the duck
4. We did get 2 slices of chocolate cake free ($20), an explanation why things went south and were asked to return. Our take: An upscale restaurant with beautiful views and great potential. Covid has taken a staffing toll on everyone. The restaurants that were able to survive did something extremely well. My train of thought is don't take on more RSVP than your limited staff can handle (incl. possible no shows) because it's not fair to your staff nor the customers who dropped $310 and aren't too impressed and therefore no.returns. Pls consider we live in VB and made a special trip to your restaurant, there is an abundance to choose from in Hampton Roads....