Irwin's Fountain — Restaurant in Chesapeake

Wow. Talk about stepping back in time... Irwin's Fountain is located in the back of Irwin's Pharmacy on Indian River Road in Chesapeake. This establishment has been open since 1934. That's right... 1934!

I had the pleasure of eating breakfast here last Friday morning. I popped in around 10am and the counter was about half full of regulars. I took a seat near the front and grabbed a menu. The juke box to my right was playing Jerry Lee Lewis "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On". Right away a friendly gentleman was asked what I wanted to drink and I ordered a soda (they have Pepsi products BTW). After looking over the menu I found what I wanted. The Breakfast Club Sandwich. I placed my order, and added a side of home fries and then took a look around.

The counter itself holds about a dozen people, maybe a couple more. Behind me was a row of booths, about 5 or 6 in total. The place can definitely accommodate a decent amount of people. While I sat people watching I noticed they had a steady round of folks doing carry out orders as well. At least 5 during my visit. Also the regulars at the counter were bantering back and forth with the staff. Very cool, it gave the place a great vibe.

Then breakfast arrived. Wow I was really impressed. The Breakfast Club came with the following. Two eggs, Bacon, Sausage and cheese served between 3 pieces of French Toast. It was then cut into quarters and served with a bowl of syrup for dipping. It was food coma delicious! The home fries were good as well and had some chopped onion in them for added flavor.

Why not 5 stars, they were a little on the slow side on Friday. Most likely I would say because they only have a single small grill behind the counter and the orders were steady throughout my entire visit. I was there at least an hour during my visit and that's quite a wait for a sandwich and home fries. It's not a complaint, but I would say if you're in a hurry you may want to call your order in. Otherwise sit back and enjoy a meal and...

I've heard the food was really good so we went there for lunch today. When we got there, there were only 3 tables and one bar stool occupied and their food was already cooked. We told her it was our first time there and asked for suggestions. We placed our order for pancakes and french toast with sides. Several more people came in after we placed our order. Most of them received food while we were still sitting there. One guy had already ate and left. After around 35-40 minutes we flagged down the waitress and asked about our order after she took food to the table behind us (who got there after us). She said our food would be right out. I looked over after she left our table and a couple of minutes after she talked to the cook he poured pancake batter on the griddle. At that point I got up, went to the counter, and told her just charge us for the drinks because we were leaving. We had to be back at work. As we were walking out of the door she said "your order is up now do you want to take it to go?" Umm...no. I completely understand if orders get misplaced. Mistakes happen. The part I have a huge problem with is we sat there all of that time and nothing. No "I am so sorry but your order didn't go in but we're cooking it now" or anything. Had something been communicated to us I wouldn't be so irritated. Now I'm at work and ate no lunch. I'm extremely displeased. We work down the road so they would have had regular customers. Complete failure of communication and...

I have not lived near Chesapeake, Va. for a long time, my wife (Julie) and I live in South Carolina and went to Maryland to visit one of our children and grandchildren, on the way home I told Julie I wanted to go to where I lived when I was 13, I am now 70. When we came to the corner of Sparrow Road and Indian River Road I could not believe Irwin's Fountain was still there. I shared one of my favorite memories with Julie which was I would get off the school bus before it got to my stop, go in Irwin's Fountain and get a limeade made with real limes and a pack of Hostess Twinkies that I paid for with my newspaper route money, the lady behind the counter was always so nice to me. I went down Sparrow Road and saw the house we lived in then went to the cathole pond and told Julie another story about one winter it froze over and some girls were walking on the ice when the ice broke and one of them fell into the water and could not get out so I found a long stick and pulled her out, her grandmother put the story in the newspaper. I had never told Julie either of those stories. When driving back down Sparrow Road I had to stop at Irwin's Fountain, I sat at the counter in the same spot I sat at in 1967, it was breakfast time so we ate and the food was very good. I did not want to leave, I wanted to be 13 again, it brought back such great memories. Thank You Irwin's Fountain. Sincerely,...