Rhett's Bar & Grill — Restaurant in Louisa

Third review New Years Day 2022: My wife and I dined here for new year’s eve and our anniversary dinner. They had our reservation set for a table, and were very accommodating to change that to a booth when I told them it was our anniversary. We really appreciated this.

Service was great. LaShawn was our server and she couldn't have been more enthusiastic and on top of things. The overall service was equally as good, runners, etc. All the way to the end, paying our bill and getting out we rarely felt like we were waiting on anything, or rushed. Noise level wasn't bad. As usual there was one obnoxious laugh somewhere in the space but fortunately it wasn't constant.

Food was mostly good. A couple exceptions. My wife enjoyed her She Crab soup and loved the scallops Au Gratin with shrimp. The scallops were huge as were the shrimp, which was really a surprise. This a quality dish. I tasted a piece of scallop and it was good, just on the edge of underdone. Scallops should be cooked so that there is literally a raw portion in the center. I didn't care for the Au Gratin, it has something weird like nutmeg or some other holiday spice kind of thing in it, but my wife loved it.

We also had the garlic bread. Pretty pricey for 5 small pieces (a lot of stuff is pricey here) but outstanding.

I had the RBG oysters and will definitely be ordering that again, maybe as a meal. It was very good.

I ordered an Ala-carte piece of fried cod and a crab-cake for the rest of my meal. The fried cod here is outstanding, albeit could use a touch of salt either in the batter or sprinkled on right out of the fryer. The problem with the Ala-Carte serving is they put it on a lettuce leaf, probably right out of the fryer. The breading was already getting soft by the time it got to the table. I think when I ordered this as a meal before it was in a basket and didn't have any soggy issues. I think if they would allow the cod to rest on a cooling rack a couple minutes before placing on that lettuce it would help this (hint, hint, in case Rhett's is reading...I plan to be back!).

I was terribly disappointed in the crab cake. Granted, my standards are high and I rarely get a crab cake as good as I can make at home, but this cake had WAY more filler than I expected for this restaurant. I saw the crab-cake dinner platter someone else ordered at a previous dinner and it didn't look like this...I think. I could see it was a pressed patty immediately, and that’s not right. I don’t think I'll take the chance again, life it too short to eat mediocre crab cakes! It's always a risk. Truly low filler, lump crab cakes are very hard to find. They should never look formed like a hamburger patty.

We had a few cocktails and they were OK. Nothing to rave or complain about there.

Still a 4 of 5 stars for me for the things I wrote about. Service was really good; food was both great and mediocre depending on the plate. No doubt we'll be back but this is a special occasion place for us due to some of the prices. We dropped almost $170 including a good tip for 2 people with 2 cocktails each. Can’t do that every week!

Second Review 11-21: 4 of us had good meals here again. The place was not very busy for dinner this night, I think it was a Monday (took me a while to get to this review), so the noise was not as bad. We asked for quiet seating and were seated on the left side of the building as far away from the bar as possible...but the bar was not the problem last time. I think I see more stuff on the walls now that may dampen some noise.

Service was good although our server was not 21 and had no knowledge of the wine menu. She was a sweetheart though. I'm terrible with names and this was a month ago, and I didn't pay so I don’t have the receipt.

I had the duck breast and it was very good. Cooked perfectly. The Parmesan potatoes were also excellent and the green beans cooked to perfection.

First review, summarized. June 2021 edited: For some reason, the owner focused on my commenting about decor. That wasn't my point in my first...

Just a solid 2 all the way around. We ate here several times when they first opened and weren't terribly impressed with the food, but since it was a new restaurant, we decided maybe it would take a bit of time for them to figure it out. We tried again last night and were still underwhelmed. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't good either. Each of our visits, the appetizers far exceeded the entrees. I think if I were just going for drinks and appetizers, this would be a great place to go. For dinner, not really. We ordered the old bay cheese fries, which were ok. Sadly the best part about them was the ranch dressing they were served with - that was delicious by the way. Our service wasn't bad, it just wasn't great. The server noticed we were low on drinks halfway through our appetizer and asked if we wanted refills - um, yes please. Like I said, not bad service, but good service would have been to just refill the drinks, particularly since we still had half an appetizer and our meals to get through. A few other interactions with our server, and the other waitstaff when our server wasn't around, just left us less than impressed. Again - not bad, just not good. The entrees were just ok. My husband got the shrimp basket which he said was good. I got the shrimp alfredo, at the server's recommendation. The alfredo would have been really goodI think, had it not been absolutely covered (I'm not talking about a minor sprinkling) with green onions and bacon bits. When I saw on the menu that bacon was included in it, I thought "well that's an interesting twist on a sauce" but was surprised to see there was so many bacon bits thrown on top of the entree, it hid the rest of it. The shrimp on it were delicious but the onions and bacon just really cheapened the meal, in my opinion. Again, not bad, but not good and likely only a place I would go back to if there were no other options. Or, if I wanted some beers and bar food.

Like I mentioned, the appetizers (in previous visits) far outweigh the entrees. The pretzel and beer cheese were delicious. I've also had the crab dip, which I thought was good, but didn't care...

Not the Rhett's of Old (off Rt. 29) Our family loved the previous location even though it was across town for us. We would eat there usually once a month an usually on New Year's Eve. Now that the new location has opened (and now closer) we went for the first time to the Zion Cross Roads location to celebrate our daughter's birthday and by her request. We've been waiting for the opening and excited to go have the food we knew and loved. We were seated right away and our waitress was prompt and friendly both in taking our drink and dinner orders. The appetizers were as we remembered and delicious. Unfortunately they were the hi-lite of the dinner. I had the Crabcake sandwich which seemed to have been smashed down on the bun (need to work on the presentation in the future). First two bites was digging shell. Seemed to get a little better as the meal went on. Did not make a stink about it because we were there to celebrate. Two members of our party ordered the crabcake dinner to split. Did not know until we were heading home their meal was cold. They didn't say anything either for the same reason. Another member of our party ordered the Chicken Finger Basket dinner. Now this was off the Adult menu. When the meal arrived it had 3 Fingers on it. I asked our waitress about it since the Adult menu listed this dinner at $12. I was curious if there was a mix up and we were given a Kids Meal. Our waitress asked the manager on duty about it who confirmed the Adult Chicken Finger Basket only came with 3. Seems a little steep since most restaurants portion 5-6 on an Adult serving and 3 on a kids meal. Guess to sum up the rating given was holding the New Rhett's to the Old Rhett's and the Hi Bar the previous restaurant had set. Can't say we are in the same hurry to return. Please take this as constructive criticism to build on. Spent a good amount on food and drinks tonight but wouldn't have mined if the meal lived up to it. Really no complaint on the...