Chop House Bistro — Restaurant in Luray

The little black dress of restaurants. Classic, Non- Pretentious, blissfully basic, casual/dressy and simply perfectly done!!!

Wow! Did I have an amazing dining experience last Saturday? We wanted to ensure we tried a lot of dishes and our collective rating is 5 out of 5! I gathered 6 of us to have dinner and all ordered lots of drinks and a three course meal.

Must haves: Cocktail prior to dinner. Simply perfectly poured and presented. Old fashion and The Cure are particularly delish. Recommend arriving before your dinner reservation and sitting at the bar. Yes, you could wear hiking attire in the whole restaurant or dress up for an evening out.

Apps: Have the wings. Yes, I know wings might be an usual starter for dinner. Out of the many apps we had, I highly recommend these. Maximum flavor in the dry rub with a hint of cinnamon? Vanilla? and maybe cardamom?? Chef Ryan? It is delish! Cooked to a perfect temperature and the dipping sauce is mouthwatering. Pro tip: Just pick them up with your fingers and remember it isn’t that fancy of a place!

Entree: hard to choose one, we had many different ones. The common things for all 6: good portions, perfectly cooked to temp, even an actual blue rare for steak as requested. Plus, guests who ordered chicken said it was flavorful and juicy. The steaks, bowls and sides were a hit. The Mac and Cheese is outstanding. Go ahead and order one order extra to go!! That is the number one MUST have thing among our group and is also my personal favorite menu items at the mothership location in Harrisonburg, VA.

Service and atmosphere are simple. It is understated and allows the guest to focus on the conversation and meal at hand. Please remember to be kind to staff as the community is very small and has many, many, many visitors. These visitors exceed the ability for most places to staff appropriately.

As someone who grew up in the Shenandoah Valley without a refined pallet, but also someone who lived in NYC for eights years & lived aboard for three years (as an adult for pleasure) and traveled to 31 counties, my pallet has become trained. I have eaten at 11 Michelin star restaurants and 7 James Beard award winners, and I have spent most of my career in hospitality working up to a GM of a resort with a Michelin star chef. I also taught hospitality at a university. Thus, I believe my perspective to be well balanced and correctly situated in the context of Luray, Virginia. I am offering 5 out of 5 for the Shenandoah Valley Favorite!

When to go? Year round, but winter will likely offer better service without the influx of visitors. Occasion: It is a fantastic 2nd night dinner option when you come to The Inn at Little Washington.

Are you Hiking and camping in Shenandoah National Park? Trust me get off the mountain and come here! It is casual enough for everyday dining.

This restaurant is also dressy enough to host celebrations, rehearsal dinners and holiday parties.

This restaurant and Luray, as a historic downtown shopping community, is not...

I had been told numerous times about how good this was. However, I have to say I didn’t have the same experience. To start with my dad and stepmom was inside the restaurant and I called as I pulled in parking lot to let them know I was there. It still wasn’t my reservation time. I had a few mins. Despite my call and that I officially wasn’t even late, and two people in the party had been waiting in the lobby, they were told that if I didn’t arrive on time that they would give my reserved table away. Again, my father and stepmom was there inside and I called and was parking but bc of the parking situation in the area I had to park a block away. Got there get to the table. They let us set for 15 to 20 mins before taking order. After which had to be told two times after given the order to please bring my grandson his drink. Then after asking when no one returned for almist an hour, we asked about our dinner. I was told they would give my table away, then we waited an hour on our food. It wasn’t even overly busy. When asking about the meal, I was told that they had a large party whom they were serving but our food would be coming. By this time by 2 year old grandson was ready for bed and grumpy. The large party had also been seated after us bc that was one of the reasons why we would lose our table initially. My stepmom also ordered her steak well done and it was at best barely med rare. There was blood on the plate. My son ate her steak bc she didn’t want to send it back since it had taken an hour to be served. This is not an easy review bc I along with my stepmom were both in the food industry as servers ourself before. That is a hard job. My father is also a retired chef. We know at times it gets busy, but from the start to finish it was very disappointing for a dinner I was super excited about. The only thing that I can say was good in this whole experience is that my dinner was very good. It was delicious but for the price they charge, have to make reservations, and then threaten to take your table after calling, I will likely not return. Sorry guys but you definitely need to step...

Any time I leave a negative review, I always want to be fair and honest. The restaurant itself is beautiful, well-appointed , well decorated... what I loved most of all was how simplistic and elegant the atmosphere was. But what instantly turned me off was the hostess at the front door . She was cold and seemed to be bothered( by I don't know what). But right behind her was a very nice host ,who repeatedly checked with us and made sure we were comfortable while we waited for our table ( which took not much time at all )... the menu was good. The appetizers offered were diverse and interesting but not so exotic that it would turn off the average Joe . Our server ( though very sweet ) wasn't very good. Our drinks took for-ev-er, so did our food. To be fair, we ordered all the apps. The pork belly dish was awesome! The crab-cake was just a crab- cake, but the cornsalad underneath elevated it. My husband really enjoyed the mushroom Croquette . But the Jerk chicken wings were bland. The Hummus platter left a lot to be desired. It was the oddest tasting hummus I've ever had in my life. But i'm not sure that it should have taken as long as it did to get our items in a timely manner (25 minutes). The prices were fair and I think comparable to the offerings on the menu. The last thing that bothered me was at the very end of the meal. We ordered a hamburger to go with an extra Patty and cut in half so that we could share it back in our hotel. Not only did we not get the extra Patty, they also didn't cut it in half. When we called to let them know about the state of the food we ordered . The young woman on the phone (who I believe to be the woman that we met at the front counter but can't say for sure).... she couldn't have cared less. She was unapologetic and didn't seem as if she cared that much at all. Which was her right but not very nice. I'm considering making another reservation this week at an earlier time, to see if we get the same service. I'm hopeful that it will be different...