William & Henry Steakhouse — Restaurant in Lynchburg

We came to Lynchburg for a basketball tournament and decided to let the kids stay back and we’d have a date night and WHOA…. If you are hesitating at ALL about this restaurant DON’T. You will not regret it. The chef is just beyond amazing having a culinary background and education that will make your head spin.

We ordered a 14oz Sirloin that basically tasted exactly like a Filet and split it. Cooked perfectly, charred just right with crispy flavorful bits of intense flavor. It was so BIG we had leftovers on just one entree! The sides are like family style- since we ordered one entree, we ordered a chopped salad, the Brussels sprouts and mixed wild mushrooms! All amazing. The béarnaise sauce was ON POINT as well. The salad was nothing short of perfection.

The wine menu was just about the most robust and incredibly eclectic mix that I’ve seen in a decade. It just got better and better as the night went on. Great ambiance (we were downstairs not in the roof top bar restaurant). I hear that is good too. Different chef and menu.

The bread was straight out of the oven and steaming. Butter whipped to utter perfection (no pun intended). We literally had enough left for an entire meal the next day and on top of it all- our waiter and waitress were INTERESTING, friendly, so knowledgeable and educated on the food, how it is prepared and they both gave genuine opinions on what they like and why. I love that. We didn’t want to leave!

The manager came over to ask how everything was and we had yet another fabulous interaction. He brought us a slice of cheesecake on the house and let me just tell you- the chef is from Philly originally and had a restaurant in NY for many years and he has never, in all the time he has worked there, let ANYONE change the recipe or alter it in anyway. AND NOW I KNOW WHY. It had density, fluffiness, custard layers that literally melted in our mouths.

Everything- literally everything we had, was done to perfection. We are serious foodies (as if you couldn’t tell) and we have dined at some of the finest restaurants in the world, and this place ranks top 3. You must try it. If you are concerned about price, splitting an entree is perfectly acceptable given that the sides are enormous which made the bill more reasonable than we anticipated. This way you can have a really nice variety of sides to try. I had the pear cosmo and it was also balanced perfectly, served chilled with fragments of ice filtered through and you could really taste the pear- it was just delicious.

Thank you to everyone who had a hand in our beautiful meal. We had the BEST time and will be back next time we come to Lynchburg! No doubt about it! I wasn’t planning on posting so the picture just doesn’t do the actual presentation justice- this was after I portioned it all out on...

I'm going to give 5 stars, because I'm really picky at this level of dining, and going to get into detail. Parking seemed ample, and valet service is also offered through The Virginian Hotel entrance. Decorations for the season are beautifully matched to the decor, and not overwhelming or taking up too much real estate. The host was pleasant, but seemed slightly arrogant when I told him there was no reservation, but had decided to meet a friend for drinks last minute, and I would likely eat. He said no table was available, but we could eat at a bar table. That was acceptable, until it was evident that there were open tables that had not been seated by the time we left 2 hours later. On seating myself, I waited without service until my friend arrived (maybe 15 minutes). My friend was very nice, didn't waste more time, and headed to the bar. She noticed the lack of attention as well, but wasn't willing to wait to see how long it would take, like I was. Once we had our drinks, things went much more smoothly. I know another reviewer had criticism of the French Onion Soup, but it might have been the best I've ever had. I do tend to prefer a crock, but I didn't mind not getting to scrape off every bit of cheese. It was delicious. The table bread is sourced from the DC area, and reminded me of the bread we served at Le Yaca (which was sourced from a french bakery in Richmond)...artisan country style french baguette sliced into small toasts. Crunchy outside, soft inside. I'm going back for the Chateaubriand when I have a friend willing to share, but got the tenderloin tips and mushroom appetizer. Very nice. I think the sauce could have been a little more flavorful, but my palate is made for hot peppers and tequila...so I'm willing to give a little. Overall a great first experience. It's pricey, but so is every restaurant at this level, and at the low end of those. It's a steak house. I'm glad to see we (in Lynchburg) are getting some more choices. I will be back, in search of the perfection that deserves this five star review. I'm a 25% tipper when things are right, so it's worth the effort. I've been known to tip the host as well. Who does that anymore? Anyone that ever worked in fine dining, and we like to eat in...

I was really excited to try this place for out for our 8 year wedding anniversary as it had many great reviews. Unfortunately, it was an awful experience from the beginning we walked in.

We were waiting in line at the host stand where it was unattended for several minutes. We had a reservation for 6:30 and were waiting for the host to return. There was another couple behind us and the host (or could’ve been the shift manager as he came by later on) finally comes by and completely ignores us and fist bumps the person behind us, who I guess he knew, and then proceeds to seat them without even acknowledging us in the first place. We then had to wait several minutes before we were seated and there was no apology or anything.

We then begin to sit down at our table and ordered our drinks and they had brought out my martini and not my husband’s beer. The waiter realized that I had received my drink but that the beer was not on the table. He went to check on it. We waited for about 10 more minutes before his beer arrived, which is confusing, I’m not sure how my martini got made and how it took that long out to pour his draft beer.

We then order our appetizers and the bread arrives. As we eat our appetizers, the waiter asked if we needed anything else and we said we would like some more bread. However, the bread was never refilled.

The entrees took about 40 minutes to come out. The bussers took our apps and didn’t even ask if we were done.

The food was tasteful, but at that point, our experience was already so subpar and we were so disappointed in the experience and the service, that we weren’t even hungry at that point. The service truly dampened the experience and our anniversary and made us want to get the hell out of there. They did offer us free dessert because they acknowledged that the food took so long, but we denied it because we were already just over the whole experience.

Take my word: save your money, because it’s expensive - but if you’re going to spend this type of money for a special occasion, spend it on a place with amazing service from start to finish instead of a place...