Latitude Seafood Co. Westchester Commons — Restaurant in Midlothian

My boyfriend and I went on a date here over the weekend and we both agree that Latitude Seafood is now one of our favorite restaurants in Midlothian…really in central Virginia!!

They gave us some hush puppies to start, and they were fantastic! Not too soft or crunchy, and not soaked in grease like I normally experience at other restaurants. They were moist, had a good flavor, and were served with a sweet butter on top.

We went during their Happy Hour and, from their discounted menu, purchased the Salmon dip, Prickly Pear Margarita, and a draft beer (I believe it was an Oktoberfest Pilsner). Between the two of us, the dip was more than enough. The margarita reminded me of one of my favorite margaritas served at the Busch Gardens Food and Wine Festival. Also, the Tajin rim not only added visual intrigue, but it paired well with the sweetness of the margarita!

Between the appetizer and drinks, that cost us about $21. In this economy, I thought the price was well worth what we received.

For our entrees, I had the Hellfire Shrimp Tacos. They had a kick, but they weren’t spicy just to be spicy. The flavors were balanced and felt very intentional. There was plenty of shrimp and toppings in each taco (comes with two), but not so much that I couldn’t eat it like a normal taco. Some places over fill your plate to compensate for the quality, but they served just the right amount of food for this dish. I couldn’t eat it all, but that’s because I’m a light eater.

I chose the Old Bay fries as my side and I was star struck! These are some of the best fries I’ve ever had! They’re quite big and you are served a heavy helping. The outside is perfectly crunchy, while the inside is soft and delectable. The only thing I will note is that some of the fries were way over seasoned, but that’s being a bit nitpicky.

My boyfriend ate the Fish and Chips. They also offered tartar sauce, cocktail sauce, and malt vinegar to pair with the fish. The fries were the same cut and quality as mine except they were normally salted. They used Haddock which he thought was an excellent choice for the dish. It was flaky, juicy, and perfectly fried. The beer batter they used was delicious. The size of the fish was significant, so expect to bring home a to go box if you buy this.

Between the two entrees, our total was about $32, which I believe is a fair price for the quality and serving size. Between everything, we spent about $53.

The environment was lovely. I enjoyed the industrial feel intertwined with the oceanic decor. I’m 5’11” and plus sized, and I had plenty of legroom and space to sit comfortably. The space is very open and divided into a normal dining room, a more casual bar, and a covered outdoor eating area.

I didn’t get to explore the outdoor space, but at a glance, it was nicely decorated and would be perfect for aesthetic photos. The bar was cozy and had, I believe, three TVs playing different sports. The regular dining area had several tables that are capable of hosting large parties (they actually had a 20 person party and a 40 person party there while we were eating!). However, the room echoes, which may be something to consider if you are bringing someone who has any sort of sensory sensitivity. That’s the only reason I rated atmosphere at four stars.

The service was wonderful, though it took a bit longer because of those two very large parties. Actually one of the parties was supposed to be 20 people, but they changed it to 40 people last minute. Despite those challenges, our server was very attentive, personable, and our food/drinks arrived in good condition.

Above all of that though, my favorite element was a sign placed at our table introducing us to our waitress. It listed her name, hobbies, passions, and what her favorite menu item is. I love that!!

Overall, I would highly recommend Latitude Seafood for your next lunch or dinner outing!

Also, the 20% automatic gratuity only applies for tables of 6 guests or more which is perfectly reasonable to me. Sadly, too many people run waitresses to death...

Saturday afternoon, I went to Latitudes with a party of 7 for my best friends dad’s birthday. We were seated as a table of 3 and a table of 4 beside each other which was not a problem. The restaurant wasn’t particularly busy, I’d say they were probably half full when we arrived. And the server that we had was friendly, but very slow and inattentive. She served us as if we were 2 separate tables, which was fine except it seemed like she couldn’t multi task more than one item at a table at a time. We had to ask her to take drink orders, app orders, and food orders because every time she completed a task she would disappear for a while. And she retreated from the table quickly with each ask. For example, we needed drink refills and more chips. She acknowledged the drink refills but tried to leave quickly we had to say “wait please may we also get more chips?” We did have 7 people and we were in no rush, but we were there for 2 hours and that was not a result of us being slow.

Latitude announces on their menu an automatic gratuity of 20% on all checks no matter the size of the party. (Which they calculate after tax-that bugs me but there was so much else wrong with this experience I won’t get into that). I come from a restaurant background and I’m an excellent tipper for excellent service. But when I receive sub par service from a server who doesn’t seem to want to be bothered to take care of my table, I tip accordingly.

After the meal when the check came, we asked to speak to a manager. We hadn’t seen one the entire meal or we probably would have notified them that our server was sub par. 11 minutes after we asked to speak to someone, a back of house manager came to our table. We discussed our dissatisfaction with the service and that automatic gratuity of 20% was not an acceptable amount. Again-I worked in restaurants for nearly a decade. I have dealt plenty with auto grat for large parties and always obliged when a customer would ask to have it removed. The manager, John, told us that they simply do not remove that 20% charge. He would try to help us out by removing something else on the check. That offer was appreciated, however we told him that our food was great. We did not take issue with the food, just the service- so our preference was to have the gratuity removed so we could tip appropriately. Again he reiterated they don’t do that. So we told him fine, that was unfortunate and would be the reason that we won’t be return customers.

John then said to us, “well if you’re not coming back, I’m not going to do anything for you”. With that comment he guaranteed that none of the 7 of us will ever spend another dime there. And that comment from John has inspired this review and the others I will post on other platforms.

I’m not the type to complain most of the time. I prefer to give praise. But when met with such poor customer service, I will speak put. Shame on you Latitude.

Edit My best friend from our party called to speak to a different manager to discuss the experience. Jennifer (maybe the owner) called back and told my friend that she was aware of our table and how we had been terrible to the server and called her names and treated her poorly because the whole staff told her the story already....

Seems odd the whole staff knew anything as we only interacted with our server and the manager and I can assure you. The members of this group of 7 ranged in age from 9 to 70- sounds like a pretty crazy rude crowd, huh???

Please if you take the time to read this whole review, there are plenty of local restaurants that need your support during this time- spend your money at one that appreciates their customers! Don’t bother with Latitude or you’ll definitely be paying for...

Summary: Management/owner- does not care about you or any guest you may have with you. Food was good, medium to small portions, small menu selection and overpriced. For my full story read below.

Had a great evening planned with my co-workers. Started out rough, ended up ok. Had reservations for 15 at 6pm tonight, Saturday 12/03/16. At 5:58pm 12 of us were there, a few couldn't make it. They told us upon making reservations, you may have to wait a few extra minutes due to we normally do not accept reservations after 5:30pm. We checked in, they offered us drinks at the bar and stated you guys may have to wait a while. By 5:15pm we were crowding the bar area and a first come, first serve 8 person hightop opened up. We sit down, thought we'd have a few drinks. Waiter made it known, that was his section for people dinning, not just drinks.

He came back over at about 6:30pm and told us the 20 person party that has our table hasn't ordered yet.... what!? So I asked to speak with the manager...waiter came back in 5 and said the owner is up front, hosting and can't get back here to speak with you, but you can go up front to speak with her.... what!?...for the second time!? So me being the customer that wants to express his concern to the owner... that's just what I did.

Evening ma'am I'm Matt, (hand shake) concerning our reservation, just wondering, what happened? Did you double book us? She immediately stated we don't take reservations after 5:30pm and we had a party come in before you guys that had a reservation at 5:00pm. I stated, if you don't take reservations after 5:30pm, then why did you book us? You could have just told us on the phone it was first come first serve... don't you think that would have been the proper thing to do? No, she said, because if I didn't reserve a table for you guys you would have been waiting much longer. (Me thinking... no we would have went across the parking lot to Plaza Azteca.) I said, well...we have a table now (pushed 2 high tops together with another table that already had 4 guest at it.) but this is a first time visit for 90% of our party and it's up to you guys whether we come back or not. She immediately stated, No, it's not, it's up to you whether you come back or not.... (wow..mind blown!) She then proceeded to give me another explanation of why we didn't get our reserved table... I said thank you and walked off.

Not looking for anything free, just wanted a table for my friends and I to sit at, that we reserved.

The food was good! Our waiter was great... the owner really pissed me off. Just wanted to share with everyone who wants to make a reservation or deal with management there... good luck! You got over $100.00 from my wife and I, and probably over $600 from the rest of my crew... but because we were treated so poorly... none of us will ever be back!...