Waterside District — Restaurant in Norfolk

I've been coming here off and on for years. And each year not much changes. I see so much potential in this large space. But each time I'm disappointed to see it's still a ghost town. It seems businesses come and go. When I was there those past weekends, only a handful of the places were open, giving only a few options. And those places that were open lacked in service and value. My first stop was the Blue Moon Taphouse. Horrible service overall. We basically had to get our own silverware even after asking for it. It took a longer time to get the table cleared from the previous customers. Luckily, we had a big table that it could be pushed off to one side. Later that same evening, I went to Guy Fieri (disappointed that it downsized). They didn't have all the things to fill my order, which basically was nachos. No chips. So I went back to Blue Moon and stood around at the bar trying to be served. It didn't happen. So, I was back to Guy Fieri to get something I really didn't want, but it was my only option.

Now the food was good once we got it. But again, the service was horrendous.

I tried Fudgery twice. Both times, with the same person, I stood around for minutes waiting to be served. There was no real acknowledgment that he saw us even when looking directly at us.

I know I'll be back in Norfolk next year. I probably won't be...

Waterside has desperately needed revitalization for a long time, but what it got just doesn't cut it.

The new waterside district has been turned into an entertainment and dining experience, only without the entertainment and dining. If you're looking for somewhere to take the family to, or to grab some good dinner, look elsewhere.

Waterside is nothing but a handful of bland, uninteresting hipster bars with an almost cafeteria like atmosphere, all packed in far too tightly for comfort. They all serve the same alcohol at expensive prices, and completely misinterpreted the word "dining" to mean an extremely limited menu of ridiculously overpriced food, which is almost exactly the same as all the other bars in the building. There's a Dim Sum place, and an ice cream parlor, and a Chipotle which is usually understandably empty. The food is too limited and bland to go for dinner, and too expensive and heavy to go for lunch, it's the most pointless thing I've ever seen.

I'm not a Norfolk local, I'm from Philly, so maybe I'm just spoiled, but I visit Norfolk every summer and there are a couple bar & Grilles in Norfolk I'd rather hit up any day.

The venue isn't at 100% capacity, so there's a chance they might get an actual restaurant or to in there to make it worth a trip, but it's more likely they'll get a couple more cookie-cutter hipster bars to cram...

I didn't even know this place existed. My sister was visiting from out of town, and I needed us to have a great experience and searched what was there to do in my city, and this popped up right away. The only thing was we weren't prepared to pay $40 each to get in. They were having some type of Mermaids and Beer function, and food trucks were outside, so we had to make the decision to eat or pay. Of course we decided to eat! And we saw people getting on these ferry boats to ride around the bay. We walked down to the pier and took the ride over to Portsmouth for $4 round trip. Don't give them a $5 bill because they haven't any way to give you change, so I had to eat that dollar! You must have the correct change. There wasn't really anything to see that we knew about in Portsmouth, so we just got back on the boat to come back to Norfolk. We walked the pier and saw a big blue chair, and took pics there. The food trucks looked really good, so we walked back past them, but the best one was a turkey leg smothered in creamy mac & and cheese, but that was a whole $35! I guess we could've split it, but we decided against it this time and came home. It was a great experience overall. I would just suggest you have some long money when going there because it's most definitely not cost effective. But...