Willoughby Fish House — Restaurant in Norfolk

Let me get one thing off my chest before we get started. Sound dampening. Sound dampening. Sound dampening. The interior space is an echo chamber. This place needs some soft surfaces. And by some, I mean any at all. But preferably purpose-built sound dampening material. Nobody at our table could hear each other. We would have sat outside but it was standing room only and drizzling.

I… I really did have such high hopes for this place. The anticipation was there. The social media campaign was on point. I was so excited for a new neighborhood seafood joint. And then… we arrived.

I think. And that’s a big “think” they had a huge party arrive just before us. So, hour wait, not a big deal; especially for tourist season. Luckily, we live right around the corner; so the wait really wasn’t that bad because they call to tell when your table is ready. So that’s nice at least. An extra gold star for you.

We were seated promptly when we arrived; that’s the last we were spoken to by any of the staff for, let’s be generous and say ten minutes. And that’s being highly generous. I’m not joking when I say I was scooting my chair back to leave when we were finally greeted by a staff member who wasn’t even our waitress.

So, after one of the staff randomly happened by to ask if we had our drinks ordered yet, then, as if by some kind of magic, we started to get service. Like, a lot; like they realized they screwed up and decided to overcompensate. Almost too much, but that’s not a terrible thing to complain about, so let’s ignore it.

Moved on with life. Ordered our drinks and an appetizer. Some times rolls by.

Ordered the fish tacos. “Which kind of fish? Tuna or… I think maybe mahi? Hang on let me check. Yea mahi. But I don’t know if we’re still doing that one. Wait yea we’re doing mahi too.” So we ordered a mahi taco meal, a tuna taco meal, and a fish sandwich. Meals are served, no appetizer. “Sorry we only had mahi mahi, here ya go.” Mind you, we were literally sitting next to the kitchen so, at any point, they could have told us they didn’t have the fish we ordered and asked if we wanted something else. Instead, we got what we got and that was that. No substitutes or solutions given. Then, the appetizer came. If you’re keeping tabs, that means it came after our food. And we ordered the app a good ten minutes before the food. Maybe longer actually. I will say the spicy mayo that comes with the crab-stuffed mushrooms was fantastic. Almost identical to the spicy mayo you’d find on sushi. But even the mushrooms were only just okay, especially for the price. $9 for 4 sub-par stuffed mushrooms. Won’t make that mistake again.

Maybe we just had a bad taste in our mouths from the get go. Maybe it was how exceptionally loud it was inside. Maybe they haven’t ironed out all the kinks. But going in with such high hopes, the food was unextraordinarily meh. And that’s a big let down.

We will try this place out again during the week, during non-tourist season, and we’ll see how it goes. I hope this will become the amazing neighborhood seafood joint I had wished it would be. I’ll be sure to update this review at that time. Until then, I’m sad to say,...

Love this place! It could have the worst food in the world and still worth going for the view and atmosphere. Luckily for us, their food is as good as the view! This is the second time eating here and both times have been fantastic. The staff give you a warm family feeling and make sure everything is going well. We tried the Hog wings, which are fried pork loins in a sauce of your choosing and fried pickle spears to start with. Then I got the fish sandwich. I love flounder and this was fried perfectly. My wife got the fish of the day, which was tuna. Honestly she is a tuna snob and rarely finds places up to her par, but she said their's was one of the best she had in a long time, that's high praise from her. My wife got a Seafoam drink and they were able to whip me up a non-alcoholic one as well. Dinner was just great. The c’est le top du top of it all though is the Amazing view of the harbor, docks, boats and Sunset. We got there right at the golden hour to be able to catch it. Sitting outside, snuggled together with some blankets from the Cas since it was a bit chilly, made for a romantic dinner. The only downside of the place is the size. It's not very big just a few tables inside, then a cool wall table, where 2 sit inside and 2 outside and the window sill is the table, then a few patio tables. So if you plan on going, might want to check ahead or go a little early. Sitting outside is also pretty cool, since you can look through the floor boards and see the water below. This is a must go,...

We were disappointed. We visited because the reviews were so high on Google, but we had a 1 star experience. We waited over an hour for our food because they were so short staffed. The poor server was the bar tender and waitress for everyone. Our calamari appetizer was served cold with the breading falling off. The server forgot to bring out serving plates when she said she would. We waited over an hour for our food with four little kids. The atmosphere was great--we entertained the kids by looking out over the harbor at the boats. The long wait could have been forgotten if the food were good. But, after our long wait was over, we ate sorry fish tacos which were mostly tortilla and cabbage with a tiny bit of fish. And half of the fish was skin. One of us had a burger that was really small, dry, and not really good. I tried my kid's fried fish from the kids' menu to see why he wasn't eating it--it was because it was the driest fish I've ever had. At the end of the meal, the server said she'd be back with a to-go box. She never came back. I had to go over to the bar to ask for one after I decided she had forgotten about us again. The only good thing about the food was the french fries, but heck, I would've swung by a fast food place if I wanted fries. I was looking for good fish.

We came here on our beach vacation hoping for some fresh yummy fish. We ended up wasting time on our vacation sitting here awaiting mediocre food. I...