Vancostas Restaurant — Restaurant in Poquoson

we had a great experience the first time, now the second time was like night and day. wow let me tell you. the owner comes over to greet you like always, so far so good. then the waitress comes over and takes our drink order, still going good. but then we wait 15 minutes for 2 drinks, and then takes our order. I said lets start with cheese stick for an appetizer, I ordered the lasagna with meat she had the spaghetti with mushrooms with cheese. waitress leaves, we wait roughly 15-20 minutes and the first thing we got was her spaghetti with no cheese. so that goes back. then mine comes out with hers. I have worked at 5 different restaurants I know things sometimes aren't cooked as you would think. my lasagna had been microwaved for quite some time. every noodle on the edge of my plate was hard as rock. my wife's was obviously microwaved as well but not as bad as mine. so she eats hers I eat what I could which wasn't much. we finished our food, waitress comes over and finally brings bread, I ask her where our cheese sticks are? she was snappy with a reply they're working on it. deep fried cheese stick take about 5-8 minutes. we are done eating. the owner comes over asked how it was I said we haven't got our appetizer yet. he says oh my. so waitress bring back cheese sticks which were cold. I ask for a to-go box cause we have finished. then I wait 16 minutes for a box, which she doesn't even come to my table she slides it on my table as she's serving another table. I go to pay and the owner asked how was everything? with tension and aggression at its peak I state this has been one awesome dinner. (very sarcastic mind you) not one person offered me an apology for this horrid service. and let me tell you how busy it was, us and 5 other tables. and to top it off owner didn't even offer anything to make it less than a bad time. bet your a$$ we aren't going back ever. I hope an employee reads this. I think Gordon ramsay has a new kitchen...

This little mom-n-pop restaurant in the heart of Newport News has one thing going for it and that's the frienliness of the staff. The place clearly caters to a local clientel who are frequent patrons as many of the staff know the guests by name and vice versa. The wait staff was very friendly to us and was very helpful throughout our dining experience.

Then the unfortunate happened. We used the restrooms which both mens' and womens' had malfunctioning p-traps or floor drains (not sure which) in both rooms. The overwhelming stench of sewer gas made having to take care of business an urgent process so as not be overcome by the rotten smell. Seems like this may be due to the age of the restrooms and their plumbing. A plumber should probably inspect their restrooms to remedy this issue. Might be a simple fix.

Thirdly, despite this restuarants attempt to list themselves as a Mediterranean restaurant (most Westerners would think Italian and Greek), the varied Greek items were all lacking one thing...the most staple of Greek meats...LAMB. Despite having a number of Greek items on the menu there was not a single lamb dish. I'm not sure how one can sell Gyros or souvlaki without lamb, the most prolific meat ingredient in Greece. Also the salad served with Greek recipe items was in fact a simple iceberg lettuce American salad. No Greek dressing. No Greek salad. It was just disappointing to be excited about Mediterranean cuisine only to be be limited to seasoned beef with grilled onions and peppers. At least their prices are fair for the portions you get.

Bottom line: Staff friendliness: 4 Cleanliness:...

I visited twice and I was very excited about the atmosphere and the prices! 1st trip, my omelet was not just runny inside it was egg white dripping from my fork when I cut into it. This may have been my fault for not specifying that I wanted it cooked well. The waitress was very nice, she took it back to have it cooked a little more but it came back still undone. I didn't complain again because everyone was so nice but I don't think I would try it again. My 2nd visit was this morning. I ordered the biscuits w/gravy. And my husband ordered his favorite, French toast. We both were very disappointed! Again we didn't complain.. Nor did we take our full plates home. Everyone is so nice we really didn't want to complain. We paid and went home hungry. I'm not giving up yet, I want to try the pizza. Hopefully that's a winner! I've heard great things about it! Crossing fingers! I will say it was really packed this morning so maybe that's why the food was lacking. But they all seem like great people and I hope I find something...