Bacchus — Restaurant in Richmond

This was disappointing to say the least. We went for dinner on a Saturday night with high expectations and lots of good recommendations from friends. When we got there, the wait staff was immediately off putting, talking down to us and providing very minimal and rude interaction/service. When I asked for a single glass option of one of their wines, they brought the whole bottle and poured several glasses before I could say I only ordered one glass. Not wanting to be a problem, I didn’t say anything and ended up paying $30 for a bottle that’s $10 at the grocery store. My partner ordered a steak and it came out severely undercooked. One of their pasta options had no cheese listed under its ingredients, but came with cheese piled on top. For vegan or lactose/dairy-free people, their menu is a bit hard to navigate unless you ask the staff, which, given how rude our waitress was, I wouldn’t want to ask. The food overall was under seasoned. Our water was never refilled through the 1.5 hrs we were there. When given the check, we ended up closing out at the bar because it had been 20 mins since the check had been dropped off and our waitress had disappeared. It all was just a let down. This place has so much potential to be an RVA gem and I hope we just caught them on...

Long time fans of Bacchus. However, our recent experience has challenged that notion. Today, I believe was it. Ordered scallops with arugula salad and a few sides for take out. Picked the order, everything on time, everything good. Portions as always huge, word for the wise - order half of what you want, and you will still have too much. Brought dinner home and the "aroma" from the scallops suddenly became quite strong and frankly overpowering. Unfortunately, I did not notice the smell in the car as the weather was nice and I took the top down. Not sure if scallops were previously frozen and went bad or what, but the smell ("ammonia" like) was quite strong. This was before we opened the packaging containers. Needless to say, a really unpleasant experience. We had to toss the scallops and still are trying to vent the house of the "aroma." The arugula salad and the sides (endives and brussels sprouts) were as always well prepared. The scallops on the other hand were bad, really bad. We have been ordering takeout from Bacchus over the last month (hello Covid) and have never had this type of experience. Tuna, duck, all were good. Not sure what to make. I guess be careful what you order, perhaps skip...

Stopped by for dinner while visiting our son in Richmond. Eclectic vibe with a great menu. Server was helpful with wine selection and recommended something my wife and I could both enjoy. We ordered the fried oysters for our appetizer and they came out quickly, but still gave us a chance to talk and absorb the atmosphere. They were delicious and had a nice remoulade sauce too. We each got an entree (veal marsala & veal in brown butter with capers- similar to piccata) pasta was separate so we ordered pasta with olive oil, garlic & herbs. Let’s just say we Needed 3 others with us if it was expected that we were supposed to everything brought to our table. It was all very delicious but the portions were so huge, there was no way we could finish it. My son became the benefactor of our leftovers and loved it. The Marsala was a tad sweet for our taste, but delicious anyway. Mine had just the right amount of tartness to cut through the brown butter. It was great. We got tiramisu and cannoli for dessert. 2 cannoli and a generous serving of tiramisu ensured our son had some dessert to go with his leftovers!

All in with tip was $200 so it’s not too badly priced. (We had 4 glasses of wine with dinner. )

Highly...