Croaker's Spot Richmond — Restaurant in Richmond

I apologize up front because this is a long review. I learned of the Croacker's Spot from a book I read by a local author here in Richmond. Afterwards I learned that these Croacker's Spot won the 2011 Hoodie Awards for Best Soul Food Restaurant. I visited the Croacker's Spot on December 6, 2024. I am from SC and I was in town attending an event with IBBP and I was excited about eating here. Upon arriving at the Croacker's Spot I was seated immediately this was at 5:34 p.m. At 5:47 a waiter finally came to my table placed a haphazardly folded napkin on the table and said he would be right back. He never brought me a glass of water, bread nothing. Mind you I was seated by the window and it was extremely cold by the windows. I tried several times to get my waiter's attention to at least order a hot cup of coffee or tea or something while viewing the menu. The waiter kept acknowledging, but never came back to my table. So finally I went to the hostess who seated and asked to be move from the table by the window to a more warm area. The hostess graciously moved me. By this time I had been waiting over 45 minutes no one came to take my also order a meal for take-out'. Now here the straw that broke the camel's back the parties of 2, 5 and 6 gets their food before me it's now 6:47 p.m. I politely ask the waitress while she was serving the party 5 their food about my food and was basically told that because I order the grilled salmon it had to be cooked in the oven to which I replied "it's not grilled? " the waitress response was "they have to put on the oven first and then grill the salmon " and the reason the other guests that came in after me orders were all fried entree'. at this point I asked to speak to the manager and was basically told the same thing the waitress said except the manager apologize, they tell the staff to always inform guest if the choose the grilled salmon it will be at minimum a 45 minute wait time and basically saying it was my fault that I hadn't received my food in a reasonable time because I choose the wrong entree instead of accepting responsibility for the fact I had been waiting at this time for almost an hour and half. Finally my food arrive to my table at exactly 7 o'clock. When I say was a disappointment. Such a let down. The salmon was blend, no taste, luke warm. The potatoes were cold and looked the were leftovers and the waitress had the nerves to inform me that my nerves broccoli will ready in a minute. I asked for a to go box, canceled the take-out order. I received my check and was told the manager didn't charge me for the take-out and since it was ready I could have the take-out on house. Really. As I was packing the salmon meal in the container the manager comes back to to offer me desserts. I know this is a long review, I need you to overstand, that I realize that it was the lady at the next table the party of 5 who went to manager and obviously expressed her concerns about my experience with the service and the quality of food and the fact that I was made to feel as though it was my fault for dinner selection for the reason it took so long to get my food. If I could give a zero rating I would. It's obviously the Croacker's Spot is in name only now and not as it in it's heyday of Mr. Croack himself. drink order let along my food order. Mean while a party of 2 was seated where I was seated earlier. A party 6 and then party of 5 was seated about 6:20 p.m.. A waitress come after seating the party of 5 to take my drink order and I gave her...

THEY GAVE ME A GIFT CARD because of bad customer service from a previous visit AND THE GIFT CARD DECLINED 😂😂😂.

Seriously throw the whole restaurant away.

If you are searching for a place to eat, go to both the Petersburg and Richmond Croaker Spot pages on Google. Click on "reviews", and then where it gives you the opportunity to sort the reviews, select "LOWEST".  Read through the bad reviews before you decide to come here. Believe me, they do not tell the half of how awful the experience at these restaurants are.

The Croaker Spot that we have all come to love is dead. Throw the whole business away at this point.  The food isn't the main problem, the customer service is.  The employees are.  And the worst of their problems is the management team.

I have written TWO terrible reviews, both of which should have been concerning to management. The first review was not just about bad service but also about the bigger problem of feeling unsafe in the Petersburg location because of a young male employee that continued to behave towards my family in a way that was dismissive at best, and threatening at worst.  Really not sure how he was even hired....

My second bad review was on account of the actual management team responsible for responding to customer complaints.  They responded to my initial complaint and had me email my info and a lot of really unhelpful back and forth ensued. They were extremely unprofessional in email, which is really wild considering I was supposed to be communicating with the "customer care" team... Anyways, I chose to go to the Richmond location to pick up a gift card meant to make up for the experience.  When I arrived I had a laugh because the gift card was for $25. Considering how much we spent initially and how bad our experience was, that amount was a complete joke, but that was on me because I should have known to ask the amount before I even drove out there to see if it would even be worth my time. It wasn't.

My husband and I went back to the Richmond location yesterday to use the gift card and they refused to honor it because they said the gift card that I received FROM THEM had declined.  You can clearly see on the gift card that it's from Croaker Spot. I then gave them the receipt THAT THEY GAVE ME that stated the card was good for $25 as proof, and even WITH the receipt they refused to honor it.  My husband and I could only laugh at that point because of course we should have expected more foolishness and disrespect from Croaker Spot.  We paid, tipped the server and left.  We were given a card to call and speak to another manager.  But this should have been handled in the restaurant before we left.

Any manager with any customer service experience AT ALL, or any sense would have known to take the gift card and the receipt and simply honor the gift card, but not at Croaker Spot.  This restaurant and it's management team are a joke. No idea how this place has survived this long.  You can't keep doing business this poorly, mistreating your customers all while charging top dollar, and think people will continue to patronize your establishment.  I certainly will not.

The Richmond and Petersburg locations will soon follow in the Norfolk location's footsteps.  And for anyone who doesn't know what happened to the Norfolk store, look it up and you will see that it is...

I used to go to the Croaker's Spot every year multiple times during the year. I first experienced their food about 10 years ago while attending the Maymount Jazz Festival. I traveled from Norfolk to Richmond every year and most time I visit the restaurant. I also would pick up food from them when they opened a second restaurant in Norfolk Va. Recently i revisited the restaurant for pick up order and I thought that the service on the pickup side was unexceptable for someone who spent 100.00 dollars on three orders. Two fish baskets and a Shrimp Po Boy, usually i would take in to account the time of day and chalk it up to staff being tired. However this was at 5:30 in the evening on a Saturday. let me say from the start their were problems...Myself, Girlfriend and her daughter walked in to be greeted by come in and shut the door, by a male behind the counter as we walked inside saying its cold out there; as if we didn't already know . Their was standing room only so I went back outside without the ladies to make room and reopened the door so that they could get my order. It was at this time one of the cashiers announced that if you placed an order already can you wait outside. there were other people who had already placed their orders and were just sitting inside on a window seat and never moved. Nothing was ever said to them at all. The cashier then took our orders she seemed agitated when we asked questions and we had to stand outside. We were told when our order was ready we would get a text in 30 minutes. it was a hour and a half before we got our order. We saw people who ordered after us going inside and picking up their order, who ordered after us. A call was made twice to see if our order was ready. We finally went back inside and the girl at the counter did have our food on the counter. it had been sitting for sometime, she began too argue with the my girlfriend and say they texted us over an hour ago only to discover that she wrote down the wrong number. However she failed to mention that we called the inside twice. A manager who saw us on the full restaurant side approached and asked what the problem was before realizing she remembered us from almost an hour ago. she stated " You all are still waiting for your food". After some deliberation and me being behind schedule we took our food to go and left. I was very disappointed with the food as well, the cashier said our food was only sitting for a little while which could not be true. The Po Boy was cold and soggy, The fish baskets were also cold and we couldn't eat until another hour and a half because it had to be heated up. The Po Boy was thrown out because it fell apart the roll being too soggy and all.We drove back to Virginia Beach and did not turn around because we had already waited about an hour and a half to get our orders and were already on the Highway. It saddens me to some degree that the original owners who first established a reputation of good food and service, are being undermined by a few individuals who have not taken pride in the history that goes along with the restaurant. Allowing a repeat customer to be dissatisfied without at least offering to remake the food they paid 100.00 dollars for or atleast offering them back their money for a disappointing...