Laura Lee's — Restaurant in Richmond

Full disclosure, I'm scarfing down the leftovers from my dinner last night as I write this review. Gnocchi mac 'n cheese, a few bites left of a perfectly cooked hanger steak, and one lone piece of broccoletti that no matter what I tried, wouldn't fit in my stomach last night. Somehow, I had managed to hear nothing about this restaurant just south of the river located in one of my favorite neighborhoods in Richmond before we ended up there last night. My girlfriend and I don't get to eat out as often as I'd like to but have made an effort to try new places when we can. And so last night we walked thru the doors to the beautiful Laura Lee's not having any real expectations.

Probably one of the best meals I've had in Richmond in the 5 years I've been here. Seriously! I later learned that this place has ties to Roosevelt. Of course it does! Explains a lot as Roosevelt is another of my favs.

After we had almost finished up with our charcuterie app, the server surprised us with an order of twice-fried Korean chicken wings! Probably the best wings I've had. Green onions, cilantro, Kim-kim sauce, some fish-sauce tossed in too. They were amazing! Twice fried is the only way i eat wings now. I hate it when they are soaking wet with sauce and under-cooked. I like 'em crisp and not leave me covered head to toe in sauce. Give them a try! Like I mentioned earlier, I also got the hanger steak - medium. Perfectly cooked and flavorful. Came with an amazingly delish side of roasted potatoes, cauliflower, yams, and I think there was some pork belly too, all of it on top of some homemade chimmichuri. It was off the damn chain, I'm tellin' you. It was priced pretty fairly IMO. $24 i think. The gnocchi mac 'n cheese really earned its 2nd-best-M&C-ever award in my mind! (best m&c in the world is at Poole's Diner in Raleigh). Rich, colorful, nice thick cut bacon mixed about and of all the pasta options to use, gnocchi! Just perfect.

My girlfriend and I left full, happy, and more than satisfied with our luck in choosing a restaurant that night. I plan to go back and plant my ass in a seat at the bar and get some more of those wings and a beer...

My wife and I enjoyed our time at Laura Lee's but hate to say that we were not overly impressed with our meals. She had the beef short ribs entree with cheesy grits, pearl onions, mushrooms, and chimichurri, while I ordered the NY Strip, which was also served with cheesy grits, onions, mushrooms, and chimichurri sauce.

My steak, though cooked medium rare, was full of gristle and fat and I would estimate that I was unable to eat nearly 1/4 of it. What was edible was quite tough and full of gristle. The grits were dry and clumpy in both of our entrees. Unfortunately, for $34, I was disappointed. I enjoyed an Octoberfest beer for a steep $7 as well.

My wife's meal was definitely the better of the two entrees, though we both felt it was not terribly hot when it arrived at the table. The onions, mushrooms, and sauce were ice cold within minutes of delivery (this goes for my dish as well). We were both a little underwhelmed with the chimichurri combination with the savory grits, onions, and mushrooms, as we felt it detracted from the hearty flavors in the dish (this is opinion, obviously so no hard feelings). She had a gin cocktail (I forget the name but I believe it was flavored with Thyme and quite salty - very reminiscent of a dirty martini) for a ridiculous $14.

This was our first time at Laura Lee's and I don't know that we will be back, at least not for some time. I'd like to think that because we arrived on a relatively slow Sunday, perhaps it was just an off time for an otherwise great meal destination but I am definitely disappointed that our $120 meal had so many downsides.

The restaurant itself is very nice and clean and the wait staff was a highlight. Our server was very sweet and friendly. They were prompt yet not too intrusive. I will say that I did not alert the staff during our meal that I was disappointed, so for that reason I am giving the meal 3 stars (in my book that's average), though I'd argue it was closer to 2 stars, especially when you consider the price.

I HATE giving negative reviews for neighborhood small businesses but I would be doing a disservice if I...

[Update- 8/19/19: Since I posted my initial review below, I received a very thoughtful response to my message to the restaurant in response to my most recent visit. I appreciated the professional, thorough effort to get to the bottom of what happened, as well as the willingness to use what transpired as a learning experience. For now, I’ve updated my rating (unprompted by Laura Lee’s), and I hope to give them another shot in the future.]

I’ve been to Laura Lee’s twice and had two very different experiences; the second, more recent one is the reason for the two-star rating.

First experience: I came here for my birthday brunch last fall. Good food, amazing cocktails, and excellent service. They were super accommodating since it was snowing and some of my party arrived late or couldn’t make it due to the road conditions. Based on that visit, I couldn’t recommend this place enough to my friends.

Second experience: I met a friend for brunch last Sunday. It was her first time dining at Laura Lee’s, and again, I recommended it based on my experience last year. Unfortunately, this visit left much to be desired and honestly, a bad taste in my mouth. The food and cocktails were fine (the cocktails more so, though), but the service was abysmal. Our server took her sweet time to come to our table - only coming out from the back when another server filled our water glasses and asked if we had been helped (which we hadn’t). From there, while she was friendly enough, she was very inattentive, resulting in her other colleagues picking up her slack. Needless to say, my friend and I were very disappointed. I reached out to Laura Lee’s afterwards to share my experience and received no response. Just an acknowledgement of my note would have sufficed.

So, my overall recommendation: this is a cute neighborhood spot with decent food and great cocktails. Service is hit or miss, and apparently, management doesn’t seem to care either way. I’m telling my friends to look elsewhere for their dining needs - and the beauty of RVA is that there are plenty of options from...