The Tobacco Company Restaurant — Restaurant in Richmond

Tobacco Company has plummeted. We booked a table for 4 to celebrate my birthday as we have done for years prior to the fire. Since moving to Richmond, my husband and I have spent many a birthday and anniversary dining at Tobacco Company. The atmosphere was always wonderful and dining was always something special until this evening. The waiter was polite but not very well trained. We sat down and he took our drink order. My father asked for a shrimp cocktail and we ordered a round of she crab soup for the table. This was all well and good until they brought the soup out before taking out order. Were eating our soup with all of the menus still piled on the table. The soup used to be rich and buttery. What was brought to us this evening was so lacking in flavor, that it could have been canned by Campbell's. Mediocre at best. The waiter didn't back around to take our entree order before the soup was served. He didn't even come back around to offer cracked pepper. It wasn't until after we were done with our soup that the waiter cleared the bowls and took our entree order. About 10 0r 15 min later he comes back out to the table with a basket of bread and proceeded to apologize to us because our food was going to be delayed a bit. My mother then asked if he could bring our salads out to the table while we waited for our entrees to which he politely responded, I'm sorry, but the salads will be coming out with your entree. While he was quite polite, he could have at least tried to bring us our salad. Finally the food started to come out. They brought the salads at the same time they brought out our entree leaving absolutely no room on the table for the plates. My plate was placed in front of me with a quarter of the dish hanging off the edge of the table. We arranged our dishes so we could eat without knocking the plates into our laps. Fine. Everybody at the table started to pick up their silverware to eat except for me because my seat wasn't set with silverware. Sigh... it was just one little thing after another with this meal. I asked the waiter to bring me a place setting and after several minutes without silverware, the manager came to our table. I asked him if HE could bring me some silverware so I could have my dinner. He quickly scuttled into the kitchen and a few minutes later our waiter comes out with a set of silverware for me and oh... all of the steak knives for the rest of the table. Ok, whatever...finally, I could enjoy my filet! I was able to get through a third of my steak before it started mooing. I ordered mid rare as I always do. But this was cold and nearly blue in the center. Oh.. did I mention the filet no longer comes with mashed potatoes and asparagus? Oh no... It is all A la carte. That's fine. I'm willing to pay for a la carte but it better be one heck of a steak. I really hate saying it but I've had better steaks at long horn. So sad. After the waiter cleared and bagged our leftovers, he asked if our check was going to be separate or together to which I responded, "I would have like to have been offered a dessert menu." It was my birthday dinner and a notation was made on our reservation. Even the hostess made mention of my birthday as she was directing us to the second floor. I don't want to come off like Veruca Salt but I have been going to Tobacco Company for many years and have always had lovely experiences and exceptional meals. It was always the place that my husband and I would go to for special occasions. This evening was just so disappointing, I will never go back. This used to be a great establishment but it seems they lost their kitchen staff when they shut down to make the repairs from the fire a couple of years ago. I really hope they are able to bring it back up to the standards it was before. So very disappointing to have such a lovely atmosphere and such terribly untrained staff and mediocre food. Please bring back the amazing establishment that...

I have lived in Richmond from 2000-2018 and never been here before but always heard such great things about it and how nice it is. I am currently back in Richmond visiting family and decided to finally try this place for my birthday. I was VERY disappointed. I didn’t know that they only had one veggie dish on the menu (I’m vegetarian). A veggie lasnaga… I don’t like veggie lasagna so instead we just decided to get dessert and wine. I know we should have moved over to the bar instead of taking a table up after finding this out but it was my birthday and I didn’t want to sit at the bar. The waiter was had seemed to be slightly upset that we were taking up a table just for cake and wine. Which I understand but he was still left a very large tip for his time! The flourless torte was hard as a rock!!!!! It was as if it had been frozen and then thawed out and ruined somehow. I had to saw into it with my knife. I have had flowerless tortes in Chicago and Portland Oregon restaurants and never have encountered one that was hard as a brick!

Also I am Mexican American and I felt that the other patrons were being prejudice. When I first walked in a there was a white family sitting next to me on the bench in the lobby. The mother of the family would not stop giving me dirty looks. She seemed like a Karen type who was clutching her pearls because of the evening gown I was wearing that showed a little bit of cleavage. I saw white women passing by us in there with very short dresses and they were NOT being gawked at by her . my gown was floor length but just showed some mild amount of cleavage.. but I was being started at like I had just broken a dress code! She made me feel like I shouldn’t be there. I don’t think the staff is racist at all but the type of white people that go here seem like old money types or upper middle class who don’t want POC there. I had another encounter with someone women who were in a private event. The bathroom was in the private event room but the hostess said I was allowed to go in. The women at the party ran over to me to tell me about the puddle of water that I had ALREADY seen and was stepping over so I would trip. They came over to me and angrily told me I need to watch where I am stepping. I think they just didn’t want me crossing in front of them to get to the bathroom. Any polite person would have told me nicely but these women seemed upset that I was in the room period. They prolly didn’t even pay for the event I think it was a holiday party so not sure why they even cared other than I was the only none white person in the room.

Needless to say I won’t ever come back here. The only nice thing about this place is the ambience and the live band that they had. If I wanted that I could have just gone to a local show at a venue...

I have just left The Tobacco Company Restaurant, and while the atmosphere and live music were purely fantastic, my experience was almost ruined by a thoroughly alarming issue of billing.

Ambiance and Entertainment The ambiance was good and friendly, topped by great live music that established a great environment for the evening.

Food Quality The appetizer was the highlight of the meal. They were flavorful and well-garnished, the Calamari being one very good dish which I highly recommend. The main course fell a bit short of our expectations. I ordered the steak and found it too expensive compared to the quality which they served. In fact, I would have been more than content with a larger portion of the Calamari for a fraction of the cost, which made the entree prices seem even more opulent.

Drinks On the positive side, the drinks were also the great. The Chardonnay was rich and complemented the dinner well. The PYT cocktail was also a big hit of the evening. It was made from tequila, pineapple juice, agave nectar, and lime juice. It was nice and had the perfect amount of kick, so it was a great option for those who wish to have a drink with a kick.

Nightclub and Bar Immediately after dinner, we visited the bar and nightclub located in the basement, and it was a wonderful experience. The music was lively, and the dancing was energetic. The most remarkable thing was the friendly staff of the club, and the doormen, who welcomed everyone with warmth and ease and made easy entry possible.

Service The service was good but there was a big issue with the billing. We were a party of four people and each of us had been charged a 20% gratuity on our bill, which was perfectly fine. However, I checked the receipt and discovered that the waiter had added double the gratuity by placing it as a "quantity of 2" instead of "1." This would have translated to having paid more money as gratuity in the form of extra $25 (40% gratuity). This was not an isolated incident; all four of us who were seated at the table had our tips doubled and we each paid our own bill.

Resolution and Concern Fortunately, I caught the error and requested them to rectify it. The waiter amended the bill, and while I believe that waitstaff should receive reasonable gratuities, guests must have the option to decide how much more they wish to tip above the mandatory 20% gratuity.

Overall Experience Overall, my experience at The Tobacco Company was a good. While the atmosphere, appetizers, and drinks were excellent, the entree quality and the billing discrepancy detracted from my experience. I urge the management to investigate this issue to prevent fraud and dishonesty in their billing process. Customers should always carefully check their bills to...