Virginia Inn — Restaurant in Seattle

HOW TO RUIN YOUR TIP.. First of all don’t be fooled by the 4+ star rating on Google. We flew in from Tampa, FL to spend the weekend with our son who lives in downtown Seattle.This place looked like a nice option close to the market but far enough away from the Saturday crowds. We made a reservation for 3 people at 3:45pm to have an early dinner since we didn’t have lunch. We arrived promptly and were surprised it wasn’t busier. Started out good but soon after ordering initial drinks and appetizers we started feeling rushed to order entrees by Amber our server who claimed she was also our bartender. Not long after she took our drink order we saw her furiously rushing to seat new customers inside and out. I commented to my wife that she was running 100mph yet the restaurant wasn’t even busy. She took our food order and seemed perturbed by a few menu questions etc. After ordering drinks, 2 appetizers and entrees for all in our party of 3 followed by a second round of drinks, Amber made sure to keep the pressure on by telling us at 4:52pm just over an hour into our visit “I need to let you know that this table has a reservation at 5:30”. After she walked away I took a look around and noticed that there were 3 empty booths behind us, all tables in the center of the dining area were empty and only a few tables around the inside perimeter along with a few outside on the sidewalk were occupied. Not sure why she was so frenzied and we gave her no reason to be rude or want us gone.. 100% terrible experience and the food was average at best. We will NEVER go back and encourage everyone to skip the Virgina Inn and find something better since there are endless options in downtown Seattle. I highly Recommend the Yard House since we are familiar with this restaurant from our experience at the Clearwater, FL location. We’ll be dinning there tomorrow night. I left what I felt was an appropriate tip for the service we received. My moral compass won’t let me leave less than 15% of the pre tax total so I stopped exactly at that. I signed my name on the restaurant copy but I was so frustrated I wrote something different on my copy as a reminder why I left a below...

My girlfriend and I decided to grab a drink before a concert, and upon walking in, we were not immediately greeted by the staff. We only received attention when another couple walked in behind us, which was a bit off-putting.

When the staff finally acknowledged us, they informed us that they needed to look for seating, even though the restaurant was visibly empty. We were then seated right by the entrance, while the couple that arrived after us was seated at the bar. We were never asked where we wanted to be seated in a restaurant that was mostly empty.

The couple that came in behind us were served water and greeted by the waitress, while we waited roughly 10 minutes before we had to ask a random staff member for the menu. We were told that someone would be with us shortly, but no one came. At this point, the couple that came in after us had their orders taken and were served water.

After waiting 5 to 10 more minutes, we decided that this was unacceptable and got up and left Virginia Inn. While waiting to cross the street, the owner of Virginia Inn who had initially greeted us and made us wait asked if he had “missed” us. To which we responded “yes”. The owner then proceeded to ask us if they would give the restaurant a second chance, but we were visibly disappointed with the lack of service, concluding that we weren't given the same level of service as others in the restaurant. It didn’t help our perception that everybody in the restaurant was white, while we were the only people of color.

Overall, our experience at Virginia Inn was very disappointing, and we cannot recommend it to others. The lack of attention we received, combined with the unfair treatment we received, left a sour taste in our mouths. We hope that Virginia Inn can work on their customer service and treat all of their customers equally...

I visited this place today. The food, drinks and ambiance are nice. I especially love the vibe and the fact that it doesn't have any of the trendy aspects like some of the other restaurants in the city, it has a cozy old world feeling.

My only gripe is, the waiter made me feel rushed to leave. I came in at 2:30 in the afternoon by myself and stayed for an hour. I ordered the crab cakes and two cocktails, and I was also doing some work on my computer. There was only one other guy at the bar, and one couple at a table, so it wasn't busy at all. I was there for about an hour. I still had half my cocktail left and he came over and said "check?" It felt awkward and I agreed, but I was still going to finish my cocktail and do my work on the computer, I wasn't going to pound my drink. After I signed the check, he comes over to grab it almost immediately afterwards, which I can understand wanting to make sure I signed it, but its always awkward when a server grabs your signed check before you leave, in my opinion. Typically the server should say something like "no rush." He did not do this, and I still had several sips left in my cocktail. And I'm a low maintenance customer!!! I can understand the need to rush me if the place is full and people are waiting to sit, but that was not the...