Bay Local Eatery — Restaurant in Virginia Beach

This was my first time going to Bay Local (new General Booth Blvd location). I went for breakfast and was early enough to get early bird pricing - if remembering correctly the cutoff is 8:00.

The staff is great. The atmosphere is great. For these two reasons I will go back.

I ordered a cheddar and bacon omelette with cheese grits. The problem with my first visit (only visit so far) was the food. This is why I gave the rating 02 stars. After all, this is a restaurant.

The eggs were very overcooked (hard scrambled). As a retired chef, it appeared that the eggs were cooked on a hot griddle (flat top). The eggs are poured out on the griddle, stuffed and folded. I have cooked a lot of eggs on a griddle. The grill needs to be set up properly for cooking eggs. The eggs spread out thinly over the griddle vs an omelette pan. You cannot leave them on the griddle or they cook hard very quickly. I know from experience that most people do NOT like their eggs cooked hard. There is no flavor in the eggs. In fact, I read other low rated reviews, at the Bay Local website, and this was a recurring complaint.

The kitchen staff is not trained to cook eggs (even if they think they have been trained). The kitchen staff doesn't really know how to cook or they would never send to the dining room what I was served. If they knew how to cook they would figure out the heat and stop killing the eggs. The french pride themselves on cooking eggs - there is nothing to be proud of here.

Also, the cheddar cheese had no flavor (low end product) and the bacon pieces had been sitting around long enough to dehydrate therefore they were very hard and unpleasant to chew. There was nothing good or enjoyable about the omelette. It was just there, on a plate and the restaurant is oblivious to the lack of quality. They are measuring their day based upon receipts and otherwise not paying attention?

The grits were thick and hard and the cheese was lost in the grits. I guess they do not taste their food? Grits will start setting up and getting thick (most people know this even people who are not cooks.) The grits need to be periodically loosened with liquid and then served (milk, cream or at least a little hot water).

The kitchen crew appears to be line cooks that do not have or even know how to have high regard for the food quality - the focus appears to be more about “getting the food out”.

Based upon the food that I was served I am convinced that the kitchen staff does not pay attention to the details required to produce good food. It may mostly be a matter of never having been exposed to good food and the preparation of good food. They probably think the food is good.

My first impression; the staff is great, the atmosphere is great and the...

I've been a fan of Bay Local since the opening of their first location on Shore Drive. Today they have three locations with there newest on General Booth that I dined at today for lunch.

Parking is challenging nearby when busy. However there are plenty of overflow behind them. The lot and walk up was tidy.

My wife and I were greeted by a hostess and provided menus. Our waitress rolled up to our interior table with water and a reserve bottle.

The atmosphere is open with lots of nautical items. The owner Adrian is a huge outdoorsman. His wife Whitney is the fabulous decorator of all three locations.

The interior is divided up into three sections. All seating is table and chairs. The main bar is up front with restrooms. There is a small bar in the rear in operation on weekends. The exterior areas is where they really shine. The front has major seating space. The back has a nice area with a small bar operating on weekends when busy enough, which is often. There is also corn hole and other fun games.

Orders were taken and my wife got a burger with side of their famous tots dusted with Parmesan. I got the ten Parmesan wings app which is large enough for lunch size. Our waitress was friendly and smiled. The main issue with indoor seating is the noise. With around 50% capacity occupied it was almost unbearable. So do consider outdoors if noise bothers you.

Our food hit the table by a runner in around 15 minutes. Everything looked great, but they forgot my request for additional napkins request when I ordered. The wings are a wee bit messy. My wife enjoyed her burger and tots. The burger was cooked to her specifications. My wings were phenomenal with two blue cheese tubs. A side of carrots and celery is included.

Checkout was timely on a hand held machine. They do an automatic 18% tip with customers having the ability to add an additional 3,5,7% or leave as is.

Prior to departing I utilized the men's room which was tidy. I would...

I came here on Father’s Day yesterday with my mother who I haven’t seen in a year. We only had 24 hours together and I wanted to take her to breakfast. We came to this Bay Local because I’ve been here before and didn’t want to get let down trying anything new with her. We chose to come early (40 minutes after they opened) so we could get there before they got too busy. It was almost 10 minutes before we got asked what we wanted to drink. Drinks took a while to come too. My mom told me we probably should’ve went ahead and ordered our food with our drinks with how long service was taking. I found myself apologizing to my mom saying they usually don’t take this long with things. I’m not sure how long the food took to come out but I know I was dozing off. When my burger finally came I took a bite and it was bright pink when I ordered medium well also no over medium egg like I ordered so I sent it back. It came back 10 minutes later with no egg but at this point I wasn’t going to ask because I didn’t want to wait anymore. As soon as the plate made it to me I asked one of the waitresses for my check so I can pay and leave and she told tell me “well you just got your food” and looked at me like I was stupid. I watched her continue to serve and deliver drinks while actively ignoring me I just wanted to pay and leave. Finally someone checked on us and we paid then and there. I don’t know if this is a one time thing but it was my worst experience at any bay local I wish I would’ve taken my mom...