Becca Restaurant & Garden — Restaurant in Virginia Beach

Our family was looking forward to celebrating my granddaughter’s 5th birthday with a brunch at Becca restaurant in the historic Cavalier Hotel. We had heard that Becca provided a rather “upscale” dining experience and my wife and I had eaten at the Cavalier’s Hunt Room restaurant and were very impressed. Despite the accolades, however, I’m afraid the entire experience proved to be very disappointing. First of all, we arrived at the restaurant on a Monday (MLK Day) morning around 9:50 AM for a 10:00 AM reservation. Despite the fact that my son had made the reservations two weeks ago, we ended up waiting about 20-25 minutes to be seated even though the restaurant was no more than a quarter full of diners at the time. No explanation was given for the delay except that they were “…trying to get our table ready.” We were finally seated around 10:25 AM but it took another 10-15 minutes before a waiter came to our table to take drink and brunch orders. While we waited, no one offered to refresh our water, coffee or other beverages until I finally waved down a bus boy who grudgingly grabbed a coffee pot from one on the side tables. Our first sip of the refills, however, proved that the coffee was stone cold and our waiter finally brought a fresh pot and new cups. About 15-20 minutes after we placed our order, the waiter came out and told us that they were out of pancake mix. That was quite surprising since one might expect that pancakes would be in rather high demand during brunch, and that any good restaurant would plan accordingly. At any rate, 2 or 3 of us had to amend our orders as a result. Once again, while we waited for our orders to arrive, we were essentially ignored by the wait staff until we flagged someone down to refresh drinks etc. Keep in mind that all this time we were trying to entertain restless and hungry 5 and 7 year old children. Our food finally arrived around 11:15-11:20 AM (1 hour and 15-20 minutes after our arrival) except for 2 orders which took another 10 minutes or so to show up. Of course, the rest of us waited for everyone to be served which caused most of the early meals to turn cold. At any rate, once we started to eat, those of us who had poached egg dishes (2 eggs benedicts and 1 shrimp and grits dish) noticed that the eggs were actually” soft boiled” (yolks were set and solid vs. soft and “runny” as they should be. See attached photos). Incredibly, it was not just 1 or 2 poached eggs that were overcooked but every one of the 5 or 6 we were served. How the chef allowed them to leave the kitchen like that is a mystery to me. In addition, the Hollandaise sauce was bland with a slight “medicinal” taste which, coupled with the overcooked eggs, made the whole dish largely inedible. Most of the other meals had problems of one sort or another and all were cold or luke warm at best. To their credit, both the waiter and manager agreed. I don’t consider myself a “picky” or unreasonable diner, and I’m willing to overlook minor issues that pop up with any restaurant meal. However, I don’t think it too much to expect that a restaurant adhere to at least some minimum quality standards. On the upside, when I discussed the many mishaps and my general dissatisfaction with the whole experience, with the restaurant manager he apologized and adjusted our bill accordingly which, of course, was the right thing to do. Perhaps the restaurant was having a particularly bad day but, as they say, you only get one chance to make a good first impression. Unfortunately, I’m afraid my family’s impression of Becca restaurant was not a favorable one. However, I gave them 2 stars based on the manager’s acknowledgement of the problem and apology, as well as the appropriate adjustment...

Becca provides top teir service dripping in class and atmosphere. The dining room of the "The Historic Cavilier Hotel" truly has southern charm very becoming of Virginia Beach. Our server, Samantha, made sure everything was just so. We were very well taken, never lacking on drinks, and she never felt intrusive.

Becca starts your meal with a house made popover and honey butter. The outside has a delicious savoriness and the sweetness from the butter only adds to the experience. It's beautifully crispy on the outside with a tender, almost chewy, inside. I applude Becca for doing something more daring than most with their bread starter.

For starters, we had the meat and cheese plates, she crab soup, and beef carpaccio. The meat and cheese plates were a tad disappointing considering the cost. Portions were very small, but the selections provided were a nice variety. What really shines here are the house made accouterments. The pickles specifically standout here. The flavor of the she crab soup stands above most of the region, but I will note that it was not appropriately hot, so there was a touch of clumping as supposed to pure silkiness one expects. The beef carpaccio absolutely blew me away. One of my favorites from the entire experience. Not only is it beautiful on the plate, but this hamory of flavors let's you experience the culinary strength of Becca.

For mains we got crab cakes, the braised lamb shank, and a filet mignon. The crab cakes have ton of meat and were perfectly cooked, with a golden brown crust and moist inside. They lack nothing when it comes flavor, but unfortunately I did find a few small shells. They weren't enough to really take away from the experience, but at these prices I believe it's fair to demand perfection. The braised lamb was tender, moist, and pulled away clean from the bone. The glaze used was a bit sweet for me. The flavor of the lamb struggled to cut through, so at times it felt like I was eating barbecued turkey. It's accompanig okra salad was another standout where Becca captures the flavors of the South in a bite. The filet mignon was perfectly cooked, but what really impressed here is the flavor imparted by the "local oak logs and Texas mesquite charcoal". In a world filed with steaks fried off in cast iron pans or grilled over gas, Becca provides a haven to those that prefer a smoky/woody experience. There's not a single restaurant in the area that comes to mind that serves this good of a steak, this particular way.

For side we got the asparagus, collards, and boursin lobster cavatappi. The asparagus was a mixture of green and white. Flavors were bright and balanced, and the spears were soft but still had some crunch. Collards were tender and packed with flavor. Please note these have a bit of a spicy kick to them which some might find a bit overpowering. Considering the menu only states "with lardons" it can definitely catch you off guard. Now, the boursin lobster cavatappi was probably my favorite thing all night. They don't skimp on the lobster, and the creaminess of the cheese is hands down the best I've ever had. Please do yourself a favor and make this a must for you experience.

For desserts we had the creme burlee and signature chocolate cake. The cake is exactly what you'd expect. It fell a bit flat for me just being another chocolate cake, but for those that love that, you can't go wrong here. The creme brulee had a perfectly done glass like top, and the custard beneath was silky and rich.

Experiencing Becca is definitely a top teir experience for luxury dinning in Hampton Roads. More frugal diners might find the value lacking, but those looking to impress or splurge will definitely walk away happy, satisfed, and with great memories...

The email below was sent to several members of the management team at Becca / The Cavalier Hotel. There was no response. This tells me that they simply do not care. Very unfortunate.

Hello Cavalier / Becca Team, I will start off by saying, that while I do not have restaurant / hotel management experience, I do have extensive experience managing teams and scheduling people to optimize customer service. I have also spent most of the past 20 years travelling for business, so I believe that I have seen the “best” and the “worst” of hotel / restaurant service.

Please do not take the below as a “complaint”, but rather “constructive criticism”. I am NOT look for anything “free”, and I am not looking for any apology. I am simply looking for these issues to be resolved before my next visit to your restaurant.

My wife and I visited Becca on 5/14. We had a 10am reservation, for which we arrived at 9:50am. The bulleted events below, are an objective account of our experience. It should be noted that this was my wife’s birthday brunch.

-When we approached the restaurant, we saw a very long line outside of Becca. It was ~15-20 people, in various grouped parties. There was no hostess in sight.

-After standing in line for 7-8 minutes, a hostess emerged from the dining area. She asked if the party first in line had a reservation. They said yes, and she escorted them back.

-It was 5 full minutes before she emerged again. This process was repeated with each party, including the 5 lag time between walking people back. (I am curious what took so long with each seating.)

-Of the groups of people, there were some who did not have a reservation. A great deal of time was spent with the hostess getting them checked in and telling them to come back in an hour or so. I think it’s fair to say that there should have been 2 lines and 2 hostesses dealing with those who had reservations, and those who did not.

-We reached the front of the line at 10:20am (30 minutes after arrival). It should be noted that it took the hostess less than 30 seconds to get us to our table at the far back of the restaurant. I cannot imagine why it took 5 in between each seating for each group.

-Upon being seated, the first thing we noted were the dirty placemats (note the brown spots in the attached pics). My water glass was also covered in grease spots (not pictured).

-I do not recall how long we waited for a server to come by, but as you can see from the attached pic of my wife’s watch, at 10:50am (an hour after arrival, and 30 minutes after being seated) all we had was coffee. When the server came by to take our order, we were ready (and hungry). We had to make several alternate decisions when the server informed us that several of the items we wanted, were not available (nearly all the pastries).

-When the food finally arrived (around 11:20am as I recall), my wife’s omelet was missing some ingredients, but we did not want to wait the time to have it remade. I must assume that this was caused by the kitchen also being understaffed and having to rush through orders.

-It is harsh but truthful to say that we have had better experiences at IHOP.

-When we went to get our car from valet, the experience was “hectic” to say the least. By this time, it was ~11:45am.

-I was quite surprised to see only 2 valets working. With it being checkout time, lunch time, end of breakfast/brunch time, the volume of cars going in and out far exceeded the capacity of two valets. They were working VERY hard, so kudos to them for their efforts, but there should have been at least 2 more of them to avoid the...