Catch 31 Fish House & Bar — Restaurant in Virginia Beach

Summary thieves. If you don't want all the details. Don't give them a card unless you want them to charge it, sometimes multiple times. Read the reviews.

We sat down at the outside bar on Friday night of the Jacalob fest. I ordered a drink and was given a beer, sent it back for the drink I ordered. We had to give our card to show proof of ability to pay which was fine. (not happening again here?) we ordered 2 dinners and a number placard was placed in front of us. A little time went by and I ordered another drink. While the placard with our table number was in front of us the bar tender Keith asked us if we ordered food, hmm the number was placed in front of us after we ordered it. Then he came back out a little later and told us our that the kitchen lost our order. I can understand that but the part I question is why did we have to tell him what we ordered again? We believe he was distracted giving some of his friends drinks and forgot to enter our food. Still OK at this point as we were relaxing and it was active up there. We enjoyed our dinner. Told the bar tender we were going to pay cash so don't run the credit card. He dropped off the folder with the full check in it. We made sure we handed it back to him with cash and tip in it. A day or two later I checked my credit card and saw there was still a pending charge and figured it just needed to go through the hoops to close it out. Nope a week later it was now an authorized transaction that did not even match our check. So we walked up and talked to the manager William, I showed him the check total of $66.90 and the credit charge of $52.42. William took the information, went out back, found the charges and said it was treated as a walk off. So they charged the card this amount and added a tip. He then said he needed to look further into this and took my phone number, email, address, and name. We gave this an additional week and a half and we were up in the area, so I stopped in to see if they found anything further. William proceeds to tell me he talked to upper management and I have to contact the credit card company if the charges do not automatically reverse, but that they could not find the slips to verify the charges. Interesting as they found them the 1st time I was there, and the reciept they sent to the credit card company has an Emily name on it. But OK, so why did I not recieve any form of notice from catch 31 about doing this, as they said they were verifying things? At this point I am stating all of this so that you can see how they view the guests here when there is an issue. I am believing that I will lose the $52.42 but if that saves a family that is going out on a special dinner the possibility of losing more I will accept that. Short story here is bad buisness practices. I am not giving my card here and not likely going to go back even though they are a popular spot in the area just under the Hilton.

I have disputed charges through credit company and they are not reversing the charges. Nice scam the are...

I give praise when it is warranted but my dining experience this evening at Catch 31 on Christmas was not enjoyable.

I made a reservation for dinner about 6 weeks ago. I was anticipating a very festive and memorable Christmas dinner. It was anything but pleasant. I asked my husband to sum up how he would describe our experience, and he said BIZARRE. My main complaint is about the service provided by our waiter, Phillip. From the time we were seated until we paid our bill, over two hours had passed.

When we arrived, we were escorted to a back dining area. Not the most desirable location as it was not as lively or festive as the main dining area.

We ordered a glass of wine, sparkling water, and an appetizer. When a different staff member served the appetizer, it did not come with any side plates for sharing. I advised a staff member who approached our table, and she graciously brought plates. We also asked for another sparkling water. When my side Caesar salad arrived, it was brought to me by a kitchen assistant in a white chef's jacket, but it did not have any dressing on it. I patiently waited for our waiter to return so I could request the dressing, but after about 15 minutes, I finally got up to flag down another staff member who was clearing tables. I asked him to ask my waiter about the salad dressing and to remind our waiter that we were still waiting for the additional sparkling water.

A management staff member came by to check on us, and I expressed my dissatisfaction with the service. She asked if she could take the salad back to dress it for me, but I opted to add the dressing myself. She also offered me another glass of wine, which I accepted. Our waiter returned about ten minutes later and reprimanded me for speaking to too many people and instructed me from this point forward that I was only going to communicate with him. I was astonished and I corrected him, explaining that I had to flag down another staff member for the dressing and that the management person had approached us first to ask if we needed anything. He then tauntingly asked me if I still wanted the wine and since by this time, I was furious, I said no. He walked away. Ten minutes later he comes to the table with the wine and says nothing, he just leaves it and walks away. His attitude was unacceptable and set a negative tone for the evening. He made us feel very uncomfortable, and at one point, I almost got up and walked out. I was considering just paying for the appetizer, beverages, and salad since we were still waiting for our entrées.

While our entrées were good, there was a substitution made for the sweet potatoes that we were not informed about, and the temperature of the food could have been warmer. Overall, it was a disappointing experience.

I had just returned from a four-day trip to Williamsburg, VA, where we were spoiled by the exceptional service at every restaurant we visited. The service at Catch 31 was disappointing and below par. You...

I rarely, if ever, give anything a 1 star review, but if I do, it's for good reason.

We're locals to Hampton Roads and had been wanting to give them a try. We came on the 4th of July, expecting that everything was going to be chaotic and busy, but that wasn't the case. The restaurant was actually almost empty. There were three occupied tables outside, including ours, and about the same inside.

Our waitress quickly took our order and said that she would bring silverware, which she never did. My husband asked for no onions on his sandwich if there were any to which the waitress asked him if it said onions on the menu. He looked, it did not, so she said then there's no onions if it's not listed. Great! Food came out fairly quickly. My flatbread was soggy on the bottom (see pictures), the lemonade was more like lemon water (we don't like overly sweet drinks, but this has ZERO sweetness or lemon), and my husband's sandwich came WITH onions. I also ordered an orange crush, which is a local favorite made with fresh squeezed oranges, vodka, and I believe club soda. This one was made with bottled orange juice, and there's a huge difference in how they taste. It was basically a screwdriver with bubbles. Gross.

We flagged our waitress, who spent the entire time standing by the door with two other staff members, and asked her if we could please get some napkins. Her response was that they don't have paper napkins, only linen. Okay? We didn't ask for paper, and we didn't have EITHER because she never brought us silverware, so ANY napkins would be appreciated. Her attitude was incredibly condescending.

My husband called her over again from where she was hanging out to let her know that his sandwich had onions. She said they'd make another one, but we had reservations elsewhere and needed to leave soon. She did take the sandwich off the bill, but there was no apology, no care whatsoever. If she didn't know something came prepared a specific way, her response should not be to tell the customer to read the menu and if it's not written then it doesn't have it because it clearly did but wasn't listed.

We're very good tippers when the service is good/standard, even if the establishment or food wasn't. When you could care less about your customers and it shows, your tip will reflect the experience.

I hate to say that Catch 31 will not become one of our regular spots on the waterfront. Do yourselves a favor, and check out Watermans Wharf (for a real orange crush) or any number of great places...