Esoteric — Restaurant in Virginia Beach

EDIT- I’m adding an edit after this made up scenario response from the owner. I’d like to add my daughter was nothing but kind to the employees while dealing with this nightmare business. She even asked to meet with the owner and Kristina refused. I’m adding my daughter’s response to the outlandish response from the owner because she is way more kind to this entire situation than I would be. It’s insane to me to cancel someone’s WEDDING without a care in the world. And that’s EXACTLY what you did Kristina. Continue to get your friends, employees and even child to try to boost your reviews, but what we said took place fully happened. Kallie has all the emails and communication. No one ever said it flooded so stop making it seem like WE were unreasonable. It was always called a wedding as I was there at the meeting. You further making things up shows you never fully took ownership in YOUR cancelling. The further lies are honestly laughable. You never were kind or showed any compassion. Thank God she found another location. They pulled off the most beautiful wedding and for that I’m so thankful!

From my daughter who actually booked the wedding - “Because the owner’s response is insanely untruthful.

From my initial email inquiring about looking at the space, I said this was for our WEDDING. Never did we downplay our wedding or use any “garden party” phrase. That is such a weird lie to create.

I was told by a manager that we booked our event first, but because our file was apparently misplaced during “renovations,” someone else was able to book another event on the same date. We were never offered “free fees”. Our options we were offered were 1- discounted rates to move our date or 2- have our wedding and the other event happen on the same day, just at different times. We agreed to be flexible with this second option. We were THEN told nevermind- we have to move the date or we will have to cancel. Our original option of being flexible about time and space was also taken away from us. We had guests who were leaving that Sunday evening, and we were also unable to move it to Friday because of other commitments. We did not want to change the date and it was not an easy change for us to do, nor do I HAVE to change my wedding date.

Yes, we did have a small wedding planned, so my only guess is that the other event must have been bigger/bringing them more money. The employees I spoke with when scheduling this event said they absolutely love having small intimate weddings at their venue, but from Kristina’s response, it does not seem as though they are valued the same.

The owner is very dismissive and combative (as anyone can see from her response), so I am ultimately SO glad we did not have our special day here! I just hope this review saves anyone in the future who is considering booking an event here! :)”

Original review: Be careful booking any events here! My daughter booked her wedding over a year in advance. Had it in writing. Paid the deposit. Was notified via EMAIL (not even a phone call) less than 6 months before the June date they were cancelling. An employee admitted they double booked the date and my daughter’s wedding was booked first. The owner, Kristina, acted like she booked a dinner reservation and not her wedding! She did not care what she was doing at all. No compassion and not professional. She wouldn’t even meet with them in person to discuss anything. Anyone who has planned a wedding knows how early you have to book for a June date! We had to scramble to find other accommodations. Not to mention she already had the invitations printed. Kristina has daughters which blows my mind! How could you honestly be so heartless to someone? Just so you could make more money on a bigger event. I’ll never step foot in this over priced mediocre establishment again. And I’ll be sure to tell everyone how rude the owner is! During one of the meetings viewing the space an employee stated “oh, we never double book”. What a...

How did I miss writing a review here?!

Esoteric hosted our small reception dinner for 20 people last summer in their garden.

Most people may not know that, in addition to being a delicious restaurant focused on serving locally fresh ingredients and a constantly rotating menu, they also have a beautiful event room for weddings, birthdays, or whatever special event you choose to host. I'm not sure how many it can seat but it's probably close to 40-50. And they will make sure your event is perfect for you and treat you like family.

This restaurant has a beautiful functioning garden space (with flowers) which you can also choose to dine in and this is where we had our small wedding reception after an intimate beach ceremony with only 20 of our nearest and dearest. (Did I mention they feature items on the menu from this garden as well?!? Seriously, what is not to love here...)

We'd been planning since around January 2022 timeframe with the wonderful Victoria, who left on maternity leave a few weeks before our wedding but put us in the capable hands of Kaitlin, to make sure our day went smoothly.

Booking their private room and working with them on a custom menu and decor could not have been easier. They have a beautiful private event room just off the garden which is large and fully stocked with tables and a bar for your event. We chose to have our dinner in the garden with firefly lights and candles and flowers on their rustic wood table and have our cake and coffee in their event room after dinner for dessert and socializing.

We chose pre-set apps to come out in two waves for our guests as they arrived from the beach where we held our ceremony, three entrees from the current menu for them to choose from, and three specific bar drinks and beers of our choosing (including a mocktail named for me) and the team printed these adorable custom menus and set them on the table with our names on them! They really gave our event a more bespoke feel.

We arrived in the morning on Saturday the day of our wedding to set up the table and there was some confusion about setup but it was quickly remedied for us with no issue with Brittney and her team who brought the tables outside so I could set it up how I wanted. I dropped off my flowers in vases to be added to the table and tons of candles to be lit before we arrived.

We were about half an hour behind for dinner bc I lost a ring of my mother-in-law's on the beach (we found it - thank goodness) but I called and they were ready and waiting. When my husband and I finally arrived, all our guests were already there and everything was PERFECT. Appetizers were out, drinks were flowing, candles were lit, flowers were out and it was beautiful in twilight with their solar lights surrounding us. They had set the table up exactly as I wanted and they nailed it.

Our waitstaff were wonderful - two sweet girls who could not have taken better care of us from drinks, to dinner to cake cutting, coffee and trying to play custom music for us - they were devoted to our party and our entire event and were sweet the entire time. They even stopped by to check with us when people ordered more wine/food that wasn't on our menus to make sure it was OK before charging us (low-key and quietly of course, but I appreciated them doing that!). All food was out quickly for our party of 20 and the drinks were constantly coming. No long waits here despite the fact that they were still open for normal Saturday dinner service.

Honestly, I could not be happier with our small event here. I was already a fan of this establishment but they are definitely a wonderful, wonderful option for any small event or party. Everyone loved the quality of the food and drinks and the ambiance in their garden and have raved about our event.

Esoteric made us feel like the most important people of the day, even though our event was super small, and I and my very impressed guests, will never forget it.

We are...

Looks like a great place till you try the food. We tried the following dishes: Mezze, grill cheese, Porc tacos and poutine. The general issue with all of them was complete and utter lack of proper seasoning.

The mezze is a dish composed of several other Mediterranean favorites like hummus and tabbouleh. Everything other than the olives this plate lacked seasoning. The hummus was by far the worst!! Typically hummus is done with tahini (sesame paste), chick peas, olive oil, salt and sometimes lemon juice. This unfortunately tasted like the chick peas had been boiled way too long (no more texture or flavor) and that they had only added water to the puree. It was very disappointing. The tabbouleh, was a similar issue. Normally this is a nice, citus salad, with a good balance of fresh herbs like parsley, but this was almost only bulghur wheat, almost like a bland oatmeal. The tacos we okay.... The base was good, but the flavors did not blend. The idea of the ingredients was good, but they did not tie into each other and I think again the issue is the meat was not well seasoned. It almost tasted like it was either cooked at too low of a heat or boiled to get it its texture, not to mention the total lack of seasoning. If you are doing a pulled porc, you need to mix it with seasoning or sauce, not just cook meet and pull.

As for the poutine, the base concept is good. I'm from Quebec, home of the poutine and the base concept is good, choice of toppings, quality of cheese and fries, but the big problem was the sauce. It again lacked all forms of seasoning. The sauce is what is supposed to tie in all the elements, but it did not. It just sat there coating everything with its unfortunately washed down taste. Don't get me wrong, the base of the sauce is well made. I can tell they used good quality bones, roasted them , boiled for hours to reduce and thickened it well, but it lacks salt, pepper, bay leaves anything to make it tasty. Its like they forgot to finish the sauce.

Finally the grill cheese. When you look at it it looks good. It is served with fries and thank god they salted these (the only palatable food of the whole meal). SADLY though the choice of cheeses are too bland... again this falls flat. Provolone, light cheddar and ricotta do not have enough flavor for a grill cheese. I would replace some of these with either a brie, Camembert or something that has a bit more punch. If they choose to keep these cheese, either grill this in copious amounts of salted butter, add bacon or ham inside or season the ricotta.

All in all this was a huge disappointment specially considering the price. The base concept and ideas are good, but they really need to be retrained on how to cook or season dishes as this was all wrong....

I am giving 2 stars, as although the food fell flat, it can be fixed and the decor and concepts are good and the...