Rudee's Restaurant and Cabana Bar — Restaurant in Virginia Beach

Rudee's is located along Lake Rudee in the oceanfront area of the city. They are pretty much at the corner of Winston Salem Ave. (can access from Pacific Ave.) and Mediterranean Ave. My most recent visit here was on January 31, 2021, which was the beginning of the 2021 Virginia Beach Restaurant Week.

When you come up to the place, it reminds me of a view like a fishing village. There is seating available inside, outside and on an outside patio looking over Lake Rudee. The weather on this visit was not ideal for outdoor seating, so all seating was indoors for this occasion. Once we came inside, we were immediately greeted and seated. We ended up getting seated at an area inside looking over the patio and Lake Rudee, so it was a great view, even though the weather was not as good. At the time of this visit, Covid protocols were still in full effect. Masks required for everyone and could only take them off while seated at the table. They did a good job of socially distancing the tables as well.

After being seated, it took a little while for our server Zach to come to the table. It was no big deal as it was steady busy in there, but they did seem to be understaffed, which has been common in restaurants this year. He asked us what we wanted to drink. Shortly after, we got the drinks and asked if we were ready to order. We knew what we were getting already, as we looked at the 2021 RW menu ahead of time. I went with the she crab soup as the appetizer, followed by the crab cake dinner as the entrée with fries and applesauce as the sides. My mom got the shrimp dinner with red potatoes and potato salad as the sides.

A few minutes after ordering, the She Crab Soup came to the table that I chose as my appetizer. The She Crab Soup was really good. It is definitely one of the better She Crab Soups I have had over the years. About 10 minutes after that, the entrées came out to the table. The food came out hot and looked really good. In the end, the food was great for both of us. The crab cakes were awesome and so were the shrimp that my mom had. The last course as a part of the restaurant week was the dessert. For the dessert, I went with the Peanut Butter Pie, which was great.

Overall, this was a very good experience. The food was great. They have lots of seating, lots of options to choose from the main menu, and they have a locals special that's valid year round. If you're visiting the oceanfront or want to get away from a bit of the crowds at the beach, take a quick drive here for a good lunch or dinner. I will definitely be...

What happened to this restaurant? It used to be a top notch place, but after tonight, I realize it's just a tourist trap now. We're locals and haven't been in a few years, so I brought my wife tonight for her birthday.

First let's talk about their valet. I realized that I left my phone in my car and ran back outside to find a valet worker. I spotted my car with the window down, so I walked over to it. My keys were sitting in the cup holder. I reached in the open window and grabbed my phone without any valet worker even noticing I was there. Then I waited for the valet and made it obvious that I wasn't happy with my keys sitting there and window down.

We were sat immediately, which seemed weird on a summer Friday night at the oceanfront. We got the buffalo bites as an appetizer. We used to love them. They were nothing like they used to be. There were only six, mushy, and hardly had any buffalo sauce whatsoever. They used to come in a basket and plenty of them, and with lots of buffalo sauce. They sucked tonight, compared to before.

For dinner, I ordered the fish of the day entree, tuna. I wanted it blackened and very rare. My wife ordered a broiled platter. From the time we were originally sat, it took an hour and a half to get our food. It obviously sat under a heat lamp for a long time. Her flounder, scallops, and shrimp were dry and rubbery. She refused to complain about it. She said the oysters Rockefeller was good though. My tuna had a rare toothpick in it, but it was well done. I complained about my tuna, and the waitress had another one made for me. Both were very small steaks. Half of my asparagus was mushy, but I ate it anyway.

We overheard the two people at the table beside us, complaining about almost everything they got. Their crab dip was refrigerator cold, nachos had stale chips, and one of their seafood pastas was bland and not good.

It was obvious to me that everyone inside was not a local. Seems like they have turned into a place to suck in tourists with cheap food, small portions, and charge premium prices. The best thing I ate was my loaded baked potato. We will not be back...

My fiance and came to Richmond to visit his parents. We decided to make the drive to meet his sister and her friend as they were at a wedding the day before close to this location.

Can't say the service was horrible. The waitress was very nice. BUT she seemed to have over 10 tables (at brunch on a Sunday). She made clear she was new. We had as much patience as we could(I don't think she even noticed we didn't want to upset her). We were there for 3.5 hours and it took over 20 min to get here to come to us. 15-20mim for water, another 20 for Bloody Marys (the bar was full), And then when she took our order at the 40min mark it took an hour for it to come out. Also when we were out of water a few times it would take 10 min to get more. IT WAS HOT. But it was nice still and had a good breeze. We had two hours drive both ways and the girls had a 5-hour drive back home. (Not the restaurant's fault about those drive times)

Now all this would make perfect sense if she actually was the only person for 10 tables.. See we sat outside in the wonderful benches (so very hot but a good wind) anyways when I went inside the actual restaurant to use the bathroom there were over 6 waiters/waitresses in there. Why was no one helping? There was no one inside eating? The place just didn't seem big enough on the patio where everyone was sitting to even need 10 people to wait tables.. so what was everyone doing? Also keep in mind 50% of the outside patio is a wrap around bar so that is taken care of by the bartenders(they of course could have had help) the bar is completely full. Now I was only able to see all this because of all the waiting from above.

STILL we had a great time! Was able to visit awhile with relatives we don't see often. (Maybe the waiting was worth that) The food was fantastic and completely up to par with the prices and the popularity to the place! The Bloody Mary's were also great!

*no food or drink issues/concerns it was...