The Raven — Restaurant in Virginia Beach

Wish U could give it less. We were there on 7.15.2019. Firstly it took several minutes for the waitress to even take our drink order, we were a larger group of 5 adults and 4 kids so we try to understand. We were given flat beers that had to be switched from draft to bottle because you couldn't drink the draft. After waiting over an hour with no word from our waitress, I spoke to a manager,then the owner ( because he was sitting at the bar next to the manager and was listening to the conversation). We were told there were only 2 people in the kitchen and 2 people in the front. I was told we could leave or we could get a 25% discount.When I got back to the table we were being served our food. It was 2 orders of fish and chips ... only the fries were edible, 2 orders of kids pasta with 1 meatball. The pasta was undercooked and cold, and the meatball was inedible. 2 orders of shrimp imperial also cold, the crab was mush, like a deconstructed crab cake covered in mystery sauce, and 1 piece of shrimp on top. 2 burgers cold but the best of all the food we got and chicken pasta cold, chicken was frozen and pasta was under done. We again complained about the cold food after such a long wait and we were told we got what we got and there was nothing they would do about it. The bill was over 100 dollars, no one could eat their food for various reasons, we left disappointed, hungry and since I'm being honest very mad. The waitress and manager were offensively rude, the owner seemed more concerned with having a glass of wine with drinking buddy and manager than his actual business and the food was cold, over priced and in some cases very...

Walked in to the smell of cigarettes which was the bar area. However they do have a non-smoking section so ok at this point. The place is a bit of a dive but I’ve been to dive joints with great food before. So no preconceived judgments at this point.

Ordered the salmon and red potatoes and for $2.50 a house salad. I asked what type of greens and the waitress said iceberg lettuce so I was a bit gun shy on ordering the salad but you only get one side with your entree so if you want a potato you get no veggie. The salad came and the only thing worth eating was the two slices of cucumber. The tomatoes were not ripe but the worse part was the lettuce. It was the worse part of iceberg lettuce, the white brownish part which should never be served in a salad. There was hardly any green leafs. So now this place is very suspect in my mind.

The grilled salmon arrived and was severely undercooked and was fishy tasting typically meaning it’s not very fresh. The red potatoes were not seasoned just boiled and cut. But the most astonishing thing in my mind was little tubs of sour cream, butter, and a packet of Ken’s brand tarter sauce was piled on top of the food, rather than on a separate plate. I couldn’t believe it. Who knows whose hands were on those packets.

My mom and I both returned the salmon and they brought two fresh plates and this time the salmon was cooked and seemed fresher than what was previously served. By the way the waitress had no charm and seemed liked she rather be somewhere else.

I would pass and...

I go to The Raven about every 5-7 years because I convince myself that the restaurant can't possibly be as bad as I remember it to be only to discover that it's worse. We went this time because I really wanted an artichoke...only to find that they didn't have any. We should have left while we were ahead. My husband ordered the crab cakes and the choice was "broiled or fried". We asked if fried meant pan-fried or deep fried. The waitress assured us they would be pan-fried. I ordered the pork BBQ because I rarely get served a bad BBQ. My husband's crab cakes arrived as deep fried as they possibly could get. If a restaurant chooses to deep fry their crab cakes, that's their prerogative, but to assure the diner that they won't be deep fried when it is clearly obvious that they are is not only insulting but just bad business. And the crab cake was horrible. No signs of chunks of real crab in that crab cake. It tasted more like deviled crab. My BBQ wasn't much better. My sandwich consisted of large chunks of pork with no seasoning served with a side of commercial BBQ sauce. Ick. I couldn't eat it. The only plus to our meal were the baked potatoes. I ate every...