Tulu Seaside Bar & Grill — Restaurant in Virginia Beach

I am not one to write reviews. I usually take the loss and don't recommend the restaurant to others, but here I am writing a review because it needs to be said. The atmosphere was nice, I enjoyed the ambiance. Service was very slow. We ordered drinks and when they came we ordered appetizers and our entrée at the same time. Appetizers took about 30 mins for brussels sprouts and a salad. The salad had a bug on it, so I sent it back. Enjoyed the brussels sprouts. The drinks are now empty and the appetizer is done. Our server did not once check on us. I had to wave her down multiple times to ask for things. Fast forward to an hour and a half in we still don't have our meal. I waved the server down again and asked where our meal was. She said the kitchen was backed up and it's nothing more she could do. I asked well can we have the drink menu to order another drink. She brings the menu. I had to wave her down 10 minutes later to take our order. Mind you we were seated in a walkway. You have to pass us to get from inside to outside. So she walked passed us MULTIPLE times. Not once did she check on us. I observed people who came in after us, ordered food, got their food (meals not appetizers)before ours, and paid and left. We still were waiting. I observed the manager go to a table that was seated well after us, and apologize to them for the long wait for their food. We waited another 15 minutes, no food. I have to wave down a server to get the manager. The same manager who apologized to the other table comes over and apologizes to us saying oh I was making my way over here ma'am you weren't. You addressed the long wait with the other table 15 minutes ago and we are sitting next to each other. Why it takes her 15 minutes to walk 2 steps I don't know but I digress. She apologizes for the long wait and says she would check on our food and see where it is at. The food comes out 12 minutes later. The food is lukewarm like it's been sitting. At this point, I don't want the food. The manager comes back over and says she is going to discount the food 20% and take 2 of our drinks off the bill. I'm just ready to go. She brought the bill, and the salad was still on the bill. I sent the salad back because it had a bug on it. She adjusts the bill. I paid and left. So because of the slow service and the microaggression, I couldn't tell you how the food was because I...

Tulu is a nice place in a great location with gorgeous views. But it is consistently understaffed. Today we arrived for breakfast, and there was no one ahead of us waiting to be seated. There were also many open tables (see photos), but the host said we would have to go on a waitlist. He needed to have something cleared (we requested a table with a view that wasn’t completely in the sun), and it would be five to ten minutes. We started looking around, and there were a couple of set tables that fit our request. I returned to the host station to ask for one of those, and a manager named Gabrielle cut me off and snipped that the other guy was trying to clear something for us. She didn’t even let me get to my point that there was a cleared table with an adequate view. Then she told another party that their wait (in this half-full restaurant) would be 15-20 minutes. Meanwhile, and through this entire time, the single busser was bussing interior tables without views.

We live near the restaurant and have been numerous times for the breakfast buffet. But this time the quality had gone severely downhill. Our omelets were overcooked and meh (not fluffy and cooked-just-so, as they had been in the past). Sausage in the buffet was not to temperature — it was barely luke warm. And the fruits, which once were large bowls full of individual fruits and berries, were pre portioned in plastic cups, with a tiny handful of berries and mostly overripe chunks of melon. The pastries are cheap wholesale-club equivalents. And they’ve added make-your-own waffle station, the addition of which (combined with plastic-cupped, pre-portioned fruits and cheap meats and pastries) makes the whole buffet feel much to similar to what you get at lower-tiered hotels like the Comfort Inn.

The coffee is good. Our server was pleasant. And again, the view is great. But they could do so much better for not much expense, starting with the service attitude of manager Gabrielle, who acts sweet and accommodating until she is questioned. No one expects a Comfort Inn experience at a Marriott. The ocean views cannot makeup for the poor quality...

I want to start off by saying that the restaurant is beautiful. It overlooks the ocean and it is a very nice set up. The problem lies in the fact that we have celiac disease, and we’re told by the staff, waiter and even the chef that came out to speak to us at our request, that are food would be gluten-free and safe for celiacs. Once food started coming out, problems began. We were told that our appetizer was gluten-free initially, but once delivered we were told it was not. When we asked to get some clarification from the kitchen, he came back (holding bread over it for another table) and said that it was gluten-free (Very confusing). We ate it trusting him, but looking back, probably should’ve just not had that appetizer. When our meals came out, we ordered a cauliflower gluten-free crust that the chef had promised was going to take extra care and put it on a separate tray in the oven, to be extra safe. Not only did it take 45 minutes to an hour for the food to come out, but our Pizza was a normal crust, not the gluten-free cauliflower crust that he had promised us. There again, I felt very skeptical at our food choices, and the service that evening in the kitchen. Speaking about wait time, It was absolutely ridiculous. We had three children with us one a toddler and never expected to wait over 45 minutes for our main dishes to come out. We normally expect a longer way time due to the gluten-free aspect of our dining, but this was 45 minutes of silence from the server. Never coming around to check us, bringing us water, forgetting to bring my husbands drink for about 20 minutes or even bringing us plates to eat off of. I do feel that he was rushing around, and I felt bad for the wait staff because it seemed under staffed. Despite his effort, it was just a disappointing experience. To top it completely off, my husband and I have been sick all night and well into the morning. Not fun and despite the positive, I would never recommend this place to anyone with an allergy ever. Not...