Dock of the Bay II — Restaurant in Virginia

Prior to writing this, my family and I have visited three times, with tonight being the third visit. On our first visit, I had the 8oz Filet Mignon steak, mashed potatoes and broccoli. The steak was so perfect, I can't stop thinking about it. Perfectly cooked, so tender and juicy, and I ate every bite--nothing was left. Yep, no fat. No grissle. Perfect. The mashed potatoes were very unique, had a texture and flavor not found anywhere else, added a little salt to taste--perfect. Broccoli was perfect too, not overly tough like many places. Sweet tea and Chris was our server. He did a fabulous job, super attentive to the point I tipped way above 20%. For dessert, the brownie with Duff Stuff-a peanut butter with pretzel treat like nothing else I have seen before. The brownie was amazing, warm throughout and moist. Made in-house daily, and it showed. Our second visit, I wasn't as hungry from an earlier lunch, but I tried the House salad, which had a perfect ranch dressing. I devoured this salad and nearly wanted to lick the plate if such behavior wasn't frowned upon. Yeah, it's THAT good. Our third visit was tonight. During the second visit, mom had tried the bacon cheeseburger and loved it so much, she wanted to have it again. I got a slight taste of it and was hooked. Tonight, we all had the burger. WOW. My very first cheeseburger was around the age of 10 at a place called York Steak House in the former mall in Hampton. Since then, that's always been the one burger I judge all others against, it's a flavor I'll never forget. Tonight, I got that flavor at Dock of the Bay. Oh yes! YES! The burger is immense, thick and so juicy. A little mayo, ketchup and the thick cheese made this pure heaven. The french fries are crispy, too crispy for my mom because of her chipped tooth, so she couldn't really eat them. Dessert was Key Lime Pie for her, and cheesecake for me. Both were spot on..and the Key Lime Pie is made in the restaurant from scratch...apparently by our server, whose daughters also are among the staff. We had one table behind us that was extremely loud, with one guy using loud profanities at times. This wasn't the restaurant's fault at all, and I ignored the table because the food and service was THAT good. When we left, our server came after us in the parking lot to apologize for that loud table's behavior. WOW. 40 years visiting restaurants...that's NEVER happened. I'm highly, highly, deeply, deeply impressed. Dock of the Bay in Carrollton stands tall and proud in my book, as one of the BEST, FINEST, and most TOP NOTCH restaurants in ALL of Hampton Roads. And I'm...

Save your money and dine elsewhere. I wish there was a rating of “zero”as I feel one star is too high. Visited this location tonight for dinner with my husband and our adult daughter. Hubby ordered seafood platter. Worst looking seafood platter I’ve ever seen. Two small pieces of overcooked flounder, two scallops about quarter sized, one crab cake and two shrimp. Everything was over cooked. I ordered fish tacos. Three good sized tacos, but flavorless. Lots of lettuce, no seasoning , small pieces of fried fish were lost in very doughy shells. Our Dtr ordered she crab soup , which was so thick , it was consistency of milkshake. Lots of “rue” rendered the soup inedible. She also ordered appetizer of crab cakes, which were very well prepared.

Manager visited our table to ask how everything was,,,,,,and I was honest. Service was terrible. Took forever to have ordered taken and then even longer for us to get our dinner. Manager shared with us that she was the ONLY employee working tonight that has any resteraunt experience, and is sure shows. None of the wait staff have any prior experience. She also said that she was short staffed in the kitchen. She should have had 6 cooks and only 2 showed up to work. WOW! VERY unfair to have unsuspecting customers subjected to subpar food and service. This was the worst food/service we’ve ever experienced.

We always try to support local businesses, but this was our first and LAST visit to Dock of the Bay. Word of mouth will travel quickly and reviews will not be favorable. We saw a few tables walk out after waiting a considerable amount of time...

The original Dock of the Bay Restaurant in Portsmouth (see earlier review) kindly took over another property just across the James River Bridge in Isle of Wight County and christened it “Dock of the Bay II”, so that diners on the Peninsula and in Isle of Wight County could dine without always having to drive quite so far away as Portsmouth.

My younger son and I dined here last night and found the menu the same as the elder establishment, and the service and food proved quite capably prepared and speedily served.

This site appears to have a much more expansive dining area than the original, and the view to the south across the Ragged Islands toward Hampton Roads is probably quite impressive on a clear day. The tables and chairs are comfortable even for an extended dining experience, and the increased dining area gave perhaps more privacy and certainly a less noisy environment than one will find in the original.

On June 16th, 2021, I once more ordered the broiled filet of flounder, which seemed not so fresh as it had seemed on my original visit. I am finding this change is general in area seafood restaurants, so I believe the issue is of supply and suppliers, another unfortunate effect of the pandemic. The best of chefs cannot cure a supply issue in the...