Warwick Restaurant — Restaurant in Virginia

I might have reviewed this restaurant any time these past forty years, I think, as it has been operating at the same location while revolutions in real estate have changed the entire face of the map around it. Originally it was begun by Tommy, who later gained fame by starting “Tommy’s Restaurant” on Mercury Boulevard in Hampton. Location, location, location! But to move, Tommy sold the modestly successful Warwick Restaurant to the present owners, a Korean couple who have nurtured it all these years—and through the raging Covid epidemic, although it had to be closed for a considerable period.

I am not recommending the Warwick Restaurant as a place for an intimate evening or haute cuisine. The decor is unremarkable, there are no tablecloths, there are really no pretensions at all. It is spotless, however, and ALL of the waitresses are extremely friendly and attentive.

And five days a week, there is Skip in the kitchen!

Skip and the waitresses are the more than five stars of the Warwick Restaurant, and the meal you don’t want to miss is breakfast—which is served all day. If you want your breakfast prepared just so, from Country Ham to Belgian Waffles to Hominy Grits, you will find yourself at home. Don’t like margarine? There is a bowl of butter pats just for you! Are you “one of US?” Tabasco Sauce will be brought for your eggs! I don’t know what’s in the coffee, but I confess I have grown addicted to it here—and it never gets cold, and your cup never gets empty!

Husbands and wives who have evidently been coming here for years still enjoy their morning here together, and those who now come alone reenter an environment where perhaps many happy memories abide, and many friends remain. I find this the most therapeutic geezer-friendly space in Newport News, and I have not, over many years, found any guest unwanted—or unhappy. A fresh face here is always welcome!

UPDATE 12/16/2022: I can no longer recommend the Country Ham, as it is now sliced so thin that it can barely be tasted or seen--curls up into a sort of ball--, and trimming off the fat (if you customarily do) would best be accomplished with a scalpel brought from home. When I return--and I certainly will, as everything else is delicious-- I will probably order the bacon (and save myself money in doing so).

UPDATE 01/04/2023: a New Year’s Surprise—probably predictable in the face of the doubling of the wholesale price of eggs—has raised all the prices for 2023, and the waitresses—who were not previously warned of the change—are scrambling to calculate the new checks properly. The breakfast I chose—with bacon instead of my former country ham—was of course still less expensive than it would have been last year, and there has certainly been no injury to the quality of the food or service, although nearly all of the wait staff called in sick this morning—only two waitresses had arrived by the time I finished my breakfast and paid...

Waited 2.5 hours with no food, paid for drinks and left. We came in on Labor day around 11:45. The restaurant is seat yourself. We grabbed menus and began to look for tables, plenty were empty but had plates and cups on them. We finally find a table but it already had menus and straws (as if someone was waiting and left), unfortunately we didn’t catch the hint. We sat down at this table and looked around noticing that there were 3 tables that looked as if they had been waiting as well. We patiently waited for our server. After sitting for about 20 minutes she greeted us first. Trying to be polite we informed her that there is 3 tables there that were before us, she replied “not my tables, what can I get yall”. The table next to us overhead and walked out. We ordered and began waiting again and about 15-20 mins later the other two tables continued waiting until a manager came out and asked had our order been taken. We replied yes but the other two tables are waiting, she went over and began assisting them with taking the orders. They ordered and we began getting our drinks. About an hour into our visit another couple sat down with a small baby and are greeted and they ordered as well. Our server comes by and says the kitchen is backed up but our ticket is next. Another 30 mins go by at this point we have been in the building for coming up on 2 hours. Food starts rolling out and to all the tables around us (which we don’t mind because they got here well before us). That is until the couple with the small child gets their meals and we are still waiting… At that point we are tired of waiting and feel forgotten about. We take cash and place it on the table for the server and walk to the front to pay for our coffees. As we are paying the server finally walks out with our plates of food stacked with the food touching the bottom of the next plate. That’s the final final straw, we told her no thank you and that we would like to pay for...

There were only a few cars in the lot so we decided to try them for lunch. BIG mistake. My BF ordered the ham and cheese sandwich and I ordered the bulgogi platter. The server had apparently never heard of Bulgogi before and had no idea what came with it. When his food came... There was NO CHEESE OR HAM! He got TOAST! The server paid zero attention to what she was serving. He tried to get her attention but she told him she'd be right back and instead cleaned some tables off...no waiting customers... When she did come back, he pointed to the bread and asked her if she could see what was missing and it took a bit to sink in..She took his plate back into the kitchen where they slapped on a slice of ham and a slice of processed cheese on the very same bread that they had originally served us. (He had torn a chunk off of the toast to see if that's what would happen. He wasn't wrong.) The Bulgogi finally came out but the meat was like warm and I never got the vegetable beef soup that I ordered. We couldn't get out of there fast enough. We stood in line at the cash register for several minutes and had to seek out the owner, an older Asian woman who is apparently the only one allowed to work the register. When we explained our experience to her, she LAUGHED and handed us the bill. No apology or remorse and certainly nothing off of the bill for the missing items or awful experience. We paid the bill and got the Hell out of there. We will not be back and will never recommend...