Fat Canary — Restaurant in Williamsburg

Amazing but expensive. Plan to spend $50 or more per person. This is a great place for a celebration. It is upscale but not fine dining. You'll want to have a reservation. Plan accordingly. I am an independent reviewer and accept no compensation.

The Good: Everything was amazing. We had the beef tenderloin, the rabit, and the chicken. Wow! I don't say that lightly. The food is expensive, but a solid 5 stars. The beef was perfect. The cut. The cook. The sear was serious. It was simple but wonderful. The green beans were perfect. Nothing was mush. It had texture and flavor and minimum spice. The rabit was a take on chicken pot pie. From the crisp biscuits to the cream of the sauce, it was savory and delectable. Just know, none of the portions are particularly large. The rabit is an appetizer, so it will be smaller than a meal. The chicken is full of spices. It has a maybe turkish spice palate. At least l, that is the feel i get from it. The parm gnocchi is perfect. The mushrooms are not mush. You can quickly recognize, they just don't serve bad food. The service is on point. They even cycle out the utensils properly. I was very impressed. The atmosphere is not pretentious. We dressed up a bit but you don't need a tie. It is very clean. This is not a "paper napkin" place, but it also isn't a black napkin/table cloth place. They just keep their place sets clean and replace them when they are stained. Kudos! Well done. The bad: The only negative remark I can come up with, is the rosemary fries. They are large tender steak fries (just so you have a reference) but mine did not have a particular rosemary flavor. I would say, we don't need to know how the cheffs get paid. Just wrap it into the price. Glorifying something you should already be doing is tacky. The Ugly: absolutely nothing. Great job! It's expensive, but if you're willing to pay extra for a sure thing, a refined palate will not leave disappoint. If you want salt, greasy fast food... you may not...

We were down in Williamsburg for a short trip and had a lot of people recommend Fat Canary. We weren't able to get a reservation but we tried to call right when they opened. The phone went straight to a busy dial tone. I called about 20 minutes later and someone indicated that they had a table around 7-7:30 downstairs as the main room was all booked up. We would have to come in to put down a name doe the reservation. Luckily we were close by and was able to place our name down for 7 pm.

We arrived around 6:45 and kind of hung out in their wine shop until 7:15. They have two menus, their main and then the downstairs menu. My friend ordered a the Bee-Laverdier cocktail which she really enjoyed. For our appetizer, we ordered the Lobster and for our entrees, I ordered the Pan Seared Duck Breast and my friend ordered the Grilled Atlantic Salmon.

The Lobster fettuccine dish was okay, the snap peas seemed a little out of place and so did the pistachios. It seemed like it was a really random put together dish and kind of more of a small pasta plate than an appetizer.

While the duck and salmon were both cooked beautifully, I found my duck lacking in flavor and the cherry demi glaze seemed more of a jus at the bottom of my plate under the Farro. My friends salmon sat upon Fregula pasta but there was a lot of oil at the bottom of the dish. It also seemed a strange mix with the golden raisins and capers as well. I asked for a recommendation of a wine pairing with the duck and was suggested the Cabernet Sauvignon Quilt. I'm not sure if something had adjusted my palate beforehand but it seemed quite acidic.

Overall, a little disappointed as we heard so many great reviews. Not sure if I'd come back to try any of their other items. A cute place with a great atmosphere and a cute wine market downstairs but the food was lacking in...

This is our favorite restaurant on Hampton roads route. Food, service, ambiance and value all of it is just a pleasure. We never miss a chance to visit travelling this route to or from Virginia Beach and appreciate their resilience to the challenge of pandemic situation unlike many other restaurants they didn't quit and that says a lot! Thank you Fat Canary, we'll be coming back time and again. P.S. A year passed by since my review and this time it was one of the many many visits to this great restaurant over the years. But this experience was really OUTSTANDING in all aspects of dining. The food was OUT OF THIS WORLD TASTY and PLANTIFUL. And the service provided by Kevin was just UNBELIEVABLY PLEASANT, PROFESSIONAL and EFFICIENT. THANK YOU Kevin for making this evening bright and exiting. Though we order mostly the same favorite dishes every time, somehow this dinner felt very special for us gratefully to the whole team and especially Kevin. Big thank you to everyone. We are looking forward to out next visit hopefully soon. P.S. As always all the aspects of the dining were on the highest level, and this time Kevin had the warmest attitude I've ever experienced in the restaurant. After two years of not visiting (due to my husband's illness and death) he recognized me right away (EVEN BY NAME!) and treated us as we would be a part of his family. I'm still under impression of this dinner experience. THANK YOU dear Kevin for being such a compassionate person. And thanks to all the staff for making this evening...