Gabriel Archer Tavern at The Williamsburg Winery — Restaurant in Williamsburg

Gabriel Archer Tavern is resting on very tired laurels. I booked dinner for 6 for the day before Mother's Day. Our server was underage and could tell us nothing about the wines on the list. This is a winery and servers should be old enough to speak knowledgeably about wines. The charcuterie board was meager and served with three half-slices of cold toast. Dinner was delivered by someone from the bar. Rather than knowing which dinner went to which diner, he loudly announced "who gets the crabcake, who gets the hangar steak..." which was crude for $35 per plate dinners. The portions were skimpy and did not satisfy my guests. The hangar steak was raw and tough, served over a small scoop of mashed potatoes with a single spring of broccolini. The crab cakes showed little evidence of lump crab meat. Our server was not attentive and never asked if we wanted a second drink. We asked to order dessert and inquired as to the flavors of ice cream. "Chocolate, vanilla, and sorbet," she said. What kind of sorbet we asked. "It's a non-dairy dessert." Which doesn't answer the question does it. Desserts were delivered in the same manner. "Who gets the chocolate ice cream, who gets the cheesecake?" And then, my husband's coffee was delivered ice cold. Not lukewarm. Ice cold. I planned this outing weeks in advance and the experience was disappointing and embarrassing. And the bill for this? Over $400. I do not recommend wasting your money at Gabriel Archer Tavern. You'd be better off at a...

We came to visit Williamsburg for our first time and were thrilled. I researched places a couple months in advance and booked a dinner for our family at the tavern. I really thought this would be one of the highlights of our trip.

Service was undeniably fantastic. Our server (I wish I remembered her name!) was professional, warm and came at just the right times to check on us.

We love farm to table food and it was good. Not amazing, but solidly good.

I’m a third generation interior designer, so atmosphere is high on my list with a good meal. Setting the ambience is imperative and as a I figure higher priced meals include the proper ambiance. It’s charming and I think for brunch and lunch it’s sweet and lovely but for the dinner prices and options I was sorely disappointed. The room with the thin glass windows does not hold sound well so everyone in the room has to talk very loud. Lights were WAY too bright, at the very least tableware should be changed for the evening, including adding linens, and some background music.

I would definitely come back for a lunch but not dinner. My husband was still hungry after our meal and we are fit and in shape and don’t need huge portions but when we go out to eat at nicer restaurants we want to splurge and feel like we got our money’s worth on all fronts.

The property is lovely and we wish them...

We were very disappointed in the lack of professionalism of the wait staff. We arrived via bike shortly before 4:00. We walked into the restaurant and spoke with the hostess to make sure that we could be served. We were only wanting a glass of wine and small dessert. She said they were getting ready to turn over to the dinner and went back to check if we could get in. She came back out and said yes and I told her that I would go and park our bikes and come back. When we returned we sat down and the hostess came out and said they were closed but then she realized who we were and said we were fine. She said she would go get our waitress. A few minutes later an entourage of waitstaff came out and told us that they were closed and that we had to leave because they could not seat us. They were very rude. We were not asking to have any food prepared. We were only wanting a glass of wine and dessert. We will not be returning and will be sure to let other people know about the lack of service and customer regard. We went to Upper Shirley Vineyards the day before and received excellent service and excellent food. I will be going there instead of...