Shields Tavern — Restaurant in Williamsburg

Dinner by candlelight, literally, one candle in a globe on each table - marvelous food, great service, abstolutely charming for a couple's evening out. Happy that OpenTable does reservations for the Colonial Williamsburg Taverns - I missed booking our reservation earlier in the day, and surprised to see that around 6 pm, there were openings at two of the taverns for 730 pm. Had $$, but that only applied to their "Firsts" items - salads and appetizers that sounded sizabel. Only a few entrees, maybe 6, but it is a colonial tavern, so that's appropriate. One 4 course option for about $35 included a cup of the tastiest butternut squash soup - it was flavored almost like gingerbread, delicious; 3 pieces of really good fried chicken (maybe pan fried? redskin mashed potatoes and maybe asparagus, plus super creamy and delicious butter pecan ice cream (also had choc, vanilla, and maybe strawberry). My husband's Ale Potted Beef was declared a winner, too. I also had a Pimm's cup, my first, and it was refreshing, perfect compliment to my dinner (Pimm's liquer, lemonade, ginger ale), and may become a new favorite. I like going to Colonial Williamsburg places for those offerings not usually at regular restaurants. Parking behind and across the street behind the restaurant is really convenient, but take your 21st century phone flashlight to light up the path, espeically if there are puddles from rain. With Open table reservation, we only had to wait for the doors to open for the overall 730 pm seating, and were seated fairly quickly after that. Colonial dining is a little different from going to chain restaurants. I didn't regret the extra cost because it was an extra nice experience. ...

I ate here with my family for dinner. We had a reservation for five. However, even though there were many larger tables open we were seated at a table for four and the staff just added a chair to the end. This made the table much too crowded and really was unnecessary when there were other options. The food was fine but nothing amazing. Even though on their menu online they had a less expensive chicken dish option that choice wasn’t on the menu the night we were there. In its place was a $35 fried chicken dinner that came with soup and a dish of ice cream for dessert. Everyone else in my family ordered that and the felt everything was just “ok”. I order a seafood pasta dish that came out lukewarm which made the sauce goopy and unappetizing. There were no dinner options less than $35. For a family of five, with only one person ordering any alcohol, the bill came to $250. Even accounting for the fact that we understood we would be paying extra for the atmosphere prices were way too much to justify. The wait staff was fine. However, with prices being so high expectations rise. When I’m leaving a $50 tip on a normal length meal I would expect there to be attention to detail. There was a rushed feeling from our waitress and questions were brushed off. A highlight was the musician strolling around. He sang and played his...

When you book a place like Shields Tavern, you need to realize that you're going to pay a premium price for non-premium food. Not to say the food is bad, but except for a few special things, it's not remarkable. What you're paying for here is the experience of eating in a place that seems be be 250 years in the past with candlelight as your only source of illumination (be sure to bring your phone for it's flashlight to read the menu). Accept that and you'll be happy. Get picky about the "value" of the food/service vs. what you could get elsewhere and you won't. That being said, the experience is quite good. There's the occasional entertainment - on our night, there was a gentleman with a mandolin wandering about and a lady who sang a capella, both were quite good. The food was of reasonable quality and the service was quite good. I went with the chicken and my wife had the fish and both were OK - again, you're not really here for the food, but the experience. One nice thing about this particular restaurant is that if you're staying at one of the Williamsburg hotels (Lodge, Inn, etc.), the bus stops right out front, so you don't have to drive over and then fight for a parking spot in the fairly...