I live about an hour from Williamsburg and am not very familiar with the town. I will be hosting two out of state friends who want to visit Colonial Williamsburg. I've not been very impressed with the lunches offered in the historic area during past visits and am looking for suggestions for a nice lunch experience outside the historic area. Any suggestions are appreciated.

There are quite a few restaurants near enough to the restored area that you could walk to.

Lunch at the Inn will be swanky with ok food:
http://www.history.org/visit/diningE...Room/index.cfm

Lunch at The Trellis or Blue Talon in Merchants Square will be nice:
www.thetrellis.com
www.bluetalonbistro.com

If its a nice day, you can eat on the porch at the Golden Horseshoe overlooking the golf course:
http://www.history.org/visit/diningE...shoe/index.cfm

If you want to take a gorgeous drive, Yorktown is 15 min down the Colonial Parkway and has a couple of nice restaurants:
http://www.riverwalklanding.com/
www.carrottreekitchens.com

Or drive 10 min to Kingsmill near Busch Gardens and have lunch overlooking the golf course and river:
www.kingsmillresort.com

There are also a few more casual spots near the historic area I can tell you about if you are interested.

A vote for the Trellis restaurant. We had lunch there and found the food pretty good. I have a particular fondness for
Marcel Desaulniers. I was with my then 10 yo DD and she recognized him as the chef who created the Death By Chocolate dessert, having watched him prepare this on TV. The restaurant was not particularly busy. He very graciously signed an autograph for her and sat down with us for a few minutes to answer her questions. He insisted we have the dessert and I was surprised to find he "comped" us when I paid the bill.

Great story, aliska! The Trellis is under new management now, however. The people who own Blue Talon bought The Trellis last year. It was a good change IMHO. The Trellis had been resting on its laurels for the last few years. The new Trellis does still offer Death by Chocolate, best shared by at least two people.

Thanks to all, for your suggestions. I forgot about the Trellis and never even thought of Kingsmill, all great ideas. Will look into the Blue Talon as well.

Someone recommended the "The Chickahominy House" Does anyone know about this place?

I'd go with any of Birdie's suggestions, particularly the Blue Talon.

My opinion about the CH is most definitely the minority b/c this place is extremely popular with visitors and often has a line at lunch and almost always on the weekends.

The CH opened in the late 50s or early 60s and serves a "southern" cuisine of that period: brunswick stew, VA ham and biscuits, sweet tea and pie. The fruit is canned and the salads are ice berg. The dining rooms are filled with countrified antique-ish things which are all for sale.

The Surrey House is a similar restaurant across the river from Jamestown in Surry. Of the two, I much prefer the SH which is where we take visitors. The menu is bigger and the breezy ferry ride across the James is really pleasant and affords a pretty view of the river and Jamestown Island.

I'm going to join obxgirl in the minority group with my opinion of CH. If you want to try CH someday, do it for breakfast, not lunch. If you are looking for pie for dessert, go to the restaurant out at the airport.

obxgirl, I tried the peanut soup at the SH years ago and it was horrible. The only reason I went back was to take the kids for the peanut butter tray. What do you like on their menu?

I prefer the SH b/c I like the ferry ride and Surry is still what the area surrounding the CH used to be before Wmbg grew up. The food at either place is so so (agree, breakfast is better) and has that kind of 1960s southern thing some visitors enjoy. The SH has collards (yes, I like them) and hush puppies and I always got the bacon from the kids' peanut butter trays. The trip on the ferry at sunset is one of the best freebies in the area.

And speaking of Surrey, have you heard or read about the people who want to buy Vick's property and turn it into an dog sanctuary?

Sorry for the hijack lgs513.

You could have stopped at hush puppies. I'd cross a river for hush puppies.

I had not heard about the Vick property. That would be a very appropriate use for it. Now Vick needs to step up and finance the whole deal.