1.Is there a good place to have dinner in the airport? I am going to be stuck there for several hours and might as well make the best of it.
2. Any great areas for shopping, prefer classic women's clothing and upscale gift shops.
Thank you.

Ifyou have 5-6 hrs try stony point mall for dinner & shopping ie sacks &brooks bros.

Thanks.

How long will you have? And what time of day? Carytown is about 25 min drive away, check out www.heidistory.com for clothing, lots of neat gift shops in the area. A bit closer than Stony Point and lots of eclectic shops.
Inside the airport itself, Double T's Barbeque is good if you like BBQ. The original Double T's is also in Carytown. Buz & Ned's BBQ is also good, it is on Boulevard, right off the interstate and also about 25 min from the airport. Buz beat Bobby Flay in a Food Network "Throw-Down" of cooking BBQ ribs! and they sell a T-shirt that says "Flay Slayer". It is NOT a fancy place but well worth the trip.
Closer to the airport, on Williamsburg Road, Mexico is good local place, and Carini's has great Italian food and pizza.

Thank you, Joy. I am arriving tomorrow and obligated with business all day Monday and Tuesday. However I will have some shopping time Monday night and Carytown looks pretty interesting. Tuesday I end up at the airport for about four to five hours and will check out your restaurant suggestions.Thanks for the help.

You are welcome. The folks you have business with will probably have their own recommendations. Have a good trip! We fly out of the airport tomorrow, going to Las Vegas for the first time.

Have a great trip, Joy, and thanks for taking the time to respond to my question.

Double T's BBQ at the airport is awful. Don't know about the one in Carytown. The other eating choice is one of those chains like Fridays or one of its competitors.

Thanks for your response.

cmcfong: I agree that Carytown has an eclectic mix of shops. There are a few unique shops that you can possibly pick up the unusual item. The top of Cary is the nicest, the bottom near downtown is seedy looking. There are a few restaurants there for lunch/dinner at the top of cary.
Grove and Libbie have some specialty shops as well. They are farther west into the burbs. If you take Cary to River Rd, you can make a right onto Libbie and you will dump out onto Grove. I have not been in these stores, but it looks like some nice upscale shopping.
As far as airport dining or anything at the airport, not much. I was just there yesterday and it is not like other larger airports with shops. Bring a good book if you are going to be stuck there. I don't know how close the restaurant Mexico is to the airport, but there are a few of these by me, and it is good mexican food.
I hope this helps a little. You will need a street map of the city and surrounding burbs. It is a small city so it shouldn't be too hard to navigate with a map.

Thanks. I am staying out at Midlothian and noticed a Mexico near by the hotel. A local is taking us to dinner so maybe I will get a bit better oriented this evening and can venture out to do some shopping.
Appreciate your help,girlonthego.

I live in Midlothian!!! How funny is that!
Welcome to the burbs of Richmond! Where are you staying? There are many restaurants depending on what you like to eat. I am guessing if you are near a Mexico, than you are staying down on Hull St which is also known as 360. This is south of me.
There is a restaurant on the Swift Creek Reservoir called the Boathouse. I have not been since they changed hands (used to be called Sundays). It is waterfront and was a nice setting. It is located in the neighborhood Brandermill near Hull St. It had a nice outside atmosphere. Like I said before, I haven't been in a couple of years.
On Hull St, you will find many restaurants. This road has recently gotten full of stores in the last couple of years. Nothing special, many chain restaurants, and Target type stores. There is a nice relatively new theater called Commonwealth 20 which has stadium seating. If you are bored, you can catch a movie.
If you are nowhere near Hull St (360 West) Sorry. If you have any more questions, hopefully I can answer them.

We are at a Holiday Inn Express ( my employer booked it and it is really fine) with about seven hundred teenaged girls from a slow pitch tournament....and I need to be rested for my presentation tomorrow!
We had dinner tonight at the Cafe Guttenburg..WOW. It was delightful, Copper River salmon, a gorgeous beet salad, and hummus which was very good. Perhaps the Boathouse tomorrow. It is looking pretty unlikely that I will get much chance to shop. Apparently we will be tied up most of the day and then preparing for the next day during the evening. Still, lots to come back for! Thanks for your help.

I had never heard of cafe gutenburg. I just read that it is downtown. Shockoe bottom area has lots of nice restaurants.
700 softball players? Good luck on getting to sleep !
Hope you enjoy your stay.

Hi girlonthego. We ended up at Crab Louis which was OK, but not fabulous. I lobbied hard for the Boathouse but got overruled. Next trip! Thanks for the tips.

I have to laugh. I live just a few miles away from Crab Louis!
Small world.
Glad you enjoyed your stay.