Richmond, Virginia downtown
 

The week after Easter I'll be driving from Florida to New Jersey with a friend. The first night we will stay in Savannah. The second day we'll drive to Richmond I think. I have a couple free nights at Marriott, so am thinking of staying at the Marriott downtown (Broad and Fifth). We'll be getting there late afternoon or early evening and leaving the next morning, but it seems a better option than staying out on the highway somewhere and eating at a chain restaurant.

I have a little place tagged -- Bistro 27 --which is nearby. Better option for dinner?

Is this a good plan -- just to take a nice walk stretching our legs -- seeing the capital --having a drink or two somewhere -- what else?

Hi Patrick. I think your choice of restaurant is really good. Have only been once for lunch but I would absolutely return. Reviews on this place are quite good.

Overall I don't really think of downtown Richmond as great walking city at night. Much of it empties after work, some it is urban dumpy, including part of West Broad St. you'd be walking through en route to Bistro 27. If I recall correctly your hotel is on East Broad close to the convention center.

The section of West Broad St. where Bistro 27 is located is an enclave of galleries & restaurants that sponsors a sweet First Friday's Art Walk which, sadly, you'll be missing. It's fun.

A drink at the Jefferson Hotel (on West Franklin) after dinner might be in order. It's a beautiful hotel, circa 1890s.

Another option would be Carytown or the Fan areas that are more lively at night. JanetKMR knows a lot about Richmond dining. Hopefully she'll see this.

If you're at all interested in the Civil War, the Museum of the Confederacy is quite interesting-

http://www.moc.org/site/PageServer

It is a good place to stay, and you have made a good dinner choice. There are others (Comfort, for example) with New Southern food along Broad and adjacent streets.

The gallery area is an emerging/evolving area as you would expect if galleries can afford to be located there! The area between your hotel and the gallery area has yet, to be kind, emerge. I would drive to the restaurant. On the other hand, Richmond's prime cultural venue is just behind your hotel, and it is perfectly safe to walk there if there is a concert, opera, or play you would enjoy in your brief stay.

The Jefferson Hotel is spectacular, and its restaurant, LeMaitre, is by many accounts the best in the city, and they have a bistro restaurant as well. OBXgirl's suggestion of a drink is a nice idea, since it is clear we can all pile up more things for you to do than you could do in a week.

For one of these, you might look at my recent review (on here)of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (on Boulevard, not really very far away) and its new addition. Well worth a visit if you have a bit of time on your way out of town. Blessedly free.

Ackislander, The new wing took ***forever*** but was worth the wait. I agree with your review.

The Picasso: Masterpieces from the Musée National Picasso, Paris exhibit will be showing when Patrick and his friend are planning to visit. Are you a fan? This one, not surprisingly, isn't free.

Interesting. The same friend used to work for MOMA in NYC and just gave me some tickets for the Picasso exhibit there during May. And we're renting an apartment near the Picasso Museum in Barcelona in August. How much Picasso should I do? LOL

But since I doubt we'd get to Richmond before about 5, I don't see any museum visits likely.

The Jefferson! I forgot about that beautiful place-- I did walk through the lobby once years ago. An after dinner drink would be in order.

Drive to dinner? Six blocks straight down Broad Street? (Or an I wrong?) Is it really that scary downtown?

I honestly can't tell you.

We are here four months out of the year (the winter months we used to spend in Naples) because our grandchildren are here.

Locals are a bit paranoid about many areas in the city, but I don't know the local signals enough to tell you whether an area is really scary the way I could in Boston or Paris. The section of West Broad in question has a lot of closed stores until you get to the gallery area. But one of my favorite restaurants (Black Sheep) is on a street that scares some of my visitors, and I never feel unsafe there. It will also be light later then, so you can make a decision on the spot.

I have not dined at Bistro 27, so no vote there. Comfort on Broad is very good (I took MomDDtravel there when she was here years ago)Southern food and Lemaire is a must for a drink and they have great bar food (and regular dinner food..hehe) as well.

For a very "Richmond" dinner, I also recommend Millie's Diner (they are closed on Mondays) or their sister restaurant Lulu's.

I also recommend Black Sheep for breakfast, lunch or dinner.

You could also venture to Carytown and have a cocktail at CanCan and dinner at Bonvenu or Secco (Secco is a great place for a glass of wine as well).

Places people may recommend but best avoided: Tobacco Company, Bookbinders, Stronghill Dining.

Oh, and I walk in that area of Broad Street without any problem. My brother lives on Franklin just a couple of block from The Jefferson and walks all the time.

I've walked the stretch of Broad from the convention center to the block where Bistro 27 lives during the day without issue. The part between the Marriott and the restaurant is government (I think) office buildings and businesses that shut at 5 on weekdays. Some of it's pretty dumpy. Not the part Richmond I'd send visitors to when they want get out and stretch their legs. I would probably be uneasy walking there after dark mostly b/c it's so deserted. But Patrick you and your friend will be there so you can obviously judge for yourself. As you say, it's only six blocks.

After dinner, you could do a walk by of the Landmark Theater en route to the Jefferson Hotel. It's a gorgeous 1920s moorish revival building that used to be called The Mosque. Walk up Grace Street (parallels Broad) which has some nice older homes on your way. Probably take 30 minutes to cover that territory.

And it does seem that Patrick has got Picasso covered in the coming year!

Save the "free nights" and use them at some Marriott that is a LOT more memorable and stay IN the Jefferson rather than just walking through it.

I agree with Dukey. We are local and stay at The Jefferson a few nights a year as a local getaway. It's a great place and last time we were upgraded to the Governor's Suite, which was great.

Dukey, free nights with Marriott are only good through Category 4 -- pretty much Fairfields, Courtyards, etc. I was surprised that the downtown Marriott was a category 4, not many actual Marriotts are.

Spend over $300 for a one night's sleep (counting taxes and parking), with a late arrival and an early morning departure -- just a place to sleep? No thanks. I think I'd get more benefit just by having a drink in the posh public area and spending nothing for an actual place to sleep.

And Black Sheep could be fun for breakfast before taking off for our third day of driving.

ooops. Forget that last comment. After printing off the menu and directions, I realize Black Sheep doesn't open for breakfast till 9 -- we plan to be long gone by then!

Or should we consider it for dinner instead of Bistro 27? More fun, more "local flavor"?

I would go to Black Sheep or Comfort or Lemaire before Bistro 27, but I have not been to Bistro 27 because when we venture downtown there are other places we love, but it has gotten good press.

Bistro 27 is fine. I wasn't wowed, but neither would I recommend against it. I've heard good things about comfort.

Walking around that area at night... Probably fine. Its not as sketchy as it looks. If you want to walk, though, you'll enjoy the Fan and Museum District/carytown more. That's the real "heart" of downtown Richmond, the actual downtown is more an office district.

Black sheep is superb, and I'd have no hesitation walking around there any time.

I second going to Black Sheep. walking around Carytown and Picasso at VMFA.

I like the food at Black Sheep a lot and have taken a lot of out-of-towners there, but I have two issues.

The service is slow, real slow, and the holdup is not with the waitstaff. It is somewhere in the kitchen. Since Black Sheep doesn't take reservations, if you get there at the wrong time, it can be quite a wait, and you have to do it standing in the middle of the restaurant or out on the street, since there is no bar.

My other beef is with their remoulade sauce, but it applies to every other remoulade sauce I have eaten in Richmond. Maybe all the chefs started their careers in the same restaurant: the remoulade is violently vinegary and acidic. I lived for seven years with regular access to New Orleans food, and it was never like that in NO, whether at a joint or a grand restaurant. It was pretty much mayonnaise, creole mustard, onion, herbs and capers. It was nothing like tartar sauce, and it added to the food rather than hiding it behind pickle juice and vinegar. Rant over.

Oh Neo, go for drinks at the Jefferson Hotel. You should not go through Rickmond without seeing the lovely lobby and statue and the staircase in that hotel. And the bar is great at happy hr.

Also the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts is a nice manageable museum, open some evenings, and they can have nice exhibits. The Picasso exhibit from Paris will be there whiel you are in town., and VA Mus. of Fine Arts is the only east coast venue for that exhibit. I saw a fantastic Tiffany exhibit there last yr.

bookmarking

Have eaten many times at the Tobacco Company and Love it! It's near the Jefferson Hotel.

The restaurant has been around for over 30 years and has live entertainment usually on the weekends.

http://thetobaccocompany.com/

8-)

Do not go to The Tobacco Company. Unless you want to time warp to 1985.

So what's wrong with time warping to 1985? That was a pretty good year. And if it means the place won't be filled with loud young pretty people showing off their trendiest new clothes and being pretentious with a noise level that will shake the rafters, it sounds even better.

Nothing in theory :-) But if someone is going to visit Richmond I don't want them to think of Tobacco Company as representative of the best of Richmond eats....lol.

I don't know of any Richmonder who dines there. Several will go for drinks/nightlife though.

I live in Va and love eating at the tobacco co. So... I suggest eat at all the recommendations and post your findings!

Much as I'd never personally choose to eat at the Tobacco Co., I have to admit the one time I met a friend there for snacks the food was actually pretty decent. You can do better, but it wasn't bad.

How funny that this thread popped back up from a year ago. That trip was cancelled last spring as I ended up flying up rather than driving, but the first part of May THIS year, my partner and I will be doing the trip. And I just booked a night at Richmond -- the second Friday in May. I booked at Hyatt Place near the airport as it is about $200 cheaper than anything nice downtown I could find. (Would love to stay at The Jefferson, but $300 for a place to just sleep overnight?) The Tobacco Company following drinks at The Jefferson still sounds pretty good to me. I just revisited the menu. While there may be more "upscale, trendy" places in Richmond, we can do those elsewhere, somehow their menu seems more "local specific".

We can agree to disagree :-) I don't think of TC as local specific at all.

We had drinks last night at Lemaire at The Jefferson and then a fabulous dinner at comfort a few blocks away. Shared a basket of fried okra (they fry them whole) with remolaude (I know that is misspelled) for dipping. I had braised ox tails with mole sauce, cheese grits and collard greens. Dh had roasted chicken, scalloped potatoes and squash casserole. Bottle of Barboursville Cabernet Franc and their signature dessert, banana pudding creme brulee.

It's not upscale or trendy. Nor are Millie's Diner, Lulu's, Edo's Squid and many others.

The current trendy (and IMO overrated) restaurant that got "Restaurant of the Year" in Style Magazine is The Roosevelt.

I would also add that dinner at Lemaire has plenty of local flavor.

We are driving a two seater convertible from Florida to New Jersey. Richmond is a stop just for the night after about 7 or 8 hours of driving. We will be super casual. We might be stretching a bit to casually enter the Jefferson and have a cocktail, but somehow I just don't think we'd feel comfortable in that VERY formal looking Lemaire having a "destination" dinner under the circumstances. Just a casual Tobacco Company dinner somehow seems more "right". Does that make sense?

Or perhaps Comfort --just looked at the website and it does look and sound great. Although there are no pictures of the interior. Tell me -- will the two of us be lined up at those "detestable" two top banquettes? And will it be super loud?
I don't dare mention "banana pudding creme brulee" to my partner or there will be no turning back! LOL

Ooops. Never mind. It looks like we can expect a wait on Friday night of at least an hour -- perhaps a lot more -- at Comfort. Don't think we want to do that, especially if we've already done cocktails at The Jefferson and have a long drive again the next day.

I don't dare mention "banana pudding creme brulee" to my partner or there will be no turning back! LOL
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That alone will be worth the trip :-) And yes, it is come as you are.....very casual (thought it is loud when crowded).

Lulu's takes reservations and is casual http://www.lulusrichmond.com/dinner.aspx It's the same people who have Millie's Diner.

The wait at Comfort depends a lot on what is happening at Theater IV and the Siegal Center. You could call from the bar at Lemaire and see what the wait is looking like.