37 Best Restaurants in Virginia, USA

Authentic, friendly, and local, the Kabob Palace is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The chicken, lamb, and spicy beef kabobs are cooked to perfection and best dipped in chutney sauce and chased with a bite of naan. The sides vary, but rice and chickpeas are usually favorites.

The cool name is rather appropriate—if you weren't hungry before entering this cozy place, you will be after the enticing smells reach you. A rich-looking dining room outfitted with plush leather couches and stone walls makes you want to linger. Breakfast burritos and Belgian waffles are nice ways to start the day. Or end it with Southern caramelized barbecued shrimp over a mound of grits, and snack on fondue. You can even order a colorful cake if you're celebrating a special occasion.

Lebanese specialties are featured at this casual restaurant in Ghent, which also has a Mediterranean food store. Indoor dining is on granite tables under the original tin ceiling and exposed air ducts. Outdoors, the terra-cotta patio has umbrellas. Order healthy Mediterranean food including kibbi, seasoned beef and bulgur patties; stuffed grape leaves; and meat kebab with grilled vegetables and side dishes. The hummus is a standout. Vegan and vegetarian selections are noted on the menu, which includes appetizers, wraps, pizza, and kebabs.

You may have to wait in line at this locally owned establishment (which has three locations), especially at breakfast, but locals swear these are the best bagels south of the Big Apple. In true New York style, bagels are boiled before being baked, and all 10 varieties are true water bagels made with no fats or preservatives. Lunchtime is also popular, and the low prices appeal to both students and visitors. There are also locations at 505 Preston Avenue and 1609 University Avenue.

A gathering place and watering hole near the Virginia Tech campus, this storefront restaurant serves eclectic, inexpensive dishes. Try the Greek spaghetti with sautéed feta, garlic, and olives, or the "Mac Daddy": a single large meatball in marinara sauce and Parmesan. They also offer an extensive list of domestic and imported beers, and local bands perform here often. You can also purchase their craft beers to take home.

The Vietnamese dishes at this small family restaurant are made from fresh, organic ingredients—as are their specialty smoothies, bubble tea, and coffee. The expected dishes are all deliciously there, but they’re always experimenting with something new, such as Viet shaking beef and salted egg shrimp. There’s even a keto section on the menu.

It's easy to forget that this is a college town, but this cheerful dive keeps up the school spirit. The white-brick eatery is dark and scruffy inside. Walls are hung with fraternity and sorority pictures, graduation snapshots, and sports-team photos. Booths and tables are in the William and Mary colors of green and gold. Deli sandwiches, subs, specialty pizzas, pasta, stromboli, and Greek dishes are all prepared with fresh ingredients and are all delicious, and there's a wide selection of beers on tap. The Delly delivers free to nearby hotels from 6 pm to 1 am.

A neon sign reading "Get in here" sits in the window of this intimate local favorite. The menu is Southwestern cuisine, with quesadillas, burritos, spicy pork tacos, enchiladas, and potent margaritas. Cactus plants decorate the front window, and the booths have funky lights. It can get crowded and convivial, and customers like it that way.

It may look like a shack, but this red clapboard restaurant 12 miles west of Charlottesville has been serving up what is renowned as some of Virginia's best pizza since 1977. Choose from about three-dozen toppings, including seasonal items such as snow peas and asparagus spears. Matching the outside, the interior is rustic, with portraits of the owners' forebears and one wall covered with business cards from around the world. On weekends, takeout must be ordered hours in advance.

Out in Del Ray, this Wisconsin-style frozen custard shop was a local family favorite long before President Obama came in with his daughters for a Father's Day treat. The Dairy Godmother features daily flavors of custard and sorbet like maple walnut or strawberry balsamico, as well as sweets like homemade marshmallows and cool treats for dogs.

Get a bird's-eye view of Harrisonburg from the rooftop dining area at Dave's, an award-winning and family-owned local favorite. Like many casual Greek eateries, the menu runs from American classics like burgers and pizzas, to Greek and Italian fare like souvlaki, caprese salad, and linguine. But vegetarians need not worry as veggie pitas and burgers round out the menu.

Broiled fresh seafood of a dozen kinds is the specialty at this casual waterfront restaurant only a quick bridge-crossing from the James River Plantations. You could start with spiced shrimp, and if you're really hungry, order the seafood platter. Other menu items include she-crab soup, Greek salads, and Italian main dishes. One of the few dining choices in the area, the Dockside is set on Big Bay Creek and overlooks the Virginia River.

As its name suggests, tacos of every variety are the specialty at this lively spot in the heart of Alexandria's busy King Street. From tacos to rice bowls, burritos, and small plates for sharing, Don Taco's menu will make you crave more than just one item. Save room for dessert and, of course, for the tequila selection. 

After he introduced the world to its first ice cream cone at the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis, Abe Doumar founded this drive-in institution in 1934. It's still operated by his family. Waitresses carry to your car the specialties of the house: barbecue, limeade, and ice cream in waffle cones (made according to an original recipe).

Goolrick's has been in its present location since the late 1890s, and still maintains a retro feel. At once a lunch counter, ice-cream shop, and an actual pharmacy, it's said to be home to the oldest operating soda fountain in the United States (theirs was installed in 1912). In addition to malts and egg creams, Goolrick's also serves light fare like sandwiches.

Beside the Hampton History Museum, you're greeted by an enticing aroma and a gift shop with tea-related items when you enter this cozy room decorated with Victorian tea-party prints in gilded frames, antique teapots, and knickknacks. Brunswick stew, creamy Hampton blue-crab soup, and biscuits are permanent fixtures on the "everything-homemade" menu, and daily specials, such as chicken and dumplings, are posted on the wall. Desserts are especially good, but avoid the canned fruit salad on iceberg lettuce. The tearoom is open for lunch only.

Bring a big appetite with you on the drive up and over Catawba Mountain to get to the Homeplace. Famished Appalachian Trail hikers and diners in their Sunday best eat side by side family-style in this farm home in a tiny country hamlet—so come as you are. Old-fashioned cooking is dished up with all-you-can-eat fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans, pinto beans, baked apples, and hot biscuits. It's a popular spot, so be prepared for about a 30-minute wait.

For camping supplies and souvenirs in the South District, stop in Loft Mountain Wayside. It's just across Skyline Drive from popular Loft Mountain Campground. Here you'll also find restrooms (flush toilets).

The enormous growth in seating since 1980, from 10 to 250, testifies to the popularity of this establishment in downtown Salem, as does its continual title as "best local restaurant" in an annual poll. Sports memorabilia line the walls of the attractive redbrick building near Roanoke College, and sporting events are likely to be on the many TVs near the bar. The menu runs from hamburgers to steak to seafood to pizza. If you have a big appetite, try a fully loaded calzone, which flops off the sides of your plate.

This soft-serve shop is a local favorite, serving cones, slushes, milk shakes, and sorbets.

A homey restaurant with plenty of booths, Rowe's has been operated by the same family since 1947, and still maintains a rock-solid reputation for inexpensive and delicious Southern meals. The fried chicken—skillet-cooked to order—is a standout. A local breakfast favorite is oven-hot biscuits topped with gravy (your choice of sausage, tenderloin, or creamy chipped beef). For dessert, try the mince pie in fall, or the rhubarb cobbler in summer.

This combination Irish pub, sports bar, and restaurant has a large central dining room with an open fireplace in the middle, a bar on one side, and a smaller dining room at one end. The menu includes steaks and Irish, Italian, and seafood entrées as well as snacks and sandwiches. The Sunday brunch is reasonable, and so are the weekday dinner specials. A block from the boardwalk, Murphy's has plenty of easy parking.

Autographed photos of U.S. military and political leaders gaze down from the walls at this Vietnamese restaurant just a block off Wilson Boulevard. Soup and pho have a prominent place on the menu (the sweet-and-spicy salmon soup has many fans), as do salads and vermicelli bowls. Dine outside in good weather. Residents tend to fill up street parking; get here early to find a spot, or take the Metro.

Reminiscent of old-fashioned Virginia tearooms, this Colonial-style restaurant has delectable goodies served in an 18th-century dining room. For breakfast there's Virginia ham and eggs, made-from-scratch biscuits, country bacon, sausage, homemade pancakes, and grits. Lunch brings Brunswick stew, Virginia ham biscuits, chicken and dumplings, fruit salad, and homemade pie. There's a gift shop adjacent to the restaurant. It's a great, inexpensive, and filling place for families on a budget; lunch reservations are recommended.

The original building, circa 1836, served as a public library and debating hall before becoming a retail space. In the Victorian era it was an ice cream parlor, and today it houses a full-service restaurant with both indoor and alfresco dining. Wood booths line the walls of the plant-filled room; the pressed-metal ceiling is original. The restaurant is open for lunch and dinner, and the menu features traditional salads, burgers and sandwiches, and steaks and pasta.

Tucked away in a K-Mart–anchored shopping center, this reasonably priced, large Chinese restaurant with a Mongolian grill is a real treat. The daily buffet offers both stick-to-your-ribs Chinese and Mongolian dishes. At the grill, choose the ingredients you want in your entrée, and watch the cooks prepare it in front of you. If your children don't like Chinese food, there is a children's menu that includes pizza. Peking is a great value for money and a favorite with locals. The Greene shopping center location is just outside the historic district.