Bubba’s Crabhouse & Seafood

Oh goodness! I was perusing our “draft posts” list and found uploaded photos from a trip to Virginia Beach back in August!  In August and early September, we made it out to Virgina Beach to see my sister and brother-in-law 3 times! During the second trip, our grandparents were visiting and we decided to go to one of my sister’s favorite low key local seafood restaurants: Bubba’s Crabhouse & Seafood.

It’s located right on the water.  If we’d been in the boat, we could have docked next to the restaurant and come on in for lunch.  Instead, we just drove over 🙂

Being in Virginia Beach, there was of course lots of seafood options as well as burgers, salads, and sandwiches.

I started with she-crab bisque.  Yum!

The Husband had a crabcake sandwich and fries.

My sister had one of her favorites: a cheeseburger with crab on top.

I went with a salad with tuna (if I’m remembering my fish correctly).  What I do remember is that this salad was AWESOME! I definitely recommend it.  The cheddar was definitely freshly shredded and oh so creamy.  The fish tasted fresh and was seasoned nicely.

Sorry for the delay on this posting! If you’re in the area and haven’t been, check out Bubba’s.  If you ever have to wait, there’s a fun bar right next door right on the water to grab a drink while you wait.  Enjoy!

Hot Tuna – Virginia Beach Style

After our visit to Williamsburg, we returned to my sister and brother-in-law’s house to relax and watch the sunset on the beach.  When it came time to decide where to go to dinner, my brother and his wife wanted seafood since they missed out the night before.  I checked out OpenTable.com to see where we could get a reservation and to look at what menus there were out there and came across Hot Tuna.

Exhausted from our day out, we all went with soda and water for our beverages.  While waiting for our meals, we enjoyed some bread (which reminded us of Outback’s bread).

As an appetizer, my brother ordered the Hot Chesapeake Bay Crab Dip.  It was creamy and crabby – just the way I like it!

For the first time in a while, everyone I dined with ordered something different!

My brother ordered the Sam Adams Shrimp

And his wife ordered the Crab Cake sandwich.  Of all the items I tried, this was my least favorite.  The crabcake’s fillers were not what I was used to and wouldn’t order this again if I had the option.

My sister ordered the Cedar Plank Salmon: fresh North Atlantic pink salmon fire grilled on a cedar plank, and topped with a burre blanc sauce.  It normally comes with chipotle green beans & a mushroom-parmesan risotto, but she asked for mashed potatoes instead of the green beans.  Her meal was so good! The salmon was pretty much perfect and the risotto was creamy! (She was kind enough to let me sample.)

Her husband ordered what I believe was a Tuna special.  He had tuna three ways: seared, sushi roll, and tuna tartare.  Tuna, their signature item, is Yellowfin, and I believe, relatively local – caught off the Outer Banks in North Carolina.  He enjoyed this dish but noted it was a bit spicy.  (I’m unsure of his level of spice tolerance.  If it’s anything like my sister’s, it’s not a good gauge 🙂 To her, mild salsa is too hot!)

I debated for a long time about what to order myself and decided on the Absolut Chesapeake.  It was gulf shrimp, lump crabmeat, Smithfield bacon, baby spinach and tomatoes sautéed in a light vodka cream sauce over penne.  I loved it! There was a bit of spiciness that went well with all of the other ingredients.  I saved half and threw in my sister’s leftover salmon for lunch the next day.

The Husband ordered the Greek Salad and added Calamari.  We were surprised at how much was included!  He said the calamari was cooked well, but not great. despite how it looked.  The calamari was, however, an excellent addition to the greek salad.

(I’m starting up the Husband’s notation system again! Check out early posts to see what he said about the restaurants we visited 🙂  )

Ambiance: A fun group atmosphere but potentially a date spot as well.  We were seated at a large table in the bar area, so I’m not sure what the rest of the restaurant was like.  It wasn’t too loud but wasn’t quiet either.  The bar was spacious – likely a good place for happy hour.

Menu: Although mainly a seafood restaurant, the menu had options for everyone.  There was pasta, seafood, steak, sandwiches, salads, and vegetarian options.  They had a goat cheese and portabella mushroom sandwich that I was eyeing and may get if I visit again.

Something you won’t find on most menus: The wide selection of sushi grade tuna.  My brother-in-law enjoyed his dish.

Service: While at first we didn’t think highly of being seated in the bar area, we liked that our table was ready as soon as we arrived.  The host was very friendly and informative as he seated us.  Our waitress, Danielle, was wonderful! We were all very thirsty from having spent the day in the sun and she kept up on our water refills wonderfully!

Food: As mentioned above, everything we ate was very tasty.  I highly recommend the Salmon and the pasta dish, but not the crab cake.

Overall: We enjoyed our dinner and the restaurant as a whole and would eat here again!

Recommendation: Definitely recommend!

Hot Tuna

2817 Shore Drive

Virginia Beach, VA 23451

Doumar’s

Knowing how much the Husband loves ice cream, my sister did some research and found that the Doumar family invented the ice cream cone and that their restaurant and ice cream shop is near by in Norfolk!  Today we discovered that Doumar’s also serve breakfast and lunch and headed there to get lunch before the necessary ice cream treat 🙂

As a little background, Doumar’s is a family-owned/run restaurant that has been in Norfolk since 1934 (there have been a couple remodels since then).  Additionally, it has been featured on the Food Network.

Upon arrival, we found that waitresses deliver food to the cars or you can eat inside.

The place had a super cute diner feel to it.

You can also go in and order take out.

We waited a short while until a table for six opened up.  We dived right into the menus and were amazed at the prices!

The Husband and I both ordered Grilled Cheese (his with bacon).  My sister ordered a hot dog while my brother-in-law and sister-in-law ordered cheeseburgers.  My brother got a steak sandwich.  Five of us ordered a side of fries 🙂

I also splurged and got a Cherry Coke (I don’t normally get soda) and my brother and his wife split a Vanilla Shake.  (It was a bit too thick at first so they had to let it melt a bit.)

They had this hot sauce that was awesome! In the tastiness way (not the spiciness way).  I meant to ask the waiter what it was but forgot 😦

Everyone was very happy with their lunch!  But we couldn’t wait for dessert 🙂

We all got ice cream cones!

The cones, especially the cone itself, were delicious! So fresh tasting!!  Definitely recommend this place if you like ice cream cones 🙂

Ooh, I almost forgot! They make their cones fresh daily with the original cone maker!

Day 1 of Sib Get Away to VA Beach

While I started a tease of a blog series on our Christmas River Cruise in December, we’ll catch back up to that after this weekend’s visit to Virginia Beach!  My sister and her husband have lived in Virginia Beach for a few years now and we’ve visited once so we were excited to head back out that way this weekend.  Plus my brother and his wife were headed down as well for a big sibling weekend 🙂

The Husband and I flew to the Norfolk airport.  We loved how quick the flight was from Charlotte – so short they didn’t even do a beverage service on the plane!

My sister and her husband picked us up, and after dropping our stuff off at their house, we headed out to one of their favorite seafood restaurants for dinner.  (My brother and sister-in-law (SIL) wouldn’t be arriving until close to midnight.)

The Husband’s number one condition of the trip was to get fresh seafood.  Quite easy to do in Norfolk/Virginia Beach! So we headed to the Lynnhaven Fish House Restaurant.

It was going to be about a 30 minute wait so the four of us decided to hang out in the bar area.  My sister got a glass of White Zinfandel while I ordered a glass of Chardonnay (both were house options so I wasn’t sure where they were from).  The boys each ordered a beer: Sam Adams for the brother-in-law (BIL) and a Celis White for the Husband.

The Celis White bottle described it as a Belgian-style wheat beer from Michigan Brewing Company.  The Husband seemed to enjoy it.

The bar had baskets of kettle chips that we enjoyed while we caught up on each other’s lives.  When we sat down, the menu was quite extensive and included numerous fresh fish of the day.

We each gave our order and enjoyed a basket of fresh hushpuppies while we waited.  Everyone else loved them (I thought they were a tad dry) and the basket was empty by the time dinner was over.

The boys each ordered another beer: Sam Adams for BIL and a Summer Ale from Blue Point Brewing Company for the Husband.

Then came the soup – the first thing I knew I had to have!  We each ordered a cup of the She-Crab Soup.  So good!  The waitress brought with her a bottle of Sherry for us to add to the soup.  It gave it a nice, sweet touch – I think I actually should have had more as halfway through it was a bit too much cream for my taste.  Definitely recommend it!

All entrees came with House Salads so we enjoyed those next.

Then came the main event 🙂  My sister ordered the Daily Special: Grilled Local Wahoo over Herb Whipped Potatoes and a Roasted Tomato Gorgonzola Sauce.  She found that Wahoo was too much of a fish steak for her taste and her husband graciously switched with her 🙂  He loved it!

The rest of each enjoyed the Scallops Lynnhaven.  They were described as fresh scallops broiled in lemon butter, topped with crabmeat and melted cheddar.  We each got a baked potato (they were out of sweet potatoes 😦  ) and the Husband ordered black beans and rice.  It was SO MUCH FOOD! But yummy.

Overall, it was a good meal.  It’s a bit on the pricier side, but I find that’s generally to be expected at better seafood restaurants.  My sister and BIL really enjoy this restaurant and have been there frequently.  If you ever find yourself in the area and are looking for good, fresh seafood, definitely check this place out!