Virginia Beach offers locals and visitors an exceptional culinary scene. With the Atlantic Ocean and the Chesapeake Bay at its front door step, certainly, the coastal cuisine is off the charts. Across the area, fresh oysters, blue crabs, clams and fish fill restaurant menus. From creamy She Crab soup and lump crabcakes to oysters on the half shell and fish tacos—blackened, fried or grilled—the seafood here is hard to beat.
With a strong agricultural heritage, the resort city embraces the farm-to-table movement. Local restaurants serve up dishes made from fresh ingredients that are locally sourced, from produce to seafood and beyond. Head to Rudee Inlet to enjoy a delicious seafood meal at Rudee’s on the Inlet Restaurant & Cabana Bar or Rockafeller’s, two beloved local restaurants that have been serving fresh seafood and other incredible dishes for decades. Coastal Grill, in nearby Great Neck, is another long-time staple in the area.
Virginia Beach’s dining scene reaches widely beyond coastal cuisine, offering a diverse menus from casual American fare to tasty global flavors. Long-time local favorites, IL Giardino Ristorante and Aldo’s Ristorante, serve upscale Italian cuisine in a fine dining atmosphere. Virginia Beach Town Center is a popular dining destination, abounding with a variety of flavors— from Indian, Mexican and Irish to Southern comfort food—and boasting a hip downtown city vibe.
Thanks to comfortable, mild temperatures, Virginia Beach offers diners numerous opportunities to dine al fresco. Whether in an urban setting or along the coastline, many Virginia Beach restaurants offer pet-friendly dining, allowing dogs to dine with their owners on outdoor patios. As an added perk, some restaurants even have games set up in their outside spaces for additional entertainment. No matter if you are eating someplace along the boardwalk, on a deck with scenic views or positioned comfortably in the cozy corner of a local restaurant, the City is full of outstanding people watching opportunities.
Another way to experience the many flavors of Virginia Beach is tasting local libations. Refreshing coastal cocktails such as the local favorite Orange Crush—which includes fresh-squeezed orange juice, vodka, triple sec and lemon-lime soda—appear frequently on menus around town. With more than a dozen breweries, Virginia’s craft beer scene has been growing rapidly in recent years. Beer enthusiasts will want to check out The Virginia Beach Beer Trail, which spreads across Virginia Beach’s different districts and offers a variety of local flavors from IPAs and stouts to lagers. Also make note that the 9th annual Coastal Craft Beer Festival will be held at the Virginia Beach Oceanfront on August 24, 2024.
Live music is a perfect complement to great food and drinks, and thanks to the resort city’s dynamic entertainment and events calendar the sweet sounds of music around Virginia Beach’s various districts is a constant in this festive town.