Hamiltons’ At First and Main

Came for lunch on a weekday. They weren’t busy but it took 40 mins after ordering for the food to arrive. We had the Vegetarian Blue Plate and Chicken sandwich. Both were good but did not make up for the too long wait. Bring plenty of time and patience if you go. You will need both

Love the cobalt blue glassware… very warm and inviting. Outstanding service, and hubby actually enjoyed his lump crab cake platter. He likes simplicity, no heavy sauces that would hide what you are eating, or have to wonder what’s under all of the ‘extras’. The homemade pasta with lamb Ragu was delish, Ragu could have been less ‘soupy’ but still amazing… unfortunately we had no room for dessert, which I can only imagine would have been enjoyable.

3.5 stars. We went for Valentine’s Day brunch and it was good. The service was a little slow or distracted, the food was fine, and the ambiance was fine. I felt that the prix fixe menu was a little overpriced for what we were getting but all of the food was satisfactory. I had the yogurt with granola for the first course, the shrimp and grits for the second course, and the chocolate tart for the third course. My husband had the salmon bisque, the oyster salad, and the ricotta cheesecake. We shared a side of biscuits with jam. The two standout things I tried were the salmon bisque and the biscuits with jam. The salmon bisque was awesome, I would have been happy just eating that. Also the biscuits were a great texture and flavor and the banana jam was a perfect accompaniment. Overall the experience was good but not great especially when factoring in the price.

Enjoyed a very pleasant dinner with excellent food and friendly, knowledgeable wait staff. Conveniently located on the Downtown Mall. The calamari salad was an interesting, delicious twist on a usually basic appetizer. The crispy fried rock fish was so lightly battered, it melted in your mouth. For chocolate lovers, don’t miss the Chocolate Many Ways.

So I have mixed reviews about this place… lovely décor and ambience. Excellent service. The food is overall better than 3 stars but not quite 4 stars I think.
I had the blue plate special entrée which was essentially a mushroom falafel with some sides. It was actually rather good — the broccoli salad and beets were delicious (although I’m not big on kale).
However the rockfish on lemon risotto … There’s a hmmmm here as the description appears to indicate (suggest rather as it is obscurely worded) more of a seared dish on a bed of risotto. What is served however is a poached-​ish fish in a bowl swimming of risotto soup. The freshness of last night’s fish is also in question as it had a specific fishy taste (not usual found) — and my fiancée who ate it was promptly sick for most of the night.
When I called the restaurant to alert them in case another customer experienced the same thing, the hostess sounded surprised but then had the audacity to suggest that perhaps it was something else that my fiancée had eaten in the past 24 hours as ‘it can happen during a 24-​hr period’. Dry foods like breads which is what he had been eating did not cause his stomach to churn — it had definitely been the fish. I told her this and she said that she would alert their supplier.
So… It’s a mixed review of this restaurant.

I’ve been to Hamiltons’ twice for brunch, and it has been consistently good. I would recommend the bread basket to share, it’s great.

We went to Hamilton’s for brunch last Sunday, and came away pretty disappointed. We had felt like this was our «go to,» always reliable and a great meal. We left shaking our heads, wondering if this was just a bad day, or if they have changed their philosophy.
My entrée, the pork belly on brioche toast was supposed to be garnished with avocado. There was one very anemic slice. Granted, when I mentioned this to the waiter, he brought a plate with several slices. But it was a very ungenerous serving — my husband said he thought they were using smaller plates as well. Bottom line, it felt ungenerous, like poor value. Never came away from there hungry before, but I did Sunday. If they have a new philosophy — smaller portions = larger profits, it won’t work. Want to make people order the sides? People will notice.

Drinks & food took forever to get. The eggs and bacon were very very good, but the potatoes and some of the other sides were horrible and burnt. The wait was long, but they did take off the food from the bill because of the long wait & burnt sides.

Had a wonderful lunch. Had the poached shrimp over creamy grits. It was delicious. The bread was good too. The desserts would have been worth trying, but then there was that thought about the extra calories and well, it didn’t happen, however, the blueberry cheesecake in the hazelnut crust was very tempting.

This is a review of their lunch.
The ambiance of this place is fantastic. You get a really nice restaurant without the ridiculous prices. The service was good as well. I wanted to love it, but I was not impressed with the food. I had the pulled chicken and salad. The chicken was cooked well and was moist. The salad was okay, but it lacked a few ingredients. I think the dish could have been better with a few more vegetables or with olives. The portions were small, but they filled me up since I do not eat too much.
Other people in my party got the shrimp and grits which
If I were in the area again, I might try it again since the food was fresh, but I would not go out of my way to eat there.

My boyfriend and I went to Hamilton’s last week for my birthday dinner. We had reservations for 6:45 pm on a Friday but arrived a bit early. We were somewhat greeted by the hostess, who looked like we inconvenienced her. She led us to our table and 10 minutes later our waitress finally made an appearance with the same bad attitude. She took our drink order, which was very simple — glass of pinot noir & a vienna lager. We had a good view of the bar and I watched our drinks sit there for 15 minutes. The restaurant only had a few patrons at this time, not enough to warrant us to be neglected for that long. Our waitress finally appeared again, stumbled through the specials, then took our order. Another 20 minutes went buy, my wine glass emptied and she didn’t stop by again until she delivered our food.
The only saving grace of our experience at hamilton’s was the food — we ordered the pimento cheese tortellini as an appetizer, which was a fun twist on a pasta dish. I had the chicken which was amazing & my boyfriend had the linguine with veggies and sausage. Both dishes were incredible. For dessert we had the chocolate many ways, which was fun. I liked it more than my boyfriend did. But then we continued to sit there for another half an hour waiting for our bill.
I would highly recommend the food at hamilton’s but not the service.

I had a very lovely hanger steak with mushrooms, pom frits and a basalmic glaze. Delish.

Picked Hamilton’s at First and Main as a post-​wedding brunch spot and was not disappointed. When we realized we were locked out of our car (Water Street Parking Garage doesn’t open till Noon on Sundays FYI…) we decided food was the perfect way to spend an hour or so.
I think it opened at 11 am so we were one of the first groups there. Though there is plenty of outdoor seating, the heat was so stifling we chose to sit inside so we could enjoy coffee without feeling like we were going to melt. The atmosphere inside was nice and comfortable (great air conditioning). We were seated right away and they let us leave our bags in the front by the hostess.
We started with coffee and the pastry basket. The pastry basket comes with three different sweets and runs around $ 9. Easily the best thing in the pastry basket was the mini zucchini loaf. If I could have just had three of these I would have been the happiest camper! It was delicious and it was demolished first! The next pastry that deserves credit is the cherry chocolate muffin. Ours was warm and was served with a side of butter. It was melt in your mouth! The last pastry was a nutella crumb cake. It was ok. Nothing spectacular. I have a HUGE sweet tooth (see any past reviews.), but I wasn’t in love with the crumb cake. I also don’t love having chocolate in the morning (I know, a sweet tooth, but no chocolate in the morning?). So having two pastries with chocolate was a bit of an overload? Perhaps they could make the crumb cake blueberry or something to give the basket a full diversity? Still good though! I would suggest it as a great app if the table is hungry! (No judgement if its just two people– it was only two people for this trip– and yes I ended up eating most of the basket… whoops).
For my main dish I had the breakfast tacos. They were ON POINT! The two stuffed breakfast tacos, which were filled with cheese, scrambled eggs, and chorizo were served with a side of fresh black beans. It was delicious. I usually pour hot sauce all over my breakfast foods, but this dish had all of the right flavors that I didn’t want to use any! That is a BIG deal! I thought the flavors were a perfect combination and kept me intrigued throughout my entire meal!
I was also able to try the farm egg omelette. It was good. I felt like the eggs were a bit dry. I loved the stuffing of the omelette though: Country Ham, Local Heirloom Cherry Tomatoes, Bell Peppers, Chevre and Home-​Fries.
Overall, this was a great brunch spot! The price was right too! Maybe it’s coming from DC, but it seemed like a steal for the amount of food we got and the great service we had!
*** NOTE: I think brunch is only served on Sunday!

Love this place. Excellent on each of our two visits here: once for brunch and once for lunch. Fresh, seasonal, local cuisine with a nice wine and cocktail list. All right at the heart of the downtown mall. A Charlottesville must.

I made reservations at Hamilton’s for Valentines day a couple weeks in advanced and I’m glad I did because they quickly book up. I saw the «Apples & Oranges» cocktail in a picture and it looked fun in a champs glass. Unforts its a very strong, bourbon man-​drink. I gave to my bf and got a Chardonnay instead.
Valentines was a prix fixe menu. Our salads were meh (very bland dressing), kind of tasted like eating wet lettuce. But our mains were delicious: my bf got the tenderloin and I got the artic char. Done to perfection.
Service was a little awkward. I think she was a younger college girl, not sure what her deal was. The atmosphere was pretty nice, not too stuffy. Very intimate. Overall, great place for a nice dinner and date night.

Now this is a class act restaurant! From the décor to the service, and from appetizers to the desserts and apéritif’s, Hamiltons gets five stars! The small things like their bread and butter, is always warm and delicious! Their soups are to die for and I have had many of them! Their vegetarian blue plate special is always outstanding. If you ever order any fish it is always the best! Their desserts are wonderful and always made from scratch! They definitely have the best crème brûlée in town! I would always go back to Hamiltons as I have never been disappointed! Other then high-​quality one of the things I look for in a restaurant is consistency. Hamiltons is consistently excellent!

(3.5 stars) I’ve been here 3 times so far, most recently for Restaurant Week dinner. Feeling a little mixed because I’ve had great lunch and brunch experiences — food is delicious, beautiful and not too expensive if you come before dinner. I wasn’t particularly thrilled with my Restaurant Week experience mainly because my main course (Chicken Confit) was extremely oversalted. Pros: the customer service is always great here and they had live music! So, would still recommend, but mainly for brunch or lunch.

Had lunch here while shopping on the Mall with parents. Perfectly suited, this pleasant, somewhat formal and traditional spot was enjoyed by all parties.
great cocktails and inventive entrees. I loved my mahi special. Great flavors in the curry and the fried cauliflower was a nice touch!
Crowd skews older — seems perfect for parents and grandparents.

I was visiting my brother in the Charlottesville area, and my dad spontaneously called and offered to buy us a nice dinner. Given that my brother has a 2 year old, and we had to get a babysitter, we wanted it to be something good. We scrolled through a bunch of reviews. We first wanted to go to Old Ivy Inn (couldn’t get a reservation) and then the Alley Light (closed on Monday), so we settled on Hamilton’s. I’m happy to say it did not disappoint.
We started with a couple of drinks from their specialty coupes, and both were delicious. We also had the calamari appetizer, which was pretty amazing. It was less like traditional calamari (a pile of fried squid with marinara) and more like a delicious salad with calamari incorporated into it. DE-​LISH. Before moving on to a bottle of wine (VA wines were $ 10/​bottle off on Monday). For entrees, I had the pork chop, which was perfectly cooked and served with an apple compote on top. It was excellent. I also tried the shrimp and grits as well as the crab cakes, all good. We had a little bit of dessert as well, which was a nice buttermilk pie with a scoop of ice cream. I was glad to split it with the others because by that time I was getting a bit full.
While it wasn’t our first choice, we had an amazing experience here and I would definitely come back.

Went here a couple weeks ago for Brunch (my favorite meal of the day) and it was out of this world! We shared a basket of pastries and my husband had the Frittata. I had the House Hickory Cured Rock Barn Pork Belly which had a Fried Green Tomato with Sunny Side Up Local Farm Eggs, Avocado and Pimento Aioli. It was amazing! Everything is so local and fresh!
Way to go Chef Curtis!!!