Waterside Festival Marketplace

Soooooooooo where do I begin. Took the ferry over Portsmouth yesterday and got off at Waterside and got NOTHING. Absolutely EVERYTHING is closed. I knew that Joe’s and Outback were closed, but I still thought that Hooters was open. It’s not.
This is a total GHOST TOWN. I was so UPSET!!! I can’t believe on Memorial Day that there is nothing going on here. No food, no drinks, no restrooms. NOTHING!!! Now, I think the City of Norfolk a while ago was having food trucks fight for a space a couple of blocks over by the courthouse and I don’t know why because they could ALL assemble here. At least tourists and visitors would be able to grab a bite, sit and look at the marina.
If I were a City of Norfolk resident I would be outraged at this dinosaur structure. This place has sooooo much potential, it is a shame to see it like this. I remember during the late 80’s this place used to do big business and it was so much fun. So much to do, eat and see for all ages.
According to
, a Baltimore based company won a bid to REVAMP this and work is scheduled to be completed by Summer 2016. I don’t know how that’s possible when construction has yet to begin.

Closed. You get off the ferry and this huge empty building makes a horrible impression of Norfolk.

Throw it back to 2001 before Unilocal event existed and I would rate this place 5 stars. Have A Nice Day Café, Bar Norfolk, Hooters… Yep, this is a place where an 18 year old would have a good time.
Fast forward three years when I was 21 (and a few times where they didn’t card me at Jillian’s), even better. I had many family dinners at Outback (long before I even thought about supporting local businesses).
I picked up a few financial planning clients out of the Joe’s Crab Shack in my early days as a financial advisor… ²⁰⁰⁶⁄₂₀₀₇.
It’s 2014. What’s the biggest draw at Waterside? Hell if I know. We did an Elite event at Outback last year. I remember walking inside during the day and the place being an absolute ghost town. Every time I drive by the place I wonder when they’re going to revamp the place. I did attend a luncheon last week where a representative from the Norfolk Department Economic Development discussed the idea of Waterside Live. If that ever comes to fruition then you’ll find something exciting in what is a great part of Norfolk. Please hurry and fix this ish!

Years ago this place was awesome! Wanting my Family to experience the fun, we drove in terrible traffic from Great Wolf Lodge — nearly two hours and we were so disappointed — only two restaurants were open and everything else was closed :(. We were told the building was getting ready for a major renovation. Hmmm — after reading the reviews it seems this building was ready for years ago. Most large waterfronts renovate in sections — not closing 98 percent of the stores down. They had a lot of security guards on duty and porn flyers on the ground. We were fearful of our safety at times. There was a Carifest taking place outside but we opted out for fear of safety. We did take the water taxi and a few sorted people looked ‘out of their minds’ apparently due to a drug problem in Norfolk. We ate dinner at Joes Crab Shack which was awesome. However the area was shady and we won’t go back.

first time here. only came here because the bf and I took the ferry to Portsmouth. this place is dead. they need to fix it up and get it alive again. the only thing here is Joe’s Crab Shack and it’s ridiculous. The mall bathrooms were closed forever and we couldn’t even use Joe’s unless we were patrons. We had to hold in our piss until we got to Portsmouth. The mall even smelled funny. so sad here and yet creepy.

What has happened to this place?
I remember living in Olde Town Portsmouth and taking the ferry across the river to hit all the clubs upstairs, the Funny Bone, the piano bar, and the awesome Mongolian place. It was a great spot to go for a good night out, laid out well, and very convenient.
Now it is nothing more than a ghost town of empty shops and smells of rotten bathroom as soon as you walk in. All that is left is Outback, Joe’s, and Hooters. The ferry does still run, but I can’t understand why it does at this point. It makes me sad to visit Waterside and see it in this state of affairs.
The city of Norfolk needs to figure out what they did to piss all the retailers off and reverse it. It was fine the way it was before they started meddling.
Don’t waste your time going here. It is depressing at best. A prime piece of commercial real estate like this should be busting at the seams with retail shops. It seems like a management decision was made to «reenvision» something that wasn’t broken and in doing so they killed an awesomely good thing that they had going.

I’m piggybacking to my (positive) comments regarding the resurgeance of Downtown Norfolk/​Granby Street, as well as the other reviewers of Waterside.
This once-​festive facility is barren of any life or charm. It was really sad to disembark the ferry from Portsmouth and walk into an almost empty Waterside on a Saturday evening. A few rowdies at Hooters and bored-​looking local diners at Joe’s Crab Shack — yikes! This place used to be so full of energy and should have remained the centerpiece of a renewed Downtown Norfolk, to include the MacArthur Center, Town Point Park, and lower Granby Street. The very heart of this city center seems to be on it’s last dying beat.
Why did city leaders allow this to happen? The waterfront is the showcase of any vibrant city, and yet this waterfront is near-​depressing. Once a place becomes abandoned, then it’s a rapid downhill slide.
Please perk it up, and not with national chains. Keep it regional and make it fun!

This location seems as though it should have so much potential, but this current «marketplace» makes me sad whenever I go inside. Plus there is a funky musty smell.yuck.

Ok the blast of toilet smells when you walk in through the door doesn’t help when you enter the place…
Like all of the other reviews this place has so much potential. It looks like an empty Baltimore Inner Harbor. This place could be filled with touristy shops and all sorts of fun restaurants. But the only happening place here is Eat At Joe’s Crab shack and Hooters. There is also a Mongolian BBQ in there as well and a Virginia Gift Shop.
What is nice is that everyone that gets off of the Elizabeth river Ferry has to go through this place to get to downtown Norfolk and to the MacArthur Mall. This place is about 5 min from the Renaissance Hotel in downtown Portsmouth and is in the heart of Downtown Norfolk.
I was hoping the other reviews were wrong, but sadly it’s pretty spot on. If you are not there for Hooter’s wings or crabs, there really isn’t much else there to see and do.

DESERTED.
Man… I am not sure what happened, but it looks like it could have been a pretty cool place.
We came through for the Outback and some ice cream.
.and some pictures of strange Mardi-​Gras-​esque pieces.

I have wonderful memories of Waterside from when I was a kid. Good restaurants, neat shops and a fun atmosphere. Fast forward twenty years and this place is a dump. It is so sad that this defunct shopping/​dining pavilion is occupying such desired real estate. The anchors in here, if you can call them that, are Outback, Hooters and Joe’s Crabshack. Wow, classy. If you’re looking for dining options, definitely skip this mess and head over to Granby Street. If you’re looking for crappy chain restaurant or Made-​in-​China souvenirs, you might want to stop by here.

I used to hang out at waterside Mall during my stay in Norfolk when i was in the navy, on payday no matter what it was where I ate lunch at the little Italian place that had the sit down counter, and usually spent either the day there or cross the river to Chesapeake or took the bus back to the Military Circle mall, To me most of my time was spent here before Admirals games at the Scope Tides games at Harbor Park. Not sure how to leave a review for a place that i have not been too in over 20 yrs

I give Waterside three stars because as the debate rages on about what to do about the once envied waterfront landmark, I’m holding out for a revamp rather than a complete do-​over.
I like the Waterside building itself. I like the way it’s open and light and I even like the architecture of the outside.
But clearly what’s inside needs to be purged and entirely re-​imagined.
I don’t have any answers for how or what – as long as the second floored isn’t taken up by meat market bars.
They can keep the Ben & Jerry’s downstairs. I’m cool with that.

Ah, how the mighty have fallen. Waterplace used to be THE place to be in downtown Norfolk, now it’s nothing more than a ghost town of what is long gone. Last time I walked through there were only a handful of shops still open, a Hooters, Joe’s Crab Shack, Outback Steakhouse, Jillians (moving soon) and one or two random places still open in the food court.
The city of Norfolk recently closed down the clubs that were on the second floor of Waterside; Have A Nice Day Café and Bar Norfolk. With these clubs gone Waterside seems to serve no real purpose thus the city of Norfolk is deciding the next step to take with the building. If you’re a local then check out this website
so that you can have a voice in what will happen with Waterside next.
I miss the old Waterside and the building has a ton of potential for renovation and the chance to bring something really great to Downtown Norfolk… here’s hoping!

Prime real estate right on the harbor in downtown with Town Point Park next door and lots of nightlife nearby… what the heck happened to this mall?! It’s really sad to see what was once a great landmark in Norfolk become run down. There are hardly any stores open in this mall. There used to be a dollar store, but even that has closed down.
Mostly, there are restaurants: Hooters, Black Finn, Joes Crab Shack and lots of empty retail space. The only wonderful part of Waterside still left standing from the old days is Mongolian Express. I remember first trying mongolian bbq there about 17 years ago. It’s amazing they’ve survived while everything including Ben and Jerry’s has closed down.
The city really needs to work on revamping Waterside Marketplace. It’s a nice building, it’s just a ghost town that has been neglected for far too long.