Steinhilber’s Restaurant

Never disappointing! Excellent food and service. The shrimp are the best I’ve ever eaten.

Took my wife, cousin, and her husband to dinner here tonight. I have been eating here off and on since 1965, and have always had a good experience. Tonight was a different story! My cousin’s husband ordered a steak, why I do not know, unless he doesn’t care for seafood, got a ½″ piece of meat that was raw when he ordered it medium. It was replaced. The rest of the meal was lacking in quantity. The flounder filet was so small it would not have fit on a bun. The crab cake was two small puffs on the seafood platter with two small scallops. The shrimp were delicious as ever, but the shrimp appetizer has been reduced in size for the same price if not more. Dinner definitely not worth the $ 400.00 tonight!

Booked a reservation here for Valentine’s day.
Of course it was very cold so we sat inside, but the outside courtyard and patio looks gorgeous, I would have loved to sit outside if it was warmer.
As we walked inside, the first floor has pretty low lighting and seemed more busy and bustling. We were taken downstairs where it was much brighter and quieter, which was perfect for a romantic dinner.
Amazing service and waiter was very knowledgable about the menu, helped me pick out my dish! They have mostly seafood selections to choose from, and a couple of steak choices. I was on medication so unfortunately no wine for this one, but the waiter was able to find me some fresh squeezed orange juice! Haha
We had cocktail shrimp appetizer dish. It sounds very boring but it was truly superb! The shrimp were HUGE and had a cold crispy crunch to it! And the cocktail sauce is amazing, I have no idea where or how they make this but I need to learn the secret!
I ordered a Halibut which was in the special fresh fish selection for that day. It was pretty good, much more filling that I expected. It was cooked with green veggies and amazing shittake mushrooms. My girlfriend ordered the Baked Seafood Combination, which had a juicy lobster tail, huge scallops, those huge shrimps, and a lump of crab. I loved her dish way more than mine! The scallops were cooked to perfection, so tender and juicy. The crab tasted like REAL crab that they literally just peeled and placed on the platter.
I really really wished I could have had room for dessert on this occasion. Unfortunately this was overkill, I didn’t even finish my Halibut.
I would love to return sometime soon, hopefully when the weather warms up!

Was there on Valentines (2−14−16) for dinner. Very crowded as to be expected. We were seated downstairs, which is more quiet then upstairs. Ordered the baked seafood combination (2 shrimp, 3 scallops, 1 lobster tail and some crabmeat). First presentation was lacking, the food looked bland. second the shrimp very overcooked and rubbery. The crabmeat was grayish and lack flavor, the scallops were good and the lobster tail cooked ok. The baked potato was over baked, hard and dried as if it was cooked hours ago and left to sit out. The temp of the food was barely warm, overall not just great or even good. Didn’t get their bread basket, typically you get that pre-​meal. Also the basket had some rolls that looked like hot dog buns and corn bread. Nothing special. Server was nice and professional. Not a place I would recommend or re-​visit.

It pains me to write this review as Steinhilbers has been one of my favorite restaurants in Hampton Roads for years. This used to be my families go to place for any special occasion, unfortunately after my most recent visit I’m sad to say the quality has gone downhill.
I was so excited to find out my boyfriend had made reservations here for valentines weekend. He had never been and I had spoken so highly of their great seafood and cozy ambiance. I hadn’t been in a couple years and pulling up to the beautiful property had me feeling nostalgic. Unfortunately it was an extremely disappointing experience.
We arrived on time for our reservation and were immediately seated at a very small table close to the kitchen. The small tables were crowded together and seemed to be in the way, there were multiple traffic jams of employees nearly colliding. My boyfriend constantly had customers and staff walking by bumping in to his chair as well as rubbing up against his back and arm, very uncomfortable. Normally I would have requested another table but I could see they were busy and wanted to cut them some slack on a busy night. The next issue was our waitress. She seemed as though she hates her job, she was extremely awkward and a bit rude. It seemed like she had no interest of being there and her attitude was very phony and sarcastic, not what we wanted in a nice evening out. We chose a bottle of wine which was superb, and started off with oysters Rockefeller. The oysters Rockefeller came out cold like they had been sitting for a while, they didn’t seem very fresh, just okay. We both ordered the baked seafood platter, one of the pricier options, because I had been raving about the seafood prior to our visit. The presentation was pretty sad, they should have thrown some greens or sauce to add some color. Unfortunately the taste was also lacking, the shrimp were cooked well, but tasteless, the crab and scallops were just OK, and the lobster, which should have been the star of the meal was not cooked all the way so it was mushy and cold. We wanted to make mention of the flaws with our food but our waitress made us uncomfortable to do so, plus it was getting late and we wanted to be mindful of the kitchen, we decided to cut our losses. However I had left a decent amount of lobster on my plate, which should have been a red flag for our waitress, but she didn’t seem to notice. A woman, I believe one of the owners, had asked us how everything was when we had only our wine and bread at the beginning, I wish she had checked on us again.
When we were preparing to leave there was some kind of altercation between the owners and another party, I am not sure what it was about or the events leading up to it. I do know though, that it got pretty heated and was very uncomfortable to watch, and a scene was made in front of the entire dining room. The owner became extremely aggressive with this group of customers and it was off putting. Even if the customers were in the wrong the owners hostility seemed unnecessary, I question what would have transpired if we had griped about the undercooked lobster and cold appetizer.
We left unsatisfied after spending nearly $ 200 and I was embarrassed that I had talked up the restaurant so much. I was swearing up and down that this was unlike any other experience I’d had at Steinhilbers, albeit, that had been a couple years prior. I do hope they can improve their service, table layouts, and get their food back to the stellar quality it once was.

This place was fantastic a while back, but sadly has gone downhill. I went to order my usual dish «fried seafood platter» that has fish, calamari, scallops, crab cake and oysters. Not anymore, as it’s this is now a ripoff called «the seafood trilogy.» It was less than half the dish of old and was the same price.
I’m not ever coming back to this establishment unless they get their portions back. It was simply a ripoff. Sad, as l have been coming here over 20 years.

My husband and I have been here a handful of times both on a date and with a large party. Never been disappointed. While I love Ruth’s Chris and still think they have amazing food, Steinhilber’s blows them out of the water. Their steak is so perfectly cooked, soft, and tender. It’s almost like meat flavored butter. Wait staff is always on point. The restaurant itself reminds me of a classic NYC steakhouse my family used to frequent when I was a kid and the grounds are just beautiful, especially during the springtime. If you’re looking to impress your new girlfriend or the in laws bring them in. Come prepared to drop some cash but it’s well worth it. Hands down one of the best dining experiences Hampton Roads has to offer.

Went for my Birthday last night — it was OK, but to be honest, was expecting better. Tables are set up VERY close together — we refused to be seated at the table for 2 they initially reserved for us — we would have been shoulder to shoulder with the table next to us!
Atmosphere is almost claustrophobic; no privacy when conversing, as the table next to you is almost touching you!
Food was OK, nothing to write home about. Shrimp was good, but accompanying vegetable medley was extremely bland. Husband’s $ 41dollar steak was VERY average (a little chewy). When seated, expected a bread basket on table while enjoying cocktails, but got some sort of Melba toast — yuk! Probably will not return at that pricing for a very average meal.

We had 3 appetizers and it was really good! Than we order 3 main courses and it was a total disappointment!
No flavors! No presentation! Poor value…
A totally disappointment!
The decoration is poor and even the fire place is fake!

Had a fabulous dinner last night! Food was perfect, those sweet famous Steiney Shrimp! Service was superb!

Is it expensive, yes. Is it worth it, yes. I don’t eat seafood, but this is one of the best steak places in the 757 as well. I’ve eaten at all the big steak places around here and I give it second place. It’s very consistent. The meat is obviously not frozen. It’s tender, tasty and comes with great sides too.
As for the seafood I can only convey second hand that it’s great. I’ve been here on multiple occasions with various people and it’s always a pleasant hit.
Is it date night? Oh, you must call and reserve a table overlooking the water. It can be very romantic. Or if it’s a little cooler, you can sit outside around a fire. Either option is pretty good!

Anniversary meal… baked seafood platter w/​FRESH vegetables from the garden and a filet mignon w/​kale and wild mushrooms. Did I say the veggies are FRESH!!!

Dear man who now owns restaurant.
I wrote this review 1 hour after my meal, April 12^th of 2014, when I took my parents to dinner for their anniversary.
After writing said review, the Unilocal app on my iphone would only allow it to be saved as a draft, and I didn’t care enough about bad mouthing you to actually open up my computer.
Well, i updated some apps. Unilocal was one of them, I opened it up, and it asked if I wanted to post my drafted review. It was at this point that I imitated the posting process. This should help you to back track to when I had my horrible experience at your restaurant.
Everyone in my party felt about the same way, except for my mom. –She’s really sweet and wouldn’t want to cause a fuss.
Point being, I can ask the previously mentioned patrons to write their own review if that would suffice in attaining the validity of my review.
This is an opinion. For the amount of money I spent, well, frankly. I was pissed as shit.
It’s a beautiful place, and you very well may have new staff, new chefs, and an incredibly new menu. –I however will never know, because I don’t want to blow that much money to find out.
Take care
CB.

What the hell is wrong with the people who like this place?
Its a nice building, sure, but the food wasn’t that great and the seats were extremely cramped and uncomfortable and the food was very overpriced. I was literally sitting so close to people behind me our chairs were practically touching. Everyone raved about how great the shrimp were so despite my rear going to sleep in the super hard chairs I hoped it would be worth it. They were very fishy tasting and it was an unpleasantness that was truly disappointing. My she crab soup had shell bits all in it. The bill was like 80 bucks…80 bucks so I could be cramped and uncomfortable for the hour I waited for them to get me my food, which was not good. Never again.

My husband & I decided to spend our Anniversary at Steinhilbers this was our first time here & enjoyed every minute of it l. Reservations were made before hand just to secure a seat, and decrease the chances of us waiting. When we first entered we were treated by two people an older women who looked to be the Manager & a mid aged man who I assumed to be the Host. Since it was Saturday –busy & since it was our Anniversary we decided to have a private & intimate dinner. We were seated in the lower level and created by an AMAZING waiter names Brian.
We were served with toast & butter. We then ordered Fess Parker White White Chardonnay (7.50 a glass /​$ 33 a bottle). Next we went straight to the Entrée being that I am allergic to Shell Fish and all of their Appetizers were Shell fish based.
For the Entrée my husband ordered the Filet Minion which came with Roasted Red Potatoes & Spring Vegetables (38.00) & I ordered the Black Pepper & Coriander Salmon (28.00) & A side of the Twice Baked Potatoes (4.00). We were so Satisfied ! The right portion to keep us full and satisfied and still enough room for Dessert.
For dessert we then ordered separate Dishes which was WORTH IT because it was too good to share
I ordered the Amazing Chocolate Sunday (11.25)
My Husband ordered The Old Fashioned Apple Pie w/​Vanilla Ice Cream (10.50)
We honestly enjoyed our time there it was intimate and the ambiance was just want we wanted. Brian was an amazing server and the Manager (assuming) was also super nice. We will be coming back soon to enjoy our time again. Thank you Brian for making our anniversary and our time here at Steinhilbers a great experience.

You cannot beat the atmosphere at Steinhilbers. The outdoor patio is gorgeous with blooming flowers and greenery all over topped with a great view of the water.
The food was good but overpriced, especially for the portion sizes. I definitely believe that you can get better food for better prices elsewhere. Everyone seemed to enjoy their meal but no one was wow’d.
While the scenery is great, we were seated in the corner of the patio and unfortunately right next to a bug zapper. Not the best thing to be sitting by when you’re trying to eat an expensive meal and constantly hear a loud ZAP!
The owner (?) came by to see how our meal was but didn’t really seem to care and left before we could finish asking her about the restaurant. It seemed like it was just something she had to do and quickly left to go talk to people that looked to be regulars. Just not the friendliest.

The pits. And I’m not just referring to the «parking lot.»
I really wanted to like Steinhilber’s [food] but it was the pits. Everything I had was over, except the dessert which wasn’t cooked at all. And to that pudding mess, I’ll blame the server for misrepresenting as a chocolate cake of some sort.
The fried shrimp were beautiful and enormous, but crazy bland. As was the calamari. Nice presentation, but not enough lemon or dipping sauces to save them. The Scottish salmon was well done; maybe that’s how it’s prepared in Scotland (?) It’s not how I like my salmon, however I didn’t hate it.
But I didn’t love anything except the toast and butter they offer while you wait on appetizers, and service which matched the ambiance.

Finally had dinner here during Restaurant Week 2015.
I’ve wanted to try this place for a while — I know it’s a mainstay of Virginia Beach having been located in the Thalia area since the 1930’s I believe.
It was fairly easy to find because once you turn off Virginia Beach Blvd you just follow the street down until it ends at the waterfront and restaurant. It’s pretty cute once you get down there — but it was rainy and windy the night we had dinner and their gravel parking lot had pits of water I couldn’t walk across because I wasn’t wearing huge rain boots.
It was busy bc of Restaurant Week but I’d made a reservation and we were promptly seated.
I saw on the usual menu that they have Halibut so I was going to order that but then the waitress told us they didn’t have it on account of RW. So that was a bummer — bc Halibut is a favorite of mine.
So I decided to order the Salmon which came with a bean salad: garbanzo beans, red peas, cannellini beans, and tomatoes. For starters I tried their fried shrimp which were HUGE and pretty good — I don’t each much fried food but they were a nice appetizer. I struggled with the dessert because I love key lime pie. But they also had chocolate cake I heard was really good and a tapioca pudding. I ended up getting the tapioca pudding parfait — it was AMAZING. Topped with whipped cream and with a layer of lemon curd and fresh cut strawberries. Yummy. It was light and fresh but not heavy. I was a good way to end the meal.
I was really full by the end but didn’t feel terrible.
We sat in the upstairs area — if I had to guess I’d think it was the original building because it had high ceilings, lots of wood, a huge fireplace and looked really old and rustic. The ambiance was nice with the fireplace going on the cold rainy night after a long day of meetings and even longer drive. I ended up going downstairs to use the bathroom because there is only one upstairs and it’s tiny and there was a line in the hall for it near the server station — I was surprised by how big the downstairs was and how much seating there was — the updated bathroom was unexpected and fairly large with some nice touches and a very contemporary feel.
The food was good — I enjoyed it. The prices are fairly high — I’m not sure this would be a favorite of mine based on the limited menu but I’m game to try it again sometime.

Came here for dinner on Saturday. When I heard that it was located of Thalia, I thought the person telling me about it was mistaken. I was surprised and impressed that there was a local seafood location in the Thalia road area and that the restaurant was smack dab in the middle of a residential area. The restaurant was nice inside and out, it’s located on the water so sitting outside or by the windows provides for some great scenery. Outside there a couple of tables that have a fire pit in the middle of it. We sat inside and where the walls are made up of polyurethane knotty pine, very nice and classy, there is a room downstairs for a private parties that has a pretty nice sized fully stocked bar.
I had a stout beer that was very tasty, may others in my party tried some of the specialty drinks, the one with blueberry vodka received high praises. We also tried the calamari, which was really good. following the appetizer I had the Surf and Turf. It was okay, the petite sirloin was lacking in flavor and the same can be said about the shrimp and scallops that came with it, the vegetable medley felt like they were cut too small and the rice was pretty good. I had a couple of bites of the Crabcake meal that was really good.
In regards to customer service, our server was very polite, knew the menu and specials inside and out but fumbled on some things that made the other members of my party a little upset (failed to bring another beer and multiple condiment requests). Unfortunately, it took what felt like a very long time to get our food and the bill. The back-​waiter staff were on top of clearing the tables and filling waters.
My visit here was okay, but for the money I expected the food to be a little bit better and service to match. I wouldn’t be opposed to coming back, but it is not a place I would frequent. If coming, keep in mind they have a business casual (not strictly enforced) dress code.

I have no idea where to start with this. This is my first review where I went straight home to sit down and write feedback immediately.
We had reservations for a large group at 7. My friend picked here for her birthday. There was another large party behind us that came later.
Service was basically awful. Our server was nice. Friendly. But several of our she-​crab soups came out lukewarm. It seemed like it took awhile to order entrees. Our server seemed knowledgable about the NY strip so I ordered it. He really sold it and described it in detail. I should’ve known better as Steinhibler’s isn’t known for steak. They are known for seafood. Expensive seafood but still. I knew better and was ‘sold’.
At the suggestion of the server I ordered it medium rare. It came out pretty rare but very tough and unseasoned. When it is any sort of rare it should be tender, easy to cut and melt in your mouth. I had a knowledgable girlfriend who loves semi-​rare steak also taste tested and she wholeheartedly agreed.
I’ve never sent food back until tonight. I did not make a fuss. Server noticed over half the steak was on my plate. He asked if I liked it. I explained everything above. He took the $ 42 steak and left with it saying Brady would be by to discuss.
Fast forward over another hour and a half. No Brady. No steak but the $ 42 was on my tab! I did not even get to take the half I didn’t eat home! Appalling. Server said a new computer system was introduced this evening (on a Friday??) and that everything was slow. It took absolutely forever to order dessert and then finally get our checks and have than processed. Simply awful. And a mandatory 20% tip. Are you kidding me? The server himself knew how slow everything was yet we have to tip full price? And I pay full price for a steak that I brought to his attention as less than palatable?
I have been to this restaurant over the years for business. It’s appalling that the server blamed the computer system on slow service when he disappeared forever and we had to ask the water attendant to fetch the server for dessert menus. Food was lukewarm. It was in so many different places it’s just embarrassing.
I know the owner may read this. That’s great. Maybe work with your staff. Maybe send me my $ 42 back and ask him what in the hell he was thinking. From what I understand the server has worked there for years and years which makes this whole fiasco even worse. Did he really forget he took my $ 42 steak someplace? I was so shocked I didn’t even bother to remind him… It’s not my job. It took no less than 30 minutes for checks and balancing them. I didn’t have another 30 minutes to wait for him go fix it or find an owner. When I get back from being out of the country I’m considering a chargeback on my AmEx. I shouldn’t have been charged for something that was awful and where half my food was taken and never rectified. Is the server that dippy?
We had this night planned for a long time. My friend was embarrassed she chose this place. We got there at 7 and didn’t leave until after 10. Just ridiculous.