Hogarths Bar & Bistro

We were in town for New Year’s Eve and made last minute reservations here. The menu is not huge, but everything we had was delicious. The spinach and artichoke dip was amazing. My boyfriend had shepherd’s pie and I had fish and chips. The staff was so friendly and the owner came over to check on us! Would definitely visit again.

Went on Tuesday before going to the movies. Had pizza, and was very surprised on how well it tasted. This experience makes me want to try other dishes. The staff was very friendly, and the outside porch was quite warm and a fun option for dining. Will tell my friends, and family of this great place to eat.

The service from Robert was really good. However the seater she acted very rude. The Brussels sprouts were delicious but the prime rib was ok and the half chicken meal was crispy fried and unhealthy. The risotto was more like over cooked rice. The wine came plenty thank goodness for that. I have been here before.

Where do I start: after someone finally sat us down after standing at the host table for almost 10 minutes, I felt bad for the waiter because he clearly had been given no training on being a server prior to our arrival. He had no idea what the special really was, little clue what was popular and had to dig into 3 pockets before he found the dessert list.
What’s worse is his tip also depended on serving caprese salad with cheap looking and tasting mozzarella slices cut so thin and small, they barely covered the poorly sliced misshaped tomatoes. This was followed with what was advertised as Margherita pizza that had zero of the typical traits: no thin crust actually baked dough (mine was wet and mostly uncooked), no buffalo mozzarella, nothing resembling fresh basil and the overall taste was so bad we had most of it boxed (it’s now in the trash). I woke up this morning and my stomach was still upset with the food and me for eating it — which I only did because I was starving and on a date.
The only thing that tasted like something from a quality eating establishment came from a wine bottle; which was also the only thing that preventing us from seeking out the owners to pay us for eating the worst meal I’ve eaten in Williamsburg in 9 years since a bad chicken wrap at McDonalds.
The wine earned the one star!

Terrible service, gnats everywhere, took forever to get our order and steak was terrible just like a poor grocery store steak and undercooked. Small portions. How can u mess up a side salad? The house vinegrette is sugar water. Waitress saw that we didn’t finish anything and didn’t ask «was your food ok?» Now we’re still hungry, gonna have to fill up on popcorn. Never coming here again.

I walked into the restaurant and the first thing I noticed was how hot it was. As I walked to the bathroom to wash my hands I passed the thermostat and saw that the dining room was a «comfortable» 79 dF. I go to wash my hands and there’s no soap. None at all, not even a small dribble from the dispenser, bone dry. I noped my way right out of the place. How does the staff wash their hands with no soap? I felt bad not saying anything to the other customers as I left.

I enjoyed the conversation and the chance to meet the owner, the steak was average but the pork chops where perfectly prepared. The waiter was new but very friendly and offered us there signature brussel sprouts with opinion in some the of caramelized sauce, extremely flavorful with a hint of onion. The weather was favorable so we sat outside on the patio to enjoy some live music while we ate. This place was on the nose from the user reviews.

Dinner tonight was delicious, first time here. The simple caprese salad (appetizer) was refreshing and light. Thin crust pizza was a hit. Service was great, attentive but not overly so.

Been twice… once with my husband and once on a social event with my employer. The food is overpriced. Service is slow. If you are looking for a pub, this isn’t it. I agree with a previous reviewer who said they aren’t sure what they want to be. We were ready to love this place, but sadly, we just can’t. Won’t be back.

Awful.
Over priced
Small portions
Poor service
Gnats… at least 4 – 5 (inside.!) buzzing around the table the whole time
We were given water… Had to ask for beer. No other drink was offered
Bartender singing loudly and not well
Employees just meandering around looking clueless a to what to do next
Please do not waste your time or money. I had a groupon… Will be letting then know how awful it was too.

Really great ambiance, trying to be good service, and pretty decent pub-​fare style food. But unfortunately, they took forever to bring out anything. We ordered a salad and soup for appetizers, and a half an hour later they came out to tell us they didn’t have the right kind of lettuce. Then the dinners also took a little too long. It looks like this place is awesome for the bar scene, but the dinner part could be improved a little.

My biggest disappointment with Hogarth’s is that they don’t seem to know what they want to be, an issue that seems quite common with restaurants in southeastern Virginia. They consider themselves a «Bar and Bistro», which I guess doesn’t clarify the issue. Judging by the menu and prices, I expected a nice restaurant. Nothing insanely fancy, but some place that you could go and feel like you were having a nice night out. In reality, the dining room area was very simple, with the seating very close together, and the décor was extremely unimaginative. In other words, no real ambiance. It just didn’t fit to see the waiters in ties and vests, and then to have multiple large screen TVs playing sports in the same room. Also the classic rock didn’t fit with the restaurant feel (and I have nothing against classic rock).
Service also left a lot to be desired. I believe our waitress was actually the hostess, although whether she also waitresses on a nightly basis, I don’t know. It was clear when she seated us that she did not expect to be waiting on us. She wasn’t really able to answer questions I had about the menu, but no biggie there. There were two of us, and we ordered pizzas, and it took nearly an hour to get them. This would have been fine if the restaurant had been full. As it was, we were one of three tables of people, including the heated patio. I have no idea what took so long. When we got about half way through our pizzas, the waitress came by and said, «Good job, keep up the good work!» I felt like I was in kindergarden. Anyway, all that aside, the pizza was good, but not great — it wouldn’t hurt to put a bit more of the individual ingredients on it, but in general we enjoyed it. A pizza box was brought to the table while both of us were still eating, which was also a bit strange, but again, not a big deal.
In the end, we won’t go back. The entire experience, while far from terrible, was certainly underwhelming.

$ 5 pizza night is really hard to say no to. I love pizza and the pizza has the right balance of sauce and cheese and thinness. Best pizza in town especially cuz of value. But flavor of cheese and sauce really is pretty good.

A Unilocal REVIEW SHARED ON FACEBOOK
I have given my business to Hogarth’s (Williamsburg) from its very first week, and once recommended them highly.
However, In September 2014 I ordered crab claws for my birthday dinner and about 7 hours later was wretchedly sick. So sick in fact that I spent several days in the hospital, having retched so hard that I tore a hole in my esophagus. I returned for another four-​day stay in the hospital the following week, until the issue was repaired.
Well, not repaired … I still can’t eat certain foods or drink alcohol due to the compromised nature of my GI tract.
The other person at my birthday celebration who also ate the crab claws became ill, but didn’t require hospitalization.
About a month after my last hospitalization. I stopped by the restaurant to explain what happened to the two owners. They weren’t in, but I left a note with my name and address and why I was visiting them. No response whatsoever, even tho I had told the waitress who took the note what it was about.
I wasn’t hoping for anything in return, but I was going to ask that the owners donate a minimum of $ 300 to our city’s EMS. I had lost so much blood by the time the EMS came that I’m not sure where I’d be without them. I hardly knew my own name — blood turns out to be quite important. Then, I had to have two blood transfusions to replace the lost blood. The technicians had an IV in my arm before we’d even left the neighborhood. I believe they kept me alive.
I still hope Hogarth’s has the heart to make such a donation … in my name — which is on that little piece of paper with my phone number.
I am now in the process of reporting Hogarth’s to the local food folks so that Hogarth’s standards of freshness, refrigeration, freezing, thawing, food handling, and so forth can be thoroughly examined.
FOOD POISONING SHOULD NOT OCCUR IN THIS DAY AND AGE.
And while the city and state are taking a hard look at this restaurant, I hope the clientele will take a hard look at how its owners do business. Or not. I don’t really care anymore.
But those of you who still eat there SHOULD care.
Hogarth’s is dead to me.

I have very mixed feelings about my experience for dinner here tonight. I think it’s got a ton of potential and I absolutely love the modern, trendy atmosphere.
Tonight (Tuesday) was «pizza night” — all personal pizzas were half off, and plain pepperoni and cheese were each $ 5. There was a decent crowd, mostly out on the heated screened patio. My friend and I opted for the inside since it was quiet and enjoyed our conversation.
Our server, Don, was a very polite and well-​spoken gentlemen. They were definitely a little short-​handed because he was fairly slow in checking on us– this was fine since we weren’t in a rush– and was apologetic. We ordered the crispy brussel sprouts as an app and it was decent. In my opinion the apple cider vinegar was applied too heavily and made the sprouts too sweet.
For entrees, I had the margherita pizza and I added chicken (would have been $ 14, but was $ 7 because of «pizza night.»). My friend had the grilled flat iron steak ($ 16). I was pretty underwhelmed by the pizza and would have been sorely disappointed if I had paid the full price. The crust was thin, but chewy and what little cheese it had kept sliding off of it. I would not order this again as it was really quite bland (and at least for me, if the crust is chewy, I prefer that it be on the thicker side). My friend’s steak was cooked as ordered– rare– but he said that while it was tender, it was somewhat bland and the portion size was very small. Other diners’ food looked really good, so maybe we just ordered the wrong dishes?
The beer list was pretty solid, and the cocktails sounded tasty (though a tad pricey). As Marianne said, the HH «deals» were weak. $ 5 for a pint isn’t exactly what I would call a bargain. But I did enjoy the IPA that I had (forgot the name).
Anyways, what left the biggest impression on me was that both of the owners took time to come by and check on us. Because of the skeleton staff, they were both very involved in making sure that the place was running smoothly.

We left a place down the street and was so happy with the service by Jade she was so attentive and very helpful with choosing something to eat. We had Apple glazed pork shank and Yorkshire pudding. The Banaffi pie was so good by the second bite, my wife and I looked up and said we need another one because we were sharing. This will be the place we go when we are in town. I just hope more people find this wonderful place and enjoy some English pub style food.

I wouldn’t even give this place one star. The first time we went we waited almost an hour for our food. I understand though that they were completely understaffed and our waiter was practically waiting on the entire restaurant. Not his fault and that’s okay. The second time we went we had a different waiter, who didn’t have any tableside manners what so ever. He handed me a plate that was Way too hot, and not only did he handed to me, he handed it to me reaching halfway across the table over my husband had and my infant seven-​month-​old son’s head. Did I mention that the plate was extremely hot? We also didn’t get a refill on our drinks but no biggie that’s okay. The third time we went we had the same later as the first time and we really liked him. But, I ordered the fish and chips that was extremely reverie when I got it. Not really something that I enjoyed. I did send it back, and when I sent it back I noticed that the restaurant had gotten extremely busy at that time. That’s a good thing I yes. But I noticed that when the person who was not my waiter brought me my food, they brought it from the next-​door restaurant. I guess the same person owns the American grill next-​door. Completely and utterly turns me off.
Needless to say I will not be returning