Richmond Restaurants

Tsing Tao is an adorable little family run Chinese Restaraunt on Main Street in Richmond. It's small, but the food is excellent and the lunch prices are unbelievabley cheap. Delivery available.

Favorite Dish: Try the honey chicken and you'll never try anything else on the menu. (So maybe try it second?) It's wonderful. A mountain of chicken in a sweet honey sauce cooked with peppers onions and carrot slices paired with an equally large helping of delicious fried rice. Order the sweet tea (sweetened with honey), and an appetizer of crab rangoons (the best I've ever had to date).

Lunch specials include a soup, giant main course with rice, and fortune cookie (of course), and are less than 10$. About 10$ is the standard price per person any other time.

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Sure it's a chain restaurant, but Richmond natives were excited to see it open in the "new" shopping center. Olive Garden is Americanized Italian at its finest. Pasta, a few pizza options, and salty breadsticks galore. The salad holds its own as part of the meal, and the desserts are sinful. A safe choice for people who don't feel like venturing out of their spaghetti, uh, I mean shells.

Favorite Dish: Start with a salad and breadsticks, of course. Then order up any of the appetizers; they're all great. Have the capellini pomodoro. Relish each bite. Finally, complete your meal with a heavenly slice of white chocolate raspberry cheesecake.

Oh, and have the bellini tea to drink. Fabulous.

Last time I was in town, service was great and the food was brought out promptly. Never had any complaints. Prices reasonable.

Casa Fiesta is a popular hangout for college kids and businessmen alike. The traditional Mexican cuisine is to die for. Guests are greeted with big smiles and bigger baskets of complimentary tortilla chips and salsa at the door. The menu is large, providing a few vegetarian options, as well as more "American" dishes for kids.

Birthdays are celebrated with free fried ice cream and a Mexican birthday song. The lucky birthday guy or gal gets to have their photo taken wearing a festive sombrero.

Good parking. Great service. Fair prices. But expect it to be packed at lunch hour.

Favorite Dish: I highly recommend the chicken (or beef) chimichanga meal. A generously sized tortilla stuffed with shredded chicken (or beef), white cheese sauce, peppers and onions, topped with more cheese and served with heavy helpings of Mexican rice, refried beans, lettuce, tomato, sour cream and guacamole.

For dessert try either the fried ice cream, or (my personal favorite) a chimicheesecake. Both are excellent.

I love steak and aside from Ryan's this seems to be the only steakhouse in Richmond. My boyfriend and I went here a couple of nights ago and I was very impressed. The service was good, the food delicious, and we were there early enough in the evening so that there wasn't a huge crowd. I usually shy away from chain restaurants, but there don't seem to be many non-chains here in Richmond and I will have to break that rule.

Favorite Dish: For starters we had the blooming onion. The crispiness was just right and the onion taste not overpowering. (I don't care for onion rings but somehow this was a little different.) THen we both had house salads, which turned out to be one of the highlights of the meal. Yes, the lettuce was Iceberg and it was a typical garden salad with tomatoes, cucumbers, and grated cheese, but the freshness of it was wonderful. I had to force myself to push it aside before I had eaten all of it as I was afraid I wouldn't have room for my meal. For an entree I ordered the prime rib 10oz steak with a basked potato. The meat was perfectly cooked and juicy and virtually no fat. My boyfriend really enjoyed his baked sweet potato.

I added a link below if you want to look at the menu for the Richmond branch.

De Sha's is a great place for lunch after a day on the town. It's right in the midst of things and has a great feel to it. Really beautiful interior, picturesque bar and staircases. They do some amazing cornbread at this place.

Everything I've tried is good but I always order the chicken salad sandwich.

This is quickly becoming a popular lunch destination for the working crowd in Richmond. From the wonderful selection of homemade soups, sandwiches, and desserts to its eclectic décor (a talking deer head and a creepy mannequin) it’s unlike anywhere else in town. The owners are great people (the wife does most of the cooking) and they will come out and have a chat with you during slow times. The only downside is that sometimes the portions aren’t of great size, but the food itself is yummy. So far I’ve had the grilled cheese, pimento cheese, soup beans, and clam chowder. I haven’t tried any of the desserts yet but they always sound good.

Along with Subway and Quiznos, this is one of the few places in town to buy subs and in my opinion, the best. Although the priciest, the bread is wonderful, the subs are warm and made fresh, and they have great lemonade. The fries are made on the spot (you can see the big tub of potatoes waiting to be peeled so they’re not frozen). Subs for two with fries and drinks run about $20 so it’s not a cheap meal, but it’s always very filling.

There are actually quite a few Chinese restaurants in the area. Tsing Tao is my favorite for a couple of reasons. For one, obviously, the food is really good. I mostly stick with the lemon chicken which is served with pineapples and vegetables. Other people that I have dined with have raved over the sesame chicken and the sweet and sour pork. It’s never greasy or tastes like it has been setting all day like some of the Chinese food you can get here in town. The prices are reasonable and the service friendly. I also like it because it’s small and intimate and sometimes I don’t like to be in really loud and noisy places. The other reason I like it is because it’s located downtown on Main Street and I am always one for encouraging people to patronize downtown businesses. They also deliver if you don’t want to venture out for supper.

Note: photo taken by me