905 Cafe & Grill

Great service and mediocre breakfast food. Staff very friendly and attentive! Military discount of 15 percent very admirable! We live in Oceanview and have eaten here several times. While service has been consistently good, the food has been consistently average, almost overpriced for portion and quality. For example, my wife always gets eggs benedict for breakfast. English muffin was under toasted and made it soggy. Hollandaise sauce wasn’t rich tasting or thick like most places, like it was skimped on some ingredient like butter or lemon juice? Village Inn on Independence blvd. does hollandaise sauce the best in her opinion. Canadian bacon we swore was luncheon meat. If it was real Canadian bacon, it wasn’t quality. My wife had to salt her food, something she rarely ever has to do. Not really a knock but we weren’t eating health food either. It just became obvious to us that the café is penny pinching, all good if the price matches. Examples of this. Pancake syrup in a reused heinz ketchup bottle and none of the condiments are name brand, probably off the same Sysco trucks that deliver to school cafeterias and we all know of cafeteria food quality perceptions. I would love to see the potential of this place realized but it’s the little things that count and those make the difference! Stock Aunt Jemima syrup, smuckers jelly, sweet n low and splenda. Use real Canadian bacon that’s greater than 1 mm thick. Toast the English muffin, like browned on top. We’d pay $ 1 or so more a plate for that easily. Use industry standard sized glasses instead of tapered flutes that attempt to mask the drinks smaller serving reality.

Shea crab soup is to die for!!! Me and my bf ordered two bowls apiece. And with the Groupon it was reasonably priced.

Went this morning with my boyfriend and we had great breakfast! He got steak and eggs and I got eggs Benedict. I was impressed and the service was great!!! Dominique is a great server!!!

The food was really fresh, hand made tortillas and just great tasting food. However the experience was soiled by the waitress. She was an older lady and I didn’t care for her at all. Her joking attitude was rude and I was not impressed.

Not bad, not amazing either. We went at lunchtime on a Saturday. The servers were in a bit of a tizzy because they were having trouble with their credit card machine. We knew that because they couldn’t stop talking about having a «nervous breakdown.» Our server was super friendly though.
I ordered a bacon cheeseburger, fries and a side salad, Hubby ordered the French toast platter with a side of grits. ThE salad consisted of a bowl of romaine, chopped tomatoes, 3 slices of cucumber and some croutons. Unfortunately, the blue cheese dressing lacked any real blue cheese flavor (and no chunks of cheese), so I’m guessing it came out of a bottle. I ordered my burger with just the cheese and bacon. The menu says cheddar, but it came out with American. It also came out with the torn romaine that was in the salad, a couple slices of Roma tomato and onions. Luckily no mayo (I hate that!), so I was able to pick everything off. I wasn’t a fan of the seasoning, as it was a little overpowering (something from a bottle I’m guessing, along the lines of Montréal steak seasoning or something). It really took away from the flavor of the beef. The burger itself was cooked perfectly for me (a perfect juicy medium, pink in the middle). I didn’t order it that way though (wasn’t given a choice), and while I was a fan, well done burger eaters might be put off.
Hubby said the toast was good, bacon was cooked well, though the grits were dry (nothing some butter couldn’t fix though). His eggs were cooked sunny side, as ordered, but they were so small!
Based on our experience, other reviews and the many little up charges posted around the place ($ 2 plate sharing charge for instance), it seems this owner may be sacrificing quality to cut his food costs. We’ll probably return, only because it’s close to the house, but we won’t go out of our way to eat here.

First time eating here and the service and breakfast were both A+. traditional menu but WORTH it.

We come here quite often and the food had never been bad and the service is mostly decent. But today we went in and both got the boot licker… Well his came out completely done and mine was still red in the middle. Told the waitress that I wasn’t going to eat it bc it clearly wasn’t done and she just left it on my plate and we STILL had to pay $ 12 for it… I ate the eggs and home fries which I would have happily paid for. No «well let me take care of that for you» or anything. Needless to say we will not be by here anymore.

Did you happen to find yourself at the 905 Café because there was a long wait for a table at Shipwreck Sally’s? If so, word of strong advice… wait for the table at Sally’s. Sally’s gives you an excellent amount of great food at a very reasonable price. The 905 is extremely expensive for the amount of mediocre food you receive.
I ordered a Bayview Scrambler. I admit, I screwed up when I said no peppers instead of no tomatoes. That’s on me. However considering my meal was about 70% tomato, that was a real problem regardless of whether I wanted tomato or not. I also asked for a small side of salsa. What they brought me was Pico De Gallo. Which essentially is a bowl of diced tomatoes. I really wish restaurants would learn the difference, especially if they’re going to charge folks. And they charged 75 cents for that even though i didn’t come close to touching it. That brought my meal to just under 10 dollars for what amounted to about 80 cents of actual food. There was supposed to be bacon in it. I counted 3 small squares of actual bacon. It was about 1 ½ eggs worth of scrambled egg. A pinch of shredded cheese (pinch might be a generous term), The rest was onion (I like onion, but man, talk about overkill) and tomato. The toast was small and barely lukewarm. My butter didn’t even melt on the toast if that’s any indication. My small cup of coffee (at almost 2.50 a cup) was never refilled and tasted like it had been sitting in the pot a while.
I’ve eaten at this place once or twice before, and while it’s always been average, at least the food was edible. I had to choke this down and I walked away feeling like I didn’t actually eat anything. After complaining about the «salsa» they reluctantly agreed to remove it to which I replied «You know what? Keep it and call it a farewell gift because I will not be back.» To which she responded with a unsympathetic «Sorry to hear that» and walked away.
Again I stress this point, if you want a REAL breakfast at REAL prices, walk a block away and wait in line for Shipwreck Sally’s. I’d rather wait in line for 2 hours then to ever shadow this establishment’s doorway again. I guess today’s experience makes it obvious why Sally’s is always packed and it’s the sounds of crickets at the 905.
UPDATE
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — –
While normally I can completely respect an owner taking the time to respond to a customer’s complaints, I can not respect the fact that one does so in a manner that blames the customer without merit and doesn’t have the guts to share it with other viewers of this website. Other people have the right to know what the owner really thinks of it’s customers. Therefore I am attaching the transaction that took place after I left my original review…
Keith W.
Owner
20 hours ago
Thanks for the feedback. I come to learn if a customer comes in with a lower then good attitude there’s not much even including food that will bring them out of a slump. Sorry that you were having a bad morning before you got here. Hopefully it we can make it right with you in the future. However with your review I doubt we will get the chance. Thanks again and God bless.
Eric W.
Norfolk, VA
20 hours ago
Just because a restaurant is a second choice, doesn’t mean a customer doesn’t have a good attitude. That’s a silly assumption. Nor does it mean someone was having a «bad morning». Another silly baseless assumption. My mood and attitude was absolutely fine. If you offer a lackluster experience you should own up to it instead of trying to blame the customer. Extremely poor form sir, and you should be ashamed.
In the future, if you are going to blame a customer without merit, you should hold your tongue. Because your backhanded comment made me go from simply writing your restaurant off to wanting to tell every single stranger I meet on the street about my experience. Not very smart.

She crap soup was good plenty of crab in it. As for the crab cake it sucked. When returned the server did offer another meal to comp for it. But I declined. When the bill came out she charged me for the crab cake which only had a small bit takes. By the way did I mention it smelled bad and server tried to tell me it’s fresh crab.

Went in and we were the only ones in the restaurant. It’s a very small location with your typical Virginia beach feel. Food was perfect, server was very nice. Menu is small but that’s good because that means they know how to make few things very well. They have outdoor seating for summer too. The server told us that the owner was the cook as well.

Pretty dag-​gon good. Very small, quant café with a killer burger. I’ve never been disappointed here.
Try out their Aloha Burger for a citrusy sweet kick.
Although their fries are not the best, they are a great complement to most of their main courses.
Can’t wait to go back.

Extremely friendly family friendly establishment. This mornings special is a potato skin eggs Benedict. OMG it is wonderful. It’s a combo of potatoes egg scallions cheese bacon and purple onion with a side of cheese grits.
All topped of with a sweet staff.

905 Café has one of the best breakfasts around! Pancakes are awesome! My wife had the biscuits and gravy and loved it. Service was great, I never saw the bottom of my coffee cup. I can’t wait to go back!

I’ve read a few terrible reviews and wonder if people have been reviewing the wrong place! I’ve always had wonderful service. I was greeted with speedy and courteous attention. And overhead one server remember 1 customer from a couple of weeks ago and his personal preferences as well as tailor food suggestions off his previous preferences! That is customer service! The food and drink are always excellent as are the suggestions and SPECIALS! I think I always end up with the special which NEVER lets me down. This is one of the many reasons I love Ocean View! Make sure to try the owner’s wife’s homemade pumpkin bread as French toast! No butter or syrup necessary…

Ate there for lunch. The cheeseburger was OK. However, my friend had the special, the chicken pot pie. It came to the table cold. When it was returned after a request to be warmed it was luke warm. Apparently, having chicken in the pie wasn’t essential.
I had not gone back there in some time after a similar experience. They are close to my home and I was hoping for a better effort.
Shipwreck Sally’s is far superior.

I wanted to like this place so bad.
My husband and I love locally owned places and we are always looking for different breakfast/​brunch spots to try. We ended up here cuz initially we had planned to eat at shipwreck sallys. I had never been but husband went recently and said it was worth the drive from va beach. Silly us, not to check before we went, but they were closed for Labor Day. So on down the road to 905 we went. The outdoor seating and welcoming vibe attracted us. Maybe this was a lucky error, we thought.
First off, we sat outside. For the first 10 minutes or so, it felt like the servers had completely forgotten about the patio. Finally, a server burst out the door and walked over to our table. She took our drink orders. A different server came over later to do the food order.
The iced tea had an odd flavor. Husband who works in restaurant agreed. Fortunately the server was gracious about removing it and not charging. We also ordered a few mixed drinks which were fine… not that hard to screw up.
Food: I got the French toast and eggs. Husband got the eggs, corned beef and toast. Children got a combination of eggs, pancakes and sausage. To me, breakfast is one of the easiest things to cook. Pancakes were blah, husband asked specifically for over hard eggs… they were extremely runny. Husband said corned beef hash tasted old. Everything was just edible but not yummy.
I would have much rather go to our neighborhood diner to get better food for half the price. At least it tastes fresh there.
Service was meh. Food was meh. It was just disappointing after all the great breakfast/​brunch places we have tried in Hampton roads.

Its good not great. The 3.5 star average for this place is probably accurate. We came for brunch, I had the crab and shrimp omelet with hollandaise. It was good and I’m glad I had it, but everyone else’s meal looked… meh. Liked the 15% Unilocal check in, they might offer a military discount too.

My husband and I visited this place for lunch because our friends recommended it to us. It seems to be a favorite among them for drinks and snacks. Sadly, we were not impressed. We ordered the Fried Green tomatoes and they were very greasy, the breading wouldn’t even stay on I had to piece them all together. I ordered the fish tacos and was dissatisfied, they were bland and small.
The only thing worth ordering there on a hot day in the sun is an East Beach Lemonade and hanging out on the patio.

«Eek! Methinks not.» is an appropriate rating.
We went in for lunch on Mother’s Day and the restaurant was empty (not a good sign!). The waitress told us they had just finished their breakfast/​brunch rush, for which it is most popular. (They serve breakfast all day, just fyi).
The waitress was very friendly and that would push it to two stars, but the food was just SO bad I couldn’t bump it up.
We started with the FRIED GREEN TOMATO appetizer. The breading had absolutely no seasoning. None. Bad, bad, bad. 1 STAR
I ordered the RUM-​GLAZED SALMON SALAD. It said it came with «seasonal fruit,» but what they meant was some strawberries on top on the salad. I asked for green beans on the side instead of «seasonal fruit.» They ended up up-​charging me for it. Very poor description of the item. The green beans were freezer burned, the salmon tasted like it was nuked, and there was absolutely NO flavor. It came on top of a small portion of baby spinach with feta and bacon. Terrible. Seriously, I’ve never had a more disappointing salad. The restaurant should truly be embarrassed. 1 STAR
None of the other items were quite as bad. My brother and sister got BURGERS, which they would rate as «all right,» and nothing special. My mom got the GREEK OMELET which was generously stuffed, but the eggs were limpy and flavorless. 2.5−3 STARS for these items.
I think, if I were to EVER go back, I’d stick to breakfast. For a bill of $ 60 dollars, I’d hope for better quality. This restaurant is LITERALLY across from the water. There is no excuse for poorly made seafood.

I had an excellent breakfast here with friends this morning. We arrived around 11am, beating the church crowd, and were immediately able to get a seat. The place is small, but not to small and quite comfortable with a beach /​nautical décor.
The staff was very friendly and efficient. Menu’s were provided as we sat and drink orders taken at the same time. While we were deciding what we wanted to eat we had a good time with some of the ‘creative’ names they had for meals on the menu. Good time indeed.
I ordered a breakfast entrée called «Dad’s Favorite» which was 2 eggs to order (over easy), either sausage links or bacon (Bacon!), and corned beef hash with toast (white, wheat or rye). I added a side of home fries to make my meal complete.
The meal was served on huge platters which at first made me think that there really wasn’t a lot of food, however the portion was just fine, the plate was just fricken huge. :) All in all I enjoyed the meal and look forward to trying them out again some time soon.
One other thing I wanted to mention was that they have a Greek night every Tuesday and Thursday night. Originally it was just on Thursdays but they started to get to full and had to turn people away, so it’s been expanded to Tuesdays as well. It sounds really good and that’s probably going to be my next visit.
Check them out. You’ll be glad you did!