Bodega

I came to eat here last night ⁶⁄₂₉ and it was a great place. The food was outstanding, I consider myself a picky eater. I had the Lemon Chicken dinner — it was very tasty and with the 2 sides very filling. Wednesday was Shrimp night.
I will definitely be back and I would recommend anyone who enjoys good food, tapas and a great atmosphere to give it a try!

I have no idea who could’ve eaten here and possibly rated this as a pleasurable experience. I was with a group and we were all new to the city so relied on Unilocal.Fatal mistake. We should’ve known it wasn’t a good sign when there wasn’t a single person in here on a Saturday night. The waitress was dressed like she just came off the beach and couldn’t even tell us what was on tap without physically going to the bar. It took an eternity to get our drinks and then our food came out so staggered, I was tempted to see if the kitchen needed any help. To say we were underwhelmed by the food is an understatement. Everything tasted like it came out of the freezer. Salads didn’t even have dressing, let alone anything exciting about them. Even a side of fried potatoes were so hard we couldn’t get them on a fork. How do you mess up fried potatoes? I’m so sorry I wasted one of my few meals in this lovely city at this place.

One of our favorites! We have been to Bodega a few times while in Norfolk and absolutely love the food! One of our favorites are the steamed shrimp, they were perfectly seasoned and really good size shrimp. Also, we thoroughly enjoyed the ceviche and the oysters Rockefeller. We love being able to order tapas because you get to try so many different dishes. While there try the Sangria it is the best! We will definitely be going back!

Came here some months ago for my birthday. I had not heard about it before, but we gave this a go!
Food:
I came here with family and a group of friends before we embarked on further festivities for the night. A good number of options were ordered, and the lady and I made sure to try a handful of the tapas. We tried the Seared Tuna, and a couple others did too. For me, it was good, a little on the salty side but I enjoyed it, especially the bed of chorizo. Others in the table felt like it was too salty to be able to enjoy. The second tapas we ordered was the Ceviche, and for me, it didn’t really taste like ceviche. I want to say it was the lime juice and tequila, but it tasted sweet and ceviche isn’t that is supposed to taste sweet. The third tapas we ordered was the Tortellini, which did not taste like anything special. We got a little clue that the tortellini was packaged tortellini. Unfortunately, there was a decent sized piece of plastic packaging in the tortellini. We didn’t complain, nor did we mentioned, we just let it be but please be more aware of items sent out. Lastly, we ordered the calamari, and we had no issues with the calamari. The calamari would pair awesomely with some drinks!
Others joining ordered paella, therefore, there were different paella options to try from. Sadly, it needed a little more flavoring, as paella should be full of flavor and it was a little dull here. The paella did seem salty to all at the table.
Drinks:
The drinks hit the spot. I loved the Cojito, and that that I am not into drinks that are sweet. The specials and the liquor selections are great. There is a great list of wines and beer to order from.
Service:
The waitress was good, she almost had the whole table’s order right. There was one mess up with the type of paella ordered by a person at the table. She was friendly, and offered to change the order but did remind how long it takes for paella orders to come out. That said, expect to wait some time if you order paella. Will need to be patient.
I think I’ll have to try more tapas here, and maybe a few more Cojitos

Went for dinner before a Tides game. We wanted to try something different and since I’m going to Spain this summer, we settled on a Tapas bar. Nothing was bad, but nothing was out of this world, either.
It wasn’t very busy on a Saturday night, and we were immediately seated. The menu is filled with tapas, paella (30 minutes to make) and some more traditional American dishes. We got the Spanish Country Bread to split, I got the tuna, and my friend got the lettuce wraps.
The country bread was fine. Nothing special. It came with olive tapenade which was fine as well. The main dishes took forever to come out (30 minutes?), and while my tuna looked great, it wasn’t cooked well and it was so salty. When I think fresh tuna, I expect a rare tuna, not one that’s closer to medium. It was also so salty. I couldn’t eat a piece without drinking water immediately after. My friend’s lettuce wraps were much better. The peanut sauce was great.
Service was nothing exceptional. Our waitress was courteous but nothing stood out either positively or negatively about her. I wouldn’t be running back here.

Great tapas place. We really loved the food. By the way, we had a 530 reservation but we called ahead and let them know we were running 15 minutes late and they were super gracious and chill about it and we still got a table immediately upon our arrival so that was awesome. We had the crab bisque (my favorite, lots of real crab), oysters Rockefeller (my husband’s favorite), garlic mushrooms, all three on the set menu. On the specials we had the Mediterranean sampler which was good but I think the set menu items were better. We finished with the crème brule and it was very good and carnelized. The restaurant was very intimate and romantic. It would be great for a date night. Iys centrally located near Chrysler Hall and the Scope, so if you have plans to see a game or a show this is a great place to get dinner beforehand. Also they do live music on Saturdays at 10pm so if you’re out late in Norfolk it’s a great place to check out.

Wow.
What a joke of a restaurant.
Wow.
We had a party of 6. Ordered a ton of tapas, which by all means were nothing more but mediocre at its best.
We ordered paella with shrimp, no mussels, no sausage. After waiting 30 minutes it comes out full of sausage.
After returning the dish, we told them we do not eat sausage, we need to plate re made, we cannot eat the dish if it’s cooked in sausage.
They told us no problem they will re make the dish entirely.
The dish comes back and this low class place of a «restaurant» took the sausage out, re microwaved the plate and bring it back to the table as if it’s a brand new dish that was re prepared for us.
Unfortunately your cook forgot one piece of sausage in the rice, and costing your low grade of a restaurant a 1 star Unilocal.
No restaurant that i know would ever simply take out the sausage re heat the plate and tell you it was re made entirely, the thing is they kept the plate in the kitchen for 20 – 30 mins so we think they actually re cooked it from scratch.
This place is a joke.
Beware of this un ethical place.
Go eat and enjoy your dinner elsewhere.
DO NOT come here.
To whomever responded. He «recreated» the dish? Next time he «recreates» the dish make sure all the sausage pieces are off the plate, yea he forgot just one piece, meaning he didn’t re create anything! What a joke and disgrace. Makes you wonder how ethical this place is on using good and fresh ingredients !!! Beware!!!

Mortified.
We have been here before and LOVED it. The Tapas was great, the atmosphere was nice, the price was alright. I had been asking to go back.
Unfortunately– tonight was different.
We had a party of 6 non pork eaters– religious. We ordered the Paella with shrimp only. When the dish came out, it contained Chorizo. We explained to the waitress (who was extremely nice) that we do not eat pork and therefore needed the dish to be remade due to being cooked in/​with the pork. We agreed to the 30 minute wait for a new AND remade dish. Less than 20 minutes later our dish came out. Unfortunately for the restaurant, the cool forgot to take out one piece of Chorizo thus leading us to believe the dish was only reheated and not remade.
Again, this was purely out of our religious beliefs. It is extremely disheartening to see that our religious beliefs were overlooked in order to provide an easier fix for the restaurant.

Mediocre, empanadas were extremely salty I will say the Calamari and Garlic Shrimp were good.

While I love the Valencia Paella at Bodega (i believe it’s their best item on the menu), it is usually not available during busy evenings. They claim it takes 30 mins to prepare and also too much stove burners. Our past 2 visits, we went for the Paella, but it was unavailable due to they were too busy. Same goes for the weekly specials such as the tacos or the shrimp.

I’ve been here twice now and been pleased with both experiences. The first time we tried the lamb chops, the scallops and the fried artichokes and was pleased with everything. The scallops and risotta was a really nice portion for a tapas plate also. The second time I had the crab soup and the scallops which were equally as good as the second time. I think the soup could have had a bit more flavor but the amount of crab in it was amazing. Service was great both times.

Incredibly disappointing. For the second Saturday in a row, the restaurant was out of — or not selling Paella. We stayed the first time and ordered drinks and other appetizers, but they were also out of several other menu items! I told the waitress this is was second Saturday we made the trip out just for their Paella, and she said «I’m not sure why we’re not making it tonight, they just told us not to sell it.» What kind of restaurant just doesn’t sell a menu item? I have been to the Bodega in Georgetown and it is amazing… I was really hoping for the same, and they just didn’t deliver… TWICE.
Pros: The musician they had on Saturday night was fantastic! The waitress was very nice. If I could, I’d tell her to find another job, one where she won’t lose customers due to management’s lack of pre-​planning.
Will not be returning.

My experience at Bodega was just OK. The food was very good, but the service was not up to par.
I sensed the waitress may have been new to serving. There are some really nit-​picky things that I pointed out to the people I was with about serving. (I’ve been in the restaurant industry for years serving all types of restaurants.) Just small stuff like beverage napkins under drinks, clearing finished plates, etc.
Everything was just kind of moving slowly that night. The restaurant wasn’t super busy but the waitress seemed to take forever on everything. From bringing drinks to filling water to running food. We were really never checked on by her until the end. Someone came by twice, I think the manager, to check on us but that’s about it.
This place serves small plates so we ordered a grilled ham & cheese which was amazing. But the roasted garlic plate we ordered lacked most of the detailed ingredients. Most roast garlic plates come with roasted red peppers, and of course goat cheese. Both of which we were missing, and had to point out to the server. She didn’t take the plate back, rather brought out some red peppers that looked as if they were just soaked in water, and a ball of goat cheese with the circumference of a quarter. Not sure who the chef was that night but they didn’t teach him how to make the roasted garlic plate!
All in all it wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t great. My mom was raving about how good it is and said it’s not usually like this. I’ll update this review when I return!

Great place for tapas, came to visit a friend who sings there on Saturday nights. The atmosphere was perfect, I didn’t eat much but I did have the She Crab soup which actually was pretty good. I went to this place a few years back, and although I couldn’t remember everything I ordered, I do remember everything being perfect. I’ll have to comeback to provide more details on the food.

I went here craving ceviche, and left, still craving good ceviche. Food just seemed bland. With all the good reviews, was hoping for better.

This place definitely confirmed the saying to not judge a book by its cover. While Bodega is on a perfect location of granby street and has a very nice vibe on the outside, if it wasn’t for a group of friends that said that we had to go here to get a White cosmo I would have never gone inside. At 8pm on a Saturday night, the place was dead. I mean, literally no one in there except the staff.
My group of 6 arrived and was seated and from start to finish, it was a great experience. I am usually hesitant of tapas places because I’m greedy and don’t like to share. But I was delighted by the plentiful options of appetizers that were large enough for a meal and regular large plate items. I opted for the flatbread pizza which had Serrano ham, tomato, spinach, and olive oil. But the star of this dish was the Burrata Cheese. Its like a mixture of mozzarella and goat cheese. When you cut into it, it oozes out and turns into this spreadable creamy mixture, like pillows in your mouth. Im a happy camper! The food was great, the drinks are even better, and the wait staff was helpful and attentive. I shall return!

This place is the sister restaurant to 219, 4−5−6 Fish, and Oyster Bar. All of those restaurants are also wonderful. So my husband and I ordered the lamb, the Rockefeller oysters, the seared tuna and the tacos. Each were wonderful, actually!
The Rockefeller Oysters: biggest oysters I have ever seen in my entire life. They came topped with cheese and were so good! The plate came with 4, and that was a perfect amount for us to split when we ordered a bunch more stuff.
Seared Tuna: a lot of it for the plate, really delicious, cooked perfectly, I mean what more can I say?
Tacos: this was a special menu item because they are apparently trying to start up a taco Tuesday soon. If the tacos are anything like what I had– I might have an addictive issue and end up eating there every Tuesday. No shells, lettuce instead. Still more than wonderful I wouldn’t have chosen it any other way. By far both our favorites
The lamb: super tender really great. Came out like some lollipops with meat instead of candy. I usually am not a big lamb person but these were very well done and I ate them up happily.
Because we ordered so many different things I have a feeling that everything on their tapas menu is delicious and you can take some risks in ordering new things, because they’ll come out delicious!
We will 100% be back!

Loved this place! My husband and I made reservations for date night a couple Fridays ago. We put on some pretty dressy clothes and went out. On the door, it said something about a «dress code» and refusing service to violators. I am thinking «we look good, so we’re fine». We are seated and greeted quickly.
We order and enjoy each other’s company as we wait. A couple of ladies show up at the door. I notice that they are wearing exercise clothes. Of course they let them in, and of course they are sat at the table next to us. That was the end of the romance for me.
That was the only problem I had with the place. The check was a little slow to come, but that was it. The food was awesome. We even had dessert. The crème brûlée was good to the point that my husband is thinking about buying a little blow torch.
Next time, we will be able to go later than 6 hopefully. I can tell that this place hops later at night!

I had planned a girls night and we made reservations at 9. We got here and we were seated right away. Menu seemed to have many options. Ordered two pitchers of sangria, the sangria was sparkly and seemed water down. No taste of fruit, brandy or the «Spanish blend» wine they used. We paid for one and sent back the other. Waitress was a bit unfriendly about it all not sure why it wasn’t her fault but all 6 of us felt that this wasn’t proper sangria and for $ 30.00 a pitcher it should be a little more up to par. As far as dishes go that’s where i would rate my experience off of. Tortellini was good, not a fan of mushrooms or the meat but I liked the Parmesan cream. Fried oysters… Delicious this was the best part of my night. Some appetizers were overpriced for the size and quality didn’t make up for it. My friend got the garlic platter this was good and a pretty good size. The Serrano grilled cheese seemed to be a good size and friends said it was tasty. Shoestring fries looked and tasted dry. I would probably not come back to this joint there’s a lot of other better quality food and tapas in Norfolk. They do have specials during the week that might be worth checking out. The service was not so nice, but I think the lounge has potential maybe if they trained servers to have a bit more «ready to serve» attitude. Must get the oysters!

Awesome place!
My boyfriend and 2 of our friends came here for a double date. Parking is the usual — no street parking so both couples had to use the parking garage. (I always expect to, especially downtown Norfolk during dinner time.)
We had reservations for 7pm and when we arrived, the host said our table wasn’t quite ready yet, but said one moment and left. He returned and led us to a table for 4 — props for making our reservation happen on time, and for no extra wait time.
The place is nice — as our friends mentioned, it has a «Richmond restaurant» feel to it. It’s classy, it’s not modern, and has a dark and intimate feel to it. The place is not too big either.
And for the food — it was during Norfolk’s restaurant week that we decided to dine here, so all 4 of us ordered the 3 course meals for $ 20 a person. Awesome deal!
My boyfriend ordered the Empanada for his appetizer — he said it was so meaty and flavorful. For his main course — the Bronzed Salmon, Leek Risotto and asparagus. He loved the salmon but said the risotto wasn’t as creamy as he would have liked it. For dessert he had the Vanilla Gelato — yum!
I ordered the Calamari appetizer and it was delicious! Such a great size too. You know how when it’s restaurant week, you sort of expect the portions and servings to be a bit smaller, since the prices are so good and discounted. Not the case here. I enjoyed it and was able to share at least 8 calamari rings with him! Perfect coating and sauce. For my main course, I had the Steak Au Poivre, roasted potatoes and aspargus. O M G, yum! The 16 oz steak was cooked to perfection, and the sauce was great! The sides were just as good. I was happy with my choice. For dessert though, I chose the Chocolate Gelato, tried it, and it had so many ice crystals and bits in it. Had to return it and ask for the Vanilla instead. I was way happier with that.
Our waitress was awesome — very friendly and attentive.
Great first experience here and great menu for Restaurant Week — I honestly wanted to try ALL of it! :) I totally recommend this place. Next time I would love to order from the Tapas menu.