Croakers

Planned to go to this local seafood place for a nice date night dinner with the wife. We walked in and immediately smelled a rancid fish smell… Knowing that this is a fish place we decided to go to our table. The hostess took us to the back eating area. She placed us at a table, no bigger that 24 inches square. My wife had to sit on a padded bench and I sat on a random chair. I felt like we were going to a picnic in a seaside garage. Knowing that this place has a menu that gets pricey, we decided to leave before the waitress came to the table. This type of restaurant did not fit our needs for date night. May go back in the future for the food. Overall a disappointing, brief, experience.

Croakers is a Shore Drive corridor tradition that everyone should experience.
My preferred seating is in the bar area. It’s much more comfortable, with a better atmosphere, than the main dining area. It’s also easier to get seated quickly. Croakers can be very busy, especially during the summer.
The bar atmosphere is not nearly as fun and eclectic as it has been during most of its restaurant life. Previously there was wonderful beachy and Jimmy Buffet décor.
In a prominent location on the wall behind the bar was their signature shirt «fillet & release», featuring a fish devoid of anything except the head and bones. Now there is sterile ordinary bar décor with framed pictures, rather than the wonderful things that made you smile, stay, and order more drinks.
The family owned business is a favorite of locals who live in the Shore Drive corridor. Parking is at a premium. Sometimes the best spot is on the west side of the restaurant, which many people overlook.
It is comforting to see the same familiar faces at the maitre’d table and behind the bar, year after year after year. The owners are friendly and greet their regulars by name.
The food is top notch, especially the seafood. My favorite choice is the scallops, your choice of blackened, grilled or fried. Each entrée comes with a salad and side. It is extremely hard for me to choose any side except the spinach casserole. It is light in texture and taste, giving one the feeling that they are eating healthy.
The Early Birds Specials, from 5pm — 6:30pm, are offered at fantastic prices. Saturday I chose the Jumbo Fried Shrimp for $ 13.99. They were lightly coated, so as not to disguise the wonderful fresh taste of the shrimp.
During the summer on the weekend, it’s a good idea to come at their 5pm opening time if you want to get seated in a timely manner. Reservations are also available if you plan ahead. I don’t. I’m spur of the moment.
Croakers is a really good choice to add to your «Buy Local» list. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have for decades.
But please Croakers — Bring back the Parrot, Jimmy Buffett, & the poor filleted & released fish!

We had a great dinner here. Food was very good. Service was great. Beer was cold. It’s a little cramped inside, but still a very casual place that’s a fun place for dinner.

Visited tonight with my husband, 3yo & MIL. The food was typical tourist beach restaurant food (you are visiting beach so we don’t have to try too hard). Not bad but not wonderful and a tad bit overpriced for what it is. We were hopeful when many of the reviews mentioned this as a locals spot. If I was a local I don’t think I would frequent this place much.
The service was interesting. The waitress brought my husband and son fruit punch when they asked for lemonade. And spaghetti when we asked for penne.

I hesitate to review Croakers because it’s a local «secret»: one of those places that tourists rarely find, but where locals are always bumping into people they know. Besides, parking is limited and I’d hate for it to get any more crowded. Still, it’s been my family’s go-​to seafood place for many, many years, and it’s still local-​owned, simple, unpretentious, and damn good. Sure, the more famous fish house down the road has a bigger lot and better view, but they also charge a lot more for seafood that’s (imo) not as good. The ambience is casual sort of kitschy-​fishy with trophies and driftwood carvings mounted on the walls. But the seafood is very fresh, authentically regional, and perfectly cooked. Look for the seasonal specials like soft shell crabs, or go for the happy hour when a dozen sweet briny clams on the half shell are just $ 10. The clam chowder is classic Hatteras style: not creamy like New England or tomatoe-​y like Manhattan, but a clear essence of clams and potatoes. Plus, they have the best version ever of this area’s iconic dish, crab Norfolk. It’s listed on the menu as «crab in butter», and for purists like me, that’s all it should be, so tell them to hold the Old Bay! Just pure lump crab swimming in melted butter and lightly broiled, yum. Oh, and for a seafood place, they also make a very decent steak. The side dishes are nothing to write home about, nor are the standard desserts, but the fresh corn muffins are complimentary. And if you’re lucky, there will be some homemade dessert like Chess Cake left :)

Went yesterday for a family dinner… Friends had recommended Croakers as a «great little local seafood place». There were five in our party, and we arrived about 20 minutes before opening (forgot to check the hours prior to arriving).
Driving by in the past, I’ve always seen cars overflowing the parking lot. Since we’re there early, we parked right up front. Inside, our first impression was a cute, eclectic fish theme. The hostess was friendly, as was our waitress. The Happy Hour Specials Menu listed some items with the same price as the regular menu… we thought it was a little misleading.
Starting with our appetizers… the calamari was done to perfection. Not tough or chewy at all. I think that’s the first time I’ve ever had it like that. The crab dip was perfect for those who like a lot of crab meat in this dish. For me personally, I would’ve preferred a bit more of the cheeses.
Four of us ordered popcorn shrimp, and dad was the oddball with fried oysters. Both were good; however the popcorn shrimp was not the tradional little shrimp. Instead, they were regular shrimp cut into bite sized pieces. There were maybe a dozen pieces, so it was more like an appetizer portion with sides. Even though it was good, it was not what we were expecting.
Since we were celebrating a birthday, desserts were the final course. The Key Lime pie was good, but two of three in our party said it was overly tart and one of the two didn’t finish theirs. Our waitress recommended the Vanilla Chess Cake for me and Wow! So good! I will definitely be stopping in for this treat again!
Overall, good, friendly service, great calamari, small dinner portions, no popcorn shrimp, a bit overpriced and great Vanilla Chess Cake.

WAY over priced for just ok food. Red lobster would be a better value. Better yet go over the bridge to Bubbas. you’ll actually have a place to park too

Stopped in Friday July 24 2015, early enough didn’t need reservation. Food was prepared well and taste great at a reasonable price. We ordered shrimp scampi, stuffed shrimp, oyster sandwich and of course crab dip. Service was great also! We will eat here again in the near future.

Food was good. Soft she’ll crabs were a five. Stuffed shrimp was a three, shrimp scampi a four, kids meals were rated a ten. Service was too slow. Spinach casserole was yummy.

I was looking for a seafood restaurant so I decided on Croakers. The staff was friendly and polite. The waiter was extremely busy, but he did his best to keep up.
I had the crab dip and scallops which were pretty good. Others with me had seafood, and were happy with their food.

The food, particularly the seafood, is so fresh & cooked to perfection. The prices are reasonable. The menu has a lot of options. Everything is made to order. The salad dressings are made from scratch along with most of the sauces they feature here. The service was excellent! I’ll definitely be coming back very soon!

Went last night snow and all. It was delish. I had the crab cakes they were almost completely meat, very little filer. My girfriend had a mixed trio and raved about it. We have now found our favorite place in Virginia Beach.
Thanks Tush

Go here for the fish. I recommend the stuffed shrimp or soft-​shell crabs. The prices are reasonable and the food is quite good. They’re serving up the fruit of Chesapeake the way it should be, simple and FRESH. Losing a star only for kind of uncomfortable benches. Prices were fair, service was friendly and competent, will definitely go back when I’m in VA Beach.

Visited Croakers last evening around 9:00. We asked the hostess if they were closed and she said no and proceeded to seat us. Having been a waitress the last thing I wanted was to be «those people» coming in late. We later found out they did close at 9 but no one was bothered by it at all aside from us! Talk about great hospitality!
Jessica was our waitress and she was awesome. Such a great, friendly personality and she was very efficient.
The food was really good. I had the fish sandwich and it was great.
Here are the reasons for not giving it 5 stars:
1) way overpriced! Most items were $ 20+!!
2) It seems that everything is fried. Not that it’s bad but for the price I wouldn’t expect that.
We will definitely come back but it’s not our go-​to place for a meal when we don’t feel like cooking solely because of the high prices!!!

We went here on Saturday night after driving a loonnngggg way. We were a little after the dinner crowd, but they were still busy. Parking spots were not very wide, but that is very common here. Everyone was friendly, the service was great. Wes was our server and gave us great advice about the beach, which we used and were delighted. The food was great — catch if the day was a large serving and very reasonable. If they offer breadsticks and corn muffins-​take them up on the offer! We had people with adventurous taste buds and people with a narrow range of food tastes and all were happy!

Not at all impressed with anything.

I went for the first time during restaurant week and I’m glad I did! The waiter was friendly, service was a bit slow but we were on a double date so I didn’t mind.
I got the oysters Rockefeller appetizer, It was delicious! The steak could have used more seasoning but it was still good and cooked correctly. The vanilla chess cake is heaven in a bowl!
Parking is atrocious, but overall it’s a great locals place and it’s definitely been added to our rotation!

We came here as our second choice for restaurant week since someone forgot to make reservations to our first choice… I’ll go ahead and take the blame.
The service was great! We were greeted as soon as we entered and we were seated quickly. For our first course, we ordered Calamari and Oysters Rockefeller. I loved the way they cooked their Oysters Rockefeller. There are no words to explain it. You just have to try it! The Calamari was also good as well and it was cooked perfectly.
For our main course, we ordered the St. Charles and a 10 oz New York Strip Steak. The steak was cooked ok. I had better steak elsewhere. It tasted like it was pan fried instead of grilled. I was expecting it to taste grilled since they have Grill in their restaurant name. I really did not expect much from it to begin with. The St. Charles was ok also. It was basically a mix of seafood and vegetables over a pan fried fish.
I’ll probably come back again to try their full menu. As I was looking through it, there is about 3 or 4 dishes that I would like to try. I’ll rate this establishment 3 stars for now and I’ll increase it depending on my next visit.

Croakers is now my favorite place in Hampton Roads to go for seafood.
I had occasion to be in the Lynnhaven area last night around dinner time and Monica and I decided to go to Croakers. (I had been there years ago and it was great)
We walked in and were greeted by a smiling hostess who sat us right away. The décor is fun — it is beachy, with bright colored booths and fun art work and borders on tacky but yet fascinating.
Our waitress, Jessica was friendly and helpful and got our drinks quickly and checked on us often. (She is a great waitress).
I noticed the food was pricier than at some places and also heard it was worth it.
We ordered the Crab Dip to start with. I was blown away! It had a lot of large lumps of fresh crab and was delicious! It was by far the best Crab Dip I’ve had and I have had plenty.
Monica ordered the Scallop and Shrimp Scampi and I ordered the Broiled Seafood Platter.
The salads that come out were colorful and fresh and delicious. What made it great was the house dressing — Olive Oil with Lemon and Mint. Wow — it was full of great flavor.
The main dishes arrived and we were amazed — the aroma, the presentation were great. She and I both agreed everything was cooked perfect and had lots of amazing flavor and was fresh.
It is a little pricey but worth it for sure! I’ll be back as soon as I can.
The whole dining experience was great! Even the owner asked how everything was and I told him most fantastic!
(the only thing I would do differently with the food — the Crab Dip came with crackers that were Ritz or similar. I would grill some flat bread with olive oil and garlic or toast some slices of Italian Bread to serve with it. The crab dip is so amazing and should be treated with more respect than to serve with crackers)
This place and the staff and the food and the décor are amazing and I can’t wait to return.
I’ve added some photos. (Food was a little dark due to lighting — I don’t like to use a flash while people are enjoying their food so much).

Absolutely delicious. Portions are huge, the menu is rich with options. Go hungry and be prepared to leave stuffed!
I recommend the crab dip!