The Island Café

I brought my fiancée and a mutual friend of ours down here for breakfast. I ordered the French Toast and it was phenomenal. I have never had French Toast that tasty before or since. I don’t recall what they ordered but they enjoyed everything they had. My only real gripe of the restaurant is that some of the spaces are a little tight. You get a great view of the York River and the interior is decorated to match the view out the window.

Way overpriced. They charged me $ 90 for a frozen lobster tail. Service is horrible. Décor is gross. Save your money and your evening and go to the Riverwalk across the street.

We decided to spend the afternoon/​evening in Yorktown and came to this place for a late lunch. Figured a «café» was a casual/​inexpensive option to eat. They were already serving dinner so we had to order off the dinner menu which definitely wasn’t a menu a «café» would have. My boyfriend ordered a burger and I opted for the special of the day which was Rockfish with Crab on top. I figured rockfish would be cheaper than salmon or some of the other seafood options especially since rockfish isn’t very expensive and rather abundant in this area. Wrong. It was extremely pricey. When I ordered, the waitress (who was really nice. the only good part about the entire experience) informed me that my meal came with a salad and asked if I wanted feta and olives. Figuring it came with that and assuming she was just making sure that was ok, I said that would be great. That cheese+olives cost $ 8.00 EXTRA!!! That cost more than the burger my boyfriend ordered! Completely ridiculous. The food, which was way overpriced, was just ok which added insult to injury. Our entire bill for 2 people, no appetizers, no drinks, no dessert was right around $ 100 including tip. OUTRAGEOUS! Never come here unless you’re okay with being robbed. That’s exactly what we encountered. Ruined the entire day.

My GF and I are here on vaca. We had breakfast here and the food was great. I had an omelette and she had the French toast. We both had the jalapeño bacon and it was very good too. Would have given 5 stars but service was slow. We will definitely come back next time we’re here in town.

We stay at the public marina quite often and always have breakfast at the Island Café. The food is terrific and the staff could not be any better. We have eaten here over 20 times and have always had an excellent experience. I believe the negative reviews are the result of a rare «bad day» which every establishment has. I highly recommend this restaurant!

I would give it 2 ½ stars if able to. The food was average, the service was miserable! There was one male server who was doing his best to make it a pleasurable experience but unfortunately we had one of the female servers.
We waited 10 minutes for a table for 5, then waited 10 minutes to order, then 25 for our food– it was breakfast and the restaurant was not busy! Coffee wa $ 2.75 and had to vigorously hunt down the waitress for a single refill. The check was not brought until we finally flagged down the male server. He then quickly took care of our bill, boxes and apologized for having to wait.
Several tables around us were also highly frustrated at the severe wait time. One commented when leaving– «good luck getting your for– we waited 40 minutes.»
Disappointing experience. Food was ok but nothing I would return for.

Island Café has a friendly staff that keeps it rolling, with smiles on their faces, through the busiest days of the year. Food was good & the coffee is excellent!

If it hadn’t been for our very friendly server, I would have given fewer stars. The food was essentially greasy spoon diner fare at roughly twice the price. The food is not terrible, but definitely not worth what they charge.

Fabulous lunch! Superb quality and quantity. Waiter (Eric) was the best!

Went in to get some breakfast that I keep reading about.
Took over 15 mins to get anyone to seat us. As we waited we kept hearing people around us asking how much longer for their food. One guy even mentioned it had been 20 mins since they had been sat and no one had even taken a drink order.
They didn’t even look to be busy.
Won’t be going back to even try the food if the service is so bad we couldn’t even get a seat or a hello we will be right with you… (and yes staff walked right by us but ignored us.)

Love the service and the breakfast is great! Ernie, the waiter, is ultra friendly, professional and, attentive. They a have a list of fresh made omelets. You can pick one of those of make your own custom creation. I also recommend their french toast that is drizzled with caramel and powdered with confection sugar. Also, my wife and I are a big fans of the jalapeño bacon. If you’re in Yorktown give them a try. The 5 is for the service more then the food… I’d rate all I’ve tried with a 4: it’s simple food made proficiently. Their prices are fair, especially considering the area and the portions are normal.

We ate lunch here first and the next day drove all the way back from Williamsburg to eat again for dinner.
For lunch, I had the she crab bisque and half a club. The bisque was the best soup I have eaten anywhere in my life. The sandwich was perfection as they used Boar’s Head quality meats on homemade bread and slices of a nice ripe tomato. My wife had the Philly cheese steak sandwich made from slices of london broil again on a homemade hoagie roll with awesome fresh beer battered onion rings. Her father had the caribe salad which included grilled chicken, pineapple, dried cranberries, and almonds with a light mango vinaigrette. He loved it!
The next night we returned for dinner. I had the she crab bisque again with a very generous bowl of lump crab meat in melted butter. The dish included soup or salad and a side so I chose those awesome onion rings. My wife had fried chicken, baked potato and salad and she said it was all delicious. The batter was very tasty and the chicken moist and tender. Her father had a huge bowl of fresh made clam chowder and a coconut shrimp appetizer. Everything here is fresh, from the bread to all the seafood. If great food is not enough, the place also sports an fantastic view of the scenic York river. I can’t say enough about this place, the food is great and their prices are very reasonable too.

Had breakfast and lunch here while visiting the Yorktown battleground. Service was very good for both meals. The three egg omelette with shrimp and lobster bisque was good. The breakfast potatoes were soggy but tasty. View was nice. For lunch we tried the fish and chips on the waitresses recommendation. It was freshly cooked. A nice piece of cod. Good batter and a generous portion of fries. I would choose a more standard breakfast next time as the French toast looked great but I would definitely come back.

We were looking for seafood after a morning exploring Yorktown Battle Field. With a little help from our Unilocal friend we decided on The Islands Café. We walked in about 1:30pm, I have to tell you I was a little (very) worried we were the only people there. My first thought was oh no.
OMG was I ever wrong. I had the stuffed salmon with coconut rice which was fantastic, my husband had clam strips freshly battered Awesome, and My mother-​in-​law had the crab cake almost all meat and the onion rings were thick and hand battered as well.
The waitress was very friendly and didn’t seem to mind us coming in 30 minutes before closing for lunch. They reopen at 4:30 for dinner. Will come again when in this area. Great little place to eat. A little dated do well worth the stop.
M.Clarke
North Carolina

We were staying at the attached hotel for the weekend, and decided to try this place for the convenience (there weren’t any other breakfast places close by). We had the early bird special for $ 7 (available every day before 9am): two pancakes, three strips of bacon, two eggs, grits, and coffee. But they were very cool with my girlfriend and I requesting substitutions: she got potatoes instead of grits, and I got fruit instead of grits and OJ instead of coffee.
The pancakes were thick and fluffy — some of the best I’ve had. Bacon was excellent too — lean and very crispy. The potatoes were pan fried chunks, pretty standard. Fruit was fresh cut. But I didn’t care as much for how they prepared our scrambled eggs. Seemed like they just cracked them onto the griddle and stirred them around a bit, which left them flat. They were also overdone.
The staff was also very friendly. Overall, we were more than satisfied and will probably come back before we drive home tomorrow (although we may opt for a lighter meal). If you’re staying at or near the attached Duke of York hotel, definitely go if you need breakfast. For $ 7 you wont find anything better; just make sure to get there before 9am to get the special. But if you don’t, their normal prices were very reasonable too.
Edit: so for lunch we ended up getting a Cuban sandwich with onion rings to go. It was excellent. The sandwich roll was the perfect type for a Cuban, and pressed/​grilled just right. And the onion rings were breaded nicely and remained crispy even in the box after the trip up to our hotel room.

Small but very well run. Clean and the service was great. We stopped for breakfast and went back for lunch and we will certainly go back again. All 4 of us were equally impressed by this place. Great for families as well.

This small restaurant also is called The Duke of York. We stopped in for their lunch specials and just made it in before the 2:00 PM close. Have to say that their cheesesteak sandwich on chiabatta was probably the best I had. And that goes for having them in Philly. Also a must try is the chili. I am a big chili lover and can say this ranks up with the very best. Can I also give a shout out for the onion rings? Nice place to go especially if you are not in a hurry. Nice view of the York River from the large windows.