Cotton Southern Bistro

It doesn’t surprise me that this place closed. The quality of the service was really on the decline for awhile. After reading about the problems with management that was being reported in the media it was obvious why this was occurring. A shame though, because in it’s prime this was a decent place in Chesapeake to get some southern cuisine, especially for brunch. I will give the VB location a try sometime, hopefully things are going better there.

This place went downhill fast. Apparently the farm to table approach was replaced by freezer section to table. It’s a shame.

This place has one of the best Sunday fun day brunch menus, it is a goto. They have bloody’s also more of a make your own bar. They have a decent selection of beers on tap. The menu is big and the sides well there is a huge selection of those and it makes me think how can they be fresh and not canned??? Get the chicken of any kind they do chicken right! Parking is no issue here!

I love their brunch and dinner both. I ordered the stuffed French toast for my brunch. I really don’t eat those sweet but their French toast wasn’t too sweet that’s why I like their French toast. My favorite entrée is the tuna stack with wasabi sauce. They have variety of side dishes and all of them taste good. Best up grade soul restaurant in Chesapeake!

I always order the crab cake sandwich. I ordered the same tonight and it was not edible. Since my order was carry out, I called the restaurant and they offered me a gift card or another meal.

I came here for our company Christmas dinner. We came on a Friday evening and they were not incredibly busy. We had a party of 16 and they sat us down with a short wait. Our server was very friendly. However, our food took almost 35 minutes to come to the table. 1) they weren’t at all busy at this time, 2) only half the group received their food, the other half had to wait an additional 15 minutes. The Ceasar salad was very tasty. I ordered the salmon special atop Alfredo. This was ok. I had 3 very small shrimp on the salmon and on the specials board it described succulent prawns. Complete lie! The appetizer potato boats were completely dried out. Also, they were out of 3 separate menu items we originally asked for. Let’s just say, the only reason I will come back will be if our company dinner ford there again next year.

I’d give it another try. Service was good, food was not bad but it took 20 minutes! Presentation was great though

I’ve eaten here twice recently. I had lunch with my Mom then dinner with my daughter a couple of weeks later. I received great service both times and the food was delicious. I like how all of their sides and specials are written on giant chalk boards in the dining room. I had a veggie plate for lunch. The mac and cheese was fabulous. The country green beans and the carrots were tasty, as well. Their dessert selections are very tempting, but we were too full. We plan to go just for dessert and coffee one night to be sure.

Cotton Southern Bistro has really gone downhill. It used to be a great restaurant with fabulous food and an attentive staff, but now it’s gone down the drain. I went to brunch and waited nearly 30 minutes for our waitress to come take our drink and food order and then over an hour for our food to come out. When the food finally did come out it was absolutely terrible. The corned beef has was way over cooked, the toast was extremely burnt, and the scrambled eggs were rubbery.
I would not recommend this restaurant to anyone.

Food is good-​not the greatest, but value is high. I will definitely be back though.

Just merely «meh…» We sat at the bar. It wasn’t busy for a Saturday night. There also wasn’t a designated bar tender just seems like waitresses come and get whatever they need. Whateves. We got some root beer beers in a bottle which were $ 3.75 a piece. Not too bad!
We checked in and got free fried pickle chips. sweeeeeeet. They arrived and they were nice and hot with this delicious creamy peppercorn ranch or something it’s called cotton sauce. They were just rreeeeeally greasy. There was a little puddle at the bottom of the bowl.
We ordered the Yankee Reuben and the 4 alarm burger. When it came out my plate was hotter than my fries and the bottom part of my Reuben sandwich was all soggy. The corned beef was also really tough. Just a terrible sandwich I fought with the corn beef trying to bite it and I lost I had to use my fork and knife.
The 4 alarm burger was decent not as hot as I would have expected. Nothing to brag about either.
There were fruit flies all over the bar area and the ladies room was not kept up. Trash overflowing and the handicap stall looked like a drunk disabled person came through and destroyed it. The back of the commode was gone the lock was broken off. The heck?
We asked the waitress if they could change the channel on the TV and she was kinda aggravated that we asked and she ends up forgetting about changing it for us and came back 15 mins later…
Anyways… I’m not sure if we will come back. This place used to be way better in 2013 what happened?
Also if wouldn’t hurt the wait staff to actually smile and greet patrons as they walked by… They all kinda just walked around stressed out wearing a RBF.

For the most part, I really love their menu. My grandmother ran a southern-​cooking restaurant in Texas for years. She prepared a dish called «fried corn.» Basically, it was a delicious skillet fried corn — removed from the cob — with butter, cream, and just a bit of sugar. It was amazing.
You can imagine my surprise when I saw fried corn on the menu. You can also imagine my disappointment when I was served a battered cob of corn that had been deep-​fried. BUT, everything else is wonderful.

Second time here. First time we came for the Sunday brunch. Great then, plus live jazz band. Tonight, dinner. Wow, I had the country fried steak, great. But you have to try the fried pickles, yes, I said fried pickles! Oh my goodness!!!
Our waitress, Haley, was great!

I’ve heard a lot of hubbub about this place so we decided to give it a try. I don’t think I’ve ever been disappointed by a BBQ sandwich until I’ve eaten here. Not only was the sandwich extremely bland, but also had a negative affect on us afterwards. The sides aren’t even worth mentioning either. The service was inadequate and the restaurant itself was awfully humid. Honestly, there were no redeeming qualities at Cotton Southern Bistro and I do not plan on returning.

We just had Sunday dinner here & it’s AMAZING! We did enjoy our FREE fried pickles (complimentary with Unilocal check in) along with their fried green tomatoes. Both appetizers were awesome. I had the roasted turkey skillet (turkey, cornbread stuffing with homemade mashed potatoes & gravy). Then finished it off with the key lime pie. Felt like I just left grandma’s house, lol. All 3 of my kids enjoyed their meals.
Only issue was with my husband. He liked the chicken & dumplings but they weren’t what he was expecting. However, we will be eating here again!

First, it was like 85° inside, so we moved outside. Thank goodness it was nice outside.
The food was really good and the apps were BOGO. We got the bacon sushi and it had ground sausage and cheese in it. The five alarm burger was good and I loved the fresh cut french fries. Chicken and waffles were just ok…
I didn’t get the chocolate brownie sundae, but it looked amazing!
Can’t wait to come back and try more food!

Disappointed! I just moved to Virginia from California and I’ve been really excited to get to know what the local cities have to offer.
I came to Cotton hoping to find a good, solid southern food joint. Instead, all I found was food lacking in flavor. And to top things off, my food took a VERY long time to come out! I don’t think the ingredients were the problem as everything is claimed to be farmed locally… I think it is the kitchen staff that needs to get their act together. My meal took more than 30 minutes to come out, and it was just country fried steak! The manager was very nice and professional, he apologized and gave me a gift certificate to come back. I hope I will be able to give a more favorable review at my next visit.

I have been to CSB Chesapeake multiple times and always seem to have a sub-​par dining experience. Yes, the food is good, but the service always seems to be lacking. My most recent visit was more of the same.
Yesterday, my party of seven went to CSB specifically for the Easter brunch buffet. We made reservations 2 weeks in advance. My party arrived 10 minutes before our reservation time and had to wait 30 minutes to be seated. I would normally not care about the wait since we were early, but it was disappointing to see so many large open tables that could easily accommodate us, but for whatever reason, we were not seated in them. I am guessing that this had to do with the availability of servers. When our table was ready, we were stuffed into a corner that forced the person on the end to get up and out of their seat every time someone else wanted to get out. (Not very well thought out by the CSB staff).
The buffet itself was not well organized and the containers for the popular items (Crab Stuffed Flounder and Fried Shrimp) were completely empty both times I went up. The line was very long and it discouraged me from trying to go up a third time. As for the food on the buffet, the food that was available was tasty. To CSB’s credit, my mother-​in-​law asked if the they could cook her bacon a little longer (bacon was very floppy, pink, and undercooked) and one of the employees went out of his way to get her some crispy/​cooked bacon.
Our waitress was pleasant but not overly friendly, she was terrible at clearing the table and especially terrible at refilling our drinks. It got to the point where we had to start stopping her every time she passed by to ask for refills, she seemed very annoyed by this. As for the plates stacking up, we just started putting them on one of the empty tables nearby. I don’t know if that was the bus boy dropping the ball, but I can tell you that our waitress certainly did not go out of her way to help.
Half of our party had never been to CSB before and they all seemed disappointed with their experience. My wife and I were embarrassed that we recommended CSB as a potentially good place to go for an Easter buffet.

What’s all the rage about?
Service was about the only good thing.
I had breakfast here. I don’t care for the atmosphere, feels really ‘theme park-​y’ if anyone gets that…
And the food was just okay for the price. Quite a bit for just okay food. Broken Egg and Great Bridge Grill beat it on all counts: atmosphere, price, quality.
Pass. Definitely won’t go back.

I came here with my dad for dinner to support small businesses since my dad was
craving some southern food (Cracker Barrel to be exact). I probably made the wrong decision that night. I had come to this restaurant a couple times in the past and didn’t have anything to complain about the food. But I guess the food has slacked off.
We came on a Tuesday night, and it wasn’t too busy. We were seated immediately. Our waitress got our drink orders and appetizers immediately. We ordered the fried green tomatoes, which were pretty decent, but my dad mentioned he’d had the same thing at a different chain restaurant that was much better. I noticed we got a free fried pickles for checking into Unilocal,so we ordered that as well. Since I ordered it late, it ended up coming out with the entrees. The fried pickles were a little too salty for my taste, and I feel like that came from the pickle itself and the sauce.
Now for our entrees. My dad got the shrimp and grits, which tasted pretty good but was lukewarm. I got the turkey platter with a side of mac and cheese. The turkey was smoked to perfection and came in a generous portion. The mac and cheese tasted of plain noodles, and I make a better mac and cheese than that. On a positive noted, our waitress was really nice. I don’t think I will be coming here willingly again.