The Fox’s Den Tavern

Stopped in for lunch with friends on a Friday before visiting wineries in Delaplane. There is a patio, but the metal mesh seating looked a bit uncomfortable especially with no shade on a fairly warm day. The inside of the tavern is dark, cozy and inviting, but very small. Since we were a group of four we opted for a table rather than bellying up to the bar. The dining room was to the left and held maybe 15 tables — again very small. The décor definitely leans toward a fox hunt theme. Dark burgundy on the brick wall, wood floor and trim, wood tables and low ceilings give the tavern a nice historic feel.
The menu is not huge, but we easily found a few things to try. They let us know right away they were out of the Guinness Beef Stew. Not a problem, as that would not be our first pick on a beautiful spring day. Two of us decided on the crab BLT. My crab cake was large and loaded with crab, but a tad dry. It was topped with a couple of slices of smoky bacon, romaine (yay, no iceberg), a slice of fresh tomato and a nice remoulade. My husband had the Fox Club — a big sandwich prepared exactly as expected. Our friend tried the chicken breast sandwich topped with Swiss cheese, avocado, bacon, lettuce, tomato and mayo. All sandwiches were served with the house made waffle chips which were quite good. However, we had to try the fries — an order of parmesan white truffle and another of Old Bay. The fries were delicious and the standout of the meal in my opinion. These were definitely house made, crispy and I found the parmesan white truffle delicious. Old Bay was a bit salty for my tastes.
Service was attentive and we didn’t have to wait too long for our food. All told, this was a solid lunch for a reasonable price. I would go back.

Very inattentive wait staff. I also had to go to the bar to ask for drink refills. Food took forever. Even people seated later got their meals before I did. Food quality was fair to poor.

Beware of your receipt when you eat here. The waitress added a 15% tip to the total. I clearly put a line through tip and repeated the total. So the owner should have seen the illegal activity.
When calling the manager and explaining why I didn’t leave a tip she said she would not have left a tip either. Many issues. Main reason getting our wines 10 min after meal arrived. When I asked her if we were still getting our drinks she looked at me like what a stupid question and said they were coming with a mean attitude. If she just would have said sorry and give whatever excuse I would have left a tip. But she was so rude.
The manager said she would comp my meal but the owner had to do it. I called 3 times and talked to manager about no credit showing and she said owner was busy because of holidays and then said he was hunting that day???
Had my credit card company finally refund my tip. It had been 2 months without any response from owner. My card has been compromised twice in the last couple of years. Makes me wonder if it happened here with employees that do illegal things and the owner not caring about the illegal activity in his restaurant.

Very mediocre food with disengaged service. Stopped here for lunch on a day out in Middleburg. Ate on the patio, which was a mistake, given that their clientele was equally divided amongst self satisfied, congratulatory road bikers and chain smoking bikers of the mechanical sort.
Service was slow and food was just… blah. It didn’t have much in the way of seasoning and was heavy handed on the mayo. My burger was several degrees short of medium. Fries were sad and floppy.
Middleburg has many restaurants. We won’t need to make this mistake twice.

I wish I could even comment on the food here. My fiancé and I went last night and stood waiting to be acknowledged for about fifteen minutes. The servers just looked at us but said nothing. We eventually just left. Terrible service.

I have to update my review, sadly. This place was once pretty golden in me and my fiancé’s eyes. We’d recommend that people come here and just generally raved about it. No more.
Long story short, the server I see in there most often is snarky and rude. This happened twice. The restaurant released a Living Social deal. Because we love the place, I got one and so did my fiancé. The server hemmed and hawed over the use of the deal, telling us they were losing money on it. And that’s the customer’s problem? He was also inattentive once he found out we were using the deal, not refilling drinks, not bringing out the bread and butter (that ALWAYS comes with the meal), and not checking back to see how the food was.
Fed up with two bad experiences, I wrote a letter to the owner a few months ago. I have heard nothing.
The service has gotten bad, the crabcakes smaller, and some of the other food was just bland. I long for the glory days of this place. Seems they are long gone unless management thinks its a problem and wants to make some changes. Until then, we have to find a new spot to have dinner when we are near Barrel Oak Winery.

Great ambiance and the server was very nice, but the quality of service was definitely lacking in some areas. Our bread came out after our entrees. Service overall was very slow. I was there on a Friday night and there appeared to be only one server working. Also, the dessert I ordered, the molten lava cake, said it came with ice cream, but when our server brought it out there was no ice cream with it. I asked if it usually came with ice cream and our server said it did but they were out. I feel like this is something that should have been mentioned before I ordered the dessert.

Small, Small little bar inside this place which is fun to stop in for a drink before you head over to the Red Fox Inn for dinner. Yes, they have dinner here, but it is worth walking across the street.
The service is decent, the bartenders are nice, you can tell they usually just serve beer because they do not know a super lot about wine or mixed drinks, but everyone is very nice.

Don’t go here when they are switching over to dinner. We rolled up at 3:30, sat down, ordered wine and figured out what we wanted to eat for lunch. Then we were told we could only order appetizers, salad and soup. We were not happy because someone should’ve told us before we sat down starving. We had crab cakes (two small balls for $ 14) and I had a Caesar salad which was good but only the size of a side salad for $ 8 or so. The food we had was pretty good but not enough for the cost. Very dissatisfied

I had really good expectations. That’s the way is was suppose to be? Right? I have scoured Unilocal!Google reviews, even trip advisor. After all, this was suppose to be our parent’s night out.
Our daycare holds, every two months, a ‘Parents Night Out’ where we drop our little ones off at the school for pizza and a movie for a few hours and us parents go out for a dinner without my impatient toddler and jumpy newborn.
My husband and I wanted to try a place to eat that was above our normal Bob Evans type dinner — since they tolerate our kids. We chose the Fox’s Den Tavern because we wanted to finally see Middleburg, and the ratings were above average. Plus it was one of the few restaurants that didn’t have an abundance of seafood on the menu — my one allergy.
We made reservations in advance. After dropping off our kids, we drove about 30 minutes down Rt. 50 to Middleburg. We parked and arrived right at our coveted time. Upon arriving, I was pushed out of the way by a male patron, who must have been a local and a regular to be seated before us, even though we were patiently waiting there first. The waitress asked us for our name, and when she checked the book we saw our name had been crossed out and our table had been given away. We wanted a nice adult semi-​romantic dinner. Instead of the white linen tablecloth dinner we had been expecting, we were placed at a table in the bar area. I turned to my husband and said ‘well, at least we have a table and don’t have to eat in the arm chairs and the coffee table area’.
Once seated, the countdown began. We were on a time limit before we had to return to the school to pick up our children. After being seated and given our menus, we waited 25 minutes before our order was taken for water and wine. Granted, from what we could gather there were only two waitresses for the entire tavern… they might have been understaffed. My husband had to flag someone down. I enquired if what was fried of mixed with shellfish… turns out a good deal of the menu, which wasn’t too bad as they had other good options. After ordering our wine, it took another 10 – 15 minutes before we could even order from the menu, it was that hard to flag someone down.
From the bar area we were able to view the area of the tavern we had hope to sit in. Over on the other side, tables who had been seated after us already had eaten their appetizer and received their main course, whereas we just managed to order our meal. Water and wine had already been refilled. Patrons at the bar had received better attention than us. My husband and I speculated that since we were from out of town, obviously not part of the Middleburg town establishment, or maybe we didn’t look like money lined our pockets enough to warrant the excellent attention and service the other patrons in the tavern received.
The appetizer was ok. My husband was happy with his salad. I had the soup because it was one of the few items that wasn’t cooked with shellfish or had elements that would be fried with seafood. My one happiness was the soup was not salty. It was seasoned just right.
As for the main, I had the risotto with wild mushrooms. The rice was mushy and overcooked, but the entrée itself had great flavor. My husband ordered the red snapper, which looked fantastic on the plate but when his fork when into it, the entire inside was raw and cold. We had to wait about 10 minutes before we could flag the waitress down to let her know. The fish was sent back to the kitchen and returned. It was still raw in the middle, but at this point we had been in the Fox’s Den Tavern for over an hour and half and needed to allow enough time to drive back down 50 in time. We skipped desert and asked for the bill. My husband’s fish was taken off the bill since it was raw the first time and not cooked all the way when sent back.
Overall, I felt the wait staff really needed another person on duty. We felt slighted that parties that arrived after us received faster and better attention than we did. The whole establishment had the feeling that the more money and influence in the town of Middleburg you had, the better attention you received. Such a shame. We were also asked to test out this eating establishment and refer our experience back to our co-​workers and friends who have never been to Middleburg. Sadly I have to say this time I cannot recommend it unless you have the local influence and air of money to speed up your service, because that is the impression we received.
Upon departing two guys who were outside smoking said goodnight to us and started to laugh. They were part of the kitchen staff from my guess and it makes me seriously wonder if they did something to our food since they were laughing.

Middleburg, VA, has been our destination the first Saturday in December for 15 years running now, as it’s Middleburg’s «Christmas in Middleburg» celebration. Starts with the Middleburg Hunt riding down Main Street along with their beautiful hounds, lots of shopping & a wonderful lunch, & the Christmas parade — redolent with floats, more horses, & dogs. A festive all-​day event that we really enjoy every year.
Every year we’ve always traditionally had lunch at the «Back Street Café», but sadly they closed their doors end of December 2011. So this year a new lunch venue was needed. Had yet to try «The Fox’s Den Tavern», which took the place of another of our favorites — «Hidden Horse Tavern» — a year or so ago, so we decided we’d give them a try. We’d never made lunch reservations for Middleburg Christmas before, but given that «Back Street Café» was now gone, figured it might be a good idea since obviously all of Back Street’s fans would also be looking for a new lunch spot. So last Friday I phoned — realizing it was last minute — & spoke to Angela, who first informed me that they’d been booked up solid for two weeks already. Oh well. I thanked her, & told her my tale of woe re: Back Street Café, & how we weren’t really fans of the other Middleburg lunch spots. She asked me how many were in our party, & when I told her «just two», she asked me to hold & re-​checked the book. And hallelujah — she did find a squeeze-​in opening for us at 1 p. m!!! I was thrilled!!! I threatened to kiss her — lol!
We arrived around 10 minutes early, & they did have a large sign & someone manning the door proclaiming «RESERVATIONS ONLY». They’ve really done a nice job re-​doing the interior — kept the flavor of the place (it’s an old historic building), but spruced it up nicely with antiques & antique-​like furnishings. Of course due to the festivities of the day, it was a madhouse, but they seated us temporarily on a pillowed antique leather sofa & offered us menus & drinks while we waited for our table to clear. After watching a few cocktails go by, I felt compelled to order a «Bloody Mary», & it was the best damn «Bloody Mary» I’ve EVER had. Perfectly spicy, perfect amount of horseradish, garnished with both lime & lemon wedges, 3 of the largest stuffed olives I’ve ever seen impaled on a long toothpick, & served in the traditional TALL glass. I was SO tempted to order a 2^nd one, but really didn’t want to be staggering around town in the middle of the afternoon — lol!
Once seated, we started by sharing an appetizer of «Fried Oysters with Parmesan Cheese With a Roasted Red Pepper Remoulade» ($ 9) — 7 medium-​size oysters in a Parmesan-​laced cornmeal crust, perfectly fried in every way. Remoulade was nicely spicy.
For entrees, hubby had the «Albacore Tuna Melt with Sharp Cheddar Cheese served on Marbled Rye» ($ 9) & I had the «Smoked Turkey Reuben» — with Honey Mustard Sauerkraut & house-​made Thousand Island Dressing ($ 8) — also on marble rye. Both orders came with dill pickle chips & a small pile of lengthwise-​sliced house-​made «waffle» potato chips.
First impression — if you’re looking for a thick deli-​type sandwich, these ain’t it. Very thin. In fact, so thin that we couldn’t tell one from the other when our waitress accidentally switched our orders. It wasn’t until we bit into them that we realized we had each others orders. But the sandwiches were so good, that we ended up just switching sandwich halves so we’d each get to enjoy some of both. The Honey Mustard «sauerkraut» on mine wasn’t really sauerkraut, but was so good that even my sauerkraut-​hating husband loved it. As for the waffle chips, they were a bust. Overcooked (several were black) & no seasoning at all. And no salt or pepper shakers on any of the tables to add some.
Service (& free entertainment thanks to the loud table of parade-​float «nurses» at the next table) was FABULOUS — especially due to the madhouse-​environment of a festival day. And because we’d had to wait a bit for our table, our lovely waitress (I do so wish I’d gotten her name — petite pretty brunette) comped my «Bloody Mary». Totally unexpected & unnecessary, but endearing nonetheless.
Bottom line: A REALLY nice lunch for $ 26.00 before tax & tip. Even if my wonderful «Bloody Mary» hadn’t been comped, still a bargain. We’ll DEFINITELY be back, not only for lunch, but to try dinner as well.

On a recent weekend the restaurant was booked completely. The outdoor area was closed but they were willing to accommodate us since we were willing to sit outside. The inside area looks a little cramped but the outside area was very pleasant to sit at on a sunny day. I recommend their crabcakes which are made with basically no filler and light breadcrumbs. The breadcrumbs were like Panko. I also recommend their cauliflower soup with scallop. This is the best restaurant in the area as far as food quality that I visited so far. Service was good.

The ambience is great; bit of old world charm. The food is absolutely phenomenal and nicely presented. Unfortunately, the service is somewhat slow and quaint is an understatement when it comes to elbow room. I do appreciate unhurried service; however, I expect to be greeted promptly after being seated and to have my beverage refreshed before I finish my meal. I also appreciate quaint cozy seating; however, I would rather not sit as close to the table next to me as I do fellow parishioners in a Church pew. Go for the food, but don’t expect to have intimate conservations with your party (unless intimate for you includes the table next to you) and plan for plenty of time.

I recently ate lunch at the Fox’s Den Tavern in Middleburg, Virginia. It’s a charming, casual little restaurant in a very pretty town. The service was friendly and polished, and everyone in our group thought the food was fantastic. The grilled country ham and swiss sandwich was delicious and a perfect match for the chicken, vegetable, sorrel soup. The chicken salad sandwich was outstanding. Both were accompanied with superb house-​made waffle cut potato chips — they were crispy and light as air. The goat cheese salad was another winner. The prices were extremely reasonable too.
We are going to make a point of traveling to Middleburg often just to eat at the Fox’s Den Tavern.

Should you find yourself in Middleburg, and suddenly overwhelmed with the horse/​fox theme, please write this restaurant’s name on your hand.
It’s worth a visit.
My mother, sister, and I stumbled across this place after striking out at several antique stores in Middleburg (because our aesthetic is decidedly un-​Hunt Country. Don’t ask why we were here). Unlike the rest of the shops in Middleburg, the menu offers reasonably priced comfort-​y foods. Think hearty sandwiches, soups, and salads. The menu is creative and seasonable enough, and while the décor may throw you (dark wood, delicate china), it’s casual enough to enjoy a leisurely lunch.
In short: it offers enough chicness for city-​folk while still appealing to the sensibilities of country mice.

My husband and I recently moved to the area and really wanted to try a Middleburg restaurant for dinner. We had driven through the town a couple of times and it just looked so charming! Both sets of parents were in town this weekend and I decided on Fox’s Den Tavern for dinner on Saturday to celebrate my birthday a couple of weeks early while everyone was in town.
I saw the reviews were good on Unilocal and the menu looked great. Nice, but not too fancy-​schmancy for my picky mom. I made reservations on Friday for Saturday night with no problem. We arrived just on time and were seated immediately. We were all in awe of the décor – how tiny, old, rustic, etc. it was. Charming!
We ordered Chesapeake fries and salads for appetizers, which everyone seemed to enjoy. For entrees, my mom and I both got the Pepper & Mustard Crusted Boneless Rib-​eye – WOW! So delicious. My husband got the Lobster Mac & Cheese and loved it. My dad got the trout to which he said «WOW, delicious!». My in-​laws both got the crab cakes which they loved as well, so the main dishes were 5 stars!
A couple of desserts were ordered – mango sorbet for my dad, which he enjoyed, crème brûlée for the in-​laws, which they enjoyed, and the Bailey’s chocolate cheesecake for me. The waitress had heard it was my birthday and put a candle in it which was very thoughtful.
The reason for the 1-​star deduction was just a couple of minor things. 1) My dad ordered oysters for an appetizer after hearing they were a special only to find out a couple of minutes later that they had no oyster knife. So, no oysters. 2) My husband ordered a Guinness only to find out it was the last of the keg. He got 1 glass out of it, but had to make a switch later on. Same for my dad – he ordered some special Rye beer that the waitress was talking up. He ended up really enjoying it, but then that keg ran out too.
The service was great, I had no problems as other Unilocalers seemed to have had. I don’t know the name of our waitress, but she was lovely. Everyone else was more than friendly and very attentive. I would agree that this place is not good for children of any age, so plan ahead.

Lovely place in Middleburg. After apple picking we stopped in Middleburg to grab some food and decided on the Fox’s Den. Yum.
First off the service was wonderful. I felt like I was at a friends house for lunch. Started with the fried oysters and ordered the smoked turkey ruben. Both were great. I love small town places like this one.
Makes me not want to come back to Northern VA!

Get the parmesan truffle french fries. You won’t regret it.

Have been here twice in daytime… a very enjoyable time with good food. Eggs benedict the first time, a heaping club sandwich the second. Very pleasant atmosphere, well worth a stop. I’d give it 4 stars, but feel that just going off a sandwich and eggs i don’t have enough to judge by.
One note… with all due respect to the person with a baby who wasn’t served, some restaurants like to focus on adult customers so everyone can enjoy a quiet, adult-​oriented meal. Just as I wouldn’t take a date to Chuckee Cheese for dinner, some places are not for kids.

I am in LOVE with this place! I went for the first time back in October during their opening weekend. We happened to stumble upon it after having a few drinks down at the Red Horse Tavern. Other than running out of quite a few wines, I wouldn’t have known it was their opening weekend at all. But we did have an amazing server, so I’m sure that was part of it.
The décor is really cozy. Antiques, big comfy couches to sit on in the bar area, candles, and a wood burning fireplace.
I just went again this weekend, and both times the food and service were excellent. We had the same server, Roberta, and she is amazing. The owners are very friendly as well, and love to answer questions or talk about anything you may want to talk about. The bartenders are also very personable and fun. So far I’ve had their filet and lobster mac and cheese for entrees, and butternut squash soup and gorgonzola truffle fries for appetizers. All of it was delicious! I can’t wait to go back…