Amuse Restaurant

Really enjoyed this place! A friend and I decided to go here for Richmond Restaurant Week. I really liked that you can make reservations online. This was actually my first visit to the VMFA so I got there a few mins early and wandered around. I love that it’s free and it’s open pretty late on certain days of the week. As for dinner we were seated in a smaller room overlooking the outdoor upper level patio with sweeping views of the lawn and outdoors. All around the room artwork was displayed and the ceiling had the coolest light fixture! We actually went the day Prince died so I got a Purple Rain drink which was phenomenal. The salad and crab were delicious as well. Can’t wait to go back to this place soon!!! The whole concept of eating surrounded by nice people and art gets an A in my book!

The best aspect of this restaurant is its location. We love that it’s in the VMFA. Food and service are nothing to write home about. Ambiance is ok with some cool ceiling lighting and nice views.
Skip the cheese plate. Overpriced for the anorexic portion. Try the French fries. Skip the crab cakes. Veggie entrée was ok.

I love the interior of this museum and ADORE the restaurant’s décor. And those chairs! OMG the chairs! I’m all about the mid century modern going on in that space. Hostess was sweet and our server was a hoot. Service was great. So my friend and I were here during restaurant week and ordered several different items and a bottle of wine. I have to say, the best dish was the fried oysters appetizer. So delicious, perfectly cooked, perfectly seasoned, honestly just perfect. The lighting doesn’t really help with the pictures but the dishes were beautiful as well. I mean it is an art museum so one would expect such. I totally forgot what my friend ordered for her app. For our entrée I got the lamb and friend got the mussels. The mussels were TO DIE FOR! My lamb was good, but not exceedingly so. Desserts were great, too bad I wasn’t in a dessert mood or I would have licked the plate. I will definitely be back again, not during restaurant week.

Food was good, server was attentive, champagned cocktails were excellent. A really nice, quiet restaurant with a great view.

Excellent champagne cocktail. Cheese plate also delicious. My sister had the pork which looked better than my coq au vin. Beautiful location

Oh wow this was SOOO GOOD!
My family came in town this past weekend to see the Rodin exhibit and I made us lunch reservations at Amuse. Our table of five was promptly seated near the window with a great view. We all started with cocktails. My The Camille was topped with vanilla foam and was super tasty. Fresh bread was delivered during cocktails and it was far and above the most delicious bread I have had in a long time.
Almost all of us started with the duck pastrami — you can tell we are all related, can’t you? The pieces were small, smokey, and tasty. The cured duck egg was these teeny tiny little egg morsels that I scooped on to of the duck for a super savory bite.
Our server sold us on the bouillabaisse and we are so glad we took her advice. The fish of the day was rockfish and it was the fish in the soup. I seriously ate every single drop. It was served with a piece of grilled toast that I left in the soup so it soaked up all of the broth.
This being my family, we did have dessert. I had a maple crème caramel and my brother had the chess pie. Both hit out sweet spot. I was so happy to see they had green chartreuse as an apéritif. All in all, this set us up for an excellent day at the museum.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE Amuse! The décor is fabulous! I’ve always had great amazing service at the bar and at dinner and the food is wonderful. They usually have themed drinks that go with the special exhibit they are showing at the time which I completely adore!
They change the menu often and it’s always ready to impress any foodies from the presentation to the taste. They even have super comfortable cushy seating for you to relax and have drinks and appetizers almost as comfortable as my own home. My only complaint is the bar seating. I don’t find the chairs comfortable and the bar is set out in an odd area, too close to people dining. It doesn’t bother me too much though as I visit Amuse pretty much every time I come to VMFA.

Gorgeous and delicious food, very satisfied with everything we ordered as well as the service. Price points of the menu were great too, considering how much more expensive mediocre food in DC costs. Hope to come back here again!

I tried this place with friends during Richmond Restaurant Week in October, so I’m not sure how the regular menu compares in terms of pricing or variety. The selection they had available for the event however was delicious and the atmosphere of the space was simply beautiful for a fall evening.

Though the portions are a bit smaller than is standard around here, the food is high quality and prepared carefully. The service is usually excellent and the view delightful. I’ve had Thanksgiving lunch here a couple times and it’s rather good. Champagne cocktails are on point and I love how they coordinate menu with exhibits.

When you choose Amuse, keep in mind that you are mainly paying for ambiance. The champagne cocktails can’t be beat and the appetizers really hit the spot. The menu changes every 2 – 3 months, but this keeps it seasonal and new each time you visit. Really like that cocktails are usually coordinated with whichever exhibit is being featured — cute!
This is a great option if you have a long-​ish wait until entering an exhibit. Sit outside, if it’s nice; the view cannot be beat!

Late snack lunch as a fabulous thunderstorm roared past the giant plate windows. Tuna tartare, fried oysters. Tuna over avocado. Tiny arugula leaves? TASTY. Oysters fried just so with a cream sauce. Salad with mysterious flavorful herb. Tres leches cake with perhaps too much caramel sauce, but flippin’ delicious nonetheless. Chocolate flourless cake and berries? Dense mousse? Delicious. And then spectacular japanese body art. A lovely afternoon.

Great view, nicely decorated (modern, white, spacious), nice staff, small menu but food was well presented with good quality ingredients and tasted good. However, oysters were over curried and salad over peppered. Bread is delicious. We would recommend Amuse as a nice spot for lunch if you’re feeling spendy.

Speechless. Brunch was amazing.
Need more kimchi tater tots STAT.

Things started well. Friendly, efficient waitress. Then absolute ridiculousness, probably not the server’s fault, but perhaps the new lunch menu, new RULES, prima donna chef? My guest ordered the burger, well done. The server responded that the burger was only cooked one way, medium. My neighbor asked if there was pink inside. The server responded that perhaps the burger was between medium and medium well, that no temperature was taken on the meat. Still, the question of doneness remained. I suggested that if the burger was not done to her satisfaction, my guest could send it back. «You should order something else,» replied the server. REALLY??? This is the first time that I have ever experienced such… a kitchen unable to prepare a piece of ground beef to a desired doneness. Most restaurants, even the expensive ones, have an asterisk noting that patrons consume undercooked beef at their own risk, that such consumption may cause illness. Amuse, however, mandates that if you want a burger, you must have it their way, medium-​maybe. Unpleasant experience! My guest opted to have the chicken, which she found acceptable.
Re my own meal… The oyster appetizer (which I have had several times before) was acceptable, although the very wilted microgreens that garnished the plate were off-​putting. I found my crabcake tiny in size and taste. The fried green tomatoes were crispily soggy. That scoop of cheesy stuff… what was it… did not help. The roasted corn side dish had an off taste. Entrée rated «blecch».
The $ 5 soda of the day is overpriced, certainly not the best value, even though it is a tasty substitute for a midday cocktail.
The ambience of the restaurant, given the museum, is wonderful, although it was significantly diminished by the burger incident. Just what has happened to the Amuse that was once a favorite restaurant? It has been some time since my previous visit. Things have definitely NOT gotten better.

This is a BEAUTIFUL restaurant! The food is as much a work of art.
We were here yesterday (Sunday) for a late brunch with my two best friends. We decided to sit on the upper deck patio outside. It was a gorgeous afternoon, it was just SO windy! We were seated promptly, and our waiter was by quickly to take our drink order. They had some really neat drink choices, my friend got some kind of blackberry lemonade soda that looked really good! My other friend got an overpriced caraffe of wine… $ 27 for a caraffe that pours less than 2 glasses of wine! Honestly, if you’re there and want some wine, skip the caraffe and just fork out the extra couple bucks for a bottle. It’s not worth it otherwise.
I was a little apprehensive when my friends suggested coming here, because I am on a sort of elimination diet to address some possible food allergies, so there’s not a lot I can eat right now. I looked up their menu online and basically everything had gluten, dairy, alcohol, or soy which is a no go for me right now, BUT our waiter was super nice and let me order a plate of greens with two poached eggs and didn’t make me feel like a diva for doing so. My one friend got the mussels, and they looked amazing! She said they were really good too – I think they were made in a butter wine sauce. My other friend got a salad, which she said was good, but she didn’t finish. Oh, and before we ordered, they brought us a blueberry banana coffee cake/​bread that looked AHHMAZING, and it was lightly dusted with powdered sugar… it was so hard not to try a bite, but my friends reported that it was absolutely delicious!
I think the best part of the experience was our waiter. I wish I could remember his name but he was just a doll! He was so funny and so nice/​helpful that it really made the experience that much better. I think the service is the best part about the restuarant… besides the view of course!
My friends were so tempted to order dessert, but we decided we had more art to see! The dessert list sounded very tempting though. We’ll definitely be back when I can actually eat real food!

Great menu, great service although moves a little slower so dont expect a fast lunch. Portions are a little smaller so you can order apps, salad and entrée. Very pretty view. I recommend the salad and fried oysters.

The ONLY things not to love about Amuse are it’s anorexic portions. Everything else is superb. I mean, the ambiance gets no better. A clean, bright restaurant in a first class museum with a patio overlooking perfectly manicured lawns and gardens.
The food, of course, is delicious. On my last visit, I got the crabcake and the chocolate cake for dessert. Divine. Beautiful presentation. The service is pleasant.
Make a reservation, and do sit on the patio if you can get a seat there.

My boyfriend and I were only able to order snacks because we visited at an odd time. I ordered the cheese plate and my boyfriend ordered the chili. The cheese plate was a bit too strong for me, but I did like my boyfriend’s chili.
The interior of the restaurant is nice — clean, white, and minimalistic. There is a lot of open space and the restaurant gets a lot of sunlight. The snacks were mediocre for me, but overall, I did enjoy my experience.

I have been anxious to try Amuse and my aunt’s birthday for a perfect chance for us have a lovely ladies lunch.
The setting a gorgeous, overlooking the lawn behind the VMFA. In the warmer weather, there is also outdoor seating on their balcony.
Auntie and I enjoyed our lunch. She dined on the crab cake and I had the rockfish. For dessert, we split the chocolate pâté, which was worth every single calorie!
The menu has some nice offerings and everything is beautifully presented. While our lunches were lovely, Amuse does seem to place style over substance.