Second Street American Bistro

Food was amazing hair was more on the casual too dressed up side. I was very comfortable in my capris and a dress shirt I don’t think I would have been comfortable in jeans. The lobster bisque was amazing they’re free bread on the table was amazing with the oil dip. The portions were ginormous! The kids got the small flatbread pizza one was enough to split between the two. The salad was so large I took half of it home. The desserts looked absolutely amazing and again huge they really should tell you how big everything is when you sit down. I would definitely come back here when we’re in town.

Delicious food matched with great service! Our server was very attentive and offered good suggestions for every element of our meal. The «real» French fries with duck confit were awesome yet heavy as an appetizer — something to order as a side to share with the table. The Chesapeake crab cakes were fresh and essentially all crabmeat chunks! The portions are appropriate as they are very filling — didn’t have room
for dessert though I really wanted to. The food was a bit salty for me but that’s just a preference.

A delightful oasis in the midst of touristy Williamsburg. I had the tuna entrée which came with the most incredible polenta ever. My son had the burger which was awesome and wife had the seafood salad, which wasn’t too creamy but delightful. The fried green tomatoes come with pimento cheese and bacon and are done just right… Awesome onion rings too.
We only had a sample of the fresh baked cookies since the entrees are most ample portions, but they were delicious too.
We dropped in after an afternoon at Busch Gardens and didn’t feel at all frowned upon for being in our theme park clothes

We ended up being disappointed with the very slow service and indifferent attitude of the wait-​staff.

We were very happy with our lunch here. My wife and I shared a bowl of vegetable & ham soup that was very good. I had a chicken wrap that was good but a little dry. My wife loved her BBQ sandwich and our kids raved about the hamburgers. Oh, and the onion rings were perfectly done. It is a bit pricey for a family lunch but it is worth the price.

I can’t believe that I haven’t found this place until today.
It’s just a but upscale… Way more then the price on the menu would imply.
Very well stocked bar. It’s unusual to find a bar with Campari; it’s harder to find one with Lagavulin. Finding one with both is a true gem.
That’s what I took ibn as I walked up to the bar area.
Not thirty seconds after I sat down, I got a phone call. I needed to write something down, and… Swear to all that is holy, within five seconds of me glancing around for something to write with, the bartender (Elizabeth, by the way) wordlessly put a pen and napkin in front of me.
Now… Maybe you’re thinking that’s not a big deal. But the place was busy, and she was scanning the crowd enough not just to notice that I was on a phone call, but that I needed a pen? 95% of bartenders will see a phone to your ear and move on — you’re not ready to order, so why pay more attention?
But Elizabeth did. She took that extra second to see that I had an unasked-​for need, and filled it just exactly how I needed it.
THAT, by fellow Unilocalers, is what real customer service is about. If I were still a restaurant manager, I’d have offered her a job on the spot.
Now… All of that said, Elizabeth earned a five star rating for 2^nd Street before I even cracked open a menu.
The rest of my evening was just as epic.
But that, my friends, is a story for another time.

I took an out of town visitor here because I’d heard it had a total makeover… and it was fantastic. Good variety, high end cuisine and good service.

We went in for their lunch. Not a whole lot of selections but the two items we orders were good: short rib sloppy joe with potato salad and the short rib sloppy joe burger with house made chips. We want to go back and try their dinner items.

Great ambiance and great tasting food. The wait staff is very nice and helpful, however we did wait at least 5 minutes before anyone came to talk to us after being seated. Everything after that was great though. We had the tuna steak and lobster alfredo, both were awesome. Tuna was cooked perfectly. The thai shrimp are amazing. I’m not sure if it’s billed as a «family» restaurant, but some people certainly took it as such. It seemed a little nice for a family place, but just be advised. Overall, I recommend!

Do not go here if you’d like a nice wine with your meal or actually want to be treated nicely for the money you’re paying. The hostess was kind of rude and off putting when we first got here when we told her we had a party of 8 the «manager» isnt very welcoming either.
I ordered a sangria and they told me they wouldn’t accept my ID because the picture was «faded». Im 28 years old and the actual police have accepted the same ID for checkpoints and I get into bars and order drinks without a problem when I do drink. I have NEVER had a problem with it. You can still see my picture and no one has every said anything about the condition of my license. I feel they acted like that because they were mad we came in kind of late and wanted to hassle us. This is utter ridiculous. Go somewhere else they’re over priced and not very friendly either.

Loved the place. Great ambiance and fast service. Food was great. Server was sweet but a little confused. Nonetheless we enjoyed ourselves. Bartender did a great job on customizing my drink order.

This place has gone through quite a metamorphosis over the years from casual dining to casual fine dining. Food quality has improved over the years and the place is large enough to accommodate large parties. They also have a great lunch specials, and a nice outdoor seating area.

This literally tasted and felt like Chili’s (maybe an upgraded Denny’s) in disguise.
The drink menu was in no way impressive — mmm Svedka, cranberry, and a splash of Sprite. The food menu had a little of everything which should make the average diner a little wary. The chicken meatballs were ok, the Second Street burger was ok, and the salads were ok.
We had a very wonderful waiter, Mike P, who was attentive but understood that we did not want to rush dinner. Overall, do not set your expectations too high.

Awesome place! We were greeted as soon as we came in. The staff is friendly and looks out for your best interest. We were able to order from both the lunch menu and dinner menu since we came in between times. My husband ordered the brisket burger and I ordered The VA panini which were both great! We ordered the ahi tuna was okay not great. The shrimp appetizer was awesome. Corn bread was good. Kids pizza was okay but the fries were awesome! Everything came out fast.

This place has fantastic food! My family spent 4 days in Williamsburg and we made 2 visits here for dinner because the food is so good and the portions are pretty big.
The Thai Shrimp is absolutely delicious. The shrimp are plump, juicy, tender and are in this fabulous tangy sauce. Totally addictive. The Lobster alfredo is also wonderful.
The onion rings are also superb. It seems like you can’t go wrong with any order at this place. Well worth the wait if it is crowded.

I subtracted 2 stars because of the following: I chose to use there call ahead seating and I called and told them I’ll arrive at 7:45 they. When I arrived at 7:45 they advised me my name had been called 15 minutes prior. I advise the gentleman at the front desk that you advised to call when you’ll arrive 30 minutes prior and they don’t quote wait time over the phone so this system needs to be fixed. My main issues isn’t that they called me it was the rudeness of the gentleman at the front desk who told me «Well you’re going to have to wait the full 30 minutes» then proceeded to discuss me with the other woman at the front desk.
Now for the food our server was 5 stars AWESOME. The bread and oil with 15 herbs was great. We had the Brussels Sprouts and they were delicious. The NY steak was the best I’ve ever had. Burgers were great and Thai shrimp awesome. Fried chicken was slightly underwhelming but overall I would definitely come back. During a time with no wait of course. :-)

Okay, so they would have gotten a 4-​star review if they hadn’t completely botched my first impression. I walked in with my party, stated I had a reservation, and when they said that my table would just take a minute, we told them that we were both were going to use the restrooms. Upon my return to their very empty reception area, I waited and waited and waited. All the while, two hostesses are trying to look busy. Now mind you, the rest of my party had already been sat and we were all expecting the staff to indicate to me where they had been sat. Instead they let me wait by myself for what? A miracle? So I finally take it upon myself to ask if the rest of my party has been sat and lo and behold, they had. Dear lord! Not a great first impression.
Fortunately, our server, Lacey, was amazing and very attentive. We were both amazed at the high quality of the food from a seemingly relaxed venue. The steaks tasted amazing and their Italian olive oil for dipping was perfectly seasoned. The Cosmos were crafted perfectly and went down nicely. All in all, I was impressed by many things including the wait staff and food quality, but the décor and host staff are dragging their star numbers down.
I will definitely be back since quality food experiences seem to be far and few between in Williamsburg.

Great service to start. Sat in the bar area and with high tables we still had table service with a very friendly bartender.
To start we had the balsamic Brussels sprouts with truffle salt. Omg the best I’ve had! Perfect balance of salty and sweet with the balsamic glaze.
Next up we had the beet salad was simple but full of flavor. and teriyaki lettuce cups were great value at $ 11.90 and so much food I loved it!

Im sitting down to write this review while I’m eating my leftovers from yesterdays visit with a smile on my face. I really enjoyed this restaurant and all the flavors it had to offer.
Ill start with the apps. I ordered the Thai Poppin’ shrimp because so many of the reviews suggested it. My sister got the Onion rings and the Second Street Basket O Chips. (If I had my choice I would have chosen the Lamb Meatballs but I guess ill have to save that for another time –_​-​). I was very pleased with what I ordered! I thought the shrimp was perfect in size, with a smooth breading and a flavorful sauce (not bang-​bang creamy like I was expecting – yay for a restaurant finally not ripping off Bonefish’s idea). My sisters onion rings were very. onion ring-​ish? not sure what she was expecting. The breading on these rings were very soft on the mouth. Usually when I eat onion rings the breading is hard and jagged and I end up having to pull the onion out of its fried cave in order to enjoy it, this was pleasant. Although the Siracha ranch sauce I didn’t really understand. Its really just ranch with a dash of Siracha so light that its almost pointless to put it in there. The Basket O chips was just that, a basket of chips to dip in cheese sauce. I think she ordered it to see what the fuss was about over Pimento cheese. Its never been a cheese Ive been particularly impressed with. I had a bite and was done. That much fried/​fattiness seriously gives me anxiety.
Onward to the good stuff! I ordered the Southern BahnMi and my sister got the Smokehouse burger. Ill get through hers first because its easy, it was delicious. haha. I mean, theres not much to say about a burger. When its good, its good! It was cooked perfectly and everything that came on it was great! She had a hard time keeping it together, but thats just how delicious burgers work sometimes. Oh! And her potato salad side was fantastic! Big chunks of potato and not too much mayo. It all worked really well together!
So, my BahnMi. I’ve never had a Vietnamese sandwich before so I thought, «why not?!». I really liked the presentation of the dish. The colors and the way the top looked like it had slipped off in order to show you what was inside. I liked it! Once I put the sandwich together and took a bite, everything sort of ran together. I couldn’t really differentiate the flavors and it almost seemed somewhat bland. A few more bites and some things started making sense but I didn’t get that punch of flavor I was expecting. I ended up getting full and taking most of the sandwich home. I was sort of blasé about my entrée and sad it didn’t taste as good as it sounded.
It wasn’t until I got home and got a little hungry when I went and pulled the sandwich apart and FINALLY found all of the fantastic flavors. I’m not sure if it needed to sit, or get cold, or maybe I wasn’t in the right headspace at the restaurant, or maybe there wasn’t enough sauce on the sandwich, I have no idea, all I know is that sandwich kicked me in the FACE with all of its flavors! THIS was what I was waiting for at the restaurant! I don’t even remember what all was on the sandwich, I think cucumbers and some sort of Thai mayo and some other things. Oh my gosh it was incredible though! And! It actually paired quite nicely with the Southern Slaw that I got (fantastic btw!). Im wondering if it went well together because of the vinegar in the slaw? Anyway, I walked out of the restaurant with 3 stars and now its jumped up to 4! Super happy with the end result of this sandwich and my meal all together. Will definitely return to try the other fun dishes this place has to offer (aka Mexican meatball sub?! whatttt!).
Oh! And I got that epic Bloody Mary that everyone keeps taking pictures of… it was pretty epic ;)

I quite liked this restaurant.
Service went pretty well. Good selection of fall themed cocktails. Burgers are huge although I just enviously looked at them and didn’t really try them. Even the veggie burger looked good (it was like a deep fried patty or something)
I had the meatloaf which was just okay.
I would go back and get something else next time!