Terrapin Restaurant

I read the reviews on this place and thought I’d like to try it. I wish I would have saved my money. I got the shrimp scampi and crème brûlée. The shrimp scampi was Not good nor flavorful and the crème brûlée was runny like a milk shake. Very pricey and not worth the money. Service was very good

Terrapin has long been my wife’s favorite area restaurant. Nothing lasts forever.
Last night we stopped in for drinks and a light dinner on the patio. We started with salads and the chilled, roasted beet salad was spot on. This has always been our favorite salad.
When we ordered salads, we also ordered 3 of the 5 «second courses» to share. The plan was to sample these, and then order one or two more, or go to an entrée’.
After the salad course, I finished my wine and ordered another. It took a very long time for the server to bring me another glass of house wine. My wife then ordered another cocktail, this, too seemed to take forever.
The «second courses» we’re served a full 35 minutes after the salads were finished. Needless to say, we felt the dreadfully slow service ruined the whole experience. We will not go back to Terrapin anytime soon.

Excellent! Every penny spent was worthy. From greeting us arriving to the restaurant, the service, the food, the drinks, the dessert, the ambiance, décor. Edward was our French amazing garçon (server) and he has so much attention to detail.
I strongly recommend Terrapin for a special occasion or a date.

My wife and I had the opportunity to have dinner at the Terrapin while in town on a business trip. The food quality was amazing without a doubt (fresh ingredients from local sources). The wine and cocktails menu was decent, offering a good selection (including my wife’s favorite wine that we never see anywhere). However, the layout of the restaurant creates very little privacy from table to table. Kind of strange to have a romantic dinner when you are elbow to elbow with the next tables over. Also, be prepared for this to be a 3-​hr adventure for dinner as the service is very slow.

My wife and I dinned here this past weekend. We sat out on the terrace and it started raining but it was still a nice experience. I could not afford to eat here very often but the food and the service was excellent. Very fresh. Even the salad was delicious. The fresh bread was dense but very good and the turtle butter was very cute. My wife ordered the steak and ordered it well done, which no chef likes to cook that way. It came back perfectly cooked and even though it was overcooked by their standards, the meat was delicious.

Not just a meal. This is a culinary experience you never forget.

Dinner was perfect The food was amazing, the service was excellent, but it was all in the details at Terrapin. When we were taken to our table, I was given a black napkin instead of a white one since I was wearing dark clothes. He didn’t want me worrying about lint. I didn’t get a photo of it, but the butter was shaped like a turtle. Our server brought us new flatware after every course.
And the service really was excellent. He was informative and attentive, but never hovered. I would look up occasionally and see him in the back of the restaurant, just watching his tables. He was quick to recommend cocktails, and menu items. Everything here was absolutely flawless.
We went with the 4 course tasting menu (slightly smaller portions of almost anything on the menu. Some of the items charged a tasting supplement, and you got the full sized portion). We both started with the beet salad (roasted baby red, gold & chioggia beets, shaved organic fennel, orange segments, feta cheese, rosemary-​yuzu vinaigrette, radish sprouts). I never knew I liked beets until a couple of years ago. Since they’re messy to prepare, they’re still not something I eat frequently, but I’m so glad I went with this salad. It was absolutely gorgeous, and delicious. The flavors all complemented one another perfectly.
For my second course, I had the truffle mac & cheese (vermont extra sharp white cheddar, parmigiano-​reggiano, black truffles). This was incredibly rich, and delicious, and SO CHEESY. For G’s second course, he had the pork belly (sorghum braised pork belly, organic peas, fennel, ‘rye’ gastrique, poached farm egg). I only had a small bite of the pork belly, since I’m not a fan of peas, and runny egg yolks make me nauseous. But the pork belly was excellent.
For my 3^rd course, I (of course) had the scallops (fennel dusted sea scallops, oven-​dried tomato, dave & dee oyster & wild mushrooms, sea beans, black truffle & garden herb pan sauce). I’m always wary of ordering scallops at upscale restaurants after the Savoy incident in Little Rock several years back, so I now I’m forced to ask how many scallops are served. When he told me three, I was sold. The scallops were PERFECT. I have never had a scallop more perfectly cooked than these three beauties right here. And the sauce… oh my. Ever since our trip to Canada a few weeks back, I’ve become obsessed with gravy fries, and pretty much gravy in general. A pan sauce is pretty much a fancy gravy, and I pretty much want to put this on everything I eat forever.
Both desserts we chose were simple, but delicious. I had the strawberry field (poached strawberries, rhubarb compote, cotton cake, strawberry cream cheese, honey-​rosemary ice cream, butter crumb) and G had the sorbet trio. One was orange ginger, once was lemon cardamom, and the third was completely forgettable. The lemon was definitely the favorite.

This place was great! It was beautiful, the wait staff was wonderful and very professional. The food was of course great. The only complaint I could reasonably make is that it took forever to get our check.

Excellent food, but very expensive. We each had a small plate and 2 drinks. Over $ 70 before tip. Certainly loved the atmosphere and the tastes.

I returned to Terrapin for a dinner to celebrate my best friend and her upcoming wedding. Brian and the staff at Terrapin added little details for her to make the evening special. They created a menu for her with a surprise congratulations note on it. They brought the table some of her favorite wine to toast with. The restaurant, staff, and food are already perfect for a special occasion, and then they topped that with some thoughtful gestures. Oh, and the meal! Oysters with a blackberry mignonette. Truffle Mac and Cheese. Spinach salad. Venison. Then the desserts. Everything you will eat here is perfect and well thought out. Our server Mitch was entertaining and spot on with service. Overall amazing experience and I will make a reservation here anytime I am in town.

Our best Valentine’s celebrations yet — how special it was even if were seated at the bar (got even place card nice touch). We opted for the 6 course Valentine’s Menu and Chef Rodney did not disappoint from first course the melt in your mouth macaroon followed by Seafood Bisque, Cauliflower Salad, Foie Gras was out if this world and he got Scallop Crudo so refreshing. To cleanse our palate we were served shot of grapefruit sorbet & ginger beer. Now comes the main event WAGYU BEEF CHEEKS with ricotta gnudi, local veggies roasted garlic Demi-​glazed — you only need butter knife and fork to eat it with soooo delectable. For the finale Passionette Rose (pistachio Madeleine, candied rose petals, passion fruit foam, passion & rose petal ganache what a symphony! We were a very happy couple and still in love after 33 years!!!

So I felt compelled to write a review only because Virginia Beach lacks fining dining restaurants worthy of commenting on but this place is worthy of a 5-​star rating.
Food comes from local farmers and you can tell, everything was super fresh. We had the kale Cesar salad and beet salad for starters and they were great. We both had the beef tenderloin which was cooked to perfection and perfectly seasoned. Entrée portion sides were a little small, I would have liked a little larger portion of them but they tasted amazing. I’d definitely go back for a special occasion again without hesitation, I might just ordered a larger starter next time to make up for the small side portion with the entrée.
So two starters, two of the most expensive entrees on the menu and three glasses of wine came out to $ 160 + tip = $ 195 total.

Real food, an outstanding wine selection. Creative and innovative and even better, real, local and fresh.
The customer service is insanely good!

Terrapin is worthy of all of the hype and then some. Last night was my second time there and it was even better than the first time. Both times I had Pleasure House Oysters (I think they are the best oysters in the area) — they were perfectly shucked and perfectly plump. Last night I had the sea scallops with local mushrooms and the octopus. The octopus was absolutely one of the best things I have ever eaten. Ever. The service was also impeccable. Thoughtful without being pretentious. The server switched out my white napkin for a black one as my dress was black and he didn’t want me to get white ‘fuzzies.’ But he still made jokes with my friend and I, which we appreciated. This is easily my favorite restaurant in the area for special occasions.

Ambiance: the best seafood fine dining restaurant in town, trendy and classic decorations, bright mirror and comfortable seats
Service: friendly and attentive with drink and food, also provided very useful suggestion
Food: very delicious!
Bread — *** average taste
Fried Mushroom — **** so crispy and creamy, recommend
Sea Scallops — ***** the only thing hasn’t been changed since the restaurant open, the chef knows the best way to cook it, every single bite is inspiring! A must try signature, highly recommend
Price: totally worth the price you paid, expect $ 40~$ 50 per person plus alcohol

One of THE most amazing restaurants I’ve ever been to. If you visit VA beach and drive past Terrapin, you’re seriously missing out. My family and I had dinner here a few weeks ago while we were on vacay, and everything about this restaurant was on point. I’d give this place 6 stars if I could — décor, service, AND food were legit.
We started with the Mushroom Gnudi and the Calamari. Both apps were incredible! The calamari was cooked to perfection, and it came with fried jalapeños and a spicy remoulade. The Gnudi was savory and flavorful — I just wished there was more of it!
Moving onto entrees, my parents both ordered the Softshell crab featuring crispy eastern shore crab, cooked in lemon beurre blanc and served with sweet corn succotash. I got the Sea Scallops, served with oven-​dried tomato, oyster & wild mushrooms sea beans and fresh italian summer truffle in a garden herb pan sauce.
Four words: party in our mouths. That’s that. Nothing I say will do the food justice. It was THAT good. The sea scallops were incredible, but I think I liked the softshell crabs a tiny bit more — that’s just personal preference though.
I didn’t think our meal could get any better, but dessert was the perfect end to our delectable meal. We tried the Mint Chocolate Chip, and dang, the presentation and taste BLEW us away. Hands down, the best mint ice cream I’ve ever tasted in my freakin’ life.
You guys may think I’m exaggerating, but I swear on my life that this place is straight up ridiculous, in the best way possible of course. I mean, I lived in NYC aka foodie capital for two years, and this place still fits in my top 3 of all time. I place this joint up right next to Per Se.
Prices are super reasonable, too. I just wish this place wasn’t so far away! Anywho, make sure you guys hit this place up STAT. You’ll seriously thank me profusely.

So I’m back at Terrapin for my monthly visit. First, I must comment on «1 star» reviewers. Some seem predisposed to giving a single star. Give the place a chance and if something isn’t to your liking, talk to the manager. But to just walk out and then blast the establishment on Unilocal gives you no credence. And you know I’m talking to one specific couple that wrote a recent review.
I have always found the staff and management of this establishment very friendly and quite accommodating. They’re always engaging, offer excellent advice and never overbearing or obtrusive when dining. I’ll be eating there again and will update my review as necessary.

Summary: Start with The Henry, order the Scallops, and try the «First Love» or «Box of Chocolates» for dessert.
Terrapin was amazing!!! Justin has wanted to come here as a little teenage-​chef-​to-​be marveling at the awesome foods here so when his birthday came along, we ate here. The food here is upscale fine dining, but I didn’t feel like the atmosphere was snobby. For one thing, at times they would play Top 40s music in the background, which is not part of my expectations. Also, due to the ice and realizing we were around the corner from the restaurant, we weren’t wearing super nice clothes and no one judged us for it. The server was super awesome though from start to finish. We did the chef’s tasting menu and incorporated their fried chicken and macaroni and cheese in Justin’s tasting menu. I basically told the server that I trust him to choose his favorites and everything was so awesome. Even the bread was great.
For drinks, they have an iPad to showcase all their awesome drinks. I got the Henry and it was an amazing cocktail! It wasn’t too strong, wasn’t too sweet. Exactly what I wanted. Justin got the Boulevard which was too strong for me, but he liked it.
For my appetizer I got the Kale Caesar, which happened to be Vegan: P. The kale was crisp, the «cheese» was flavorful, and the sauce was light. It was a great start to a long meal: P Justin got the Heirloom baby beets salad which was awesome! I liked my kale caesar better, but his beets were flavorful, and it tasted really fresh.
For the next course, I got the ricotta gnudi, which was different; something i’ve never had before. It was a cool ricotta pasta dish. I enjoyed it. Justin got the shrimp and grits. He normally doesn’t like shrimp and grits, but he enjoyed the way they prepared them with the rice grits and housemade chorizo.
For my entrée, I was presented the fennel seed scallops which were amazing! The fennel spice was perfect on top of the scallops and they were big pieces too.
We also got to try a truffle dish which was new for me. I had never had truffles before. Justin told me the fried chicken he had was pretty good, but not his favorite. The truffle mac and cheese was pretty good too, but we’ve had better mac and cheese.
The highlight of my night, although being way too full to enjoy, was the dessert called «The box of chocolates» and the dessert that was called «First Love» which was a deconstructed tiramisu. I should have eaten less to enjoy those more! The box of chocolates was a mix of different types of chocolate and everything was amazing. Same goes for the First Love and the First Love was a great dish for an anniversary.

Items Selected:
Bread and Olive Oil
Ricotta Gnudi — Wild Morel Mushrooms, Organic Peas, Black Truffle Butter Sauce
Shrimp & Grits — Laughing Bird Shrimp, Carolina Gold Rice ‘grits,’ housemade chorizo, old bay butter
Manchester Farms Quail — Honey and Lavender Glazed, Blood Orange Poached Medjool Dates, Anson Mills Farro
White Marble Farm Pork Loin — House Cured Bacon, Brown Butter Cauliflower, Potato Gnocchi, Butter Beans, Roasted Radishes, Mustard demi-​glacé
Bouquet of Flowers — White Chocolate Raspberry Bomb, Lychee Mousse, Rose Essence, Fresh Raspberries, White Chocolate Spiral
Box of Chocolates — Dark Chocolate Terrine, Chocolate Cayenne Ganache, Fudge Brownie, Caramel, Hazelnut Crumbs, Dark Chocolate Spiced Ice Cream
Valrhona Chocolate Pudding — Fleur de sel & Georgia Olive Oil
Granola
Toqued by Chef Rodney Einhorn, and located in a modernized space on Holly Road just steps away from Virginia Beach, Terrapin has been noted by some to be perhaps the best restaurant in the state of Virginia, yet despite their ‘fine dining’ accolades and snooty behavior from nearly every staff member encountered during a two-​hour dinner it should come as perhaps no surprise that the restaurant is actually just the benefactor of «big fish in a small pond» status, the food nicely prepared despite the kitchen using shortcuts such as truffle oil and out-​of-​season ingredients while the overall experience is merely paint-​by-​numbers upscale American, at best.
Immediately feeling judged on entry, the maitre d’ literally giving my mother a nasty look as though he disapproved of her outfit choice in the unexpectedly cold weather, it was not long before our reservation was confirmed and led to a small two top the ‘push’ for wine and cocktails was on — our choice to decline clearly robbing us of the caviar-​egg amuse served to nearby tables, the most boring table-​bread and flavorless olive oil I’ve experienced in ages instead serving as a veritable punishment for my asking questions about several plates including those featuring morels far earlier than most restaurants would dare as well as those mentioning the word ‘truffle’ in the description more than once.
Eventually asked if I was ‘some sort of critic’ by the snarky waiter moments after our three-​course menu was ordered it was only after I explained I merely like to write and photograph my food that his attitude seemed to improve and with each course presented with very ample descriptions the first round of food proved quite impressive, the gnudi plump and supple with surprisingly subtle flavor despite obviously using preserved morels and truffle oil while the makeshift shrimp and grits was somewhat less inspiring, the tiny shrimp a touch overcooked while the rice porridge was too small in portion to help balance out the heft of old bay seasoning, let alone the spicy pork.
Thankfully still somewhat sated from the day’s earlier dining as portions at Terrapin trend small even to those familiar with multi-​course tasting menus across the world our entrees arrived after a somewhat lengthy delay and with plating clearly one of the kitchen’s strong points both the lacquered quail and crispy-​skinned pork arrived beautifully seated amidst several accoutrements, the former’s light funkiness well balanced by citrus-​soaked grains while the loin’s vegetable mélange was bolstered by tender butter beans that served to offset briny bacon and potato dumplings that were gummy and undercooked.
Unfortunately lacking the duck pot pie, pancake stack, and several other items featured on the website menu it was onward to dessert that the evening progressed and still featuring several options from the previous night’s Valentine’s Day celebration it was in two seasonal sweets plus one ‘signature’ that we partook, the «Bouquet’s» frozen raspberry center serving to save the otherwise ‘safe’ presentation while both the «Box of Chocolates» and rich pudding were far more interesting, the former particularly well composed to show off the quality of the cocoa when paired to items featuring both sweet and heat while the later was simple, creamy indulgence with sea salt adding both texture and levity while the olive oil was much like that on the table and completely imperceptible aside from a slick feel on the tongue.

What a fantastic restaurant!
Finally I made it!!! Everybody says terrapin is a great restaurant. I didn’t have a chance before somehow. I found their name in Virginia restaurant week and went there for an anniversary. I didn’t get any special anniversary things like other restaurants. But I’m still happy to have a special dinner there.
I ordered $ 30 restaurant week dinner.
1.Fried oyster wrap. Yum! Crispy. Fresh. Good valance with vinegar. My husband’s winter salad was pretty good to!
2.Amberjack with delicious mushrooms, sweet potato, brusselsprouts. And the scrumptious sauce. Bison short rib my husband ordered was tender. The crushed potatoes with Parmesan were so so tasty! And cute roasted carrots too.
3.Chocolate mud in a jar. I prefer their bread pudding my husband ordered.
Bread and olive oil are fantastic too. The frenchish sour bread, I ate two. Outside was crispy and inside was so moist. Amazing valance. The extra virgin olive oil is Pietro Coricelli. It’s not pricy but a good stuff. Oh, their butter is too cute to eat. The shape is a terrapin.
Staffs are pretty friendly and sophisticated. The couple next to me, they were really picky and kinda selfish. But they did their best to satisfy them. I was surprised with their patience and hospitality. Bravo!
They gave us petit granola souvenir, which was sweet. Also 20%off next time coupon.
I was too hungover to try their wine aft Virginia Wine Fest. I can’t wait for the next visit to try some wine and their famous scallops, lobster ravioli, etc…
Ahhhh food coma again. I’m sure to have a sweet dream tonight. G’night!