One of the best things about Charlottesville is the food…
The availability of great food is the mark of a great community, and it’s one of the things that my husband, Stephen, and I have always loved about Charlottesville. Even when Charlottesville was just a small town, there were really good restaurants. We moved here from Richmond when we were in our mid-twenties, and we were used to having an unending supply of great places to eat. At that time, entertainment venues were limited in Charlottesville, but, it didn’t matter to us, because we could always find a wonderful place to dine.
There were just a few national chains in Charlottesville back then, only one golden arch and one buffet-style restaurant. We loved it, because there was the feeling that we were living among people who cared about the quality of the food they eat and the ambience of the restaurant in which they eat it.
When shopping centers started popping up around Charlottesville, so did the chains. I think the first was Pargo’s, which lasted only a few years, but it marked the mass arrival of all of those places. It's too bad, but there's good news: great, privately-owned restaurants continue to thrive. You’ll find most of these centered in the Downtown (C & O is our personal favorite for evening dining, Hamilton's is probably the finest downtown restaurant, Revolutionary Soup has become my one-and-only for lunch, and Cinema Taco has a fab limeade, but there are so many options, with music, penache, crowded or quiet) and University areas (during the school year, we leave University-area restaurants to the kids, but there are several good spots along Main Street between downtown and UVa, including a great diner, Blue Moon), with a wide range of fun & funky, as well as fine & sophisticated. Fortunately, there are still several great spots that are off the beaten track in the County, like the Clifton Inn, with its exquisite cuisine and historic atmosphere; Duners, an all-time favorite of Ivy-dwellers; Crozet Pizza, where you really should have a reservation (I should note that Crozet has several good restaurants); and the Ivy Inn, with its quiet elegance.
It’s well worth venturing into Belmont for tapas and to High Street for a Riverside burger. Stephen and I enjoy mid-week "need to have a great meal" breaks at our new, favorite spot, the Boat House, located off Rt. 29 at Seminole Square.
There is such a wonderful variety of great restaurants throughout Charlottesville that you could come to know Charlottesville well by simply researching the restaurant page in the phone book & making it your mission to visit as many cool little restaurant spots as possible. (Or, you could start by searching at DiscoverOurTown.com or find local reviews of favorite spots all over the area at Mas to Millers.)
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