Hi, I'm going to be spending a weekend in Winchester at the end of the month. Can anyone recommend some particularly good restaurants in the area that we could try while there?
Thanks!
w
Winchester, VA: Recommended Restaurants?
Do you like Indian food? There's an outstanding Indian restaurant over on Route 11. I forget the name but I can get it for you. Used to be a really outstanding, but expensive, Bulgarian restaurant over there too but I think it closed. I'll be over there Tuesday and I'll check.
Cork Street Tavern if you want casual but very good food in a pub atmosphere.
Chinatown over on Route 50 has very good food if you're in the mood for Chinese. Run by a very nice family.
For nostalgic but excellent, cheap food don't miss the Snow White Grill on the old town mall. Remember White Castle? They sell nothing but little burgers and fries but they're made from real, fresh meat not frozen patties. No place to sit but a counter and people are always in line for the food.
To go a little afield, one of my favorite restaurants in the entire area is Roma Italian and Greek Restaurant in Stephens City, which is about five minutes from Winchester. They also run a buffet restaurant around the corner which is the best buffet I've ever found anywhere. It's a bit cheaper than Roma but the food isn't quite as good as Roma's.
The Battletown Inn in Berryville has wonderful food, great atmosphere in an 1809 building.
If you want really fancy, L'augerge Provencal in White Post is nationally recognized and very expensive.
Let me know if you need more.
My wife and I would second the motion on Roma Italian and Greek Restaurant in Stephens City and certainly The Battletown Inn in Berryville.
Oh, my! Lots of wonderful possibilities. Thanks, Hart & Docgipe!
I *LOVE* Indian food, btw. It's hard to find decent Indian restaurants. I hope that my friend will be willing to try it. Sounds like Roma and the Battletown Inn are a *must*, eh? I'm so happy to hear that we'll have good foodie options while there! Should beat the coffee & doughnuts that will be available at the dog show. lol
Be sure to call for reservations at Battletown Inn.
Are you going to be at the Great Dane show on Papermill Road? Here's how to get there from there.
I'm assuming, if the Yahoo map is right, it's in the little building on Papermill that used to be a furniture manufacturer.
When come back out onto Papermill, turn left, which becomes Tevis Street in a few feet. Follow Tevis across to Route 11 (Valley Avenue.) Turn left onto 11. The Indian restaurant, Passage to India, is on the left as you're traveling south on 11, 2644 Valley Avenue.
To get to Roma's, continue south on 11 until you get to Stephens City. Don't be confused if you see signs that say Newtown when you get into town, that's the old name. Turn left at the first light in town, Fairfax Street, go past the Interstate 81 ramps, past the first street on the right and turn into the little tiny shopping center just past that street. You'll see a hardware store, Romas is right next to the hardware store. It looks pretty unimpressive from the outside but it really is nice inside and the food is wonderful. Be sure to save room for dinner once they bring out the homemade bread.
To get to the Battletown Inn, just follow Route 7 (you can get to Route 7 by taking 81 North) east from Winchester. Make sure you stay on old 7 and not the bypass 7 as you approach Berryville. The inn is on 7 (Main Street.) You can't miss it. It will be on the left. If you get to Route 340, you've gone just a hair too far.
Berryville is a really pretty little town.
Yep, we'll be at the Dane specialty on Papermill (UAW hall, I think).
Thanks for the driving instructions! I do have a GPS system in my car, but will try to remember to print these out as well! Should be a fun wknd.
It might save you time to plan for Battletown Inn either on the way there or on the way home. You can easily get to various eastbound routes from Route 7, especially once you get to Leesburg or you can take 340 south from Berryville and pick up 50. Both are very pretty drives.
We'll have to play things by ear since we'll have dogs with us. If temp's are warm enough, we can leave them in the van while we go into the restaurant. Otherwise, it could be a "Take Out" kind of wknd. =0)
I know both the Indian restaurant and Roma's do take out. I'm sure Battletown Inn does too but it kind of defeats the purpose. Half the reason for going to Battletown is the ambiance.
Roma's has really good pizza but their other dishes are so good, I hate to recommend it. LOL
I love Indian food, but it's hard to find good restaurants in the States. I try them all though. =)
I know what you mean about not wanting to recommend pizza when the other dishes are so great. I recently discovered a superb Italian restaurant in Laurel, MD of all places. It's in a horrible location and has a dumb name, but the food is some of the best I've ever eaten in my life and right on par with what I've had in Italy. If you are ever in Laurel, you should look up Pasta Plus. Their gnocchi verde is the best gnocchi that I've ever had in my life - delicate tender and with sooo much flavor. Yum!
I'm really looking forward to our trip to Winchester!
Thanks for the tip. There's an outstanding Italian restaurant in downtown Manassas too if you're ever out that way. Carmello's is the name of it.
I was up in Winchester the other day and it looks like there are now two Indian restaurants on Route 11. I can vouch for Passage to India. Don't know about the other one. Didn't catch the name, it started with an S and it's just south of Passages on 11.
Oh good, thanks for the tips.
Any really good coffee shops in Winchester? I'm heading there tomorrow afternoon for a long weekend.
thanks!
m
The Daily Grind are probably the best and there are several around town.
http://www.dailygrindunwind.com/
There are some Starbucks too, I think.
There's one on Piccadilly Street called Tropical Island Coffee Cafe that is supposed to be pretty outstanding. They have Caribbean food too.
http://www.winchesterstar.com/showarticle_new.php?sID=9&foldername=20080730&file=JAMAICAREST_article.html
Hart, you are the best Travel Guide! I like a good strong cuppa Joe in the morning, and don't usually like hotel coffee, so I was wondering whether to pack up the french press or not.
We'll check out those coffee shops - thanks!
I used to always tote along my little coffeemaker when I was living in a hotel for months covering the General Assembly. Not because I didn't like hotel coffee but because I can't function until I've had my coffee. LOL
Where are you staying? I think I've eaten at every hotel in town that has a restaurant, covering the rubber chicken circuit.
Hart, we stayed at good ol Days Inn with the dogs ... we had very long days, so didn't get out to the restaurants except to go down the street IL Cann's (I'm sure I butchered that name) and everyone was very happy with their meals as well as the service there.
For lunch, we walked over to Pannera, just across the street from the showgrounds. Very handy.
I was surprised to see how 'built up' Winchester is!
IL Canns?
It's not so much that Winchester is built up, although it is the biggest city out here by far, as the fact that its traffic design was done by a blind snake. That only drives a buggy at 3 am.
Whoops, IJ Canns -- here it is: http://www.ijcanns.com/
My GPS sent me every which way to get to the hotel once I got to the town center. The layout definitely seemed odd. lol
No matter where you live, how much money your locality gets for road construction depends on your local legislators. Winchester had a state delegate who was a senior member of the Finance Committee for decades. I really think they spent money just to spend it and without bothering to consider whether what they were building made any sense at all from the point of view of traffic engineering.
BTW, those of you who live in Loudoun can thank a former delegate who was chairman of the Transportation Committee for all that development out and around Route 28. All kinds of money was spent for road improvements out there when there was nothing but cow pastures.
Was IJ Canns good? I haven't eaten there yet.
wrightie, thanks for the heads up on IJ Cann's :) When we're in Winchester every May we're always looking for someplace different to eat. Unfortunately we're always driving the big truck so it's not that easy to manuever through town and we tend to avoid the "city". Looks like IJ Cann's is right on Route 11 - easy!