Virginia Beach is a destination known for its pristine coastline and buzzing boardwalk. But what many visitors may not know is that Virginia Beach boasts some amazing food. From humble crab shacks where you can hammer blue crabs by the dozen to polished fine dining, the food culture in this coastal destination has only grown richer over the decades.
When we asked readers to share their picks for the best restaurants in Virginia Beach, we were thrilled to receive hundreds of votes, especially since this is Dogwood’s first annual food guide for this beloved coastal town. (Thank you, readers!). Locals to Virginia Beach and visitors from around the Commonwealth voted for the dishes they love and also the memories they’ve made around the table. These are the places where Virginians celebrate anniversary dinners, first dates, birthday feasts, friends’ vacations (and staycations), and lazy Sunday afternoons over seafood and cocktails.
Here are the four restaurants our readers crowned as the city’s true dining icons.
4. Margie & Ray’s Crabhouse & Restaurant
You’ll find this Sandbridge classic in our Food Guide multiple times, winning accolades for its seafood and hospitality. If there’s one place that embodies the no-frills, all-flavor, historic tradition of Virginia Beach dining, it’s Margie & Ray’s Crabhouse & Restaurant. Originally a country store and tackle shop dating back to the 1960s, the spot became a full-service restaurant in 1989 when Margie and Ray Chandler decided to lean into what locals already loved it for: steamed crabs, fried seafood platters, and cold beer.
Just past the resort strip, Margie & Ray’s feels worlds away from the boardwalk crowds, and if you’re a fan of escaping the crowd, this little getaway may be just what you’re looking for. Picnic tables covered in brown paper, wooden crab mallets, and buckets of freshly steamed blue crabs seasoned with Old Bay set the tone for fun, kitschy family feasts. In season, the crabs come straight from the Chesapeake, and the menu backs them up with staples like fried oysters, she-crab soup, and soft-shell crab sandwiches when the molting season hits.
Generations of locals have grown up cracking crabs here, and visitors often describe it as a place where you feel like a regular, even on your first visit. It’s this mix of authenticity and coastal comfort that has kept Margie & Ray’s on Virginia Beach’s must-visit list for decades.
3. Coastal Grill
While it may not sit directly on the oceanfront, Coastal Grill has been one of Virginia Beach’s most celebrated restaurants since opening in 1989. Tucked just three miles from the coast on Great Neck Road, it proves that great dining doesn’t need a water view to shine.
Owned by restaurateur Jerry Bryan, Coastal Grill is best known for its exceptional service and seafood-driven menu that balances classic preparations with contemporary flair. The restaurant’s motto, “Just fish… simply prepared,” says it all. Each dish is more elegant than the next. Their sautéed flounder topped with lump crab, rockfish in beurre blanc, or scallops pan-seared to perfection are just three examples of Coastal Grill’s exemplary fare.
While the dining room is more intimate than flashy, the warmth of the service and the consistently excellent food have made Coastal Grill a go-to for special occasions as well as casual weeknight dinners, and a must-visit for Virginia Beach vacationers.
Coastal Grill is refined but never pretentious. For more than 30 years, it’s been a place where locals bring out-of-town guests to show them what Virginia Beach dining is really about.
2. Big Sam’s Inlet Café & Raw Bar
If you’ve spent time around Rudee Inlet, you know Big Sam’s Inlet Café & Raw Bar. Since opening in 1996, this dockside hangout has built a loyal following thanks to its unfussy atmosphere, cold drinks, waterfront views, and a menu packed with fresh seafood and filling breakfasts.
Big Sam’s is the antithesis of Coastal Grill. It’s a place to don your finest flip flops and bring the kids. For lunch and dinner, you can relax with a cold beer while shoveling down steaming plates of crab legs and fried seafood baskets. The raw bar is a highlight, offering oysters, clams, and peel-and-eat shrimp that taste like they came straight off the boat (because they pretty much did).
Open early, Big Sam’s is also famous for its big ol’ breakfast plates. And don’t forget to order one of their famous Bloody Marys!. By midday, the place fills with locals and tourists alike, digging into fish tacos, crab cakes, and the always-popular hush puppies.
It’s the kind of spot that captures the essence of Virginia Beach: casual and lively, and rooted in the sea.
1. Waterman’s Surfside Grille
While Coastal Grill is sophisticated and Margie and Ray’s and Big Sam’s are super chill, our readers’ number one pick, Waterman’s Surfside Grill, falls right down the middle.
Set at 5th & Atlantic with a front-row view of the Boardwalk, Waterman’s is a true Virginia Beach original—family-owned for three generations and woven into the oceanfront’s rhythm. The Standing family’s story at this corner stretches back decades: what began as the Beach Nut gift shop and the tiny Shake n’ Burger evolved into Fogg’s Seafood Company in 1981, then Waterman’s Beachwood Grill in 1996, before today’s Waterman’s Surfside Grille took shape after a major renovation in 2007.
If there’s one sip that put Waterman’s on the statewide map, it’s the Orange Crush. Credit where it’s due: the fresh-squeezed Crush traces its roots to Harborside in Ocean City, Maryland. Waterman’s owner Mike Standing tasted it there, brought the idea home nearly two decades ago, and the team obsessed over the details—fresh-squeezed juice, pebble ice, and dialed-in proportions—until it became Virginia Beach’s signature cocktail. Today, Waterman’s bills itself as “Virginia’s Original Crush House,” and the family’s Waterman Spirits brand (launched by Mariah Standing) now supplies the organic orange vodka and liqueur behind the bar.
The menu leans into what coastal Virginia does best: local seafood served impeccably fresh. Expect oysters on the half shell, jumbo-lump crab cakes, and a rotating “fresh catch.” It’s a broad, crowd-pleasing lineup with enough finesse for special-occasion dinners and enough comfort for a sandy-feet lunch after the beach.
The space matches the mood: bright rooms that open to sea breezes, a big, lively bar where the juicers rarely stop, and—upstairs—the Attic, a private event venue that hosts everything from weddings to milestone parties. Waterman’s is also part of a small family of oceanfront spots (Chix on the Beach and The Shack on 8th) that share the same hospitality DNA and sun-salt vibe.
In short, there’s no invented celebrity chef and no imported fine-dining pretense at Waterman’s. But it is a multigenerational Virginia Beach restaurant that helped define what dining at the oceanfront tastes like. If your perfect VB meal includes a tray of oysters, a crab cake, a sunset over the Boardwalk, and a frosty Crush that actually tastes like fresh oranges, this is where the locals told us to send you.
READ MORE: The best waterfront restaurants in Virginia Beach
