The Rustic Spoon

Located at 1658 Pleasure House Road in Virginia Beach, The Rustic Spoon offers comfort food featuring local ingredients. It is open from 8-3 Sunday-Tuesday and 8-9 Wednesday-Saturday. There are daily food and drink specials, and patio seating is available.

Virginia Beach is our lunch stop on North Carolina-to-Delaware drives, and we wanted to try something different this time. The Rustic Spoon offered Scotch eggs, and that was enough to reel us in. Even if they weren’t on the menu, however, I would have been glad that we stopped here. The food, service, and atmosphere are all great.

A two-story eatery, The Rustic Spoon keeps busy but handles volume well. It’s lively without being cacophonous. Our server was friendly and willing to offer recommendations, which were needed given how many glorious-looking options the menu offered. In addition to the aforementioned Scotch eggs, there were benedicts and hashes and pancakes and waffles and burgers and sandwiches and salads galore. A Nashville hot chicken is usually a go-to for me, but here, it had plenty of competition.

Ultimately, my wife and I ended up with the Scotch eggs, a carnitas omelet, and a shrimp & grit cake. The eggs were breaded nicely and featured a tasty sauce. Both entrees came in sizeable portions and looked jaw-droppingly good. Fortunately, the appeal did not prove illusory. Every place has its own take on shrimp & grits, and the Rustic Spoon’s includes local sausage, tomato, and roasted red peppers. The absence of tons of cheese kept it from feeling too heavy, the shrimp were nicely cooked, and the firmness of the grit cake offered a welcome contrast to the sauce that surrounded it. The hearty carnitas scored points for tender, flavorful pork and crispy potatoes. Prices were moderate (entrees in the teens), but the food was worth every penny.

As much as we like to try new places when traveling, the Rustic Spoon may have to be a repeat offender. It does too much too well to be a one-and-done.