Best Restaurants for Outdoor Dining in Virginia Union University

It had become a family tradition for my daughter, husband and me to visit Amuse on Christmas Eve. It had also been a few years since we’d been able to time it right! This year we made a plan and I am so glad we did. The food and service were both outstanding! Alex took care of us from start - with our sparkling holiday cocktails - through lunch with scallops, oysters, a strip steak, and the best beets, brussel sprouts, and parsnips - until dessert, an upside down pear and pomegranate cake. We won’t wait as long before we go back again!

We enjoyed a great lunch to celebrate the Winter Solstice! Our server, Justin, was professional, attentive, and helpful. The environment was lovely; we were seated in the small dining room next to a lovely fire in the fireplace and with a great view of Carytown. The super-thin octopus and fried calamari appetizers were great starters. We moved on to phenomenal crab cakes (so much crab!) and fried oysters, both over a roasted corn salad. The oysters also featured a spicy aioli, and the crab cake was served over roasted sweet potatoes with a cilantro oil. We also had a Yellowtail carpaccio that was superb. Dessert was amazing: a perfectly balanced single malt butterscotch pudding with shortbread, a superb version of sticky toffee pudding, and delicious house-made donuts with lemon curd and fruits.

The experience was wonderful. It was my first time going, celebrating my birthday, and I would definitely recommend. The food was amazing, the service was fantastic and the owner stopped by to see how the evening was going, to see what we were celebrating and wished me a happy birthday. I will be going again.

Incredible as always. Arctic Char was outstanding and the Fondue starter was fun.

We spent our Fab 5 Holiday evening in the Igloo...Service was impeccable...food was all fantastic! Definitely will return!