You will never know how negatively a waiter can affect your meal until you have an evening like we had at The Whitehall Restaurant. The food isn’t great either.
When we arrived at Whitehall there was only one other table being used by customers. This surprised us, given the stellar reputation that had preceded our visit. The designer of the interior was a huge fan of hard woods, as it can be found on the floors, walls, ceiling, tables and everywhere else you look. It feels like you’re dining in a sophisticated log cabin, or perhaps an outdated country club. There is an interesting glass floor near the entrance which allows for a view of the wine cellar below. While this is conceptually intriguing, in practice it simply creates a bottle neck because everyone who walks near it slows to look below. I saw more than one customer nearly trip over another person or nearby table as they mindlessly peered into the glass.
We were seated immediately by our waiter, an older gentleman with a serious attitude problem. He possessed an air of arrogance that I have seen from no other waiter (or even chef or owner, for that matter) from any establishment, ever. He gave curt, one word answers and often answered questions as he was walking away without turning around. Dishes were slapped on the table and food pushed onto us whether we were ready for it or not. He referred to the Amuse-bouche as a “special treat”, as if we were children who wouldn’t know any better. We were blown away by his seemingly endless ability to offend.
It is extremely difficult to look past the terrible service we received at The Whitehall, but in order to give a fair review of the food I will attempt to put that part of my experience out of my mind. The bread was bland, the ceaser salad far to oily, and the lamb portions minute. Though the lamb was well cooked, it overly spicy for my taste. The sides, an uninspired vegetable medley given to every customer that evening, was inedible. And then there was the hot tea. It was served to us not in a pot or kettle, but by the cup. We had to place our bags in our cups every so briefly, remove the dripping bags and place them on our bread plates where they promptly created puddles rendering the plate otherwise useless, and then prepare each cup to our liking. As soon as you were happy with that cup you needed a refill, which meant moving the bag back to the cup and repeating the whole sordid affair. This is the worst method of serving tea that I’ve ever experienced anywhere, not just in a restaurant.
All told the experience was a nightmare. There were no redeeming qualities and the service was so unbelievably terrible that I would never consider going back. It doesn’t help matters that the food is uninspired and the prices are exorbitant.
The Whitehall Restaurant
1325 Jamestown Road
Williamsburg, VA 23185
757-229-4677