Rowland Fine Dining - Richmond

Went with family to this neighborhood restaurant on Valentine's Day. It has a large bar and relatively few tables. Reservations recommended. It looks like a place that would serve bar food, but the excellent cuisine was a surprise. Dishes are presented beautifully and the atmosphere is dark and intimate. Outdoor seating is available in good weather. Street parking can be tricky, so allocate additional time for that. Our service was outstanding, as were the choices on their special menu. Everyone enjoyed their meal.

I'm not sure it's fair to review a restaurant during restaurant week. I have to say I walked away a little hungry because the portions were small but that might've been because it was restaurant week. Our drinks were lovely and very strong and the soup with short ribs was incredible, my entrée of cinnamon pork was lacking in taste the flavor and the bread pudding did nothing for me.

Rowland is a small, intimate restaurant located in the Fan. I would highly recommend making a reservation on Resy as a walk-in would likely take awhile to accommodate. The service and most of the food was great. The carbonara definitely could have been better. It was surprisingly a little bland and the presentation wasn 't up to par with the other dishes, which doesn 't bother me but they do consider themselves a fine dining restaurant. The risotto was my favorite and I would have ordered it as an entree if I could. It was pretty dark inside and somewhat loud but I think it 'd make a nice date night for a special occasion.

My family and I arrived at 5:15 and were the only table in the restaurant. With that in mind, how is it possible that: Our food was cold The waitress messed up multiple orders and then charged us for it My wife was served undercooked meat that poisoned her for Christmas If you want a haphazard dining experience that jeopardizes your physical health, by all means, dine at Rowland.

This had been on my list for years and it just happened to be restaurant week when we went. It was all very delicious but such small portions so I'll have to try it again with the full menu. I love the RRW concept but I was hungry when I left.