Renewal Bar & Kitchen

Great food. Great service. But way too loud.

Had dinner reservations for my husbands birthday as we were staying at The Draftsman for the weekend. We had early reservations - 6 pm to take advantage of the happy hour - and we were only the second table with guests in the whole restaurant. The host was nice and seated us immediately. Our server did not mention any specials - regular or with regard to happy hour - and she simply did not keep our water glasses filled. I watched her chat with a coworker and drink from her mug before pouring the glass of Prosecco that I ordered. Although I have never had shrimp & grits with fried shrimp, it was good. Husband had the Crunchy Gentleman and a Caesar salad, it was okay. Chose the cinnamon beignets for dessert - a waste. They are not beignets but rather fried dough balls tossed in cinnamon sugar and drizzled with a sauce. Overall the ambiance was the best part of Renewal. There are plenty of other delicious eateries to visit in Charlottesville!

I don't know if it was because of the concert in town, but despite the fact that I had a reservation for 2 at 5:45, we were there 2 hours and were not served our food for at least an hour. The food was good, but a little too salty.

The food was solid, but not sure it was worth the disorganized, sloppy service. They were seriously a mess. No one knew who was doing what despite having around 8 to 10 employees on the floor and maybe 6 tables of guests.

Food had to much salt and sauce. Steak was good but my side was greens with French fries on top and had to much olive oil on it. There was gravy type of sauce that was good ut I didnt need a full plate of it.

Service left much to be desired . One of the managers was very rude about where we could sit and drink service was not quick, but they made up for it by comping the first round. Chicken was overcooked.

Went to Renewal for its restaurant week offering and was not disappointed. My friend and I shared two large starters, charred brussel sprouts and pork belly with cheesy grits, basil pesto and a poached egg, both delicious. Only downside was that the pork belly and grits was lukewarm instead of hot, which would have made it better. Our entrees were sliced sirloin with shoestring fries and crispy swiss chard, and boneless pork with crispy fried polenta and kale, both solid dishes. For dessert, we had bananas foster bread pudding and a coffee chocolate torte, which went quickly. Got there early for happy hour beer priced at $4 and house wine priced at $6. Overall, we were satisfied with the food, service and value.

Delicious, fresh food. Friendly service. Great for Restaurant Week! Would probably be nice for date night of girls night.

Restaurant week pricing makes it a great deal. The food was excellent and I’m already craving it again. Comfort food with a modern twist, but so delicious!

We went for restaurant week. The Brussels sprouts were so good I’ll be back to have moor. We had the fried green tomatoes, boneless pork chop and beyond meat brat, finishing with the flourless chocolate tort. All excellent. They sat us early even though they were not officially open for dinner yet. The drinks were the best.

I got the steak dish. It was good but the sauce was a little too spicy for me and it was drizzled on everything, even the fries. Next time I would ask for the sauce on the side.

We had a great meal great service thanks Brandon

Really good food and cocktails. They were not busy, lots of empty tables but seated us at a very small table next to a larger table with unruly children. Would have been 5 stars if they would have seated us in one of the empty booths that evening. Service was also a bit slow when it came to drinks.

The main buffet food was excellent, but the dessert buffet was did not seem to have the promised pumpkin bread pudding.

Great ambience and professional staff. This was my second Christmas day dinner at Renewal. It gets better every year. Food was great, and a lot of drinks option. Dessert is lagging behind the rest. More options, please. It almost felt like the dessert came from outside.

We ate here on Xmas eve for lunch. We weren’t sure what to expect given it’s in a hotel. However the food was absolutely delicious. We shared a few of the appetizers and then had mains. The salmon was perfectly cooked. Anything fried was done really nicely - light and crispy. The gumbo was super flavorful. Highly recommend and would go back.

If you’re the only couple seated in the restaurant they should know you don’t want to sit by the service area and kitchen. Just surprising and disappointing that they prioritize their conscience over the guest’s enjoyment.

Hotel restaurant ambiance; reach may exceed grasp; half hour to get two cocktails?! Food was good, but not as hot as it could have been.

I would have been more pleased with my experience if the restaurant had not altered their menu for game day... The normal menu is much more preferable.

We attended the Thanksgiving buffet and the food was good although overpriced for what we got. The staff were very nice and helpful and the restaurant manager allowed us to use the bar menu as a price for my mother who is 100 years old to have dinner rather than the buffet. The ambience was not as great as we would have liked, because on the other side of a partial wall was the sports bar. We were also seated near the restrooms and the odors of cleaning solution permeated the air near our table. It was also very noisy because of the Hard surfaces with in the restaurant. The ambience was also hurt by a large group of single guys who were eating in the bar but using the buffet. When we were trying to have an elegant nice dinner they came in with their baseball caps and cowboy hat and just looked out of place for a restaurant that was charging $50 per person for a buffet. We felt like we were eating in a bar

Went for Thanksgiving buffet. Since most of the meal was self serve I was expecting better service. Most of the waiters and waitresses were standing near our table chatting while our drinks went empty and dirty plates piled up. Our waiter was friendly and nice but didn’t seem to understand that plates should be taken when empty. The manager cleared our plates so I think is a matter of training. Was disappointed that there were so many empty tables that were ‘reserved’. We had reservations but wanted a booth but were told they were reserved. They were empty when we arrived and still empty when we left. The food was really very good so I will return again.

Slightly limited menu. Good service. Validated valet parking, which we greatly appreciated.

The food was excellent, especially the pork sandwich. Great casual/nice place.

Food was Excellent! Busy Saturday night so service was slow. They need more help, but everyone was friendly. Rather loud. Large screen TVs available for spring events. Best feature: food with wonderful flavors

The food and atmosphere were great. There was a bit of a mixup with our bill as our waitress told us that there were 2 different prices, the cheaper one if we were staying at the hotel. That ended up not being true, she just forgot to add our dessert and coffee to the original bill. We had to discuss it with the manager and it was all straightened out!

Attractive interior, nice location & great service. The menu, gluten free , dessert & drink options were terrific. They created a fun “mock tail” for my daughter. The server was wonderful. We loved this place!

Cool, modern atmosphere on the UVA Medical Campus. Service was excellent as was beverages and food. We shared an appetizer of Pimento Cheese with Tomato Jam with Sourdough bread that was excellent. I had the Crunchy Gentleman with a side salad. Everything was fresh and well presented. Only reason I did not give them 5 stars is because the area is confusing and difficult for parking. A pointer on your website to where the public parking garage is would be useful, especially since so many people in this area are visitors as was myself. So, I suggest you locate the public parking garage before going and then enjoy!

The food and service were good. We sat outside and wouldn't recommend it, the street noise and flies and the local drunk made it not so great.

A good experience

The space is very cool and modern. The food was practically inedible. The Pork Hash was a bowl of left overs thrown together with very fatty pork, burnt brussell sprouts and extremely over cooked and oily peppers and onions. We will probably only return for drinks at the bar.

Very nice meal at a place that is nice but not overly formal. Enjoyed a perfect burger . Don't miss the brussel spouts - they are amazing. Also recommend the delicious butterscotch budino for dessert - delicious!

In town for a meeting and stopped in for lunch. Sat outside and it was great. Service was friendly and food was outstanding. Will definitely return on my next trip to Charlottesville.

One of my favorite spots in C’ville. The Brussel sprouts are always fantastic!

It was our first time there and we will definitely go back.
We agree from other reviews that the Brussel sprouts are excellent

Mussels were cold and food average at best I wouldn’t go here again

Mother's Day brunch and the restaurant got slammed right when we walked in - service was very friendly. Food combinations were creative and fun- the only complaint was the food did not come out as hot as I like but did not take away from the taste. I am sure that it was because of everyone arriving at once.

The setting was nice, and the mimosas were good. The service was rather slow. My boyfriend got the biscuits and gravy, which were tasty. I was disappointed in my french toast. It was supposed to have a banana topping. It was merely a liquidy banana sauce with three small mushy pieces of banana. The brioche was good and well cooked, but if its banana french toast, it should probably have some bananas on it.

Situated between Midtown and the Corner and unassuming as a hotel restaurant, I was pleasantly surprised by my experience at Renewal. My party tried the Crawfish Mac&Cheese and the Cajun sushi as appetizers and the Mac&Cheese was especially delicious. For entrees we got the BBQ Shrimp and Grits, a fried shrimp Poboy and the Renewal Burger. Everything was tasty but beware, the Shrimp and Grits were very spicy - so much so that I did not finish it despite typically loving both Cajun and spicy food.

Main dinner dishes were too salty. Appetizers were very good, especially brussel sprouts and grits. Probably better to enjoy the appetizers. Also, when we went for breakfast the next day, the breakfast was enjoyable, though it was not well received that the hostess would not let us sit in a booth when we requested, even though no one used any of the booths during the entire time we were there. She indicated they were for guests with reservations.

The service was terrible. We had to wait 45 minutes for our food and our waiter never bothered to check in on us or apologize. We complained but it did little good. The food was poor to ok. The salmon entree was pretty bad, the chicken wings ok, the lamb had too much salt (we told our waiter), and the burger was decent. The restaurant gave no discount on the bill to make up for either the long wait or the excess salt on the lamb. The overall value - prices relative to quality was poor.