Virginia Beach, Va., is the prime vacation destination to relax on a sandy beach, play in the surf and venture down the three mile boardwalk. Surrounded by a massive array of restaurant options, you want to find a reasonable priced, fresh from the ocean, seafood spectacular. You need to look no further than Captain George’s Seafood Restaurant on Laskin Road in Virginia Beach.
Noted as “The Original World Famous Seafood Buffet” in all of the Virginia Beach tourist guides and coupon booklets, Captain George’s Seafood Restaurant seems to be the most recommended fresh seafood location, besides the ocean, to receive the best for your buck. You can’t miss Captain George’s as it has a large partial sailboat near the entrance and the sign is shaped like a large sail with very bright and colorful lights that you can see several blocks away!
Upon entering the restaurant, there are two guest lines. One designated for parties three or less and one line for parties of four or more. This is a wonderful idea to keep the guests organized and quickly seated! If only more restaurants had this type of organization! Proceeding into the main dining room area, Captain George’s appears to be a very high class restaurant based upon the luxurious atmosphere. Each table is lined with thick, pure white table clothes with cloth napkins rolled around the silverware. The chairs have high backs and are soft and comfortable for the time spent enjoying your meal. Looking upward, the ceiling is a dome-shaped, stained glass, marine themed artistic masterpiece. Bright colors, marine life, and mermaids are strategically interlaced with the glass creating an awe-inspiring experience.
Once you get past the amazing decor, you focus on the reason you are here – the seafood buffet. Five to six large buffet tables hosting more than 70 items fill a large room by the restaurant’s entrance. The first table you encounter is the soups such as she-crab soup and New England clam chowder, and also an array of salads such as the simple romaine to the extravagant shrimp and fresh tuna salads.
As much as I overindulged on the shrimp salad, the main seafood entree tables are really what your nose carries your stomach to check out. Pounds of Alaskan snow crab legs, steamed mussels, baked crab imperial, oyster Rockefeller, steamed shrimp, fried shrimp, clams, scallops, Pollock, Mahi Mahi, Wahoo and the choices went on and on. Even though Captain George’s did carry the regular stand by side items like veggies, and fresh baked bread to make your plate a full balance meal; the crab, Wahoo and shrimp items were out of this world and plenty enough to balance my plate. Clams and oysters aren’t a preference of mine; however every item on the buffet was fresh, full of flavor, and definitely worth the $30 per person.
For those that were not interested in stuffing themselves with seafood, the buffet also carried non-seafood items such as prime rib, BBQ ribs, chicken, and manicotti. I did not sample any of these items, however they did smell and look amazing.
The dessert bar took over two large tables that was pure heaven for the sweet tooth. Puddings, cobblers, fresh baked cookies, fresh fruits, entire sheet cakes such as chocolate, black forest, and Boston cream cakes covered the tables. By the time I made it to the dessert portion of my meal, sadly I was only able to sample the strawberry shortcake and the German Chocolate Cake. Both were extremely decadent and satisfied my sweet tooth into the next day.
One of our friends that joined us dining at Captain George’s Seafood Restaurant did not like seafood. The restaurant does offer an ala carte menu that includes steaks for under $25, as well as appetizers such as clams, and oysters for under $10. My friend chose the Delmonico steak and was more than pleased, as the steak was massive and truthfully just melted in your mouth.
The staff was just as wonderful and truly made the dining experience complete. The staff was kind, courteous and always had a welcoming smile on their face. Captain George’s Seafood Restaurant definitely seemed to be the buzz of Virginia Beach and we certainly were buzzing about it days later. I highly recommend choosing Captain George’s as your seafood buffet choice when visiting Virginia Beach.
