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O'Sullivan's Wharf
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- Yes
- Alcohol:
- Full Bar
4 reviews for O'Sullivan's Wharf
I really do love O'Sully's. It's great because of it's character; a waterside, local dive bar with better food than you'd expect for the way it looks on the outside. Drinks are fairly cheap, as aforementioned, ORDER THE HUSH PUPPIES. It doesn't really matter if you're not a fan, you'll try them, love them, and take them home (the basket is way too big to finish, even with a few people) and crave them later.
The fried food is probably the most satisfying. The good stuff is worth a shot but not really proportionate to price so it's best to stick to the basics. Fish & Chips, crab cakes...staples of cheap seafood. Definitely hit it up in the spring and summer for a great view of the water, just make sure it's soon after rainfall. I live right across the river from them and can honestly say that once it gets too hot, a swampy, murky smell will hit you in all the wrong places.
What do you eat when you are on the water? Why seafood of course, and in a place like Norfolk which is surrounded by water you want seafood all the time, Here is place that really feels local. Located along he scenic Lafayette River this restaurant / bar offers views overlooking the ducks and the water. This place caters mostly to locals, but would also be a great place to bring out of town guests as it captures a real neighborhoody atmosphere. Did I mention the back patio? True scenic delight try to get a seat out here.
So the food is all sorts of seafood forms shrimp to crabs to random fish & chips. They have local beer on tap. Hush puppies are divine. And if you sit out along the back you can throw your extra food to the ducks, They have some fancier manifestations of salmon and ma hi mahi sometimes, though I have yet to try these as fish and chips usually fills me up.
I'm not quite sure how anyone could give this place 5 stars. The location is average, although I bet it's nicer when it's not raining out. Parking is minimal, and the food is nothing to scream about. For such a place, the prices for the seafood dishes were way more expensive than I expected. I ended up ordering a caesar salad with salmon (came to $10, and was not a $10 portion in my mind), hush puppies (surprisingly good!), and a mug of yueng ling (good deal, only $2). It's more of a good company place than a good food place...
There's tourist seafood and then there's the seafood that people that eat seafood every day eat. Those are the kind of places I like. O'Sullivan's says on the door that it's the "local's locale," and it certainly seemed that way. You can drive up in your boat, wearing nothing but a bathing suit and your favorite cut-off tank top and be just fine. The restaurant is located on a small inlet that when the tide is out can be a bit murky, but still offers a cool breeze in the summer and a place to park your boat. Reasonably priced beer and wine and a patio, it's really more about hanging out with friends on the water than anything else. The seafood is mid-range and good as far as seafood cooked in large amounts of butter goes. Not particularly imaginative, but simple and filling. Folks that like hush puppies raved, and they do a good shrimp appetizer by the half and whole pound.
