Rating:  Where: 1244 Alverser Plaza

Drive through Short Pump on any evening around dinnertime, and no doubt you’ll find the parking lots of just about every chain restaurant filled. Chili’s, Bertucci’s, Cheesecake Factory, Applebee’s—Short Pump’s got them all.  With so many local eateries offering distinctly Richmond dining adventures, I prefer to spend my time supporting our city’s restaurateurs rather than these national corporations. However, I’ll gladly visit a chain if the experience it offers has an element of geniality, not a staff and kitchen operating on autopilot.

If restaurant ambience didn’t matter, I’d be eating takeout on my couch, clinking glasses of grocery store-bought wine in an attempt to add a touch of romance to the drone of the Food Network humming quietly in the background of my living room.  Why should I go to the effort of going out if my meal doesn’t come with an “experience”? No matter how good a restaurant’s food is, I can’t overlook ambience as a key factor in determining if I’d return.

Turns out, sometimes it pays not being the first to know. While I found Eurasia a wonderful addition to western Henrico County’s dining options, I think it still needs time to work out minor kinks. And I can’t wait till that day arrives, because the concept is a strong one.

Friends who go out to eat with Dana Craig have learned the hard way: Everybody has to order something different, she’ll demand bites of food from around the table, and she’ll make discreet notes on how tangy the vinaigrette is and whether the steak is grilled to her satisfaction. Craig is The Richmond Times-Dispatch’s restaurant reviewer, and her pieces appear Thursdays in the Weekend section. You won’t see her photo there or with this column because staying anonymous ensures that she gets treated like any other paying customer.

While sitting in a locals-favorite sandwich shop/wine store during a recent trip to Virginia Beach, our conversation drifted to the importance of sandwiches. “I have to eat a sandwich every day,“ my worldly dining companion grunted with authority as he went to town on a behemoth of said food item.

It’s not often that the name of a restaurant sends me screeching to a halt on the side of the road, narrowly avoiding a pileup, just to see what it’s all about. But that’s what happened a few months ago as I was driving down Hull Street Road near Brandermill.

I hold some restaurants in such a special place in my heart that I get excited, almost like parents would watching their kids, when they live up to their potential. I’m bound to grow attached, having kept an obsessive eye on Richmond’s restaurant scene for more than four years.

f I had to recall the last time I spent a dinner chatting about a chef’s culinary style one minute and rapping with him to A Tribe Called Quest the next, this article would end right here.  Now that I’ve hung out at Leigh St. Bar & Grill, I’ve spent a dinner doing just that and would do it again just about any night of the week.

It all started with a glowing amber bar. And a gregarious bartender. And an intriguing martini. And a well-trained duo of hostesses.  And . . .  OK, OK. You get it. It started with a lot.  Wild Ginger has been open only two months, but it already runs like a well-oiled machine, an upscale restaurant worth its weight in service, ambience and Pan-Asian cuisine.

don’t live in Short Pump. I don’t have children. And I don’t usually frequent Italian chain restaurants.  However, if any of the above applied to me, Ledo Pizza might make my list of places to go for a quick, affordable and family-friendly meal.  Located in West Broad Village between Kona Grill and Whole Foods, Ledo Pizza is part of a regional pizza-and-pasta franchise stretching from Maryland to Florida.

don’t like to compare a new restaurant with the previous tenant, especially if they fall into the same category: fine-dining, family-friendly, sports bar, etc.  But for Gus’ Bar & Grill, located in the former home of Out of Bounds near the Department of Motor Vehicles on West Broad Street, this comparison works to its advantage.

I’ve written about restaurants in Richmond for more than four years now, and the No. 1 question I get asked never changes. Ever.  “What’s the best seafood restaurant in town?“  Richmond clearly wants its seafood, but, sadly, it’s common knowledge that we don’t really have a boatload—I’m sorry—of consistently viable options.

I’m always a little wary of restaurant PR. It’s so subjective. I’m not one to put much stock in what a restaurant claims are its strong points. I want to decide for myself.  But if I could simply copy and paste the “About Us” section from the newly reopened Café Gutenberg’s Web site, call it my review and move on with my day, I would. They’ve nailed it.

hen I heard that Momotaro Sushi had opened in Carytown, steps away from Carytown Sushi and within blocks of a handful of other popular sushi spots, my first thought was, “Hasn’t Richmond had its fill of raw fish yet?“