Good Eats at The Five Forks Cafe in Williamsburg, Virginia: Restaurant Review

The Five Forks Cafe is located in Williamsburg, Virginia, on Route 5, about fifteen minutes from Colonial Williamsburg (map). It is locally owned and operated, serving excellent breakfasts, lunches, and now dinners. (Click here to go to the Cafe's website).

The Cafe specializes in providing high quality, low cost, good old-fashioned food. When I eat at the Cafe, I generally order breakfast, which is served until 3 PM daily. The Cafe serves ordinary southern breakfast fair, and does an extremely good job of it. Their fried eggs, bacon, hashbrowns, and even scrapple are all exceptionally tasty, and most customers will find they can eat breakfast there for under $10. The restaurant also has an ever-changing array of specials, which are always delicious. On my last visit, the daily special was "Smothered Hashbrowns," which were covered in cheese, peppers, and fried onions, and were excellent. They came with some delicious sausage and bacon at no extra charge. Lunch doesn't run much higher than breakfast. Customers at the Five Forks Cafe can get a tasty burger or barbecue sandwhich, and they can do it on the cheap.
The service at the Five Forks Cafe is prompt and friendly. If you eat there a few times, the staff will remember and greet you. They are very cheerful, polite, and efficient, but there is none of the usual rush to clear the tables which so often plagues small restaurants. The unusual combination of a truly relaxed atmosphere and speedy service makes the diner an ideal place to meet some friends for coffee on a slow Saturday morning, and the friendly, local, down-to-Earth feel of the place makes it a great location to get some food with the whole family. The clientele consists of a healthy mix of local citizens, university students, and travelers, so conversation in the Cafe tends to be polite and the noise levels reasonable.

The staff are also very accommodating. The other day, I had some friends coming in from out of town. We requested a table for nine in the middle of a Saturday. The waiters happily pulled a few tables together for us, and we were seated in a matter of minutes, despite our very large party, and the waiter had no trouble keeping our orders straight or sorting out the checks among the nine of us. Everyone in the group commented on how much they had enjoyed the food, and no one paid more than ten or twelve dollars. The cook even shouted a cheerful farewell at us from the kitchen as we were leaving.

The Five Forks Cafe is something of a greasy spoon restaurant. Although vegetarians can be accommodated easily, as can people with lactose intolerance, vegans or people who wish to avoid greasy food for dietary reasons might seek elsewhere.

Overall, I would recommend the Five Forks Cafe to any group of people who want a good, old-fashioned meal and a place to talk without spending too much money.