The Patriot Pub Virginia Beach

The last time I was in this facility, a little over a year ago, it was called the Chics Beach Grill. I had a good meal, took some pictures, drafted a review and never finished it. Life gets in the way sometimes, and in this case the previous business closed and here I am standing in the new one. I don't want that to happen again so here goes. At first glance, Patriot Pub looks about the same. However if you take a moment to look under the hood they've made some modifications. For starters, the place is really cleaned up, not that the last place was bad, but when I was just in here, the place practically sparkled. I noticed they have also removed the pool table and the area out the side door has been spruced up and and is full of tables and benches. It's a nice cozy place whether your indoors or outside. Behind the bar they also have a place where you can hang your mug if you're a regular and participate in their "Mug Club". The place has a great local vibe. Once again fellow reviewerJames R. was with me and we grabbed stools near the corner of the bar. The place only had a few patrons at that point and Cece, if I remember her name correctly, was tending bar. After ordering some brews and an appetizer (Wings with a spicy honey glaze sauce) James and I were having a conversation about photography, specifically food photography with Yelp and other social media outlets and we were going through some photos on my phone. To my immediate left was a patron who I'm going to refer to as the 'Sea Hag'. She had skin like pickled leather and was wearing a fur coat. The lady had overheard our conversation and started belligerently asking "What do you do for a living? What's that with all the pictures". It's obvious she's drunk and looking to pick a fight. This goes back and forth for a few minutes and we politely try to ignore her but she persists... Somewhere along the way we decided to embrace it, I said something along the lines of "Don't worry about it, it's none of your business" and my good friend James says... "Joe's one of those dirty online reviewers. He takes pictures and criticizes places." and man did the *#$% hit the fan. (Thanks Buddy). Eventually our appetizer arrived and the Sea Hag forgot she was talking to us and wandered off. The wings were excellent and especially the honey glaze. They also had a nice smokey flavor to them. Very well done indeed. From there we had another round and ordered dinner. I had a Bacon Cheeseburger with Cheddar which also came with some spicy shoestring fries. Dinner came and went and my Bacon Cheeseburger was also delicious and there was a bounty of fries on the plate as well. If you walk away from Patriot Pub hungry, it's your own fault. They take care of ya in the food dept. Eventually our conversation veered over politics and we all know what a year it's been there. As the conversation was becoming heated the Sea Hag returned, but this time she wanted to be our best friend, and came behind us and attempted to drape her arms over our shoulders and talked loudly in our ears... blah blah blah. At this point Cece had to tell the lady to go sit down and stop bugging the guests and apologized to us. No apology needed honestly. The Sea Hag paid her bill and left. We stepped out front to make sure she didn't bang into our vehicles as she rode off into the night. Afterwards James wanted a smoke so we stood out in the patio area on the side for a bit and had another round. That area is going to be great once the spring arrives. All in all, I'm really glad we came in here. Totally a happy accident. The food was delicious, the staff was cool and we were certainly entertained. This is a great local watering hole. What more can you ask for?

Great food, great chef, great service! Nice little place in Chix Beach. Not just your regular bar food. They have that too, but they also have interesting other options and very tasty daily specials. I can't remember the name of the special they had, but it was fried meatloaf on mashed potatoes with tomato gravy. Wonderful flavors!