Bonefish Grill came to Charlottesville many months ago, but I had neglected to visit for several reasons. First off, it takes 20 minutes to drive up 29N to the Target strip mall. Secondly, it looked very chainey. Thirdly, I had never had a good meal in any strip mall, period. Finally, finding good seafood in Charlottesville basically meant following the wholesale truck from Seafood@West Main.
Needless to say, my expectations of this seafood oriented place were grim. My dining partner assured me that Bonefish could impress me, despite the long drive. I trust very few people’s opinions on Charlottesville restaurants, but I trusted this person a lot more than most, so, after some negotiating and a glass of wine, we made the long haul up 29N (in the middle of a thunderstorm!).
So, what exactly is Bonefish?
Have you ever heard of a company named OSI Restaurant Partners? Probably not, right? Well, they run Outback Steakhouse, Cheesburger in Paradise, and Bonefish Grill. OSI is actually owned by Bain Capital and others which means that if you have a pension or went to a University with an endowment, then you probably have some connection to Bonefish. This means it’s not locally owned… TABOO!
Bonefish serves various cuts of common and uncommon fish in a mid-high end environment. They have pretty standard fare outside of their seafood dishes. See the menu for more info.
Ambiance
Imagine Outback Steakhouse with a 25 to 40% increase in decorating budget. You have white tablecloths, white napkins, fake marble bathroom counters, nice lighting and relatively commercial design. The restaurant loses some of that intimacy that we more commonly experience in the downtown area. It’s large; about the size of the Downtown Grill, but with dimly lit surroundings. We sat at the bar which was huge, dark, and beautiful. Even if this were closer to Downtown, I wouldn’t hang out at the bar, though. It’s just massive and I don’t like that feel. Don’t get me wrong; the design was nice, but I couldn’t forget I was dining in a simulacrum.
Service
In two words: freaking amazing. Like Outback, Bonefish over-staffs its restaurants and waiters never have more than a handful of tables. We went on a Sunday afternoon and I swear the waitstaff to customer ratio was 1:3. You will not be disappointing by service.
Food
On recommendation, we tried the tuna appetizer. We stumbled across everything else on the menu. Neither of us tried the infamous Bang Bang Shrimp. The tuna appetizer dresses seared raw tuna in pepper crust with a mayonnaise-esque (I don’t say aioli, cause it’s not) spicy sauce over a bed of plain lettuce.
Not so flattering picture of the tuna appetizer (which was amazing, actually)
It didn’t look like this, but it didn’t look much better, either. Who cares when the tuna melts in your mouth and the sauce adds more fat complexity. I loved it, but would have preferred the iceberg lettuce not exist.
Next up, caesar salad. Guess what, local restaurantuers? Bonefish has the best caesar in Charlottesville. I am not making this up. The dressing was crisp, anchovious, light and had that sour spunk that you want out of a caesar dressing. I haven’t had a better caesar in a long time, and nothing in Charlotesville comes close. The romaine was served cold, fresh and crisp. Oh, they have real anchovies for those of us that are hardcore. My dining partner explained that she even dreams about their caesar and has had repeated dangerous cravings for it at strange times.
For an entree, we had wood grilled sea scallops and shrimp with lemon butter and a house special with Rockfish. We loved the big, juicy scallops. Again, probably some of the best scallops I’ve had in town. I am not a fan of lemon butter sauce, and would have tried either the Chimichurri or the warm mango if I had the chance. My rockfish was nothing special. I think they paired some flavors that didn’t go well together. The food, overall was excellent. It wasn’t cheap as we quickly got to $100 for 2, but that’s not out of the ordinary for most places downtown.
Drinks
We didn’t do the mixed drink thing, just wine. If you look through the cocktails menu, it’s nothing special, especially compared with what Charlottesville has to offer. We tried a few wines and found their house was perfectly drinkable.
Overall
If you don’t mind the drive (or already live up there), I recommend Bonefish. Yes, it’s a chain, but who cares when they have good food and you don’t have to deal with bitchy service. Bonefish is one of the best places to get seafood in town and it hands down wins in diversity. So, if you want something other than salmon or tuna, you will love it. Oh, and don’t forget their impressive (now cVillain awarded) appetizers .
Let us know your thoughts!
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Popularity: 36% [?]
Tagged as: 29 north, bonefish grill, Charlottesville, dining, eat, Food, review
Awesome! Can we review Applebee’s next?
You didn’t even read the review!
Way to go Thor. There’s nothing wrong with going to a chain restaurant if they have outstanding food or service. I am dubious about the Caesar being the best in C-ville though. Bodo’s Caesar is fantastic.
P.S. The chef from Fleurie loves to go to Outback Steakhouse.
I eaten there before and it’s fine- it’s for the Forest Lakers who don’t want to come Downtown but still want to have a nice meal.It’s probably the best chain in the area.
You should try Timberwood Grill across the street as well. Local upscale pub food and the only decent bar for miles.
Bodo’s is the best?! no way!
i didn’t read it either, what’s it about?
L out loud, i’m kidding. good review. i actually didn’t even know we had a bonefish grill here. maybe they should do some advertising.
@6 why bother they just got all this free advertising
@Thor - How about a funny post on the Wallmart v. Target shopping experiences. I went to Walmart a few months ago and the people frightened me. friend of mine once photgraphed a wedding that took place at a Walmart; the bride walked down the checkout aisle. If she had gotten married at Sam’s Club she would have ended up with 24 husbands
Married at Sam’s Club? Walmart? Pshaw! So passé.
Waffle House is the new black:
http://www.gwinnettdailypost.com/print.asp?SectionID=6&SubSectionID=84&ArticleID=16944
Please please please do not pass up the slide show.
@8 yo linky is stinky
@ 8 - Wow! I am happy for them … I just hope they don’t vote.
Hmmm… works for me, try the main page article then. Because its awesome.
http://www.gwinnettdailypost.com/main.asp?SectionID=6&SubSectionID=84&ArticleID=16944
my family eats at the bonefish in miami a couple of times a month. (not all the nice dining choices in miami like in c’ville, obvi.) their salad with the avocado, blue cheese, & chicken is really good.
i love the caesar at outback.
If you’re gonna make haughty-sounding comments about whether things are aioli or not, you should spell it correctly.
You are absolutely correct!
/not aioli
All Cvillain must see that-my lord that photographer is a freaking genius.
Brides smoking, pregnant bridesmaids, and some fantastic t-shirts.
none of those links work for me
aioli is the new truffle oil
the links work for me and they are fantastic
Yeah, there’s some incredible shots in there.
Unrelated: Where is CDC tonight?
@20: The Shebeen
which was huge, dark, and beautiful
Oh, just wait…
Thanks!
20 minutes is not a long drive.
The Outback Steakhouse Inc (OSI) group also owns Carrabba’s Italian Grill, while not in Charlottesville, pwns Olive Garden.
And I second Dieter’s recommendation of Timberwood Grill @4, although pardon their dust, they will be expanding the dining room soon.
They give their waiters the dumbest names. At Cheeseburger, they’re “Islanders”. At Bonefish, they’re “Anglers”. At Outback, they’re “Outbackers”. Snort.
Haha. At Carraba’s they call the servers: “Carrabbamicos”.
20 minutes a long drive? Hehehe
I like the Bonefish for an occasional meal but I must admit I hate how charlottesville is seriously lacking a good seafood restaurant
I dont understand how a place like this could not have one! I mean the only place to go and get decent crab legs is at the Red Lobster?? Thats pretty sad 
@28:
*whisper* It might be the fact that we are in the middle of the mountains *whisper*
Yeah, and we let the Seafood Express on Cherry Ave just slip right though our hands. I think too many people ended up going there for the late night scene only and didn’t appreciate the local culinary gem that it was. I heard a rumor that Corin Capshaw bought it and that Van Halen got hit by a car there in the crosswalk while they were arguing over who makes the best tartare.
Whew!
It’s not quite clear in the post and comments, but Timberwood Grill is, I believe, a locally owned joint. For all you locavores. And “FLakes”.
But Shen, Seafood@West Main manages to get some fine feesh up in there daily. A bit daunting, yes, but man I could go for some CVille snappa!
True but it’s not a restaurant. Bring Lisa some crabs back from Va Beach wouldya?
@33 you want him to bring crabs back to his GF. That’s a first
Wait, Lisa’s my girlf? Was there a boygirl party? When did this all happen?
Lisa was swept away by the beauty and pageantry of the Waffle House Wedding.
You are a lucky man
Someone else would have to confirm the restaurant, but one of the chefs at the Bonefish at Hollymead left a downtown restaurant for his job up there. The recipes are probably standardized, but the chefs are probably pretty good in their own right.
I’ve only been the place once because someone gave my boyfriend a gift card, but it was a very nice, though loud, meal.
@13: Yes, Timberwood is locally owned by folks who also own an (in)famous Blacksburg establishment that Gobbler is most likely familiar with. Not certain that they are part of a local-food movement though. The burgers tend to have a Sysco pre-fab look to them. The crab dip, OTOH, is good stuff.
@27 et al: Rhett’s has decent seafood. Anyone have thoughts on Tiffany’s? I haven’t been to the new location, which means I haven’t been there for a while.
Been to Bonefish twice on someone else’s dime. Both times I thought the food was quite tasty, and both times I left feeling a little ill in the stomach.
It’s very rich, large-portioned type of place for a fish joint.
I’d happily go if I was in a culinary wasteland, but cant imagine a scenario in which I’d return whilst living in Charlottesville.
I left feeling a little ill in the stomach
Maybe it was just part of the local-food movement…
Anyone have thoughts on Tiffany’s
Excellent breakfast, Im told.
Excellent breakfast, Im told.
We both kind of liked it.
Well that’s, the one thing we’ve got.
Fake nice restaurant—they couldn’t tell me where their salmon was from.
@43.. the ocean or a fish farm.
Seafood@West Main is a restaurant, a lunch joint anyway.
@45 is a lunch joint the heady version of a lunchwhiskey?
I’ll sea too marrow.
Wait who am I married to? And if we got married at the Waffle house where the hell are my waffles!? LOL!
@29
Aww thats no excuse! There is a seafood place down 29, near Gainesville I think, called Blue Ridge Seafood and Crab Restaurant that has great crab legs and such
Nope - mountains are no excuse, there should be a decent seafood restaurant in c-ville 
Didnt there used to be an Awful Arthurs or something in c-ville? I could have sworn I remember going to a decent seafood place in this area at one point
I’m going to ditto all the comments regarding the Timberwood Grill for the 29 Northerners - locally owned, nice cold brews (although the smoke can get thick in the bar - my problem, I guess, but I’d rather just breathe air), big fat burgers and a very nice tuna salad (not the kind with mayo and canned tuna, the spring salad with grilled tuna kind). And the big plus is that on this end of town, it’s one of the few places you can sit outside on a nice day!
I had great crabs here in Cville…. so easy to get rid of, it was practically silly.
/stand over a bucket of salty water and splash… they jump in to the bucket thinking the tide is going out.
@50 - As always, Floozy is the voice of reason. Was Old Bay involved at all?
Since Dave stopped cooking for them (I think it’s been over a year now), that lunch counter has been poo. I believe they closed the lunch counter because no one could keep up with the orders.
A while back, the owners said they were reopening the lunch counter, which would serve sushi.
They are serving sushi there now.. and it’s much more of a retailer and wholesaler of fish. Ill bet they do 75%+ of their business wholesaling around town.
@53 You’re entirely right, Thor. I think its closer to about 90-95% of their business that’s wholesale. They really sell relatively little fish, comparatively, in their retail side. They sell a whole lot of fish indeed to restaurants in the area.
I greatly miss Dave’s crab salad at lunch. That was very good crab salad.
Who wants a re-tailed fish? I eat only fish with their original tail intact. You people disgust me.
in soviet russia re-tailed fish eat you.
And you have a fantastic view of the Target parking lot. That whole fuckin center is like you are in Manasas except for the nice view of the mountians. Bonefish is good, though.
caesar at dr. ho’s (under the new ownership) wins, hands down.
Sally, I’ll check it out!
Caeser salad?! I don’t even KNOW her salad.
@57. When you mention Manassas, it reminds me of a dirty unkept stretch on 28 driving into the Old Town, stark difference from the tantalizing aroma of a hot sizzling dish at Bonefish… yummy!!!
I’d rather live in Tora Bora then live in Norther Virginia… Seriously
@62. You must be pretty bad ass to live in Tora Bora.
/I hear they don’t build houses there. It’s the cave or nothing!!!
I tried to buy a ticket to Afghanistan on Hotwire the other day and no luck.
My wife likes Bonefish; her choice for Mothers Day dinner. I was very pleasantly surprised. Left to my own, should I find myself in the far northern wastelands, I’d go to Timberwood, which I like very much.
At least if the food sucked, you could go across the street to DQ and a delicious blizzard!