Review: Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives - Norfolk Style

I had to head down to Norfolk today to sit in on a meeting for work. I teased The Wife by telling her if she rode along I'd take her to Doumar's, where they invented the ice cream cone.

The ice cream cone...Norfolk...She didn't believe me.

I had to break out the Google, and find the episode of DDD where Guy Fieri was at Doumar's. When she saw that she could have cared less about anything else - but if Guy had been there and done a show on it she wanted to go.

Doumar's is a local legend in the Tidewater area. It's been around forever, and you'll see little old ladies there for lunch who have been coming since they were little girls, next to college students, next to construction workers on their break, next to police officers, next to tourists who saw the Guy episode. Everyone goes to Doumar's.

They are a drive-in, in the traditional sense. If you pull up under the long awning a waitress will be out to take your order, and bring it to you on one of those trays that clips onto your window.

We decided to eat inside today. Service here is lightning fast. We sat at a two top table in the front of the restaurant and The Wife said she had to powder her nose but gave me her order. A few minutes later the waitress came by and I ordered the barbecue sandwich with slaw for The Wife and a cheeseburger for myself. The food was brought out before The Wife returned.


It was a good meal, the barbecue was better than the burger. And the burger was a little on the small side, but at $2.00 it's so cheap if you're hungry you can afford to get two. The Wife's barbecue was plenty big.
After lunch we ordered what Doumar's is famous for - ice cream cones. The Wife had chocolate and I had butter pecan.

The cones are out of this world, and if you look closely at the top, you can see DOUMARS cooked into the waffle cone.
If you need a quick and cheap lunch in Norfolk, you can't beat Doumar's.

Comments

  1. I found the nostalgia of the place totally outwieghed the product, but that is enough reason to still visit it.

    Like you said, it was cheap. I think I had a burger, a dog, fries and a milkshake and it was under $10.

    I love this this type of Americana.

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  2. I couldn't agree more.

    There is a similar type place in Staunton, Wrights' Dairy Rite where the food acutally matches the Nostalgia.

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  3. Doumars is all about the experience!

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