Last night I ordered a two piece chicken in there. After 30 minutes, the waitress came out and told me because of their crummy Wi-Fi. My order didn’t go through and they had just Started it. After about 15 minutes more, my chicken arrived and the mashed potatoes were cold as well as the gravy, but I ate it anyway because by that time I was hungry, I Ate the skin off the chicken thigh, and then took the knife to cut into it. Blood gushed out. I had already eaten everything down to where the meat had started, but didn’t realize that it was wrong inside until I cut into it. And then ate the leg and left what was left of the thigh. The meat wouldn’t come off the bone anyway, because it was so undercooked today I’ve been sick all day. Be careful what you get from there. You’ll feel like I feel today.
Reply to owners comment : I didn’t realize I was going to have stomach cramps and diarrhea until about 3 am . Then it lasted all day . All thighs are not the same size so a timer would not make a bit of a difference if you had a larger thigh, which I did get a larger thigh. I’m not gonna argue with you. I won’t be visiting there again. Your main concern is defending Your Wi-Fi. And so what about the fact that I got sick.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 1
Service: 1
Ann Hart
My family and I came to this restaurant after traveling for my son's basketball game. Since it was Valentine’s Day, I expected most restaurants to be at capacity. We arrived at 5:00 and signed a clipboard on the counter to join the waitlist, but there was no greeting or communication about the expected wait time. About 30 minutes later, we were seated.
We ordered soup and appetizers—the oyster stew and cheese bites. The oyster stew was tasteless and, at best, room temperature. It was very watery and had little to no butter, so we sent it back. The server did not ask any questions when it was returned. The cheese bites were good, but for the price, the quantity was still very low.
I remained hopeful that our meals would make up for the poor start. However, an hour passed and we still had not received our dinner. During that time, the waitress came by only once to refill our drinks and offered no communication regarding the delay. I understood it was a holiday and expected some wait.
Another 45 minutes passed. At this point, my son was eating the saltines from the stew because he was so hungry. The waitress finally came back, apologized, and said the kitchen was backed up. She brought us three rolls, which were good, and told us the food would be ready in 15 minutes. I was ready to leave at this point, but my son was starving and still hopeful for his burger.
Twenty minutes later—not 15—our food arrived. It was, at best, mediocre. The oyster basket had only a small portion of oysters and a large amount of fries to compensate. The burgers were fair, but nothing worth waiting over two hours for.
My biggest complaint was the overall disorganization of the restaurant. I am understanding and come from a long background in food service and management, but there should have been better communication. The door should have been managed properly, customers should have been informed of realistic wait times, and guests should have been greeted. We saw other families leave, and in hindsight, we should have as well.
I tried to be patient, but basic customer service would have gone a long way. It appeared there were not enough servers scheduled for the holiday. Additionally, two young employees—a busboy and a waitress—did not seem engaged in helping during the busy rush. We even observed them behind the counter kissing and playing around while the restaurant was clearly struggling.
Upon checkout, I politely expressed my concerns and experience and was only told, “Sorry, our grill and fryer weren’t maintaining temperature.” Unfortunately, I will not be returning. For a restaurant that has been family-owned since 1939, as stated on the menu, this was disappointing. They could greatly benefit from stronger leadership, better delegation, and improved customer service communication.
John Ernest
GREAT good, chicken fried steak melted in your mouth. The gravy and onions, with mashed potatoes was outstanding. My wife and I had the fried green tomatoes and they are perfect. Any place that serves fried green tomatoes has to be great. Will definitely be making special trips for “date day” with my wife.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Dale Sprenkel
Nice home town feel with good food.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 4
Haley Spurlock
We love Lees! The kindest staff and best comfort food around.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Barry Judkins
Still, one of the best kept secrets of Northern Neck!!! A destination dining experience for Laid-back, family style food! Great service, great quality ingredients all for a reasonable price 💰!! The burgers 🍔 were on special the day we visited and they were fabulously awesome; fresh beef 🐃 , hand-pattied 🤲 , and cooked perfectly 👌!! Even the sides are spectacular. Road Trip!!!!! Lots to do in Kilmarnock! Great ride 🚘 in the country......See you there!!
We have always had really good food at Lee’s!! They just changed up their burgers - and SOO.. good! This family owned restaurant is our main go-to in Kilmarnock.
Michael Carter
I really love this restaurant great food and stewed tomatoes
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
GrouseK9
Came to Lee's for dinner with my son on an early Friday night in December. Pro-tip: this place gets popular full quick! It is popular, for all the right reasons, so take that into your planning. We were seated quickly because we arrived before 5:30! By the time we left there weren't many open seats. The waiter was great, well timed and very competent. Inside it was cozy and ready for the Christmas holiday's. Something possessed me so I ordered a margarita. Pretty good! I have crazy margarita standards and this one hit the mark. We also started with hushpuppies. Since I used to have a summer job where ALL I did was make hushpuppies at a fish fry shack, I can personally rate hushpuppies and these were outstanding. I'm a sucker for crabcakes. So, of course, I had to have a crabcake sandwich. I didn't want to go all in on the meal and the sandwich seemed the perfect fit for me. And it was! Just the way I like them and wouldn't have it any other way. I went with mashed potatoes gravy as one side. It was very good and will be my new staple. I wanted a good vegetable that I could identify, but the only option that appealed to me was the cucumber salad. I don't remember the last time I ordered that. After the edition, I should order it more! The reason this has been a successful family run business for the last 80 years is because it is reliable, tastes great, and would be the poster child of a place that excels at "comfort food". And I write that with pride.
Lee's never disappoints. Our favorite place to eat while we are here. We love everything about it!!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
L.Bird
Best dinner in town.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Meredith Robling
Lovely diner I've been going to since I was a kid. Food is great, the staff are attentive and friendly. An all around good experience.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
William Cox
One of the worst dining experiences we have ever had. Young waitress got half of our order wrong and was argumentative and insisted we were wrong. Told us it would be 20-30 minutes to replace it. Then she was surly and unpleasant for the rest of our meal. I had to ask 3 times for the manager to come talk to me. She wasn't very pleasant either. No one ever apologized. When I paid the bill, I gave the cashier 3 twenties for a bill of $59.02. I did not have 2 pennies so She started counting out 98 cents. I told her to just keep the dollar. Unbelievable. Also, the worst tasting tartar sauce i have ever had.
Last night I ordered a two piece chicken in there. After 30 minutes, the waitress came out and told me because of their crummy Wi-Fi. My order didn’t go through and they had just Started it. After about 15 minutes more, my chicken arrived and the mashed potatoes were cold as well as the gravy, but I ate it anyway because by that time I was hungry, I Ate the skin off the chicken thigh, and then took the knife to cut into it. Blood gushed out. I had already eaten everything down to where the meat had started, but didn’t realize that it was wrong inside until I cut into it. And then ate the leg and left what was left of the thigh. The meat wouldn’t come off the bone anyway, because it was so undercooked today I’ve been sick all day. Be careful what you get from there. You’ll feel like I feel today.
Reply to owners comment : I didn’t realize I was going to have stomach cramps and diarrhea until about 3 am . Then it lasted all day . All thighs are not the same size so a timer would not make a bit of a difference if you had a larger thigh, which I did get a larger thigh. I’m not gonna argue with you. I won’t be visiting there again. Your main concern is defending Your Wi-Fi. And so what about the fact that I got sick.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 1
Service: 1
My family and I came to this restaurant after traveling for my son's basketball game. Since it was Valentine’s Day, I expected most restaurants to be at capacity. We arrived at 5:00 and signed a clipboard on the counter to join the waitlist, but there was no greeting or communication about the expected wait time. About 30 minutes later, we were seated.
We ordered soup and appetizers—the oyster stew and cheese bites. The oyster stew was tasteless and, at best, room temperature. It was very watery and had little to no butter, so we sent it back. The server did not ask any questions when it was returned. The cheese bites were good, but for the price, the quantity was still very low.
I remained hopeful that our meals would make up for the poor start. However, an hour passed and we still had not received our dinner. During that time, the waitress came by only once to refill our drinks and offered no communication regarding the delay. I understood it was a holiday and expected some wait.
Another 45 minutes passed. At this point, my son was eating the saltines from the stew because he was so hungry. The waitress finally came back, apologized, and said the kitchen was backed up. She brought us three rolls, which were good, and told us the food would be ready in 15 minutes. I was ready to leave at this point, but my son was starving and still hopeful for his burger.
Twenty minutes later—not 15—our food arrived. It was, at best, mediocre. The oyster basket had only a small portion of oysters and a large amount of fries to compensate. The burgers were fair, but nothing worth waiting over two hours for.
My biggest complaint was the overall disorganization of the restaurant. I am understanding and come from a long background in food service and management, but there should have been better communication. The door should have been managed properly, customers should have been informed of realistic wait times, and guests should have been greeted. We saw other families leave, and in hindsight, we should have as well.
I tried to be patient, but basic customer service would have gone a long way. It appeared there were not enough servers scheduled for the holiday. Additionally, two young employees—a busboy and a waitress—did not seem engaged in helping during the busy rush. We even observed them behind the counter kissing and playing around while the restaurant was clearly struggling.
Upon checkout, I politely expressed my concerns and experience and was only told, “Sorry, our grill and fryer weren’t maintaining temperature.” Unfortunately, I will not be returning. For a restaurant that has been family-owned since 1939, as stated on the menu, this was disappointing. They could greatly benefit from stronger leadership, better delegation, and improved customer service communication.
GREAT good, chicken fried steak melted in your mouth. The gravy and onions, with mashed potatoes was outstanding. My wife and I had the fried green tomatoes and they are perfect. Any place that serves fried green tomatoes has to be great. Will definitely be making special trips for “date day” with my wife.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Nice home town feel with good food.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 4
We love Lees! The kindest staff and best comfort food around.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Still, one of the best kept secrets of Northern Neck!!! A destination dining experience for Laid-back, family style food! Great service, great quality ingredients all for a reasonable price 💰!! The burgers 🍔 were on special the day we visited and they were fabulously awesome; fresh beef 🐃 , hand-pattied 🤲 , and cooked perfectly 👌!! Even the sides are spectacular.
Road Trip!!!!! Lots to do in Kilmarnock! Great ride 🚘 in the country......See you there!!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Stewed Tomatoes, Deluxe Burger, Fried Chicken Dinner
We have always had really good food at Lee’s!! They just changed up their burgers - and SOO.. good! This family owned restaurant is our main go-to in Kilmarnock.
I really love this restaurant great food and stewed tomatoes
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Came to Lee's for dinner with my son on an early Friday night in December. Pro-tip: this place gets popular full quick! It is popular, for all the right reasons, so take that into your planning. We were seated quickly because we arrived before 5:30! By the time we left there weren't many open seats. The waiter was great, well timed and very competent. Inside it was cozy and ready for the Christmas holiday's. Something possessed me so I ordered a margarita. Pretty good! I have crazy margarita standards and this one hit the mark. We also started with hushpuppies. Since I used to have a summer job where ALL I did was make hushpuppies at a fish fry shack, I can personally rate hushpuppies and these were outstanding. I'm a sucker for crabcakes. So, of course, I had to have a crabcake sandwich. I didn't want to go all in on the meal and the sandwich seemed the perfect fit for me. And it was! Just the way I like them and wouldn't have it any other way. I went with mashed potatoes gravy as one side. It was very good and will be my new staple. I wanted a good vegetable that I could identify, but the only option that appealed to me was the cucumber salad. I don't remember the last time I ordered that. After the edition, I should order it more! The reason this has been a successful family run business for the last 80 years is because it is reliable, tastes great, and would be the poster child of a place that excels at "comfort food". And I write that with pride.
Service great and food very tasty
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Restaurantji Recommends
Lee's never disappoints. Our favorite place to eat while we are here. We love everything about it!!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Best dinner in town.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Lovely diner I've been going to since I was a kid. Food is great, the staff are attentive and friendly. An all around good experience.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
One of the worst dining experiences we have ever had. Young waitress got half of our order wrong and was argumentative and insisted we were wrong. Told us it would be 20-30 minutes to replace it. Then she was surly and unpleasant for the rest of our meal. I had to ask 3 times for the manager to come talk to me. She wasn't very pleasant either. No one ever apologized. When I paid the bill, I gave the cashier 3 twenties for a bill of $59.02. I did not have 2 pennies so She started counting out 98 cents. I told her to just keep the dollar. Unbelievable.
Also, the worst tasting tartar sauce i have ever had.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 2
Service: 1
Awesome, quick and delicious!
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