Preston’s Restaurant

We just got back from an amazing 4 course valentines meal that I could list as definitely in my top 5 best meals of all time. I started off with the grilled romaine lettuce with white bean purée, duck bacon, and tomato vinaigrette and it was amazing, my dinner dates had the shrimp and the goat cheese tart and all of these appetizers were made perfectly. Our entrees lived up to the bar set by our appetizers. The salmon was delicious and fresh tasting, the tenderloin and pepper jack grits were incredible as well. I had the buttermilk fried chicken with red pepper glaze and this incredible asparagus and let me tell you this was the best fried chicken I have ever had. One of us got the limoncello cheesecake and this was so light and fresh and just amazing. Two of us ended our meal with a dark chocolate cherry brownie and buttermilk ice cream. You have not experienced ice cream until you have had this perfectly balanced buttermilk frozen heaven. This ice cream was like no ice cream I ever had before, I could’ve eaten a quart of this mind blowing ice cream, which went so perfectly with that dark chocolate brownie. The staff was so nice and attentive this was a fantastic dining experience that I highly recommend.

Good dinner buffet but nothing fancy. I am spoiled from huge buffets in the NovA area but I thought the selection was small. But that’s not to say that you will not find any tasty items. (: I loved the bread pudding!

Excellent dinner last night. My steak was excellent and the coconut shrimp was wonderful. The service was super. Always enjoy dinner here.

Not an adventurous menu but everything that we had was good and the service was great. Perfect place for a business meal.

I had the chicken breast and the wife had chicken salad, both were ok. The grilled shrimp app and bread were the best part of the meal. The place was clean and the staff was friendly.

Had breakfast here on a recent visit to VA Tech. They offered a buffet on Sunday mornings, which was pretty good. All the basics, plus an omelette station. They also had a fairly large fruit bar, which was nice. Service was great, and the dining area is nice and clean.

Ate here on the first night of my recent stay and had to invite friends back two nights later, it was so good. Had the 12oz Strip loin with chorizo and pepper jack grits and wilted spinach. I am from Massachusetts and was convinced that I do not eat grits, but these were amazing! The strip was perfectly cooked and the grits and wilted spinach were perfect accompaniments. Kids had the Preston ’ s burger and we’re very happy. The chef here is very talented. I have to say that it is the best dinner that I have found in Blacksburg so far, just beating out 622 North which I also love.

Absurdly disappointed by our brunch at Preston’s.
The manager first claimed that he couldn’t seat us. I asked why not, since I could see plenty of tables behind him without people. He responded that they were reserved (which I get) or dirty (not bussing your tables is a problem).
Then started the wait for service. It took 10 minutes for someone to come by our table to get us coffee. We then moved in to the buffet, which was edible, but nothing special. There were cooks out in the buffet area arguing about what time they got to close. Grossly unprofessional.
Then came the wait for the check. My date actually went to the front desk to ask if we paid up there. The host said no and to wait. So we waited.
Overall, I was incredibly disappointed with the entire experience. The manager needs to lose his job and they need to hire a new one ASAP.

Watching Divergent on HBO at the Inn as I write this. Yeah, not that interesting either.
To the point:
Wife and I shared two small plates, the Rock Fish with brussel sprout slaw and the pork belly tacos. The fish was well done, the pork belly was battered and deep fried (enough said).
My wife’s entrée was the salmon with polenta and she said she liked it.
My entrée was the duck breasts with spaetzel and pickled cherries with a cherry glaze. The meat was cooked to medium but the skin was not rendered (I had to cut it off). In addition, there was only one breast on my plate… but the Yamizaki single malt was f’n spectacular, so I had two.
My daughter had grilled cheese and tomato bisque… her comment on the sandwich was that it was very simply that, a grilled cheese. She said nothing about the soup so I assume she liked it as she ate every last bite.
I wish I had the experience of the majority of reviewers here, I spent a nice looking penny to earn it.
Bottom line, two stars for the poor value.
(I’m hoping that breakfast is a hit)

OMG!!! The food is amazing. When I say amazing, I mean party-​in-​your-​mouth amazing. The flavors really pop. The quality of the ingredients is spectacular. The ambiance/​décor was very classy. It’s the water-​in-​your-​wine-​glass type of restaurant. Yet it didn’t feel pretentious. The waitress was an absolute sweetheart.
I don’t give many 5s, but this place could even get a 6 from me based on the food alone. I had a bite from the plates of every member of my party (4 entrees all together), and everything was scrumptious! The prices were on the higher side, mostly $ 20+ entrees, but I say money well spent! The portions are not over-​sized like many restaurants, but the quality of the food really trumps that.
The bittersweet aspect is that they change their menu very often so I don’t know if I’ll ever get to go back for that Truffle mushroom pasta dish I ordered (about which I dream quite often). However, they seem to be unable to go wrong on the food.

The meal was excellently prepared, but the portions were ridiculously small. I ordered seared scallops in a crème sauce with peas… and some sort of crunchy thing sprinkled on top. Very tasty — but 3, yes only 3 scallops is kind of skimpy for $ 18. The crème brûlée (done in an unusual chocolate) was especially delicious and the risotto small plate was very good too. Nothing is included– all ala carte.

Had a wonderful brunch at Preston’s this past Sunday! I was so impressed by the selection-​many breakfast choices, salad bar, shrimp and mussels, prime rib station, hot foods and a dessert bar (with a chocolate fountain!). Best of all was the affordable price and the free mimosa. Love that this restaurant is partly run by students. Smiling service. I would love to come back and enjoy again in the future!

Preston’s, we need to talk about your brunch. Why does no one know about this?! Mimosa included? Entire room devoted to badass lunch options? Tables groaning with desserts, included a freaking chocolate fountain, thoughtfully situated next to the carving station (YES CARVING STATION) so there’s a dude there and can keep children from sticking their grubby paws in the chocolate (thank you for your service, carving station dude)? An omelet station that features a chef who actually knows how to balance all the ingredients? AND ALL FOR LIKE $ 11 ARE YOU KIDDING. How do more people not know about this? Why are you being selfish, Preston’s? You have a responsibility to the community. This place should be on some kind of welcome to Blacksburg, here’s your map and garbage pickup schedule, don’t eat the big pizza if you’re not desperate enough to risk food poisoning, make sure and back your car into every parking spot for some reason welcome kit. If your product is this amazing, you have to say so.
We also take interviewees here for lunch. The lunch buffet is almost as ridiculous. It impresses the heck out of our potential hires, and sends a great message about our team. But I’ve never talked to a resident who is already on board the Preston’s Awareness Train.
Get it together, Preston’s. You’re too amazing to not let everyone know about it.

I have been captive audience during the storm… this said I have been quite pleased with the selections they still were able to offer. Portions are generous. Waiters are nice, helpful, and accommodating. Prices are reasonable considering the quality.
A place to check out when you are in the area.

Worst service of I can give them ZERO star that’s what they deserved. We asked for 2 nd basket of bread 20 minutes into dinner with 7 people the basket came out when we were finished eaten then this morning I asked egg beater omlet I was shown egg white liquid so I asked for egg white omlet but I was told that he only has a regular egg 30 sec after I was shown egg white carton. When we got in front of omlet he told us that he can’t serve us right away because of room service then he changed his time to since you are in front of me he made omlets with nasty eyes and attitude and way he was talking was not acceptable at all. Food itself is not bad but service are horrible from the hostess, waitress to omlet station.

I first went to Prestons several years ago for breakfast and dinner. At the time I wasn’t impressed with the dinner and thought the club sandwich was the best thing on the menu.
Fast forward to the present and at least the dinner menu is greatly improved! My table enjoyed a good selection of local microbrews including one from the bluegrass brewing company. We also all enjoyed an appetizer of smoked trout on crispy bread.
However it did take a little while after we ordered drinks and appetizers to order our entrees. The food did come fairly quickly once we ordered so it wasn’t terrible that it took a while to order.
I ordered a stuffed chicken with tomato sauce and palenta and my wife ordered seared salmon with pesto orzo. We both enjoyed the food and thought it was a decent portion size for the price. While it is pricey, the food was prepared well and tasted great. I have also heard that the menu changes with the seasons which makes me want to come back in the future.

Massively improved in the last few years. The menu has been totally overhauled and modernized with tapas and local ingredients by someone who actually cares about food. We had crab cakes as an appetizer. They were loaded with good lump crabmeat but otherwise unremarkable. My plank-​roasted salmon, which I requested rare, was absolutely perfectly cooked. The inside was just translucent, and the rest was supple and moist. It was served with a mushy pile of creamy and chunky grits and a large serving of tasty wild mushrooms. My partner had the scallops, which were also cooked well, and topped with a visually appealing and apparently very tasty tangle of bacon strings and wilted spinach.
Our server was friendly and efficiently and gladly tracked down the answers to our questions if she herself did not know them.
Preston’s is now high on our list of «date night» restaurants for those times when we want high quality food. I daresay it is now fit for foodies, at least for Blacksburg.

Pretty good restaurant Located at the Inn at Virginia Tech. We stayed at the Inn on a recent trip, and we were impressed with the hotel as a whole. We ate at Prestons the morning after St. Patrick’s Day to try and absorb some of the previous day’s festivities. Brunch is a little expensive ($ 20pp), but well worth it. The food was of a good quality, and there was lots of it. This is the third time I’ve been to Preston’s, the first for brunch. I was impressed with the biscuits and gravy, and the omelete station, as well as the crab and corn fritters, and the chicken ravioli in the lunch area. Other items on the menu included french toast, fresh fruit, bagels and breakfast breads, cereal, a full salad bar, prime rib, and several assorted sauteed vegetable trays. My date had the bread pudding for dessert, which she said was great (I opted for the cheesecake, also good).
There were two downsides:
— We had a 10:30 reservation, so we showed up at 10:24, there were a few people inside eating. We were told by the hostess that they weren’t open until 10, but we were welcome to sit in the bar area. A few minutes later she called us in and sat us. A waitress came out to take our drink order, and then we got food. The thing is, some of the items were already cold. An example: the homestyle potatoes were rock solid. It turns out that there was a private reunion breakfast there that morning, and the people we saw were the stragglers, but the food had been sitting out for hours (I was told that 10:30 was the earliest reservation, so we went thinking everything would be fresh).
— The waitress wasn’t very good. The restaurant wasn’t very crowded, only our table and 3 – 4 others, but she seemed to struggle keeping drink orders straight and keeping plates cleared. Would have liked at least one other.
Overall, based on this, and my previous visits there, I would recommend the restaurant, and will go there again when I am in town next.

May 2011-​update:
With Benchmark now managing The Inn at Virginia Tech, Preston’s has improved considerably. Gone are the mayonnaise-​and-​leftover salads. And the desserts are now actually palatable! The buffet is much better now, and I’m really pleased with the improvements.
My earlier review:
I don’t think the buffet is as bad as the previous reviewer says. I like the fact that they have plenty of veggies, often in colorful medleys, and they’re cooked properly. I’m not keen on the cold cuts offerings, but some people must like them, and I don’t have a problem with that.
One thing about the salad bar that puts me off is that it almost always has a bowl of what looks like mayonnaised-​up leftovers, e.g., «ham salad», «shrimp salad», «whatever-we-couldn’t-sell-yesterday salad». It just kind of depresses me.
Another disappointment is… Preston’s always has beautiful desserts, but for the most part, they are entirely devoid of flavor, especially the pies. I wonder whether they ever actually taste their own desserts. But, I really don’t mind this, because it makes it very easy for me to forgo dessert!