Aberdeen Barn

All in all I enjoyed our dining experience at Aberdeen. Their staff was absolutely amazing, never once did I have to ask them for anything– they made sure our drinks stayed filled and our bellies were full to our content. They start you off with a yummy basket of pretzel sticks that’s accompanied by cheese. The escargot they brought out smelled heavenly but I wasn’t touching it haha, I had the lobster bisque which was very tasty. My fiancé ordered the
Prime Rib which was #amazing and I had the surf and turf– I requested medium rare but I felt it was just rare, my lobster was okay but not something I would write home about. Next time we venture here I’ll try the Prime Rib and this amazing looking strawberry shortcake someone ordered. It took an hour for our food to come out but I’m guessing in Charlottesville that’s standard, I think people enjoy taking their time out that way.

The cheese appetizer is delicious, but as others have stated hold off on the pretzel rods until the dinner rolls come out with the salad. The salad comes with a carousel of salad dressings which are amazing. Prime rib was amazing but huge!

As newbies to Cville, I as looking for a steakhouse to celebrate my husband’s birthday but also a place where I could take my 1 year old and not feel horrible for doing so. We settled on Aberdeen Barn! Its not on the nicest of streets, but they do have a parking lot and there’s lots of street parking available too. This is not a Ruth’s Chris kind of steakhouse, it’s a little kitchy here, very classic /​old-​school kind of place that makes you feel like you are stepping back in time. My parents commented that they felt like they were back at a steakhouse in the early 1970’s in the Wisconsin.
No bread and butter here, crisp breadsticks and cheese spread as you are seated, salads and potatoes for all with dressings and all the fixins’ serviced family style at your table. I had French Onion Soup and crab cakes. The crab cakes are serviced lightly breaded and fried, so I’d probably stick to steak next time but they were still good. I even took one home because it was so much food.
The wait staff were fabulous and very knowledgeable about the wines and menu. They were also very nice and accommodating with my 1 year old in the highchair. At one point, one of our guests ordered a 2^nd bottle of wine, tried it and said he didn’t like the wine as the somm had recommended it. He actually sent it back (yes he did! First time ever seeing that at a restaurant!) and they got him a new bottle no questions asked!
I will definitely come back here again. This is a great establishment where I feel like you could really get to know the staff. Next time I want to try their piano lounge… one of the tables is actually the piano that you can sit and eat at! Yaaaassss!

So old school. Just wonderful. A step back in time with timeless quality. A Charlottesville treasure. Not to be missed on a football weekend. The cheese spread for the crackers is sharp and good. The blue cheese dressing. I love the prime rib. Lamb chops are also top notch.

Great place to go with a big group or a date night with your significant other. Family feel with the wait staff most have been there for years. I strongly recommend!

Really enjoyed the meal and the service. Had the prime rib with creamed spinach and enjoyed both. The server was very friendly, Jim, and quite the charmer. Prime rib was a perfectly cooked medium rare and melted in my mouth.

My husband and I were there several months ago with two of our best friends. We were celebrating there wedding. We had been there, but this was their first time. We were seated immediately and our waiter was fabulous. We ordered two different appetizers, cocktails and then dinner. Everything was great. We actually closed the restaurant down that night. As for it being to pricey, you get what you pay for. Our friends loved it and so do we. We have reservations for tomorrow night, can’t wait and I don’t even it steak. Sorry for everyone else’s bad experiences.

I was so looking forward to a great steak experience as I arrived with a friend for dinner. It didn’t take long to realize the service here is lacking.
There were 5 or 6 tables crammed with people in the back corner of the bar near a big screen showing playoff football. I guess they assumed for that Sunday evening everyone should dine in the same spot, even thought the rest of the restaurant was wide open. It was loud and obnoxious. There was a basket of sesame sticks on the table when we arrived that apparently had been out all day. They were stale.
When the waiter arrived he seemed rushed and absolutely had no plans on polite chatter with the customer. Unfriendly I would say.
I ordered the Onion Rings as an appetizer and they came out way undercooked. I sent them back and they still came out a mess. How in the world can a steak place mess up the Onion Rings?
My Bone In Sirloin looked ok when I started eating it but after getting into it I discovered it wasn’t cooked properly. When I flagged the waiter and shared this information with him he should have offered another one cooked properly on the spot, yet he said he would mention it to someone! WTH? He waited until we had finished the rest of the meal in it’s entirely to tell me they would cook another steak for me. I declined and said I was finished. They did remove the $ 44 steak from the bill.
I have dined in the Aberdeen Barn in WIlliamsburg my entire life and their service is untouchable. Charlottesville has flaws. I don’t think I will return to this location.

I love this place because it is stuck in the 70’s. The down side is the service staff is stuck in the 70’s too. You are on their schedule. You may wait 20 minutes for a refill or for the waiter to take your order.

I went back and forth between 3 and 4 stars at least 3 or 4 times… ;-) My wife simply loves Prime Rib, as do I, so we split the large extra thick cut. The food got the 4^th star. Service OK, not great… the least service I’ve ever had at A/​B. Rare Prime Rib w/​excellent horse radish… not the shaved pieces on the plate… so almost 40 yrs later A/​B has changed. It’s moved into the 1990’s in appearance. The Prime Rib was more than enough for two. You will know you’re in a steak house as soon as you walk in the door… look to your right for the see the glass panes steak cooler. I still like the place!

As a local we have a lot of great restaurants in Charlottesville. This one stands out if you like a great steak or prime rib. They know how to age and prepare great prime rib. Service is great too! A Charlottesville tradition for a reason — they do it right!
A local’s secret — have your prime rib grilled like I did — fantastic and unique.
If you want to impress a lady, friends or business associates — the barn rocks!

First off, the only reason I’m giving this place a two is because the service was good. The food was meh. The steak I got was so burned I had to drown it in steak sauce to cover the charred taste. The baked potato was good tho.

If I could get away with not giving any stars, this would be a below zero rating.
Well this is unfortunate —
I see decent reviews on this place which would normally make me want to try again but, after the horrendous experience I had there with my family, there is no way in hell I will ever go back– ever!
We are regulars at Aberdeen Barn in Williamsburg, VA and are used to above par service and fabulous food from them.
Missing Aberdeen Barn for some time, we found one closer to us than Williamsburg, VA in Charlottesville, VA. So, for Father’s Day last year, this was my father’s expressed desire, to go to Aberdeen. So, off to C-​Ville we went to celebrate this phenomenal man who helped bring in to this world, three amazing kids who have grown up to do only good in the world and serve their country following in their father’s footsteps.
The service was so horrendous I left almost in tears. The only thing that helped me keep them at bay was that he said he enjoyed his food and had a good time.
We were seated rather quickly however, it took about 20 minutes for anyone to even stop by the table and say anything… when our server did get to us, SOMEONE ELSE had already gotten our drinks for us since we were left hanging for so long. We had plenty of time from the wait to figure out what we wanted and were ready to order by the time our server finally got to us. However upon seeing we had drinks, she got shitty and walked away; leaving us sitting there for another 15 — 20 mins.
When she came back, she was there only long enough to hand us our menus and said she would be right back– didn’t even ask if we needed refills. Another 20 minutes later after we watched her jump from table to table in the section but ignored us, we finally grabbed her and said we would like to order. Begrudgingly pulling her pad out of her pocket with her attitude (unfortunately she left the stick up her arse), she finally took our order.
True to form I got my favored Seafood Bisque. Holy cow it was the most disgusting thing I ever had– there was not the slightest hint of Sherry and it was liking sucking down melted butter with some fish sauce. The pretzels were stale and the bread was unlike the freshness we were used to from Aberdeen Barn. Despite the disgusting food thus far, and ridiculously horrendous service, no one said anything so I ‘m not sure at what point she decided to adapt a shitty attitude.
When our prime rib came, we got no horseradish with it at all– nothing… when we asked for it, she looked at us like we were foreign and said they didn’t have any. When we returned very perplexed looks and questioned her, she just got shittier… so she goes away and comes back with this little bowl of something stringy and absolutely disgusting… we asked what that was and she said it was horseradish… we tried to suffer through it but it was just so ridiculously disgusting we finally asked if she has any minced or paste… she said they didn’t serve that– this was all they had…
When it came to dessert, I left the call to my father since it was supposed to be his day, but, I just wanted to get out of there so bad before I made the biggest stink you ever saw.
Unfortunately he did want dessert so we suffered through that wait and for him to finish his dessert; me, I didn’t ask for another thing the whole dinner and made it known that I didn’t appreciate the horrendous lack of professionalism on the part of the server and the ridiculous service we received. I vowed to never, ever, ever go back there — very sad because Aberdeen is typically our go to indulgence. I’ll just stick to Williamsburg’s store.
Although a part of me realizes that maybe it was just this nasty thing going through menopause — the fact that they only serve that nasty, stringy, raw horseradish is enough to keep me from attempting another disastrous outing. Nah, I’ll just stick with Aberdeen Williamsburg.

Had the pleasure of dining here last night during our stay at a B&B nearby. First off, it is an old-​fashioned place — dark, red leatherette booths, wagon-​wheel chandeliers, sort of a stiff formality in an era where people don’t dress up for dinner much just to get a steak. But for us that was part of the charm. We had a reservation and were seated quickly at a nice table for four (just the two of us — but we hate sitting at a tiny table for two!). They brought us a big basket of breadsticks (the cracker kind, not the bread kind) and a crock of cheese spread and some real butter — man it was good, we could have eaten it all but glad we didn’t. The wine list was good, local wines plus some standard wines — nice by the glass selection.
We both ordered the regular cut of prime rib and it was a huge, thick, bone-​in portion. It came with a salad and a side dish (I had mashed potatoes and my husband had a baked). The salads came with a trio of dressings — blue cheese, thousand, and ranch — again, charmingly old-​fashioned. The meat was great, resting in lots of Au jus. It was exactly as we ordered — medium rare on the rare side. There was a generous topping of grated horseradish (taste/​texture sort of like grated radishes) — that’s a first for us and we didn’t like it much so we asked for horseradish sauce. We mixed the bottled horseradish our waiter brought with sour cream and that was better. We also shared a side of creamed spinach — not too creamy, but good.
If I have a criticism besides the strange grated horseradish it’s that my mashed potatoes were brought in a separate little bowl and there was no way to get the Au jus spooned over. They got cold pretty quickly and probably weren’t the best mashed potatoes I’ve ever had. It would have been better to have them on the platter with the meat, but do they make platters that big? But overall the meal was great, our waiter was pretty attentive, and we had an excellent prime rib experience. We would return and probably will.

After spending a long day touring VA Tech we drove to Charlottesville to tour UVA. We arrived around 7 to the Days Inn and were planning on calling out for pizza. We spotted the Aberdeen Barn when checking in, did a quick check on Unilocal and decided no pizza for us! As tired as we were we dropped our bags, called to see if they had any availability (parking lot was full) and got a table a half hour later.
What a delight! Walking in you really do feel like you are walking back in time, in a good way. We were greeting warmly and seated in the front room. As you walk in there is a glass enclosed refrigerator that displays the meat. Lots of beef!
This is not one of those places for those watching calories or cholesterol. It’s a steak house, I’m sure they have other items but I don’t think this is the place for you.
We had drinks and ordered the prime rib. We both ordered the regular cut or whatever the middle one was as they don’t list the oz size. We we not disappointed, the servings were huge.
Everything else we had was good but let me tell you, this was some seriously good prime rib and I’m a prime rib snob. It was the best I’ve ever had.
Service was outstanding, Charles our waiter gave us excellent suggestions that were spot on.
Now that our son has decided on UVA I can’t wait for move in day, some parents get teary eyed not me, I trying to push up the day to get back the to Aberdeen. Ps The Days inn next door was a perfectly clean, convenient room for a quick one night stay.

If you come to a restaurant like Aberdeen Barn, you are coming because you like a good prime rib. The Barn might just have the best prime rib I’ve had worldwide.
Okay, well, that might be a little dramatic, but I’ve had prime rib at all of the titans in The United States — Morton’s, Ruth’s Chris, Del Frisco’s, Bobby Vann’s, etc. All of these locations are known as high quality and high dollar, and also somewhat fit into the chain category. Aberdeen Barn has two locations in Virginia and says that it is «Virginia’s finest steakhouse.» True.
I’ve been here four times since being in Charlottesville for training, and other than one time where I ordered the Del Monico, I have gotten the Prime Rib every time. It is delicious, flavorful, melt in your mouth beef that tastes almost as fresh as it was cut the day before. Mr. Robert, the head chef (he wears the red hat) does an outstanding job with the dishes here and you will not leave hungry or disappointed.
For dessert, go for the chocolate ganache cake or my personal favorite, crème brûlée. I’ve had crème brûlée in a lot of places before, but the one here is phenomenally good.
Notable wine list as well, for the wine enthusiast. Warm and inviting dining room, friendly staff members, and insanely reasonable pricing given the quality of the meal.
Great place. Looking forward to going a few more times before my short time in Charlottesville is done.

Over the years, I have developed high standards for my steaks and the corresponding value and this place did not even stack up to the Texas Roadhouse chain. The restaurant reminds me of a dark jazz club/​sports bar, more than a steak house. The steaks were only ok and the seasoning the same. The pretzel sticks and cheese were an odd appetizer to serve and the salads were wilted and had big chunks of the core. I feel like I paid a high price for something Outback would not serve. I would give the waitstaff five stars if I could. They were exceptional!!!

Incredibly disappointing. Aberdeen Barn was a series of missteps in both food (the food alone warrants the two-​star rating) and service.
First, rolls were not brought to our table until we asked.
Second, my french onion soup was a one-​dimensional disaster. The soup tasted like a salty, store-​bought beef broth and had none of the richness expected.
Third, the included salad had browning lettuce and lettuce cores (unsuitable for serving).
Fourth, the steak fries were something one would get at a bad French bistro, slightly undercooked with a strong flavor of grease.
The only acceptable part of this meal was the prime rib, which while slightly overcooked (I asked for it medium rare) was still tender. I did, however, have to wait a few minutes for the rest of my party to be served since our one waiter brought out each person’s entrée and each person’s side dish individually with some noticeable delays between.
An overrated, antiquated establishment that I wouldn’t mind seeing falling by the wayside as its food and service already has.

A LARGE group of us have been eating dinner here at least four times a year for many years, so we’re regulars, and they take good care of us when we come. Aberdeen Barn is an old school steakhouse, dark interiors with a lot of wood… like a barn. The food is also done in a kind of old school way… in a way that was good back in the day, but hasn’t kept up with newer methods, seasonings or style of presentation. It’s still good, but it’s not contemporary and not fancy, but the prices are! It’s kind of a Charlottesville institution, so people are likely to recommend it if you’re looking for a steakhouse there. Ask for James to be your server. He’s nice and efficient.
Good not great.

This is a steak joint. Don’t even think of ordering anything else, and keep your cholesterol and high blood pressure meds handy.
All four of us had the prime rib — I think that’s what you’re supposed to have here. Rolls and baked potato come with dinner and that’s about it. Veggies are a special order.
Everything was quite nice, although well short of fantastic.
By the way, this is an old people’s place — you won’t see many people under 60 here.
We had a bottle of Argentine cab to go with our dinner and we all left happy.
Décor/​Ambiance — 4 STARS (leathery, dark & beefy)
Location — 5 STARS
Service — 4 STARS (solicitous, perhaps too much so)
Food — 3 ½ STARS (quite nice, but missing that something extra)