Houndstooth Cafe

Incredible food, spectacular and friendly service, and the most variety in a restaurant that I’ve ever seen. Great for Sunday lunch!

Houndstooth and Lilianas are now one place. We stopped for lunch on a Saturday and found both the service and food to be very good. The BBQ sandwich was excellent and the French fries are some of the best I’ve had… fresh and hot. My Bologna burger was again cooked just right and on a fresh toasted roll with a side of fries. The iced tea was fresh and sweetened well. We will be back to try some of the Italian dishes and pizza as Lilianas was good when it was across the road.
A Saturday evening early dinner had the same good pulled pork, good ribs but mediocre crab cakes. The crab cakes were very thin with noticeable filler and not all that good. I had one with my rib and crab cake combo and one of us had a crab cake sandwich. The Houndstooth used to be known for its crab cakes so we were disappointed. The French fries were still great, the green beans tasty and the baked beans average. Hush puppies were also just mediocre.

So, it’s thanksgiving eve, and my boyfriend and I have been in stop and go traffic for over four hours. And let me tell you, we are so thankful to have found this place. Just came across it off 301. Cozy atmosphere, great service, and incredible OUT OF THIS WORLD FOOD. We didn’t try any of their Italian menu, which I’m sure is amazing, but their Southern Menu… I think we died and went to heaven. The steak was perfectly juicy and tender, the mashed potatoes creamy, the sausages spiced and cooked just right, the flounder just perfect, the Mac and cheese with that home cooked feel, and the fried okra and collared greens making us fall in love with vegetables haha. We’re kind of on a food high right now. Everyone Please go here! Thank you guys for an incredible eating experience!

Great food, with awesome service. Menu can be a little misleading with the lunch special not clearly labeled as Monday thru Friday only. But all the food was crafted wonderfully and the cheesecake is sublime. The cheesecake is huge and amazing. Places like this need more support. If I was local would eat here all the time, made the road trip even more awesome.

Gosh, I really want to give 4 or maybe even 5 stars as the food was really good. Great BBQ sandwich or plate. Fries were somewhat soggy but still tasty. BUT… The service was horrible. Not even half full and it was 20 minutes before a waitress showed after being seated. 10 minutes to get sweet tea and very few follow ups once the food finally arrived. Heck, it took 20 minutes to get a check.
Hope they offer takeout. Won’t be back thanks to service.

A hidden gem off of the beaten path! This is definitely worth the drive «out of the way».
I had the ½ combination platter and the portion was super huge! The steak tips were so tender! The Italian sausage was very spicy and had so much flavor!
The bbq here is amazing! The bbq sandwich is served on a buttered toasted roll and there had to be 2lbs of meat on it!
Highly recommended!
Would definitely like to sit and eat with the family that owns it, they are so family oriented and welcoming!

I’ve been to Houndstooth Café twice lately – once just with my husband and more recently with him and his sister and brother-​in-​law who had stopped by Ashland on their way back home from DC. On the first visit we had a minor glitch with receiving the special of the evening (my husband’s order). It resulted in my receiving my order about 10 minutes before my husband did. It was not a huge deal but the owners bent over backwards to make it right which resulted in a totally comp’d dinner (along with free desserts that we had not ever ordered yet!). I recommend getting the house salad and adding the bbq to it — upcharge of $ 4 for the bbq. That plate was ginormous — a huge meal for $ 11. Rick ordered the fried shrimp special, $ 7.95. This was a little disappointing– the shrimp tasted all right but the serving was really small. I think they would have done better to charge a bit more and add more shrimp to the order. We felt kinda bad getting our entire dinner for free so we went ahead and ordered some ribs to go for our dinner the next night and left a nice tip. The ribs were very good, even re-​warmed. I wanted to mention, too, that we talked with the owners for a bit while we waited for the ribs to go. Very nice family.
On our second trip, my husband ordered the salad with bbq (he was jealous of my plate on our first trip). I ordered a sampler platter — it was ¼ of a chicken and a pile of the bbq (and brought part of it home). That entrée came with two sides: I got cole slaw and collard greens. I had ordered the green beans with onions and bacon but they had run out. Rick’s sister and brother-​in-​law split the bbq salad which they enjoyed. We ordered one dessert to share for the table and they brought a SLAB of German chocolate cheesecake — it was delicious. I typically enjoy plain cheesecake with perhaps a fruit topping. But this German chocolate one was really tasty with coconut and nuts in it.
We will definitely be going back again. The outside seating has a front porch facing Rt. 301 and it was fun to watch cars going by. We ate inside on our 2^nd visit.

An outstanding example of a friendly, local restaurant. Great location, just north of Hanover Courthouse and east of Ashland on 54. The bbq was perfect, the fried okra homemade, and the collards were as Southern as could be. Highly recommended– I’ll be back!

Okay, so this was my second time here. I was there years ago, under the original owners and I cannot tell you how AMAZING the BBQ was today in comparison!!! They brought me out their homemade sauce, a Carolina style with just enough kick to make it perfect! I added one of their premium sides, onion rings, and they too, exceeded my expectations! Tangy, perfectly golden, delicious! The portion size of my sandwich also exceeded my expectations! The Chocolate Chess pie I got to go, and I finished every morsel.
If you’re looking for a warm, cozy atmosphere, with attentive and friendly service, do not hesitate to stop in. You will not be disappointed. This will become a regular meal destination for me!

Four of us had dinner tonight and based on some of the reviews and the server’s suggestions, my husband and I ordered the crab and ribs. We each had a toss salad, shared an entire and 2 sides. He had two beers and I had one glass of wine and the tab was around $ 40. Tina was mentoring Taylor who both did a great job! We were warmed by the cozy fire and great food. We will definitely be back!

Any of the older reviews you see wouldn’t apply, as the restaurant was closed for a long time and just reopened (Jan 2015).
I went today and the food was decent. I hope they adjust their menu though because it is heavily weighted towards somewhat pricey dinner items. The lunch menu is very small… just a few sandwiches and the prices are on the high side ($ 8 for a bologna burger!). I may go one more time for a lunch after a while to see if they make adjustments.
They could do a good lunch business if they spent time focusing on that. People are always looking for a good, nearby alternative to the Hanover Café. But if they stick with this format I’m not sure it will succeed unless they really attract the dinner crowd.
I also couldn’t see that they have a website and that is very frustrating

Such great food for the price. The crab cakes and ribs are out of the world.. All I can say is wow
The service is supper fast. will be back soon.

Finally some great food out this way. I would have to say the food was first quality and tasty!!! Had the ribs they were huge and awesome… my parents had the barbecue and loved it and they are very picky about their bbq. great sauce too. Love the atmosphere to sit and have a glass of wine. I heard they will be having outdoor events can’t wait to try them. Looks like this is going to be a great local place. Definitely be back. Happy foodie****

This was once one of the best restaurants in Hanover County but it was sold recently and all the new owners did was keep the same pricing but serve up cold food that is not nearly as good as the previous owner had built their reputation on.
I’ve visited twice now & will never go back. Both times the food was cold & in one visit the meat served was too tough to eat.
You would at least think if they cannot match the previous owners chef expertise, they could at least drop their pricing.

So disappointed! We were long time patrons, but will not return! They have reopened the restaurant after a long closing. Wow, what a difference. My husband had flounder and equated it to a frozen dinner. BBQ chicken ok, pork was dried up. Sides were very slight and service was terrible. Another ICON gone south. They need to change the name as it is a 180 from the «Houndstooth» that once was!

We recently moved to the area and were on a drive to explore. Houndstooth Café is a wonderful home style restaurant. All the dishes were home made with fresh ingredients. Three or four things were the best version I have ever had. Best fried green tomatoes ever. Best hush puppies. Best macaroni salad. Excellent pork barbecue smoky and a little peppery. Excellent baked beans with onion and a little mustard I think. I had a very generous fried oyster sandwich. I never order dessert at lunch but they looked so good we shared a slide of chocolate toffee pie. Amazing. We will surely be back often