Buoy 44 Seafood Grill

This place rocks!
The food! The drinks! The views! The atmosphere!
It was overall the best place I have been to at the beach since I’ve been back to Virginia!
I loved it, and I don’t love places!
Go, enjoy, and be thankful there is this place!

Very laid back and comfortable. Amazing views. Nice service. The fish specials are yummy. Enjoy the she crab soup. Great cocktails. Perfect place to hang out. Black and blue burger is very satisfying.

I was in VA for thanksgiving and after all that turkey, we decided to go out. After a few stops we ended up here. The view is spectacular hands down! to have a direct view of the bay and Chesapeake bay bridge is priceless. The restaurant itself was the typical ocean view seafood place… A bit over priced for ok
wasn’t that busy at all for a Saturday which was fine with me. The staff was friendly as well. I ordered a orange crush since I had been drinking them for a period of time, it was not good at all, I had to send it back and ended up getting a lemonade with ginger ale and. Vodka. It was good. I also ordered the oyster Rockefeller. It was good but different than what I had had before, but I ate them all with no issue. I tried a few of the other dishes my friends ordered. THE Tuna bites are good but super hot (to me). The sweet potato is very good! Not sure I would go back for anything besides the view since it’s not exactly close to anything else but it’s a pretty cool first timer place.

Fish tacos are great!!! We had happy hour drinks and apps. Everyone like the food. The staff was nice and worked hard. I’ll go back.

Such a great spot to come if you want fine dining or even a nice family setting. The atmosphere is so fun and welcoming I never want to leave! Don’t even get me started about the balcony seating oh my gawdd! On Saturdays they have live music and the interact with us while we dance, such a fun night! Deffenitly my new Saturday dinner spot. The servers were super nice (I request Maryanne every time, she’s the best) and my food runner Anton was way too nice!

I like the nachos and their happy hour. Drinks have way too much crushed ice that you can’t even taste the sweet tea or the soda. I think its their way of filling the glass right away. Yes, it is a busy restaurant but hey they have to keep a good quality of service if they wanna keep their customers. Last time we were here, our server was very annoying.

Greatest shrimp tacos! Great fried oysters too, and the she crab soup! Wow, VA beach is blowing my mind with all this great food. The place is super cute, right on the water, very modern design and free valet parking, what more can you ask for :)

Buoy 44 took the place of what used to be an upscale seafood restaurant on the bay. I wasn’t sure what to expect but man was I pleased. The atmosphere now is much more beach-​community-​casual and relaxing. There’s a bar area, regular seating, and an outdoor deck where you can dine over the beach looking at the Chesapeake Bay. All of the staff members we encountered were friendly and outgoing and seemed to have a «customer first» attitude. We ordered a little food to share but that was fine because the portions were huge. We got a seafood nacho dish that we absolutely tore apart and followed that up with some crab cakes. Everything was delicious. Their version of the oyster shooter wasn’t my favorite but that’s ok — it was still fun to try. Overall I highly recommend Buoy 44 and think it’s a great place to go have a drink and some food and chill on the beach.

I just stopped by for drinks so I can’t rate food. Sat out on deck looking over Chesapeake bay bridge. Was told that deck was for people ordering food but let us. Our drinks were packed with ice and very little liquor. Awesome view just wish drinks were better.

This is not a place to go if you are a foodie. It has a limited menu choice & I keep searching for something to order. I really wanted to love it when it first opened. But Alexander’s on the Bay it is not! Go for the great view overlooking Chesapeake Beach. Sit near the window or on the deck & watch the dogs chase balls in the water in late afternoon. Watch the beautiful sunset over the Chesapeake Bay. But don’t expect anything but bar food menu choices.

I only ate at the bar, so that’s all I can speak of. Their happy hour is one of the best around! 50 cent clams, wings, and oysters is a great deal! Even hh prices on their crushes. I had a dozen each of the steamed clams and raw oysters. Both arrived quickly and were fresh! Happy hour pricing but full quality products. I felt like the pricing was so good and the seafood was fresh, so why not indulge in more? I also ordered the crab legs and was very happy with those too! The bartender was friendly and attentive without intruding. He also made a great grapefruit crush! Will definitely return!

Food was so-​so and the drinks were too sweet. The reason for the single star is for the service experienced last night. I would encourage even my worst enemy to spend their money elsewhere. Here’s why. I knew my sister would be getting engaged on the beach right outside of the restaurant, so I placed a phone call:
Me: Hi, do you take reservations?
Girl on the phone: No ma’am we don’t
Me: Can you make an exception? My sister is getting engaged tonight and we want to try and get a spot outside.
Girl on the phone: No, sorry
Me: Are you guys busy right now?
Girl on the phone: No
Me: ok, thanks bye
I’m angry but I didn’t want to ruin the night. My boyfriend calls the restaurant back:
Him: Hi we just called about the engagement, can I speak to a manager?
Girl on the phone: Um, yup hang on…[pause]…he’s busy right now.
We hang up and figure we’ll just get there early. An hour later, my sister is proposed to on the beach and they come onto the deck at Buoy 44 to celebrate. A man that had been sitting at the bar, having drinks, walks over to congratulate my sister and fiancé. He says «We also do weddings here for when you’re ready to start planning. I’m the General Manager.»
Tacky. Incredibly tacky and nice to see that you were «too busy» to get on the phone earlier because you were sitting at the bar having drinks. His name was Luis and he should be embarrassed for how rigid the lady on the phone was (likely, under his direction) and that he had the nerve to seek out future business in the manner he did. Luis if you can see this, no we won’t be having a wedding at Buoy 44 and you did a huge disservice to the nice server we had that waited on us last night. I’m certain you’re dull-​witted and careless management style will cost your owners and the servers money.

The best view of the sunset hands down in chics beach!

The old Alexander’s On The Bay… I definitely dig this spot more. Great view. Super chill patio. Friendly people working. Heck, I even ordered an alcoholic drink yesterday. I had their version of an orange crush filled with something something something blue in it. A pretty good drink but I really couldn’t taste the alcohol. Not sure if that was the point but with my tolerance these days I would have felt a little something.
Happy Hour, I believe 4−7pm, gets you wings, oysters, and clams for 50 cents each. An amazing deal! Sadly though, the oysters weren’t really up to par. My group was ready to indulge in several dozen but after the first dozen we decided to call it quits there.
As usual, I was drooling over the calamari being served at other tables.
We’l definitely return as we embark on beach days throughout the summer. Glad to have this place because I feel it’s certainly better suited for the area.

I’ve been to Buoy 44 three times now. Last time was 5÷10÷2015, total disappointment.
The first time was with my wife for her birthday, we both really enjoyed it. Food was great, service was good, atmosphere was nice.
The second time was taking my mother there for mother’s day. We went Saturday night, day before mother’s day, and had a good time. Being a Saturday it was a little loud, but the food and service was good.
Based on those two times, this would have been a 4+ star review no doubt. Then my wife decided she wanted to go for mother’s day. I had eaten there the night before, but oh well.
We arrived to no wait at 530PM, surprising on a mother’s day. Plenty of open tables, not busy at all. I’m not sure if the management had gone home by this time, but this is where the problems started…
Problem #1 — No highchair for my 2 y/​o son. I understand this can happen sometimes, but the restaurant was not busy. If you are a restaurant owner and don’t want to cater to families, that’s fine, but if you have a kids menu, please have more than 3 highchairs.
Problem #2 — Sold out of tea… that’s right, no tea. I’m not sure if the staff was too lazy to make more tea, or if they ran out of tea supplies (leaves + h20), but the problem is solved very easily. I could not believe at the very beginning of the dinner rush on a holiday, they would be out of tea.
Problem #3 — Aga, our waitress. I hope this was her name, the only indication I have was a name on the receipt. She was almost completely useless. She was painfully slow, but not accidentally slow, it was a lazy, I don’t care slow. We she could be seen, she would disappear for 15 minutes at a time, I’ve never seen a waitress saunter so nonchalantly through a restaurant. We asked for more napkins 4 times before hailing a member of the kitchen staff to get some. We had to ask other staff to go get her for us. Remember, she was not busy, the restaurant was not busy, she had maybe 3 tables total.
Problem #4 — No chips, or was it cheese? Normally the Buoy Nachos are amazing, I highly recommend them. I ordered them as my meal, so did my mother-​in-​law who joined us. After Aga put in our order she came back about 10 minutes later to explain the kitchen had no more queso, and would cheddar cheese be ok? Funny thing is, she specifically asked me, not my mother in law who had ordered the same time. She also didnt ask my Father in Law who ordered the burrito, which is covered in queso. Confused, but fine with the alternative, I agreed. When the food actually came out though, both nacho dishes had queso (no cheddar) and the burrito had queso, strange. Even stranger was my nachos did not have tortilla chips, but rather potato chips, yes nachos with potato chips. Not sure where the confusion set it between the queso and chips, but my dinner was definitely… odd.
After fighting to enjoy our mother’s day dinner, and hailing another member of the staff to go find Aga to get our check after we had been waiting with table cleared (by kitchen staff) for about 10 minutes, we paid and left.
Buoy 44, I had up talked you so much to my in-​laws, why did you have to be so incompetent? Even though I might be back someday to try again, I can 100% confirm they will not.
My recommendations to Buoy 44 management:
1. Fire Aga, she is useless.
2. Make sure you are stocked on normal items (tea, chips, etc) before weekends, especially holiday weekends.
3. Get more local beers on tap, doing a great job having a few, but would love to see some Back Bay, Reaver Beach, etc.
Other than that you are doing a good job, love the food, love the view.
My recommendations to people reading this review:
1. The restaurant can be great, just ask for any waitress besides Aga.

Today is Mother’s Day, after fun in the sun, we decided to stop and eat. Let me start off by saying this place was NOT busy as all! It took a while for someone to take my order, which was the bartender. I ordered two kids meals and crab cakes. My order ended up being wrong, took a while with the kids meals, my sweet potato fries were cold. Someone was supposed to replace them but it didn’t happen. With it being Mother’s Day, I wanted to stay in a positive mood… Which was hard for me, to be honest. Our drinks weren’t refilled either. After my kids ate. I signaled the bartender for the bring me the check. I explained to her, they never replaced the sweet potatoe fries, she just said,“sorry not sure why”… Which was unacceptable but again it’s Mother’s Day, so I didn’t respond. I just know next time I visit Chix beach, I’ll patronize at another establishment. 05÷10÷14 4:53pm

Wonderful food, service, and views! The fried oysters were fresh shucked and crunchy still! The crab and tuna tower with mango and onion relish is to die for and the tuna bites, melt in your mouth delish!

Great Location, ok food, and below average décor.
Not a whole lot of flavor in anything I’ve had there. It would really help to go a different direction with the interior decorating though. It was really bland and detracting from the experience.

«I really wanted to like this place but…». There are a lot of reviews for Buoy 44 that start with that statement. I agree.
As you can see from all of the posted pictures it’s all about the location and not about the food.
Upon entering you need to open a solid wood and uninviting door. We were then greeted by the bartender on the left who directed us to the hostess station on the right. We were seated promptly at one of the booths on the right. Either the booth seats are too high or the table is too low. We felt almost as though our meals would be on our laps.
After receiving our beverages my husband asked for the house crab soup… uh, 6:15 on a Friday and they didn’t have any. Then he orders the fish fry. I asked if there were any specials (why did I have to ask?) and she rattled them off with no descriptions. I heard fish so I said, I take the one with the fish… ooops, should not have done that.
Someone from the kitchen brought our meals, I don’t know why restaurants do that, the kitchen staff doesn’t know who order what, so hub got his fish fry and I got… uh, hmm… some sort of quesadilla loaded… covered… with cilantro. Had I known what the special fish dish included I would have never ordered this. I despises cilantro and there was no picking it off.
Our waitress passed and saw I wasn’t eating, she quickly offered to replace it, thank you… I’ll have what he is having… got a fish fry. Let’s start with saying the French fries were very good… that’s what we had for dinner. The pieces of fish were very small and there were few of them ($ 13.95). The Cole slaw was shredded cabbage and an abundance of ground pepper… go ahead and look, I posted a picture, that was all put on in the kitchen. We could not taste any dressing in the slaw, just cabbage and pepper. Someone with a heavy hand in the kitchen is in charge of black pepper and cilantro.
The restaurant is decorated nicely, it’s very beachy but also very loud. I would say it was 70% full. I couldn’t hear any music only very loud noise.
I want to add that several times staff members congregated in the dining room to talk about ‘whatever’. Stop gossiping and get to work… that is very unprofessional. However, the guys doing the valet parking were extremely nice.
Buoy 44… you need to step it up a few notches… you will not survive on location alone. Just ask Alexanders.

I was on the fence about trying it out after some of the reviews, but I really wanted to see what this place was all about. I live close & a new summer spot for drinks/​eats on the water sounded perfect.
I had never been to the previous establishment, so I had no idea how amazing the views are here. The place itself is perfect if you love looking over the water. I can only imagine what it’s like at sunset. The décor is cute, very beachy/​modern. The servers are friendly.
They have decent happy hour specials & my boyfriend & I had a pair of bourbon & diets before happy hour ended at 7. The menu isn’t very large, but has everything you would be looking for in a spot like this. Seafood, salads, wraps, burgers, a few entrees, etc… If a place has fish tacos I have to try them. Theirs were okay. Not my favorite ever, but definitely not the worst. The blue crab burger was awesome though. My bf & I split both, & I wished that I didn’t have to share the rest of the burger with him. We also had the chips replaced with sweet potato fries & they were pretty good as well. The prices are on the higher side for what you’re served, but no different than any of your other casual, shore drive dining spots.
I see us coming back a lot more this summer & sitting on their awesome patio to enjoy a warm breeze off of the bay with drinks in hand… and a burger.