Lunch & Dinner Menu (the Brunch Menu isn't on their website)
Karisa: Marin, Andrea, and I have officially joined the Mile High club. That is, if there's a club for people who have enjoyed "The Mile High", a concoction of prosecco, aperol, and citrus at The Continental. It was satisfying and giggle inducing - how appropriate! Aside from a fun beverage cocktail menu, the brunch menu (which is sadly not online) at The Continental is full of a variety of standard and non-traditional brunching items. In fact, there were no less than four items I wanted to try, including a vegetarian benedict, a skillet of some sort, a breakfast pizza, and the lobster fritatta that I eventually decided on. Un/fortunately for me, Andrea got the vegetarian benedict option and let me nibble off of her plate while I waited an extra 5-10 minutes for my dish (and second drink). Upon arrival, I was pleased to find it did not suffer from omelette/fritatta dryness, had extensive lobster lumps, and had tons of flavor. After the dish pass-around, I was a bit surprised that mine was my least favorite dish - although I suppose that speaks highly towards the quality of the rest of the menu. Overall, the food was fantastic, the drinks inventive (albeit pricey), and the atmosphere fun and inviting (including an awesome tune selection). However, the service left much to be desired...and a 5 just can't be achieved without awesome service.
Andrea: I was pleasantly surprised by brunch at The Continental. My two prior dining experiences were for dinner and were somewhat hit or miss. Decent food but with kinda slow service and noise levels that made it difficult to converse with my pals without significantly raising my voice and getting a massive headache. At brunch, everything was better (well, except maybe the service...that still wasn't the best). I had a deliciously fabulous take on a vegetarian benedict, served in a popover rather than on an English muffin. Truthfully, I wish that it had been an English muffin because the popover was just too much for me to handle, but I appreciated the innovativeness. The veggies were grilled to perfection, had lots of flavor, and I wanted to bathe in the horseradish hollandaise. The home fries were superb too. My adult beverage of the week was the "Mile High", an interesting blend of prosecco, aperol, and citrus. It was a little too aperol-y for me and at $9, a little pricey, but I can tell you how much I LOVED that it had "rabbit pellet" ice? My absolute favorite kind of ice. Makes everything all that much more fun. I also loved the decor at the Continental - a definite throw-back to a different era but with modern twists that the younger and the older demographics can appreciate. The menu has something for absolutely everyone, including kids, so that helps make this establishment one of the most family-friendly that we've reviewed so far. I'm still not thrilled with the acoustics of the place but the food and the atmosphere make up for it and will definitely encourage me to come back and keep trying things on their expansive menu.
Michele: The Continental has such a fun feel too it. It is super kitschy and cool. I started with the dill pickle bloody mary on the menu. It smelled pickley when it came out. It seemed to be missing something, though. After I doctored it with hot sauce and salt and pepper, I enjoyed it much more. For my meal I decided on the popover benedict with smoked salmon and capers (sorry, I can't remember the proper name). The dish came out just piled full of food. The popover is an interesting bread for a benedict. They created little bowls for the eggs. There was plenty of hollandaise and capers to go around. The smoked salmon was delicious, and I liked that I had some asparagus in there too. The problem with this dish is that there were so many components piled on top of each other that it became a little difficult to eat.
After we finished up at the Continental, we went over to the Blue Goat to have another drink. I had their ginger mary when we brunched here in January, so this time I ordered their Bloody Goat. Holy smokes folks, this was my first VERY GOOD Bloody Mary in Richmond. It had a salt 'n pepper 'n smoky spiced rim and an olive and lime garnish. The drink was super spicy, and the cucumber vodka added another really interesting layer of flavor. I wish I had one right now.
Marin: I ditched the menu's many and various mouth-watering "savory" options in favor of a "sweet" brunch this time. It's always a risky decision, as I've rarely found myself truly satisfied by a brunch of the pancake/waffle/french toast variety. This time, however, I was in heaven! The french toast was absolutely delicious, and topped with sweet warm raspberries, blackberries and blueberries. To die for! The bread itself was so flavorful I hardly needed syrup, and yet I asked for it and consumed a bit of it out of habit. I thought it was slightly odd they served it to me in mass-produced single-serve plastic packets as if I were at an all-night diner, but I was only distracted for a moment before I went back to devouring the feast in front of me. This was a great brunching experience, and we took advantage of the Continental's location, too! Following Sunday brunch we partook of Sunday drinks at the Blue Goat (Sunday drinks? Is that a thing? Well, it should be!) and then ventured on to a Sunday afternoon movie at the Westhampton (Best Exotic Marigold Hotel - I'm giving it 4 out of 5 stars!). All in all, a wonderful brunching experience, and a marvelous RVA Sunday!
Rating: 4
Food - Very Good. Huge portions, massive selection with great variety. Well-priced for how much you get too. Their "Continental breakfast" at $5 seemed like a steal.
Service - Fair. Karisa's drink sat at the bar for a while, the meals didn't come out together, and the waitress generally wasn't all that attentive.
Ambiance - Very Good. Interesting things to look at on the walls and by the bar. Pretty penny tile. They should totally sell some of the wall art that is Richmond-themed -- I think there would be lots of people interested in purchasing (at least among these brunchers!).
Andrea notes that it's loud when it's crowded at dinner, but at this brunch it wasn't bad.
Coffee - Good. Strong, decent cup of coffee. Nothing wrong with it, but nothing that makes me want to toot its horn.
Mimosa (and other sparkling wine cocktails) - Good. The Mile High had a good mix of flavors but the aperol made it just a bit bitter for our tastes. Sure was pretty, though.
Bloody Mary - Good. Michele liked the pickle vodka, and liked it even better after she fancied it up a bit more. Blue Goat Bloody Goat: Very good. See her dissertation above.
Andrea: I was pleasantly surprised by brunch at The Continental. My two prior dining experiences were for dinner and were somewhat hit or miss. Decent food but with kinda slow service and noise levels that made it difficult to converse with my pals without significantly raising my voice and getting a massive headache. At brunch, everything was better (well, except maybe the service...that still wasn't the best). I had a deliciously fabulous take on a vegetarian benedict, served in a popover rather than on an English muffin. Truthfully, I wish that it had been an English muffin because the popover was just too much for me to handle, but I appreciated the innovativeness. The veggies were grilled to perfection, had lots of flavor, and I wanted to bathe in the horseradish hollandaise. The home fries were superb too. My adult beverage of the week was the "Mile High", an interesting blend of prosecco, aperol, and citrus. It was a little too aperol-y for me and at $9, a little pricey, but I can tell you how much I LOVED that it had "rabbit pellet" ice? My absolute favorite kind of ice. Makes everything all that much more fun. I also loved the decor at the Continental - a definite throw-back to a different era but with modern twists that the younger and the older demographics can appreciate. The menu has something for absolutely everyone, including kids, so that helps make this establishment one of the most family-friendly that we've reviewed so far. I'm still not thrilled with the acoustics of the place but the food and the atmosphere make up for it and will definitely encourage me to come back and keep trying things on their expansive menu.
Michele: The Continental has such a fun feel too it. It is super kitschy and cool. I started with the dill pickle bloody mary on the menu. It smelled pickley when it came out. It seemed to be missing something, though. After I doctored it with hot sauce and salt and pepper, I enjoyed it much more. For my meal I decided on the popover benedict with smoked salmon and capers (sorry, I can't remember the proper name). The dish came out just piled full of food. The popover is an interesting bread for a benedict. They created little bowls for the eggs. There was plenty of hollandaise and capers to go around. The smoked salmon was delicious, and I liked that I had some asparagus in there too. The problem with this dish is that there were so many components piled on top of each other that it became a little difficult to eat.
After we finished up at the Continental, we went over to the Blue Goat to have another drink. I had their ginger mary when we brunched here in January, so this time I ordered their Bloody Goat. Holy smokes folks, this was my first VERY GOOD Bloody Mary in Richmond. It had a salt 'n pepper 'n smoky spiced rim and an olive and lime garnish. The drink was super spicy, and the cucumber vodka added another really interesting layer of flavor. I wish I had one right now.
Marin: I ditched the menu's many and various mouth-watering "savory" options in favor of a "sweet" brunch this time. It's always a risky decision, as I've rarely found myself truly satisfied by a brunch of the pancake/waffle/french toast variety. This time, however, I was in heaven! The french toast was absolutely delicious, and topped with sweet warm raspberries, blackberries and blueberries. To die for! The bread itself was so flavorful I hardly needed syrup, and yet I asked for it and consumed a bit of it out of habit. I thought it was slightly odd they served it to me in mass-produced single-serve plastic packets as if I were at an all-night diner, but I was only distracted for a moment before I went back to devouring the feast in front of me. This was a great brunching experience, and we took advantage of the Continental's location, too! Following Sunday brunch we partook of Sunday drinks at the Blue Goat (Sunday drinks? Is that a thing? Well, it should be!) and then ventured on to a Sunday afternoon movie at the Westhampton (Best Exotic Marigold Hotel - I'm giving it 4 out of 5 stars!). All in all, a wonderful brunching experience, and a marvelous RVA Sunday!
Rating: 4
Food - Very Good. Huge portions, massive selection with great variety. Well-priced for how much you get too. Their "Continental breakfast" at $5 seemed like a steal.
Service - Fair. Karisa's drink sat at the bar for a while, the meals didn't come out together, and the waitress generally wasn't all that attentive.
Ambiance - Very Good. Interesting things to look at on the walls and by the bar. Pretty penny tile. They should totally sell some of the wall art that is Richmond-themed -- I think there would be lots of people interested in purchasing (at least among these brunchers!).
Andrea notes that it's loud when it's crowded at dinner, but at this brunch it wasn't bad.
Coffee - Good. Strong, decent cup of coffee. Nothing wrong with it, but nothing that makes me want to toot its horn.
Mimosa (and other sparkling wine cocktails) - Good. The Mile High had a good mix of flavors but the aperol made it just a bit bitter for our tastes. Sure was pretty, though.
Bloody Mary - Good. Michele liked the pickle vodka, and liked it even better after she fancied it up a bit more. Blue Goat Bloody Goat: Very good. See her dissertation above.
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