Blue Ridge Seafood - The Donovan Family's Fresh-Seafood Shack in Gainesville

[ktmoomau]

I finally got to stop at Blue Ridge Seafood on Route 29 in Gainesville.  Website here.

The parking lot of this establishment is generally pretty full and I needed to find out what all the fuss was about.  The place is not fancy inside, the only placemats and tablecloths are brown paper for eating seafood on.  The chairs are stackable, or picnic tables.  The restaurant is fairly disjointed and not someplace you go for ambiance.  They have a bar, I know they serve beer and wine.  BUT we had good fried shrimp, fried oysters, hushpuppies.  The side of zucchini had a sizeable onion flavor and chunks I could do without.  The lobster and crab dip was good, but there weren't discernible chunks, I have had better, but it wasn't bad crab dip in any way and it was good on a cold windy night.  We both had glasses of Gray Ghost Chardonnay.   This place is like an Eastern Shore/Beach restaurant in the middle of the Virginia heartland, but the seafood was of better quality than I would have thought not having that proximity to water.  Anyway, I would definitely stop again, we normally have the dog when making treks up and back so we just normally don't do sit down.

[southdenverhoo]

My family moved to Warrenton in 1959 and this place apparently opened per its website in 1979, which is the year I left Virginia for Denver. I feel like there was a seafood place there before that, maybe going back to the mid 60s. It was a little rougher, more of a beer joint that served seafood. My father worked in Gainesville for a defense contractor, so he went to the predecessor a few times and hated it. So we never went. He and my mother went to this incarnation back in the 90s and pronounced it OK but nothing special. So in my frequent, but brief, trips back I’ve never been. (He’s from the Tidewater and is a bit of a seafood snob) 

But Facebook tells me that this a very popular spot with all the folks I went to high school with...for a nice, if not anniversary-level, night out. That plus your review means I’ll finally give it a try, so thanks. 

PS are you, like, living in Fauquier County these days?

[DonRocks]

49 minutes ago, southdenverhoo said:

My family moved to Warrenton in 1959 and this place apparently opened per its website in 1979, which is the year I left Virginia for Denver. 

Beginning in the fall of 1979, I used to drive the 532 miles from doorstep to dorm room, heading west on I-66, and then cutting south on US 29. There was *nothing* in remote, barren Gainesville except a 7-11, where I had to get a soft drink if I wanted any form of sustenance for the next 100 miles - I should remember this place being here, but I have absolutely no recollection of it.

Anyway, Blue Ridge Seafood takes its place on the Oldest Restaurants in the Washington, DC Area list.

[ktmoomau]

1 hour ago, southdenverhoo said:

PS are you, like, living in Fauquier County these days?

No, my in laws live in Charlottesville, so we make the trek up and back a lot, and we like to be adventurous and scope things out along the way.  Really it is mostly me saying things like- Why is that weird seafood place always packed, or why would someone eat pizza from a place with spit in it's name.  And then my Hubby says something like, "Let's find out, call for take out," and it's on.  This trip was my Mom and I being hungry, not having the pups, and me saying, "Are you up for an adventure? It may not be good, but it just might be." 

[Bob Wells]

11 hours ago, ktmoomau said:

No, my in laws live in Charlottesville, so we make the trek up and back a lot, and we like to be adventurous and scope things out along the way.  Really it is mostly me saying things like- Why is that weird seafood place always packed, or why would someone eat pizza from a place with spit in it's name.  And then my Hubby says something like, "Let's find out, call for take out," and it's on.  This trip was my Mom and I being hungry, not having the pups, and me saying, "Are you up for an adventure? It may not be good, but it just might be." 

So have you tried Spitony's Pizza yet too? Or what I always refer to as Spit On Me Pizza. 😂

We hit BRS a few years back. Pretty sure the consensus was "better than it should be, but really nothing special."

[ktmoomau]

29 minutes ago, Bob Wells said:

So have you tried Spitony's Pizza yet too? Or what I always refer to as Spit On Me Pizza. 😂

We hit BRS a few years back. Pretty sure the consensus was "better than it should be, but really nothing special."

Oh yes, I think I reviewed Spitony's somewhere on here.  We got take out and ate it at the tables beside the place- they even give you paper plates and etc.  Apparently eating outside is popular with little league and soccer teams, etc.  I thought the pizza was quite good.  Not slap your mamma good or anything, but we thought it was better than Lost Dog and the Italian Store.  

Neither is a drive miles out of your way to eat at stop, no, but they might be some of the better stops in the evening along the Rt 29 drive.  

On BRS- I was quite impressed by the fried oysters, good fried oysters aren't as common as I'd like.  But no the food isn't special, but I will say I have to plenty of places just like this on the bay in Maryland and been less impressed, as well, so there is that.  I like a good fried shrimp basket every now and then, and I despise frying food at home, so if one is in the neighborhood there are certainly worse places to stop.  BTW, I didn't get the spiced shrimp, but they looked good too.