Ok look - like another reviewer said - it's the BEST trashy joint in Norfolk. Â No one goes here to sit inside. Â It's just not what people want to do. Â Service isn't always great - just depends on how busy they are and how frazzled the waitstaff is. Â But, one thing is they have the best steamed shrimp in all the land. Â And you can order it to go. Â If you can secure a spot on the deck, you're golden baby! Beautiful view of the Chesapeake Bay. Â I've gone here for years - if you go often enough, get a favorite waitress, treat her right and you will be happy. Â Greenies always has live music and my favorite is Steve Forss - great musician! Love to see him there. Â Greenies is a must see for any OVer or anyone visiting.... moderately priced and they offer beer towers and fun. Â We love driving our Jeep up there with the top down and parking along the water in the sand. Â Really can't beat it for what it is...beer and shrimp!
Review Source:Total dive. Dark, dank and absolutely reeks of vomit in certain areas...that is if you're able to smell anything above the stale cigarette smoke that permeates the joint. I imagine when the weather is nice it's a much better option to sit outside.
Service is ok. Patrons can be a little obnoxious but....colorful. Definitely good people watching here.
They do, however, have a great jukebox and super cheap drinks. I get the feeling you'd find butts in the food tho. Or, at the very least, a long-burned ash. Enjoy!
Odd, odd place. I think they want to be a club but maybe haven't figured it out yet. At heart, it's a dive but they have truly strange policies. Wanna smoke? Â Light up. Wanna drink? Â Puke on the floor. Backwards baseball cap? Â Fix it or get out. There's a lot of contraindications here. It's just a decent dive trying to be a shitty club.
Review Source:Love the shrimp and great drink specials. Â Although the old men around the back bar sit and talk about the foreigners need to go away.....dude made a reference to the Koreans as being gooks and almost said n****, then looked at me and smiled. Â I wouldn't mentioned the place as being too diverse. Â Only one Asian waitress but no African American ones. Â There are a few African American bouncers and cooks.
Review Source:This place seemed to be cool at first, then I went inside.
First this place smells like a sewer! If you like instant cancer from all of the cigarette smoke, this is the place for you.
The food was terrible, the waitress appeared to be on a second grade level, and on drugs. She didn't even have the decency to bring me back my change, she assumed a 4 dollar tip, and she deserved none. This was the worst experience I've ever had at any bar, not to mention any song that is payed for on the jukebox can and almost always is cancelled or changed by the workers there when you play something they don't like. High prices, low quality. I will not be back
What can you say about Greenies, If I had to sum it up.. THE BEST TRASHIEST PLACE EVER PUT ON EARTH..
nothing Fancy about it, Great place to have fun, Hang with Friends.. Best place to meet friends. Simple and easy
Sit outside on the deck and Jam to some great bands, hit inside and play pool, or just chill out.
Prices are the BEST IN TOWN for drinks, Staff, AWESOME, Â Never seen any kind of cover. .
In the summer time it's Standing Room Only..
And Greenies Shrimp are Legendary !! GO HAVE A GREAT TIME
So I've gotta reassess my rating for this dive bar based on my review for a local dive bar on the west coast. Â I gave it a rating of 3 stars based on the fact that the locals were giving me a pretty unwelcome vibe. Â It was pretty meh and comparatively Greenies was a much better bar with much better food, and way better atmosphere. Â I think what bugged me most was the local squids who can't hold thier liquor. Â In retrospect that honestly was part of the charm of the place. Â It was cooler atmosphere than this other bar that shall remain namless. Â So I couldn't justify a lower rating for greenies than bar X.
Review Source:The food was ok. Â It was the summer and we sat outside because the inside is a dark and dreary bar. Â It was so hot outside that I was drenched in sweat by the time I left. Â If I had been in a bathing suit and simply looking for a beer down on the beach then it is fine. Â Otherwise, I wouldn't bother
Review Source:If you're looking for a nice classy establishment to celebrate your 5 year anniversary, then you probably won't be pleased with Greenie's.
If you're looking for awesome drink specials, good bar food, good music, an ocean side view, and attractive female servers, then hell yea you'll be pleased.
The bathrooms are disgusting though.
This place is decent. It's weird because the bar on the inside looks a bit trashy but the patio is just fantastic. The view is beautiful. Now, the place was packed, so I can't say much about the service. Nor can I say anything about the food, mainly because I only drank. However, the live music was fun, the atmosphere is fun and relaxing, and I had a good time.
Review Source:DISGUSTING!!!!!!!! Â Thought we would try for breakfast. Deck and view were nice but tables were gross and dirty, the entire place reeked of beer, menus were filthy (I couldn't touch mine) and they were "still brewing" coffee at 10am so I'd "have to wait." I didn't even want to try to eat there. We got up and walked out. I should have known by the sign hung by the entrance that says "No gang colors." I shiver at the thought of the cleanliness (or lack thereof) of the kitchen. Ugh!
Review Source:Like Matthew B said, if I could give 0 stars I would too. Sorry this is long, but I just want to share my terrible experience in hopes of deterring people from making the mistake we did by going here.
I went with my husband and his friends for one of his friend's birthday on a Tuesday. There were maybe 30 people there, most of them playing pool. We were having an okay time at first. The waitresses aren't really that friendly and tend to ignore you. Later in the evening this okay time turns to crap when our group is threatened to be kicked out because the birthday guy was drunk. I understand that bars don't want drunk people being crazy, getting sick, and causing problems but he wasn't. So we start to plan on leaving and ask for our tabs, and they take forever to bring the birthday guy's DD's tab and his credit card. So the bouncer comes over and tells the birthday guy to leave now with his two friends (one who is the DD), but both friends are still waiting to get their credit cards back and try explaining that to the bouncer. Keep in mind no one is causing problems, everyone including birthday guy is sitting down chatting calmly, and waiting patiently for their cards to be returned so they can go home. The bouncer kicks them out anyway so now they have to wait outside for like 15 minutes for their tab and cards. Meanwhile my husband, me,  and some others aren't kicked out, but we ask for our tab as well around the time our friend is kicked out. So we are waiting for like 15 minutes when a waitress comes up to me and another girl, sitting quietly at the bar with my husband and friends, and tells us we have to order something to be in here. First off there is barely anyone at the bar so it isn't like I'm taking up valuable space by sitting there not drinking anything! Second we are waiting for our tab so we can leave! The waitress proceeds to tell us again, "well this is our policy, you can't just sit around, you have to order something." So one of our friends asks to speak to whoever makes the rules so we can tell them that we are trying to leave therefore we don't want to get  anything.  Once again we are waiting and waiting and waiting for another 20 minutes when we finally get our tab. Leave no tip and head out. Worst bar experience ever! Apparently if you aren't a regular there you get ignored and get treated like crap.
This place still allows smoking...Ronnie Boone doesn't mind shelling out the meager $25 fine for violating the health code.
Don't go here to eat. Food isn't good even by bar food standards. Drink specials are decent...at least you can always get $1 PBR's.
Wouldn't get any drinks with ice...bartenders smoke behind the bar, even while getting your drinks...and they're not nice at all...but for the clientele greenies has you're not going to get bartenders with better dispositions.
If it was possible to give 0 stars, I would. Â This was by far the worst experience I have ever had at a restaurant.
I went to this place with an open mind after reading the reviews and seeing "good bar food" Â "great burger" "dive bar" Â all of which was fine because I was in the mood for a locals dive joint with a view of the water.
What I got was extremely different from what I read.
Best part of the night:
-the view of the water.
Worst part of the night:
-25 minutes for our drinks (during which a different waitress came up to us twice and said we must have been lying that it shouldn't have taken that long)
-blue cheese being dropped on me by waitress
-beer being spilled on me
-waiting over an hour for a burger and fries and steamed shrimp
Sadly, I truly think that if we had gotten another waitress the experience would have been much, much better. Â While our waitress was nice, she just sucked at her job.
The highlight of the evening was the nice elderly couple that sat down next to us after we had been waiting 30 minutes for our food already and they ordered almost the identical meal and was served it within 10 minutes.
Wow, this place really blew my mind with how much I will never go there.
Great bar food. Awesome happy hour prices. Waitress are friendly and pretty swift. GIANT porch is great, roomy and has an awesome view.
I actually ate this last time I went. (normally just drink) and the BBQ pork and coleslaw was great.
It is a really chill dive to take your local and visiting friends to get a taste of Ocean View.
this is a place for the degenerates, the bickers and the hippies the squids and the jar heads. here is a place to go in whatever you want drink whatever you like and pay very little for it. they have 3 and 1/2 bars on the weekend a huge patio pool tables a Foosball table a smoking section and usually they have live bands on the weekend.
Review Source:Wow, harsh! Okay, I have to defend this place. First of all, this is a bar. If you're here looking for gourmet seafood, well, you probably deserve the bout of C. diff you get from Norfolk's beautiful bay. This is a local hangout, ie, DIVE. If you want someplace where everyone knows everyone, then come hang out. Otherwise, bring yourself on down to the oceanfront and hit up Catch or Peabody's or somewhere equally offensive. This is OV at it's best. It's a great mix of old retired locals to, yes, squids. Everyone is here. And we all get along.
The place has cold beer, greasy bar food, and a big deck with a phenomenal view. Not to mention some of the tightest local bands around. If bar waitresses in tank tops that "can't do good math" aren't your thing, don't come. Simple as that. If you want a friendly place where everyone talks to anyone about anything, come hang out.
ADDENDUM: I do have to say that this place is completely different in the summer vs. winter. Go in the summer, hang out on the back deck. It's a blast. Get a table on a nice night and order a beer tower. Good times :)
Winter... Well, the inside is cramped and so smokey you'll start keeping an eye out for the Marlboro man. Alright place, but not really worth your time on weekend nights.
I can describe this place in one word. SEEDY.
Want a few more words? Okay. But seedy pretty much does it.
Greenies offers a nice place to sit outside on the water in Ocean View on a warm day. It's a dive, and who can't appreciate that? There's a large deck over the water and an outdoor bar. You might think it's not so bad when you enter through the deck...it's just an extremely casual place with all kinds of colorful people. You can feel very laid back here, like you're on your own deck. That's enjoyable. Until you have to go to the bathroom. When you are inside, you realize you've just left the dive and are in place that is beyond run down...maybe "crusty" is the right word.
Still, if you are in the mood for people watching and open air, it makes for an interesting place for an afternoon beer. Always crowded and never dull.
I just moved here and found Greenie's to be a great place to sit outside on the water and enjoy music and seafood. The first time I bought the 1 lb of peel and eat shrimp it was great, the second time they seemed "rubbery"... Food and prices are reasonable, however the service is bad! The waitress kept pushing our table to place an order and there were only 5 people on the deck and it was at 1 pm on a Tuesday. Then she suggested a "really great beer, I don't remember the name, but it is good"! DUHHH! Then she turned around and walked off Great sales pitch!
Review Source:Well, this place in indeed a dive & yes, a hangout for the local squids. I think Jeff's STD comment is a little jacked up but whatever. If you are looking for clean and upscale, walk away! If you like local dives with down to earth people and good bar food, look no further. Also as Jeff stated, the Greenie Burger is awesome! It does not come with onion, you have to ask for them if you want them. The burger is perfect when you are drinking. The steamed shrimp are also awesome. Just avoid the pizza as it is frozen pizza... not kidding, I know almost all of the staff.
Service ranges depending on how busy they are and again referencing Jeff, I actually think I know the waitress he is referring too. Some are really good and on top of things and others have trouble with math and forget your drinks. On average though, they take care of you. I also really enjoy the deck in the summer.
This place normally has some really good live entertainment as well. I recommend it to anyone looking for a local watering hole and a good greasy burger.