Stopped in for dinner as we hadn't been by in a while. Opted to sit outside and enjoy the weather. Good beer on tap, fish and chips were good, chef's special of glazed salmon was overdone and generally just kind of "meh". Not very reminiscent of our past experiences there. The bigger disappointment were the chainsmoking patrons at the tables next to us. We never saw a sign signaling that this was a smoking area and the lovely wafting of smoke over our meal was enough of a turn off that we won't be back any time soon.
Review Source:Should be a $$$ not a $$. Used to be decent for locals. Now too much $$$ to drop in for a casual meal. Food is mediocre. Standing in sometimes long lines to put your food and drink order is is absurd at the prices. Then having to carry drinks to your table and hope to get the attention if a server. Â Off the list for me. But they still get a big DC and transient crown from lots of marketing.
Review Source:After visiting on multiple occasions, my husband and I decided to bring family who were visiting the DC area over Easter for the restaurant's Easter buffet brunch. We were not disappointed. The food was great, the staff were friendly and the atmosphere was very homey. It almost felt as if we were having Easter dinner at a relative's house, but with more food choices. Several of us have dietary restrictions, but the staff were great in getting answers to our numerous questions. Definitely looking forward to our next trip out there :)
Review Source:First time diners and loved it. They have very nice selection of beers and wines. I love the Peche Lambic and my husband the Sierra Nevada Celebration, both on tap!!! You order when you come in at the window by the bar. Your drinks are available immediately and you take them to your table and wait for the waitress to serve you. Â The food is delicious and the bread is even better! We even had dessert, a sour cherry pie. So yummy!
We made reservations, and they were ready for us right when we came in. In fact, we made the reservations just about an hour before getting there. They have a great system.
Cozy and interesting place. Â The ordering process is has a slight learning curve, but once you've got it down, it's just fine. Â Service is slightly spotty, but the employees seemed happy to be flagged down. Â Plenty of smiles to go around.
Great tavern atmosphere, very good English pub-style food. Â The bread served with your meal is crusty and tasty. Â The chicken pot pie is traditional and delicious. Â
Decent wine selection. Â A wider beer selection would be nice.
A cozy British-style pub/restaurant. Everything on the menu is organically grown/raised so expect to pay a little more than usual. They also change the menu every month so don't expect to get the same food twice if you become a regular.
Food is pretty basic: steak, chicken, fish, duck. Theres no "flare" in their food preparation though.
Some drawbacks are their limited seating inside & the fact that you have to get up and go place your own order when you're ready to eat. Not the most comfortable seats to be sitting in either. You would think that with their prices, they could afford some cushions or even some uniformity at their table. Â My dinner last night they had us sitting at a picnic table with chairs of all shapes & sizes to sit in. If you're tall (above 5'10") than watch your head bc the doorways are tiny. It wouldn't be so bad if they piped some music in the dining area to drown out the noise.
My only visits here have been for family dinners, I would never elect to come on my own or even bring a date here.
This place has a nice outdoor eating area though it gets very crowded. Â I had a three star experience dining outside. Â Service was good the food was good. Â However, on a recent visit we sat inside. Â Service was bad. Â Long wait for what tasted like microwaved food. Â The chairs were very uncomfortable and the dining areas inside are cramped. Â They have a strange ordering system at this place where you order at the bar and then find a seat and then waitstaff bring your food and waiting on you and bring the bill. Â They should just have wait staff take orders from tables. Â It would make dining here a better experience. Â Oh and inside there were flies buzzing around and the silverware was dirty. Â I can only recommend coming here if you can sit outside on a nice sunny day and order a simple thing like a hamburger! Â Lot of folks bring there dogs to sit outside with them. Â They provide dogs water dishes. Â Nice touch! Â Parking lot gets very crowded and people park it spots that they shouldn't making it difficult to navigate in an out of the parking lot.
Review Source:Went to Hunter's Head for the first time last week. The atmosphere is absolutely cozy. Our service was really good, but the server definitely is not breathing down your neck. The entrees came out about two minutes after the appetizer did, which was mildly irritating just because we quickly ran out of reasonable room on the table.
The food was delicious. I got the ribeye, which was seasoned to perfection but somewhat undercooked. Not the end o fthe world, but not five-stars. My wife's food was fantastic, and the appetizer (artichoke dip) was also delicious.
I enjoyed the pub style. It wouldn't hurt to up the english beer presence a bit (if you're going to market yourself as a British-style pub).
All in all, a solid choice with a laidback atmosphere.
What a fun place. It is an English style pub with tons of outdoor seating and limited indoor seating. for cooler weather make a reservation for inside.
Its not to far out of the city and worth the drive to upperville.
The food is legite English style ( meat and potato ) varities and is very good.
They could feature more English beer but overall the experince is alot of fun.
Loved this place the first time I went with my wife in 2009. Â Went last week with my brother and got some of the worst service I've experienced in a long time. Â
They took about forty minutes to cook up two burgers and get them to us, and the fries were cold.
At the end of the meal, the server brought us the tab (took her 10 minutes to notice we were done and waiting). Â The tab showed the proper amount. Â I give her my debit card... she comes back ten minutes later with the receipt for me to sign... Magically, the tab doubled to over 60 bucks.. which had been charged to me already. Â I then had to flag her down again to get her to fix the problem... she didn't even remember what we ordered, and I had to write the corrections into the receipt myself with the pen she handed me. Â 20 minutes later she comes back promising to post an appropriate refund back at the end of the day. Â No apology, no accountability, no offer of a discount.. just.. here ya go, see ya.
Good food, polite waitstaff, cute restaurant. Â Minus points for the rude hostess and the complete lack of instruction how they operate. Â (Tip: Â Your job is to find your table, then send someone from your party to the bar to order and get a numbered spoon to identify your table. Â They don't explain this. Â At all.) Â Turkey burger was a little dry, but the flavors were good, and the sweet potato fries were heaven. Â Love that their food is local.
Review Source:The first time we visited the hunters head tavern was an absolutely incredible night with family. The food was great, the atmosphere as better, and the wait staff was helpful.
Last night, not so much. Apparently we were invisible to the wait staff, and honestly I would have rather have had a burger from Wendy's. I'm not sure what caused the difference, but it went from one of the best dining experiences to the worst.
In addition to the problems with the establishment, we were lucky enough to overhear a few snobby horseback riders complain that they wouldn't want to compete in the equestrian events in the olympics because there is no prize money and the medals aren't big enough.
Been here many times, and the food was always excellent. Today I went and the food was okie - but the selections were a lot a fewer, and not that inspiring. I did enjoy my shrimp in angel hair pasta, but it was not as nice as previous selections. Also, I usually can find two or three things to decide between, not so this time.
Also, the staff really needs to be thinned out soon. I don't mind the manager looking around, but they shouldn't try to be the center of attention. Also, someone (heavyset woman) kept looking around and getting in the way - but didn't seem to do much herself.
Bottom line: Good food, but lowered a star from previous expectations.
We've passed through this area in Upperville/Middleburg many times but I dont think we ever paid attention to this little tavern. Â First time here, so i can't atest to the rest of the menu, but we had the fish and chips and a veal sandwich with ice teas. Â Yes, it is pub food, or at least the items are what you would find on a pub menu, but the food is nothing like you would find in England. Â For starters, I dont think the worst fish and chips in England was this greasy. Â I mean, between the fries and the fish, my hands were covered in grease. Â The veal sandwich was safe since it was cooked and obviously cooked dead. Â It had really no flavor and part of me was wishing that they had paired it with a coleslaw or something acidic besides just a pickle. Â That too came with more greasy fries. Â
Then why did they get 3 stars you ask? Â Well gosh dang it, they had some awesome bread! Â I'm a bread whore... well... ok... a GOOD bread whore and this place had it. Â The bread had a lovely crispy/crunchy crust, but not to the point of being hard - and then the inside was just light and fluffy goodness. Â I could of probably done with a cheese plate and that bread and made a meal of it. Â They had something resembling a farmer's plate, but I wasn't ready to take a risk on the other items we had. Â
Sure, the hostess wasn't the "friendliest" I've ever come across - and we ate inside since there was a torrent of pollen floaties in the air, but I thought service was attentive and decent. Â There was really nothing there that I would have complained about. Â For dessert we had their chocolate cake and a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Â Was it the best chocolate cake? Â No....but it was still good enough to eat most of it. Â
We may try it again sometime, just to see if their sheppard's pie is up to snuff. Â But we're going to England in June, so I may as well wait and have the real thing then. Â Still, not terribly bad in comparison to the pub food in England, though for what its worth- and even with their bad reputation that they get about their cuisine, I've eaten pretty well in England!
We come here every so often in the warmer months for a nice pint and some light fare out on the patio under the stars. The ambiance is spectacular, and there's nothing that beats the long drive into the country with this splendid little place shining like a beacon in the night. The prices are pretty high and the food is... well... close enough to British pub food to be served in a place calling itself a British pub.
The beer selection consists of three or four selections on tap (I forget) and is best ignored in favor of the wine selection (you ARE in Virginia wine country, after all) but then again-- there's only three Virginia wines on their list. Cmon, Naked Mountain, Chrysalis and Swedenburg are just down the road and they're not on your wine list? Tsk tsk tsk....
My husband and I were hitting some wineries around Middleburg and at two separate wineries, this Hunter's Head was recommended. Â We figured we might as well give it a try.
It was hot out so we chose to eat indoors, but I would love to go back in the fall and enjoy their gorgeous patio seating. Â But the indoor atmosphere was pleasant as well.
We were immediately instructed on the ordering process which was quite simple. Â I could see it being kind of annoying if there was a large crowd, but we were there early for dinner so there was no line. Â We both ordered steak - my husband got the ribeye and I got the sirloin. Â We split the wedge salad too.
Our salad came out quickly and was so fresh. Â Just as we finished that, our main meals were presented. Â Our steaks were large and cooked perfectly. Â Mine was "dry-aged" and was one of the best steaks I have tasted. Â We were a little full and tired from a day at the wineries so we got most of our meals packed up. Â
The service was great, our serve was very nice and friendly. Â We were celebrating our anniversary so were willing to pay a little more. Â If we hadn't been, there still seemed to be some good options at a lower cost.
In the futures, I will definitely be needing to check out some of their desserts!
The first three times I visited, Hunter's Head was a 5 (2009-2010). The last 3 visits have been 3 stars (2011-2012).
//Food//
I've been to Hunter's head 5 or 6 times over the last 3 years, and my 3 most recent visits were progressively worse. We look forward to the dry-aged steak, but in the last year, the cuts of the rib-eye I've received have contained too much gristle...that combined with the blunt knives that come with them really worsen the effect. The kitchen doesn't seem top notch: we've received cold, raw meat twice in a row on the filet, and the presentation on the plates is sub par. The fried oysters, however, were really memorable!
//Atmosphere//
We look forward to coming here for the atmosphere; the building's ambiance is just unbeatable with that old world feel. As ridiculous as it seems, we do however miss the old long candles that use to light our tables, sitting in the old candle holders. They've been replaced with tea lights that just don't throw light off in the room with a flicker that helped to draw out the history in those walls!
//Service//
This was the worst part for us. The greeting by the hostess lacked welcome, the timing of delivery for appetizers and entrees was off...I think we were served our first two courses within 20 minutes of arriving...too fast. The quasi- service structure seems weird, I agreed with a past reviewer- water should be standard at the tables. We didn't receive waters until dessert, and weren't given refills after a 10 minute empty spell. No goodbye at the end...it all just felt very distant.
We're hoping Hunter's Head turns that around. Those rib-eye steaks need to come out with better cuts at $30 a pop, presentation needs a boost, and the service staff need to coordinate on how to deliver a warmer experience.
I'd recommend visiting, but stay away from dropping major change here, as it just won't measure up. The pub menu is probably the best direction to go here..for now.
I don't know how I lived in Loudoun County for 10 years and didn't discover this trippy English pub. Â Trippy because it's like stepping into a time warp and stepping out of the authentic red London phone booth by the front gate into an old fashioned English-style pub that contains some striking remnants (mantels, plank and mortar walls) of the 1750s log cabin, known as the Old Carr House, it began as. An arched entry with an iron gate leads you into a walled garden for wonderful outdoor dining when the weather is good. Dining inside is more time-traveley as you sit by a stone fireplace in a room with plank floors and log cabin walls. Â Shaded by big ancient trees with flower boxes hanging from each of the taverns windows, the garden dining is a great place to spend time with your honey or friends and enjoy a wonderful ambience and great tavern food served in laboring-class farm-family portions. English ales abound.
The menu is almost tourist-agency tavern: Authentic shepherd's pie, ploughman's platter, bangers and mash, fish and chips. Ordering is "ordinary" style, in the pub sense of the word: You take your table number to the bar window, and the food comes out from the back. The staff are dressed in the sort of blousy-sleeved tunics and knee britches. Hunter's stews its beef in Guinness, makes its Welsh rarebit with English Cheddars, and lays out tea midweek and seasonal custard year-round. Almost all of the vegetables and meats are raised organically on the owner's Upperville farm. Â Coming to Hunter's Head tavern is an occasion...a special occasion, and one you'll keep coming back to. Â Dress is casual to business. Â Cost is $12-$25. Reservations are advised, especially for evening dining and weekends.
Spectacular Tavern! A complete trip back into time! The food is freaking delicious! The fact that i could cut my venison with a spoon makes me super happy! :-) The service is on point, order your food at the window when you walk in, grab a pint, then one of the lovely servers will see to any of your needs after that!
Ask for Anna or Lucy :-)
Most original, little jewel in northern Virginia. Oh, just thinking of their bread makes my mouth water. Everything is fresh, local, organic and delicious. It has the original pub style interior. The draft beers are great, the breakfast and brunch food is to die for in this area. Not sure why everyone is saying that the service is not great! I've been here twice and both times the people are more than helpful and friendly.
NOTICE! NOT FOR SNOBY RICH BASTARDS!
Sorry if your Bentley or Lexus has to drive 4 feet on gravel and you have to eat local food or get personal with the staff. The Four Seasons has left the town.
This place has an attitude that is enough to turn the most forgiving clientele away. The cutesy British Pub motif of getting up to pick up your food and ordering from the bar might be quant but seems to be in place to keep the staff from having to do anything to please the clientele.
Food is ok, I had an overlooked although organic beef stew and it wasn't bad. The back has outside seating which is night if it's not too humid outside but the staff in the period clothing really need some work.
My hiking buddy and I visited the Tavern again after another Sky Meadows trip. This time, we made sure to get to the restaurant while the lunch menu was still available.
The fresh (still hot from the oven) bread that came to our table before our meal was so very good - with a soft interior, a crackly crust, and lots of soft butter to eat it with.
I had the three cheese quiche, which comes with a side salad. Quiches are a favorite of mine and I've had many, but this was the best one I have ever tasted. I wish I could get my hands on this recipe. The crust was ever so buttery and flaky - and that filling! So creamy.....
My friend had a whole wheat pizza, topped with beets, figs, goat cheese, and balsamic vinaigrette. The flavors worked perfectly together. It was a perfect balance of earthy, tangy, and sweet n' savory.
We split the strawberry shortcake for dessert. It was a lemony buttermilk scone, split in half and filled to the brim with fresh strawberries and vanilla scented whipped cream. It was incredible!
The portions are generous enough to satisfy two hungry hikers and leave them still full at dinner time! The prices are not cheap , but certainly fair for the quality and quantity of the food. This was one of the best meals I've had in a while and I can't wait to go back!
The ordering procedure seems a bit odd, especially so I imagine for people not aware of the process. Â I had heard good things about the food here from a friend, but I wasn't so confident after reading some of the reviews online. Â The chowder was rather bland, if it had crab in it, I couldn't taste it. Â The calamari was good, as was the salad (two things pretty hard to mess up). Â The wild mushroom pizza had so much mild gooey cheese on it that it lost most of the flavor and became too heavy and wet. Â They should have skipped the cheese altogether and just drizzled olive oil over the dough and veggies and dusted it with some sharp cheese after it came out of the oven. Â The pork loin was dry and the mashed potatoes were not memorable. Â The sweet potato french fries and the bread were very good.
They ought to bring water to the tables. Â Getting up in the middle of a meal and waiting at the bar to get a glass of water or two is a serious impediment to the dinning experience. Â The service was pleasant enough (although they don't take your order or service beverages), I just think its a perfectly acceptable expectation to be offered water with one's meal.
The atmosphere was charming. Â I wouldn't come here for dinner again, but I would try the pub menu for lunch sometime if I was in the area. Â I suspect its a nice place to have a beer and a snack; but not a meal.
This place is delightful.  The meat is grass fed, free range, organic and delicious.  The atmosphere is quaint and welcoming to folks wearing  (nice) barn boots or Cole Haan's.  The locals always run into others they know.  The menu is small enough that everything is done well but big enough to be interesting.  When in doubt, you can't go wrong with the basics - mac & cheese, fish & chips, burger & fries.
To top it off, the ginger carrot cake was worth breaking any diet for.
I live nearby & have eaten here many times. The waiting in line to order your food gets tiresome, especially when folks new to the place can't figure out the routine & the line gets long.
Stick with the pub menu. The shepherd's pie is a hit, as are the burgers. The very good boca burger with a slice of Portobello is meaty & desish. It ain't cheap, though. Same with the wine, beer & mixed drinks.
Aside from the confusion surrounding ordering, the service is generally attentive and good.
Decided to take a second trip out this way. As with last time i completely enjoyed both the atmosphere and the meals here. I plan on being a return customer, although i cant say it will be frequent due to the drive and cost.
I do find the atmosphere to be one of the best parts of the restaurant. It can be a little loud depending on who is there, however for the most part its really has a nice cozy feeling.
All in all, this place has earned its 5th star from me.
Let's say you love the UK. You also love all things horses - horse shows, horse races, and even polo matches. Let's say you're living in Washington DC at the time and want to take a jaunt out to the country. And maybe while you're there, you want to feel like you're in the UK. Whilst experiencing your passion for all things horse. Ah, yes, then you've come to the right place!
Also, the food is quite good.
After driving away having had lunch today I asked my daughter, "Well, what did you think?"
We discussed the merits of warm fresh rolls served as we waited (good), the flies (bad), the noise (bad), the underwhelming menu (bad), fresh lemonade (good), the service (good), her veggie burger (good), my salad (good), the interior (good) and the outside seating (good).
In the end she told me, "It's a tavern dad. That limits their options."
Sometime I expect too much from a restaurant - especially one as interesting looking as the Hunter's Head Tavern. It is a very attractive restaurant both inside and out looking very much like the "love child" of a 18th century Virginia farm house and a 1950s English pub.
The food was good but unexceptional. The menu is standard pub fare. It was loud and it was crowded.
If you are fine with those constraints, then it is well worth the drive.
GREAT PUB, GREAT FOOD & GREAT ATMOSPHERE(inside  & outside)
The bangers & mash w/their spicey mustard is d-lish. Â The fried chicken is outta this world. Â Their steaks are so fresh and cooked perfectly. Â
Great beer selection.
The bread is incredible.
Worth the stop if you find yourself in Upperville. Â One tip, if it's a Friday or Saturday evening, give a call for a reservation(it'll help).
I've been to the Hunter's Head several time for lunch in the past, and decided to have an unconventional Valentine's dinner last night. Â Our waitress, Eleanor, was very nice and personable and went out of her way to explain the non-traditional ordering method to us. Â Unfortunately, the hostess who REALLY DIDN'T WANT TO WORK ON VALENTINE"S DAY insisted on slamming silverware down loudly (the dining room is in an old house with plaster walls and a wooden floor, sound REALLY carries) every opportunity that she had was really annoying. Â
The fresh bread and butter are as wonderful as the other reviewers have stated, I could have hogged the whole plate to myself! Â The calamari is the best I have ever had, bar none. Â It's flavorful and not overly breaded.
My venison stew was delicious, and I now have a new favorite. Â My friend loved her veal stew just as much. Â Unfortunately, my husband's rib-eye was pretty tough, but my other friend purchased a thicker cut, and his was fabulous. Â Just a note, this restaurant has delicious, fresh, organic food, but it is NOT a steak house. Â Try something else. Â I'll definitely be back.
A perfect place to be on a cold night. Â This low-lit tavern with a wood-burning fireplace in the main dining area has a homey feel and incredibly fresh food, as it is a farm-to-table restaurant. Â Jon and I came here after a day of hiking in Shenandoah, but it would also be a perfect spot to hit after a winery tour.
I ordered an inexpensive Samuel Smith's oatmeal stout and Jon a (equally inexpensive) Guinness at the bar while we waited for our table. Â
At our table we were given warm bread and butter. Â This was a delicious delicately crusty and hearty white bread. Â We started with the cheese platter, which gave generous portions of 5 different artisan cheeses along with fresh figs and balsamic-pickled quince. Highly recommended as the cheeses were unusual and all tasty.
For dinner, I ordered the Rib-Eye medium rare. Â It came with fresh slightly cooked green beans and turnips along with a huge portion of mashed potatoes. Â The steak was cooked perfectly and was just amazing. Â The steak itself was flavorful and tasted differently than the typical steaks I eat. Â Jon's pork chops were also delicious and had a unique citrus marinade. Â The pork meat had and interesting buttery-popcorn flavor. Â
Unlike a few other reviewers, we had great service and a friendly waitress. Â
Note: Do not come without reservations.
5 stars for the food, authentic British pub stuff.
3 stars for the service, particularly the surly woman manning the door who refused to seat us inside. Though half her tables were empty, and it was well past the lunch hour, she claimed she was "full". By the time we left, most of the same tables were still empty. Me thinks she was just being difficult.
As it turns out, we thoroughly enjoyed sitting in the warm sun on the outdoor patio. So take that, surly lady. We still enjoyed our lunch despite you!
A wonderful drive down route 50 to this quaint tavern right on the road. Â Easy to find. Â Went here with sis and niece, Suz. Â Suz lives in Arlington, and as I am from San Diego, I said, "Sure let's have British food!". Â OK, I gotta say I am not a fan of English food. Â I ordered what I thought was the closest thing to a BLT ( I knew I should've got the pot pie!). Â My 'Brown Turkey Sandwich' was a couple slices of fresh turkey (good) and top of white bread, with yellow gravy on top. Â On top of that was a tomato and bacon. Â It was good, for sure. Â Yay! Â I was afraid at first. Â Sis ordered the pot pie, she said it was good. Â Suz had the beef and potatoes, looked & smelled good. Â The iced tea was great and service was good. Â So, although I can't say this made me a fan of British food, I would go back to this place if I am in the area gain. Â Minus one star for the bathroom.
Review Source:I would often stop here after church, when I lived out that way, and I always enjoyed myself. The rustic, traditional feel of the place captures the unique ambiance of Upperville perfectly. Pictures of horses and foxes dot the walls and the clientele can often be seen in riding gear. I particularly enjoyed sitting out on the brick garden patio in nice weather.
The food itself isn't half bad. All the ingredients are fresh and local, and the food is prepared simply and traditionally. I'm a sucker for fish and chips, and I typically get a plate of theirs whenever I go. The cod is always very fresh and flaky. Their beer list isn't half bad, either. It offers an assortment of English and Irish beers that go very well with the food and atmosphere. All in all, it's a great place to eat if you're in the area.
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