Taste of Smithfield -- A Restuarant Review

A Taste of Smithfield is a restaurant located on Main Street in Smithfield, Virginia, the home town of the famous Smithfield Meats.  The restaurant occupies a space that must have been the home of another business in Downtown Smithfield.  It’s location in the historical district was one of several restaurants in downtown.  The aura of an early American small town is very apparent in its location.  The restaurant was very homey and obviously caters to local customers and well as the numerous tourists in the area.

Large country hams hang down from the ceiling as you enter the restaurant and it advertises that it serve “fresh, authentic, southern food”.  I am not aware of what unauthentic food would taste like.  In addition to the food service there is a nice gift shop which carries many local products including Smithfield Ham products and Virginia peanuts in many forms.

The menu for A Taste of Smithfield was varied with the usual appetizers, salads, sandwiches and a number of entrees ranging from BBQ to rib eye steak.  I selected the chicken and ribs which was a four bone portion of their ribs along with a blackened chicken breast, which was served with two sides.  The ribs were delicious and much more filling than usual for a rib entrée.  With the ribs and the sides, I was unable to eat the chicken breast, which I took home as a carry out.  My son-in-law, a connoisseur of country ham was disappointed that country ham was not listed as an entrée on the menu, especially as we were dining in the center of Smithfield Ham county.   The menu did offer an appetizer called Callie’s Hot Biscuits which included three sweet potato biscuits with country ham and molasses.  He chose this appetizer as his entrée and added two sides.  He said the country ham was very tasteful and representative of its local notoriety.   My wife chose the Flatbread "Basic" which included Tomato sauce, smoked chicken, bacon, mozzarella, and a homemade ranch. My daughter chose the brown sugar glazed spiral ham which was representative of the local area.  The kids chose items from the "piglet" menu.  Everyone was very pleased with their choices on the menu and found the food to be excellent.   The service was great and our party had no complaints.  So we whole heartedly recommend “A Taste of Smithfield” if you happen to be visiting southeast Virginia.