The Hill Café: Small Portions for A Hungry Tummy

Words and Photos by Paige

The lights are dimmed at The Hill Café in the heart of Church Hill as I entered with excitement. It is not often I venture to Church Hill since I live so close to campus and there are a lot of food options close by. However, it is always nice to expand my food horizons.

Prior to making the trek to The Hill Café, I made sure there was a vegetarian alternative on their Restaurant Week menu. The menu was divided into three courses. For the first course the options were two types of Caesar salads, a house salad, or a cup of New England Clam Chowder.

I went with the simpler of choices: the House Salad. The only thing that made it stand out from other salads was that the cucumbers were shredded like a sushi salad. The portion was pretty large for a starter dish.

Then there was about five or so options for entrees on the special menu. Out of the five dishes, only one was vegetarian; which was a Sundried Tomato and Goat Cheese Pasta. Luckily, it sounded delicious and it was. The goat cheese sauce was flavorful and creamy and made my mouth water for more. My main bone to pick with the dish was the portion size. A smaller salad and larger entrée would have been preferred.

The last course was the most anticipated of the three – dessert. There were three choices for desserts: Apple pie, Pecan pie, and Key Lime pie. I decided to end my meal with their Apple pie. I was hoping for a decent sized slice heated up with a nice scoop of ice cream on top but that was just wishful thinking. The slice of Apple Pie was covered in a lot of cinnamon and a few squirts of whipped cream. The crust is usually one of my favorite parts of Apple Pie, but it was barely noticeable.

The staff seemed pretty nice but they had a weird system. Rather than just having one waitress, we had three different people waiting on us. The atmosphere is dark and quaint and provides a romantic setting when the lights go down.

This was my first experience at Richmond’s Restaurant Week. It sounds like a decent idea, but for a college student it is not exactly the best financial decision. The three-course meal costs $25.11.

Overall, I was not incredibly satisfied with my Restaurant Week experience at the Hill Café. The three-course meal was not worth the $25 I had to dish out. Though I recommend paying this establishment a visit any other time because the food was good and on a normal day it isn’t that pricy.

The Hill Café can be found at 2800 Broad Street which is a 20-minute bike ride from campus, but I recommend getting some friends, dress up, and hop in the car for the 12 minute drive from campus.