Bar Virgile

I've never dealt with such POOR customer service on TOP OF the known ROACH INFESTATION.10/7 is usually an amazing celebration of life for me but this year it ended a bit differently. Around 8:30 after much deliberation, I decided to go and have my birthday dinner at Bar Virgile. Though I've lived in Durham about 10 years, the chance of trying this bar out never presented itself. I was excited to say the least. Upon entering the bar, I was not greeted but I politely asked the bartender if we were to wait to be seated or seat ourselves. They confirmed that we would be seated by the host. The host sat us, and we proceeded to order food and drinks. About half way into indulging in our food a roach crossed the table onto the connecting seat and continued to linger. After seeing our new party guest I notified the server, which showed not much haste. She tried to find somewhere else for us to sit while killing the critter and taking away our half eaten food. WE were sat at a dirty table that was eventually cleaned and met with various excuses of the building being old etc. I've worked in food service for many years. It's understandable that a bug might show its face to guests every now and again. However, the lack of accountability and dismissive behaviors in response to this situation is not acceptable. The server brought the check and charged me for the food. I asked to speak to a manager and the bartender presented himself as the standing manager. He had already been versed on the situation from the server. I asked for the food to be removed from the bill since we could not eat it. Though this should have been the initial course of action he agreed and charged me for the drink. Honestly I have never felt so disregarded. Aside from it being my special day, standard customer service was horrible. I tagged the social media of the bar hoping that managerial staff would reach out, to no avail even though they watched the video. I called the bar to speak to someone on 10/8 and the manager also disregarded me by saying "they comped your food, I don't know what else you want". Once I pointed out the lack of training for these types of situations and lack of accountability by everyone (including him) he agreed that the situation was not handled properly. After making more excuses of the building being old and recent rain, he confirmed that the servers will be informed of how to handle these situations going forward. If there is such a known problem with roaches for the bar or downtown Durham in general, at least train staff on how to handle these encounters. As the consumer, I don't want to dine here anymore but I'm glad that other consumers' experience may be improved from this review.

You know a place is special when reviews from 4+ years ago talk about how good the burger is and you go in after all that time and also agree that this is the best burger you've had in North Carolina. This burger is FANTASTIC. Both me and my partner agreed on it being the best and we will be back very often after learning the kitchen closes at 9:45 pm. The mac and cheese was also super good. We got it without bacon and it was delicious. Good mac is hard to come by these days. Both our server and the bartenders were welcoming and friendly, and our food came out quick. The bar itself is really beautiful- decorated really nice, has a really cool ambience, nice seating and lighting, and fun. I can tell it gets busy on the weekends. Great for dates and nights out. We got two fun cocktails we saw chalkboard drawings of and loved it. I'm definitely a big fan of this place now.

Specialty drinks were awesome! Food was delish. Cool atmosphere! Highly recommend!

Rich ambiance, delightful beverages, and DO NOT FORGET TO TRY THE DEEP FRIED BROCCOLI. Pardon the caps but I cannot emphasize that enough!

The drink was absolutely phenomenal. However, the service and the ambiance were two thumbs down. We came in about 20 minutes before close just wanting one drink to check it out. The music was so loud that we couldn't hear each other and one of our friends chose to call the night early because it was so bad. We asked the waitress and her response was "the bar gets to do what they want to do this late at night." We asked how long they do this and she told us that they controlled the screaming music for the last hour. When I say the music was loud, I'm saying it was screaming voices and my Apple Watch told me I was in a loud noise environment. It only does that during concerts- if that paints a picture.

It's been a while since we dined at Bar Virgile and it was as delicious as ever! We were seated in the Annex at the bar since there was no more space in the main area. I believe the Annex serves the same menu, just a bit of a different vibe with it being more like a tiki bar. The Blue Hawaiian was perfect and made me feel like I was on vacation! All of the food was amazing as usual. I had the Mac & Cheese and Fried Okra. My husband had the salmon and mentioned many times that it was sooo good! We had a small hiccup with the staff being unsure if they could use a gift card in the Annex area, thankfully it was all sorted out. If they gave us a one time courtesy, that's probably something that needs to be noted for anyone trying to dine at Bar Virgile though. We love this place and it's probably the best food we have ever had in Durham! The only reason we don't visit more often these days is due to having limited time before events in downtown Durham and just not being able to make reservations.

Bar Virgile has been in many conversations for a while. I got an invite here to join after dinner. I'm not a big bar scene person, but I enjoyed Bar Virgil enough to indulge in two cocktails. The Southside and a French 75 are both equally delicious since these are two of my favorites. Bar Virgil doesn't have an extensive craft cocktail list, but they cater to several classics that many can enjoy. Small, quaint, rustic, and a cozy lil space perfect for an evening nightcap. The staff is friendly, professional, and knowledgeable about drink preferences if you ask for something unfamiliar. The space was clean and with low lighting. The loud Spanish music played in the background wasn't too bad.

Great spot! Great steak salad, great craft cocktails and even better bartenders! I almost don't want to leave this review because I hate to lose access to this gem!

I thoroughly enjoyed my burger along with the two drinks i ordered. I cant remember their names and from what i can tell they rotate their cocktails anyways.

First time visit to Bar Virgile and used Yelp reviews to help find this gem. It was a perfect date night spot with my wife. We sat at the bar and got quick service from a pro bartender (Andrew?). The ambiance of was perfect with exposed brick and a full bar. We ordered cocktails on recommendation from bartender. I looked up the menu to try to list names but the cocktail menu changes offen and I don't see the ones we had listed. Mine was a rum based drink with a foam top sprinkled with cinnamon sugar. My wife got a vodka based drink that had balsamic in it. We both enjoyed them and the pro presentation. Dinner was the short rib risotto and the veg out plate (3 veggies). Got succotash, beet salad, tomato salad. The food was served fast and, nice and hot, and was delicious. Second round of drinks was gin based with oregano sprig for me and a sweet vodka drink for wife. We enjoyed both. This restaurant owner has 3 places and we visited all of them that night. Bar Virgile for dinner, The Annex for post dinner drinks (got Dragons Breath and something else sweet), and Dive Bar for beers and popcorn last. Perfect date night spot. Will definitely be back.