"I had not visited Firebirds for many fifteen years. When they first arrived in Richmond, we loved them so much for great food and atmosphere that we made it our number one restaurant, particularly for special occasions like birthdays. We went at least five times a year for a few years. Then the food became inedible to us. They started over-salting everything to the point that we couldn’t or wouldn’t finish our meals. After the first couple of times this happened, we told the waitress who said she would try to make it less so. Twice we tried with no success. The third time, we were told that they had made changes in the way they prepared their foods and it was what it was. So we gave up. In recent years, we considered trying it again, but the thought of wasting good money on an unacceptable meal was, pardon the pun, unappetizing. So we put it off until today. When we got in I told the waitress, Brooke, our story, and she told Jeff, he Manager and he told the chef, whose name I am ashamed I cannot remember, but I can remember he was a chef on a yacht for years. All bent over backwards to make the meal a pleasant and delicious experience. When they had not put the lobster fondue sauce on the side of my wife’s salmon, they made another portion for her with the fondue on the side and when we left they actually gave her yet another portion, actually the complete meal, to take home, As it was her birthday meal, they also gave her crème brule cheesecake?, which was excellent. I got a bowl of poached eggs and steak, which was very good and included some vegetables and very good breakfast potatoes, which my wife also received. They had some round bread that was also tasty and we got one to take home, which my wife made into garlic toast to accompany her meal and my leftovers the next night. It made a second great meal. The topper to all of this was that Jeff, the Manager, had taken the cost of my wife’s meal off to boot and with the discount coupon she got for being a club member, the price of the meal was extraordinarily low. They even put our boxes of food to go in their refrigerator while we did some errands. I can honestly say that no restaurant ever went to these lengths to please us, to make amends for past problems that occurred long before any of the employees we dealt with had any association with the restaurant. And let’s face it, if the food was terrible it all would have been nice, but it would still fall far short from making me want to return as a regular patron. But the food was wonderful. We have had a lot of good meals in Richmond lately and this was in the top tier, the very top, actually. The staff tried to re-establish the good feelings we started out with towards the restaurant and they succeeded admirably. There are strong feelings of good will towards all of them and we will certainly reward them with return visits for as long as we live in the area. I can wholeheartedly recommend Firebirds at Belvedere on the south side of Richmond, as it was, overall, one of the best dining experiences of our lives and we have had our fair share."
