We asked, and you delivered: Here’s the best sweet tea in Hampton Roads
As a tea enthusiast and a member of the U.S. League of Tea Growers, I’m serious about my tea. I like the smell of freshly brewed sweet tea. I want to taste the tea with sugar as opposed to sugar water. A balance of both is a must. I also prefer crushed ice. It cools liquids more quickly. (It has a chew that makes it enjoyable to eat after drinking the tea, too.)
Iced tea usually means sweet tea in the South. Southerners like it, especially during the summertime. In my experience, sugar tends to mask the tea taste. Done right, though, sweet tea can be a most enjoyable drinking experience.
In honor of National Iced Tea Month, we asked readers to nominate restaurants they believe make the best. We received 31. Nominations were also solicited from a Facebook group called Hampton Roads Restaurants - Take Out, Delivery & Dine In Options. Fast food restaurants were suggested, such as Hardee’s, McDonald’s, Chick-Fil-A, but were excluded from this non-scientific study. For those who submitted them, we made a note.
Who came close to my requirements? Read on:
Our Winner
Motsie’s Sea Grille
401 N. Great Neck Road #105, Virginia Beach, 757-648-7228, motsiesseagrille.com
Score 98 points ☕☕☕☕
Motsie makes its sweet tea in small batches which means it’s likely always fresh.
Mikey McMakin, the staff member behind the bar, knew the formula for a great pitcher of mellow tea: He poured a coffee pot of hot tea into a pitcher of sugar — the best way to dissolve the sugar. I loved it from the first swig to the midway point of my third cup. You read that right: I had three cups.
I didn’t think I could consume any more tea that day. This was my fourth stop. It was prepared in my ideal way: an equal part of black tea flavoring and sugariness. The wide square ice didn’t ruin the moment. I think with crushed ice I would’ve given it a 100 points. I suggested to my server to bottle it and sell it by the gallon. I would be Mostie’s first customer. Yes, it was that good.
The rest:
Danny’s Deli Restaurant
10838 Warwick Blvd., Newport News, 757-595-0252, tinyurl.com/dannysdelirestaurant
Score 95 points ☕☕☕☕
Danny’s Deli goes through three gallons of sweet tea during the four hours it’s open each day, six days a week. Kim Rose, the waitstaff, has been making it since she suggested the restaurant sell it more than 10 years ago.
She taught her daughter Gracie, who has worked at Danny’s for almost a year, how to brew it. On this 11:33 a.m. visit, I had the last cup from a pitcher prepared by Rose and the first serving from a pitcher prepared by Gracie. They tasted the same. The crushed ice was easy to crunch without hurting the roof of my mouth. I could’ve eaten it all day. The refreshing brewed smell combined with the sweetness gave me a sitting-on-a-wraparound-porch vibe. The hint of tea flavor prevented it from receiving a perfect score, though. It needed to be stronger. It was likely because of the tea bags used. Most tea bags have small tea leaf particles or a dusting which doesn’t give off much taste. (That’s why serious tea drinkers prefer loose-leaf tea.)
Brick House Diner
941 Providence Square Shopping Center, Virginia Beach, 757-495-1628 brickhousediner.com
Score 88 points ☕☕☕
The orangish-red tea arrived with condensation forming near the rim of the glass. It smelled fresh and inviting. The waitstaff informed me that it’s freshly brewed at 6:00 a.m. every day and a second batch after lunch. I was there at lunchtime. It was served with enough thick ice to make the tea cold, but not too much where it reduced the serving size. The sugar-forward drink left a sweetness in my mouth — an extra teaspoon of sugar would’ve made it unbearable. The iced tea finished with notes of black tea. I liked how the remaining ice gripped my teeth and made me work for the crunch.
Mister Jim’s
346 S. Battlefield Blvd., Chesapeake, 757-482-1333, www.misterjimsonline.com
Score 85 points ☕☕☕
I arrived shortly after the restaurant opened. I received a medium Styrofoam cup with crushed ice from the cashier. That alone excited my palate. I used a self-serve steel tea dispenser to fill it. The sweetness lingered on my tongue and left me searching for the tea. It was on the border of being too sugary. I added one lemon juice packet to dilute it without changing the profile too much. It didn’t help.
Cutlass Grille
725 Eden Way N. Suite 700, Chesapeake, 757-382-0015, cutlassgrille.com
Score 84 points ☕☕☕
I had a reservation for 2:30 p.m. hoping to miss the lunch crowd. It was still busy. It seemed sweet tea was a popular drink of choice. My mouth watered as I watched glasses of tea go by to other tables. When mine arrived, the drinking glass smelled like it had just been run through a dishwasher. It didn’t deter me from slurping down the beverage. It left me with a lip smacking sweetness and a light tea flavor. I thought I recognized another profile such as a hint of lemon. I’m not sure. Overall, it was good.
Gianna’s Pizzeria & Italian Ristorante
7386 Harbour Towne Parkway, Suffolk, 757-394-1255, giannaspizzava.com
Score 70 points ☕☕
This sweet tea tasted sweeter than what Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory might have concocted. I contemplated adding water. I squeezed two lemon wedges in it instead to cut the sweetness. The sugar level decreased a little. I paired it with a Caesar salad topped with lots of cracked black pepper to no avail. I took the drink to-go to allow the flat wide ice to liquefy. I had at least a 30-minute ride in the hot sun to my next destination. When I arrived, I sipped it again. Still syrupy. Not my cup of tea.
About the scoring
Each restaurant earned points in five categories: appearance, aroma, tea taste, sweetness and ice. The winner was determined by the highest total points.
Rating
90-100 points = excellent (☕☕☕☕)
80-89 points = good (☕☕☕)
70-79 points = average (☕☕)
How were restaurants selected?
Two Chesapeake restaurants tied for the most nominations: Cutlass Grille and Mister Jim’s. Danny’s Deli Restaurant, Gianna Pizzeria & Italian Ristorante and Blue Crab & Purple Pig Bistro were the only nominations representing their cities - Newport News, Suffolk and Poquoson respectively. The Virginia Beach restaurants were randomly drawn from a box of nominations.
Rekaya Gibson, 757-295-8809, rekaya.gibson@virginiamedia.com, follow on Twitter @gibsonrekaya
