Lizard Cafe

Lizard Cafe Restaurant Review:

A colorful, cozy setting; the use of seasonal ingredients; a friendly, young waitstaff: all the components at Bill Prince’s Leaping Lizard Café on Shore Drive in Virginia Beach can be found at this location in downtown Norfolk he founded before selling it to a longtime employee. Connected to Prince Books --- the charming bookstore owned by Prince’s sister, Sarah Pishko --- this spot edits out Leaping from the name. It’s the place for those who like to dig into a juicy novel along with a signature salad of mixed greens, red grapes, Bartlett pears, dried cranberries, Gorgonzola, walnuts and homemade basil vinaigrette or a sandwich such as chicken salad with curried peach chutney, roasted almonds and yogurt mayo. Lizard is full-service, and a good thing, too, since you’ll want to linger over just-caught dilled tuna on homemade rosemary bread and soup made fresh daily, such as lemon asparagus. A simple-sounding sweet potato biscuit pays homage to local Surry ham. Leave room for an epilogue of just-baked cookies. Raised booths at window level make the street-watching scenes as compelling as the nearby bestsellers.