“Good beer. Good food. Good people.Bad parking, since 1974.” That’s the motto of the newly renovated and reopened Green Leafe Café in Williamsburg.
Walk down the brick lined sidewalk along Scotland Street and through the doors of the Green Leafe Café and you’ll find a newly renovated café and pub, freshly redone with exposed brick, beautiful stained glass windows and warm and inviting candlelit tables.
Pull a chair up to the bar and try a sampling of 40 beers on tap, ranging from IPAs to hard ciders and the most impressive liquor selection within a 40-mile radius, according to Brian Beadle, a bartender at the pub for two years.
The Green Leafe Café originally opened in 1974. After operating for nearly 42 years, customers found a sign on the door reading “closed for renovations, new Leafe coming soon!”
The Green Leafe Café turned over a new leaf when it underwent renovations where the entire pub was gutted and everything replaced, down to the draft system and air conditioner unit. Four months later, after renovations and a change in ownership, the pub re-opened, new and better than ever. The only original items that remain in the restaurant these days are a few of the bar tables.
“When the bar first opened, it used to be just a locals bar, it was even closed off and there was a smoking section. Then slowly but surely a lot of professors would come in and these past few years before it was reopened, it was pretty much an undergrad, college, party place mainly because of its proximity to William & Mary,” says Beadle. “Since it’s reopened, we’ve had a nice healthy mix of locals that come out on the weekends with their families, and we have some undergrads and grad students and people that are looking for something a little more upscale.”
Celebrities have been known to frequent the Green Leafe on occasion. From Colin Farrell to Bruce Hornsby to Lawrence Taylor. And Beadle says, “when you have football camps across the street at William & Mary you’re going to have professional football players, and when you’re a staple that’s been here for over 40 years you’re going to have people come check out the place.”
Today the Green Leafe offers a full lunch and dinner menu with everything from salads to gluten free options. Patrons also find one of the best liquor selections in the area from tequilas to rums to whiskies as well as a variety of 40 interchanging taps.
“We have a few staples on tap like Bud Light and Guinness, but we change out taps for seasonal selections and local brews we want to showcase. Of course any IPA we have on tap is very popular,” said Beadle.
Patrons can soon expect to see two new options at the Green Leafe including small plates and a signature craft cocktail menu.
“We have a craft cocktail menu in the works and all cocktails will be designed specifically for the Green Leafe,” Beadle says. “We are planning on six to ten total, and they will all be special, different and interesting.”
If you’re planning to swing by, don’t forget about Happy Hour, Monday through Thursday from 4 to 7 p.m., and Friday through Sunday from 3 to 7 p.m.
“Being in downtown Williamsburg really is nice and being so close to Yorktown, James City County and of course our Williamsburg residents, we have a great mix of customers,” says Beadle. “We are in a great place for William & Mary students, a place for Colonial Williamsburg employees to swing in for lunch and of course tourists that are in the area. We really are a place for everyone.”
Green Leafe Café • 765 Scotland Street • Williamsburg, Virginia 23185 • 757-903-2697 • greenleafe.com