Customers clean plates and cars at Susan Hall’s Car Wash Café.
How’s this for one-stop shopping? At Susan Hall’s Car Wash Café, you can enjoy a soft-shell crab sandwich, crab cake, or oysters—along with their famous cole slaw—and get a clean car, all in the same trip.
Hall says the café menu was inspired by her mother, who worked in Southern restaurants her whole life. In fact, the pies on the menu are made using her mother’s recipes.
At the Car Wash Café, customers come for the food. For breakfast, eggs Benedict are topped with a choice of oysters, a crab cake, or soft-shell crab. Grits are the real-deal, and the creamed chipped beef is made the old-fashioned way—with a slowsimmered, seasoned roux. Open five days a week for breakfast and lunch, this unpretentious spot offers indoor and outdoor dining and gluten-free and keto options. Catering services are also available.
Hall says she just wanted to provide a spot where Kilmarnock’s locals and visitors could sit down and enjoy a casual yet delicious breakfast or lunch. Be there before 2:00 p.m. on Sundays, or 2:30 p.m. from Wednesday through Saturday to get a taste of this repeat Best of Virginia winner.
As one reviewer puts it: “Do not drive by and think ‘why would I eat at the car wash?’ The answer is simple: because it’s really good food, and you’ll regret it if you don’t!” Facebook: @carwashcafeva
