Latitude Seafood Co. opens waterfront dining in Chesterfield (2024)

There’s a new waterfront dining destination in western Chesterfield.

Latitude Seafood Co. opened a new location at 14440 Hull Street Road in Duckridge Landing in late August, overlooking the water.

“There’s nothing like this out here,” co-owner Jenatha Robinson said. “It’s private, quiet and peaceful. You can sit out here and enjoy a handcrafted co*cktail and the freshest seafood.”

The new location has a beachy dining room with wave wallpaper, hanging basket chandeliers and a full curved bar with a pass-through window that opens to an attached outdoor bar.

Outdoors, there is a separate wraparound waterfront bar and plenty of al fresco seating under an awning with a view of the Swift Creek Reservoir.

This is the third area location for Latitude Seafood Co., which opened its first location at Westchester Commons in 2015, followed by Stony Point Fashion Park in 2018.

Latitude is the creation of three local friends — Kevin Grubbs, Robinson, and Jonathan Knizatko, all of whom know each other from working in area restaurants, including Bonefish Grill.

“I went to high school up the road. I remember passing this spot, thinking, ‘Wouldn’t it be cool to have a restaurant there?’” Grubbs said. “It’s pretty amazing, how this all came together.”

Latitude has gained a reputation for upscale, contemporary seafood such as jumbo lump crab cakes with remoulade ($29-$44) and sea scallops with lemon butter ($33.70).

“The crab cakes are our top seller. They’re spectacular,” Knizatko added.

“Everything is made in house and from scratch. Including our craft co*cktails, which are all freshly juiced,” Robinson said. “That’s what sets us apart.”

Latitude gets its oysters from Ruby Salts Oyster Co. on the Eastern Shore and serves them a variety of ways: from Rockefeller ($16-$28), to fried ($18-$30) to charbroiled and on the half shell ($14-$28).

Latitude also serves bowls, sandwiches, burgers and tacos, as well as soups and salads, for lunch and dinner. Popular items include the shrimp and grits bowl ($21.50) as well as the crab cake sandwich ($24.50) and the bacon cheddar burger ($15.90).

Business has been brisk since opening, the owners said, with record sales on opening weekend. There aren’t many independent upscale restaurants on Hull Street Road in Brandermill. “We saw a real need here,” Robinson said.

Handcrafted co*cktails — also available at the waterfront bar — feature freshly squeezed juice, such as the Sailor’s Punch with rum, fresh peach, pineapple, cranberry and orange juice ($9.80) and homemade crushes such as the Latitude crush with Tito’s, orange and lime ($9).

The interior restaurant can seat 150 and the outdoors can seat 110.

After Latitude spoke out, many other restaurants came forward with similar stories and the issue received significant media attention. Latitude has since resolved its tax issues with the city and is unable to comment on the issue. Earlier this year, Grubbs said that he would never open a restaurant in the city of Richmond again.

The Latitude Seafood location at Stony Point Fashion Park is currently locked into a 10-year lease, which will run until 2030, Grubbs said. Regardless of the restaurant’s problems with the city, Grubbs said the Stony Point location was its bestselling site, until now perhaps.

Diners in Richmond currently pay a 13.5% tax on their meal. In Richmond, the state and local sales tax totals 6%; the meals tax adds 7.5%, which brings the total tax to 13.5%.

In Chesterfield, there is no additional meals tax, which is luring more local restaurants, such as the Lindsey Food Group, which recently opened two restaurants, ML Steak and Kali Love, at Chesterfield Towne Center.

“Chesterfield has been a dream to work with,” Grubbs said. “We see a real need out here for a restaurant like Latitude and we’re very happy to be here.”