Six ~ Hampton, VA

So I want to start this post by explaining the concept of a "tapas" restaurant, having read many reviews that were negative about tapas restaurants because not all diners understand this concept.  The definition of tapas is "a wide variety of appetizers or snacks," according to Wikipedia.  It is just that, a variety of genres of food all served in small plates, i.e. appetizer or snack size.  Plates are served as they are made, not all at once, as the original idea of a tapas meal was designed to encourage conversation and not a singular focus on eating an entire meal.  So if you're heading to a tapas restaurant don't expect large portions or one type of food like Mexican or Italian, and don't expect all your items at once; take your time, enjoy your food and fun conversation that's often initiated by the food. 

Ok so on to the review of Six, a tapas restaurant in the Phoebus section of Hampton, VA.  I would first note that Six is an intimate restaurant with only about 9 tables and a bar; tonight we chose to sit at the bar and there was steady flow of traffic during our meal.  We were greeted right away by the staff as there is no hostess and encouraged us to sit wherever we liked.  Just an FYI, we only sat at the bar because we both found the bartender to be quite attractive, there was a table available, but hey we wanted eye candy and a meal.  Six has an extensive alcohol menu; including many wines, beers, cocktails, and martinis; we both chose the sangria that was made with a Shiraz that was sweet, but I could still taste the wine and neither overpowered the other.  After reviewing the menu, which is separated into "cold" and "hot" categories, we chose to start with the pistachio cream cheese stuffed dates and the stone fruit goat cheese bruschetta.  The dates arrived first, Emily is describing the dates to me as "moist and fresh," and we find this completely hilarious, but they were, and the combination of them with the cream cheese and honey was a perfect pairing, but almost dessert like for a first course.  The only drawback to this dish was that the pistachio flavor was very faint in the comparison to the cream cheese and date.  Second dish:  stone fruit goat cheese bruschetta was the clear winner of all six dishes we tasted.  The bread was soft with a slight toast, so it didn't crumble under the toppings, the good quality goat cheese with white peaches, basil and balsamic was an unexpected combination that worked together but complimented each component.  Third dish:  tuna carpaccio with capers, red onion, parsley, evoo, and lemon.  The raw tuna was perfectly sliced and while we expected the pungent taste of red onion to overpower the delicate flavor of the tuna, it did not.  Overall a solid dish that we would order again.  Fourth dish:  lamb gyro with lettuce, tomato, and tzatziki.  This dish was not exactly what we expected based on the description, which was a smaller version of a traditional gyro.  What we did get was more of lamb slider on a pita wedge with the toppings placed on the side.  The lettuce, tomato and onion were lightly flavored with some sort of oil based dressing, and when combined with the sauce and lamb slider, it tasted like an upscale version of a traditional gyro.  On to dessert, a salted caramel brownie a la mode and peach bread pudding, which was an item du jour.  I'm a huge fan of the salty/sweet combination and found the salty was lacking on the brownie, otherwise it was a typical brownie with ice cream, nothing that stood out from other brownie a la mode's I've had in the past.  As for the peach bread pudding, which was still steaming when it arrived, it had the perfect combo of bourbon and peach flavor but as with the brownie, was nothing special above and beyond your normal bread pudding.

Having worked in food service for 12 years, service is just as important to me as the food.  The bartender was attentive without being annoying and smothering us.  No chain restaurant "up sales" here, but willing to offer an opinion on the menu items when asked. 

Overall rating on a scale of ten, we'd give it an 8.  Definitely worthy of a revisit, especially considering their menu changes often and we're always up for a new and innovative dish.