New look, old feel

Iconic Belvedere Coffee Shop returns to Oceanfront in new hotel

VIRGINIA BEACH — An iconic Oceanfront restaurant that seemed destined for the history books has been resurrected.

The Belvedere Coffee Shop & Diner — a throwback to the resort area’s early days — will reopen Friday in a new location, inside the Moxy hotel on 12th Street and Atlantic Avenue.

The original diner was 50 years old when it closed in 2019, shortly before the Belvedere Hotel on 36th Street was torn down and redeveloped.

Suburban Capital, a Virginia Beach-based hospitality company, opened Hyatt Place Oceanfront on the site in 2022. Owner Chris Perry, who grew up in Virginia Beach, wanted to include the diner in the Hyatt, but it didn’t fit, said Rob Murphy, vice president of operations.

Instead, Suburban Capital incorporated it into its other trendy new hotel project, Moxy Virginia Beach Oceanfront, on the beach’s South End, which opens next week.

Even though Moxy is designed to appeal to young travelers — you check in at the bar and a two-story slide lands in the lobby — Murphy thinks the new Belvedere South will be a hit with people who enjoy a night on the town and want to tame their stomachs the next day with a fried egg and hash browns or a thick burger.

The Belvedere’s logo is unchanged and so are many of the food options, including the popular Eye Opener, a fried egg with ham or bacon, tomatoes and parmesan served on an onion roll.

“We tried to mimic the original menu as much as possible,” said Murphy at an open house event Tuesday.

Line cook Ryan Grice was a customer with his grandmother at the original Belvedere, he said. Now, he will be whipping up omelets and slinging burgers on the diner’s shiny new griddle.

“It definitely looks upgraded and updated,” Grice said.

Belvedere South features most of the same decor as the original: A row of blue stools face the line cooks tending to the grill, and blue-and-white booths are nestled against the building's south windows.

The new restaurant is a little bigger than its cozy predecessor with 12 seats at the counter and room for an additional 24 in the booths. It also has several outdoor tables. Unlike the old Belvedere, it's missing the honeymoon booth — an intimate, corner seating option for two.

But, for the most part, the new owners recreated the original with views of the ocean and a homey, vintage feel.

“We're excited to bring it back,” Murphy said.

TESS CROWLEY/STAFF PHOTOS The old Belvedere Coffee Shop & Diner will reopen next week as Belvedere South Coffee Shop & Diner. The owners of Moxy’s Virginia Beach Oceanfront hotel, where the reincarnated restaurant will be located, maintained many aspects of the color scheme, menu and design of the diner that closed in 2019 and was torn down a year later.

STAFF Crews begin the demolition of The Belvedere Hotel, which housed the iconic diner, in January 2020.