Tobacco Company celebrates 49 years with throwback week

Karri Peifer

Street scene with red brick buildings and tall arched windows, a line of parked cars along the curb, and a vintage clock on a pole beside a curved street lamp. — The Tobacco Company Restaurant in 1977. Image: Courtesy of The Tobacco Company Restaurant

The Tobacco Company Restaurant is celebrating 49 years in business this week.

Why it matters: The landmark Shockoe Slip restaurant is rolling out circa-1970s specials and theme parties to commemorate its nearly half-century run.

Luxurious bar with warm amber lighting, crystal chandeliers, gold ceiling, bottle shelves, a long gold-trimmed bar, beige stools, and a framed illustration of a blue-dressed woman in a gold circle. — The lounge today. Image: Courtesy of The Tobacco Company Restaurant

Driving the news: To commemorate the anniversary, the restaurant is offering its signature prime rib dinner — a 12-ounce cut with two sides — for $19.77 through Saturday, a steep discount from its current $45 price tag.

Plus: there will be live music in the atrium Tuesday through Thursday, an employee alumni reunion on Friday (7-11pm), and a '70s- and '80s-themed dance party in the club downstairs on Saturday (7-10pm).

The fine print: The prime rib special is only available from 5-6pm and advanced OpenTable "special event experience" reservations are required.

Black-and-white indoor courtyard cafe with round tables; foreground shows three friends—blonde woman, man in a light suit, and dark-haired woman—smiling as they chat. Background features plants and a two-level atrium with hanging lanterns. — The atrium circa 1977. Image: Courtesy of The Tobacco Company Restaurant

Flashback: The Tobacco Company was a game-changing restaurant for Richmond when it opened in July 1977.

It was one of the first to open in the then-long-defunct warehouse district we now know as Shockoe Slip (Sam Miller's, 1973-2025, was the first) and helped establish the neighborhood as a dining destination.
That's according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, which reported in 1978 that 3,000 people packed into the district nightly, waiting up to two hours to get into one of its six restaurants.
But The Tobacco Company was special, with its first-floor cocktail lounge, two upper stories of dining and a basement "discotheque," as the RTD described it then.

Two vertical photos side by side: left a wooden multi-level atrium with ornate chandeliers, hanging plants, and a glass roof; right a brick-walled cafe with chandeliers and a table set for dinner. — Three stories of beauty. Image: Courtesy of The Tobacco Company Restaurant

Fun fact: The restaurant almost didn't make it past 40.

Nine years ago last week, a three-alarm fire tore through the historic structure, shuttering it for nearly two years.
But owner and founder Jerry Cable rebuilt the restaurant, reopening it at the close of 2018, ready to welcome Richmond diners for another half-century — or more.

If you go: The Tobacco Company is open nightly for dinner and drinks at 1201 E. Cary St.

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Tobacco Company celebrates 49 years with throwback week

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