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University of Richmond Guide: Best Restaurants, Bars, and Hotels (2026)

Find the best restaurants, bars, cafes, hotels, and campus landmarks near the Unviersity of Richmond, with a saveable map for students, parents, and visitors.

University of Richmond Guide: Best Restaurants, Bars, and Hotels (2026)
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Whether you're a Richmond student working out where to eat once the dining hall closes, a parent driving in for move-in or Commencement, an alum back for a reunion, or a prospective student seeing the campus for the first time, this guide covers the restaurants, cafes, bars, hotels, and campus landmarks worth knowing around the University of Richmond.

One thing to understand before you plan anything. Richmond is not a downtown school. The campus sits on 350 wooded acres in the city's West End, roughly six miles from the state capitol, with a lake in the middle and about fifty Collegiate Gothic buildings around it. It is genuinely beautiful and almost entirely self-contained, which is the appeal and also the catch: there is no college-town main street at the gates. The nearest restaurants are a third of a mile out at the River Road Shopping Center, the nearest cluster with any real choice is the Village Shopping Center about a mile north, and Libbie and Grove is about a mile east. Everything else means a car or a rideshare.


Best Restaurants Near the University of Richmond

The honest picture first: the university's dining hall closes at 8pm, the campus pub runs to 11pm on weeknights, and after that students are on delivery apps or in someone's car. Off campus, the map is three clusters and a drive. River Road Shopping Center is the closest at about a third of a mile and holds the two restaurants the university itself points visiting families toward. The Village Shopping Center at Patterson and Three Chopt, roughly a mile north, is where the everyday eating happens. Libbie and Grove, about a mile east, is where the evening gets more interesting. Carytown and Scott's Addition are three to five miles out and worth the drive when you have one.

Restaurants

Stella's

Stella's

1012 Lafayette St, Richmond, VA 23221, USA

Rustic and modern Greek in a converted corner building in the Fan, built around mezze and shared plates and reliably full. It's about four miles from campus and it takes reservations, which you should use. The standing advice from anyone who eats here is to over-order, because the table will finish it.

ZZQ Texas Craft Barbeque

ZZQ Texas Craft Barbeque

3201 W Moore St, Richmond, VA 23230, USA

Central Texas barbecue in Scott's Addition, brisket sold by the pound, and a hard rule printed on their own site in capitals: first come, first served from 11am, unless sold out. Open Wednesday through Sunday, closing at 6pm and 5pm on Sundays. Treat it as lunch. Turn up late and you will be reading about it instead.

The Roosevelt

The Roosevelt

623 N 25th St, Richmond, VA 23223, USA

Church Hill's small, warm dining room, open since 2011 and describing itself as an untraditional celebration of the food of the South. Chef Leah Branch was a James Beard Mid-Atlantic semifinalist in 2026, which is the level this is operating at. Dinner only, 5 to 10 Monday through Saturday and 5 to 9 on Sunday. It's the longest drive on this list at about seven miles, and the best cooking on it.

Lemaire

Lemaire

101 W Franklin St, Richmond, VA 23220, USA

The dining room inside The Jefferson Hotel, serving upscale New American across breakfast, lunch and dinner. This is the white-tablecloth Commencement dinner when the occasion calls for one, in a room that has been receiving Richmond's big family evenings for over a century. Expensive, and unembarrassed about it.

Perly's

Perly's

111 E Grace St, Richmond, VA 23219, USA

A Jewish delicatessen downtown doing latkes, matzo ball soup and a serious pastrami in a room that has kept its mid-century bones. Worth knowing before you plan around it: the kitchen runs 9am to 3pm daily and there is no dinner service. That makes it a breakfast on the way in or a lunch between campus tours rather than an evening out.

Edo's Squid

Edo's Squid

411 N Harrison St, Richmond, VA 23220, USA

Up a flight of stairs near VCU, serving Italian food built around squid and pasta, dinner only from 5pm. The room is unglamorous and the cooking is not. It is a Richmond restaurant that people are oddly protective of, and it works well for a table of parents and students who want something more interesting than a chain.

Kuba Kuba

Kuba Kuba

1601 Park Ave, Richmond, VA 23220, USA

Manny Mendez opened this Cuban spot in a former Fan corner store in 1998, and it still describes itself as a casual bodega. Breakfast is served all day from 9am, there are no reservations, and the room is small and bright and covered in color. About four and a half miles out, and one of the more genuinely local meals a visitor can have in Richmond.

The Fancy Biscuit

The Fancy Biscuit

1831 W Cary St, Richmond, VA 23220, USA

Biscuit sandwiches built to order near VCU, open 8am to 3pm Tuesday through Friday and to 4pm at weekends, closed Mondays. Cheap and filling, and a good stop on the drive out of town if the trip ends with a long journey.

LUNCH.SUPPER!

LUNCH.SUPPER!

3023 W Marshall St, Richmond, VA 23230, USA

Southern comfort food on West Marshall Street, on the edge between the Museum District and Scott's Addition depending on who you ask. There's a patio, a popular brunch and enough room to seat a group without a month's notice, which is more useful than it sounds when eight people are in town for a graduation.

Can Can Brasserie

Can Can Brasserie

3120 W Cary St, Richmond, VA 23221, USA

A French brasserie in Carytown, zinc bar and tile floor and all, doing steak frites and a long weekend brunch. About three and a half miles from campus. Polished without being stiff, which is a hard balance and makes it one of the easier calls for a dinner with parents who want something a bit dressed up.

Tazza Kitchen Scott's Addition

Tazza Kitchen Scott's Addition

1500 Roseneath Rd, Richmond, VA 23230, USA

Wood-oven pizzas, tacos, seafood and salads in a room designed for groups, with weekend brunch and private dining for up to 28. The compromise pick, and a good one: it's the restaurant to choose when a parent, a student and a bored sibling all want different things and nobody will agree.

Toast, New American Gastropub at The Village

Toast, New American Gastropub at The Village

7007 Three Chopt Rd, Richmond, VA 23226, USA

About a mile north in the Village Shopping Center, and the most useful restaurant near campus for a family with a range of appetites. It's a gastropub in the real sense: tuna wonton crisps and she-crab soup alongside burgers and a kids' menu, plus weekend brunch from 9:30. One of four spots in this one strip that UR points families toward, which tells you how thin the options are closer in.

Christian's Pizza

Christian's Pizza

7003 Three Chopt Rd A, Richmond, VA 23226, USA

Eighteen-inch thin-crust pies in the same Village strip, close enough to campus that the delivery apps list this branch as the U of R location. A whole pie is billed as feeding three or four, there are calzones and subs, and a gluten-free personal size. This is the move-in day dinner, when the car is unpacked, nobody wants to sit down and someone still has to eat.

GRACE

GRACE

6919 Patterson Ave, Richmond, VA 23226, USA

The most interesting cooking near campus, and the newest. Chef Jessica Wilson opened it in September 2025 in the former Odyssey Fish space, thirty seats built around a wood-fired oven, sourcing from farms across Virginia, Maryland and the Carolinas. Open Thursday through Monday from 5pm. Thirty seats go fast, so if this is the Commencement dinner, book it the moment you have a date.

The Continental Westhampton

The Continental Westhampton

5704 Grove Ave, Richmond, VA 23226, USA

Reimagined American food at Libbie and Grove, where the menu runs from lobster rolls to egg creams without apology and happy hour goes 2 to 6 on weekdays. It's open to midnight on Friday and Saturday, which makes it one of very few places within a mile of campus with real energy late on a weekend.

MOSAIC Restaurant

MOSAIC Restaurant

6229-A River Rd, Richmond, VA 23229, USA

Two doors from Azzurro in the same River Road strip, which makes these two the entire walkable-ish dining scene near the University of Richmond. The menu is seasonal and changes often, there's a full bar, and the patio is the reason to book a weekend brunch here rather than driving into the city.

Buckhead's

Buckhead's

8510 Patterson Ave, Richmond, VA 23229, USA

A Richmond steakhouse that has been going since 1994, three miles up Patterson from campus and bookable on OpenTable. Dark wood, big steaks, the kind of room where a grandparent will be comfortable and a graduating senior will be quietly delighted. The milestone-dinner option that doesn't require crossing the city.

Stuffy's Subs

Stuffy's Subs

324 Libbie Ave, Richmond, VA 23226, USA

A long-running Libbie Avenue sandwich counter turning out hearty subs, heated rather than toasted, which regulars will tell you is the distinction that matters. Cheap and quick. This is the stop for a lunch eaten in the car, or for filling a cooler before a tailgate at Robins Stadium.

New York Deli

New York Deli

2920 W Cary St, Richmond, VA 23221, USA

Richmond's oldest operating restaurant, open in Carytown since 1929 and the birthplace of the Sailor Sandwich. The kitchen runs until 2am Thursday through Saturday and there's a tiki bar on the roof that opened in 2022. For UR students, this is the realistic answer to where you go when campus has shut and the night isn't finished.

AZZURRO

AZZURRO

6221 River Rd, Richmond, VA 23229, USA

The closest proper restaurant to campus, about a third of a mile out in the River Road Shopping Center, and one of the two places the university lists for visiting families. Italian, the kind of neighborhood room where the same families have been eating for years rather than anywhere trying to be a destination. It is small, so it books out early on Commencement weekend.

Jack Brown's Beer & Burger Joint Richmond

Jack Brown's Beer & Burger Joint Richmond

5810 Grove Ave, Richmond, VA 23226, USA

A mile from campus at Libbie and Grove, and as close as the University of Richmond gets to a late-night institution. Wagyu burgers off a very short menu, a beer list past a hundred, and doors open until 2am Thursday through Saturday. Small, loud and covered in taxidermy and license plates. Students end up here; parents generally do not, which is rather the point.

Bell Greek Village

Bell Greek Village

7011 Three Chopt Rd, Richmond, VA 23226, USA

The West End outpost of Richmond's Bell Greek family, in the same shopping center as Toast and Christian's. Fast-casual gyros and bowls, ordered at the counter, done in ten minutes. Useful when half the group wants something quick that isn't pizza, and one of the few places this close to campus where a decent lunch costs under fifteen dollars.

Mekong Restaurant

Mekong Restaurant

6004 W Broad St, Richmond, VA 23230, USA

Vietnamese since 1995, and the beer list is the reason people drive here from other states: CraftBeer.com voted it the best beer bar in America, and owner An Bui built a genuine following on it. The food is unfussy and very good. It's about three miles from campus on West Broad, and its sibling brewpub is two doors down.


Coffee and Study Spots Near the University of Richmond

Campus coffee is genuinely good here, which matters more than usual because the nearest independent shop is a mile away. The renovated ground floor of Boatwright Library holds the main campus cafe and is where students actually sit. Off campus, Libbie and Grove has the closest proper coffee, and the Tuckahoe Shopping Center on Ridge Road has the closest all-day cafe. Carytown has the pastry. Nothing here runs late, so a genuinely late study session means the library.

Cafes

8:15 at Boatwright Cafe

8:15 at Boatwright Cafe

261 Richmond Way, Richmond, VA 23173, USA

The main campus coffee shop, which reopened in September 2025 in a much larger space on Boatwright Library's renovated ground floor, with a two-story atrium and a Zen garden looking out toward the lake. It is the default meeting point on campus and the easiest place to arrange to find a student. Worth knowing that the library renovation is still running on the floors above, so expect some construction noise.

Grit Coffee, Libbie Grove

Grit Coffee, Libbie Grove

409 Libbie Ave, Richmond, VA 23226, USA

The Charlottesville roaster's Libbie Avenue shop, about a mile east of campus. Espresso, batch brew and pour-over, a patio, and enough table space and outlets that people actually work here rather than pretending to. Realistically the nearest good coffee once you leave campus, and a sensible base for a parent working remotely during a visit.

Sugar & Twine

Sugar & Twine

2928, window, 2930 W Cary St cafe, Richmond, VA 23221, USA

A Carytown bakery and coffee shop with a pastry case worth arriving hungry for. The detail that catches people out: the kitchen closes at 2pm, though the pastry case stays open until 3 on weekdays and 4 at weekends. There's a separate carry-out window next door running mornings only. Treat it as a morning stop.

Blanchard's Coffee Broad Street

Blanchard's Coffee Broad Street

3121 W Broad St, Richmond, VA 23230, USA

A Richmond roaster founded by University of Richmond alumni, which is the reason it belongs in a Spiders guide, and the coffee served at several spots on campus. The West Broad location is the easiest of the shops to find and the best place to pick up beans on the way home.

ShoreDog Cafe

ShoreDog Cafe

435-B N Ridge Rd, Henrico, VA 23229, USA

Eastern Shore-inspired cooking in the Tuckahoe Shopping Center, just over a mile from campus and the closest genuinely good all-day cafe. It pours Lamplighter coffee, scoops Homestead Creamery ice cream and does a proper breakfast. It's named for the owners' Boykin spaniel, which tells you the register. Closed Mondays.

Gelati Celesti Ice Cream

Gelati Celesti Ice Cream

5808 Grove Ave, Richmond, VA 23226, USA

Richmond's homegrown ice cream, made in small batches, scooped at Libbie and Grove a mile from campus. Not coffee, but it belongs in this section because it is the single most reliable way to end a family dinner in the West End without anyone complaining.


Best Bars Near the University of Richmond

Be realistic about this one. Richmond is not a bar-scene school, and the university's own pub, The Cellar, extended its hours in 2025 specifically because campus outlets were closing too early. Off campus, there is no student strip. What there is instead is a good neighborhood bar and grill about two miles out, a cocktail bar at Libbie and Grove that suits parents better than undergraduates, a genuinely excellent brewpub on West Broad, and then Carytown and Scott's Addition for anyone willing to book a rideshare.

Bars / Nightlife

The Jasper

The Jasper

3113 W Cary St, Richmond, VA 23221, USA

Carytown's serious cocktail bar, which took first place for cocktails in Virginia Living's Best of Virginia 2025. Happy hour runs daily 5 to 7 with eight-dollar classics. It doesn't take reservations for regular seating, though a table for six to twelve can be booked, so turn up early or expect to stand. About three and a half miles from campus.

Hardywood Park Craft Brewery - Richmond

Hardywood Park Craft Brewery - Richmond

2410 Ownby Ln, Richmond, VA 23220, USA

Founded in 2011, when it was one of only two craft breweries in the city, which makes it one of the places Richmond's beer scene actually started. Big taproom, outdoor beer garden, a pizza kitchen on site, open Tuesday through Sunday. The easy landing spot for a group that can't agree on anything more specific.

Ardent Craft Ales

Ardent Craft Ales

3200 W Leigh St, Richmond, VA 23230, USA

A Scott's Addition brewery with a beer garden that is genuinely pleasant on a spring afternoon, dog-friendly and open daily. Relaxed enough that bringing a parent along isn't strange, which is not true of everything in this district.

Bingo Beer Co

Bingo Beer Co

2900 W Broad St, Richmond, VA 23230, USA

A beer hall with arcade games, skee-ball and a beer garden with fire pits, plus a burger worth ordering. Closed Mondays. The move when the group includes people who don't especially care about beer and need something to do with their hands.

Starr Hill Beer Hall & Rooftop

Starr Hill Beer Hall & Rooftop

3406 W Leigh St, Richmond, VA 23230, USA

Scott's Addition beer hall with a rooftop, best on a clear evening. One caveat worth checking before you build a night around it: the rooftop closes for private events fairly regularly and they post notices when it does.

The Veil Brewing Co. / Remedy Burger - Scott's Addition

The Veil Brewing Co. / Remedy Burger - Scott's Addition

1509 Belleville St Unit B, Richmond, VA 23230, USA

The Scott's Addition flagship, built on hazy, double and triple IPAs that people drive across the state for, with Remedy Burger operating in-house from noon so nobody drinks on an empty stomach. Busy, and deservedly so.

Bar West

Bar West

5811 Grove Ave, Richmond, VA 23226, USA

The nearest thing to a proper cocktail bar, at Libbie and Grove about a mile from campus, with a barrel-aged program, a dog-friendly patio and a Wednesday burger-and-cocktail deal. The university lists it for visiting families, and the room reads more parent and young alum than undergraduate. Extended midday happy hour Tuesday through Friday.

The Grill

The Grill

5724 Patterson Ave, Richmond, VA 23226, USA

The closest neighborhood bar and grill to campus, serving breakfast, lunch and dinner daily with happy hour seven days a week and last call at 2am Thursday through Saturday. It runs NFL Sunday Ticket and books live music, which makes it the default game-day room in this part of the West End. Unfussy, and the most likely place near campus to find a student eating at 11pm.

The Answer Brewpub

The Answer Brewpub

6008 W Broad St, Richmond, VA 23230, USA

An Bui's brewpub, two doors from his Mekong on West Broad. Seventy rotating taps, Vietnamese fusion food and a retro arcade in the back. Beer people plan trips around this block, and it is a much shorter drive from campus than Scott's Addition. If you only make one drinks stop on a visit and you care at all about beer, make it this one.

The Local at Forest & Ridge

The Local at Forest & Ridge

403 N Ridge Rd, Henrico, VA 23229, USA

A newer neighborhood bar just over a mile out on Ridge Road, doing comfort food and craft cocktails with games on the screens. The useful thing about it is the volume: it's quiet enough to actually hold a conversation with a parent, which rules out most of the alternatives.

The Tavern

The Tavern

7110 Patterson Ave, Richmond, VA 23229, USA

A West End tavern on Patterson that regulars have treated as a fixture for years, and another the university includes on its list for visiting families. Nothing about it is trying to impress anybody, which is the highest compliment you can pay a neighborhood bar.


Best Hotels Near the University of Richmond

There is no hotel within walking distance of the University of Richmond, and no campus hotel. The nearest cluster sits two to three miles north on the West Broad and Glenside corridor, which is a seven to ten minute drive. The closest of them is the Courtyard by Marriott Richmond West at 2.2 miles. Two practical warnings. That whole cluster is only a few hundred rooms, and Commencement and move-in fill it first, with Short Pump and Innsbrook as the fifteen to twenty minute overflow. And the university does not publish a preferred-hotel list or a room block, so don't wait for one.

Hotels

The Jefferson Hotel

The Jefferson Hotel

101 W Franklin St, Richmond, VA 23220, USA

Richmond's grand hotel, open since October 1895, with the Grand Staircase, extensive marble and an afternoon tea people plan a weekend around. It's downtown, about seven miles from campus, so this is a choice about the occasion rather than the commute. For a milestone Commencement, it's the one.

Quirk Hotel Richmond

Quirk Hotel Richmond

201 W Broad St, Richmond, VA 23220, USA

A 1916 Italian Renaissance building in the arts district, turned into a hotel built around the Quirk Gallery, with a rooftop bar and pink as the house color throughout. Downtown rather than near campus, which makes it better suited to alumni making a weekend of Richmond than to parents doing a quick campus run.

Graduate by Hilton Richmond

Graduate by Hilton Richmond

301 W Franklin St, Richmond, VA 23220, USA

College-themed down to the room keys, with the Byrd House rooftop on top, though the campus it actually sits beside is VCU's Monroe Park. Fun and central, about six miles from the Spiders. It changed hands in July 2026 but is keeping the Graduate flag.

Courtyard by Marriott Richmond Scott’s Addition

Courtyard by Marriott Richmond Scott’s Addition

3800 W Broad St, Richmond, VA 23230, USA

Drops you into Scott's Addition, where a dozen breweries and some of the city's best food sit within a few blocks. A good base when the trip is half campus visit and half Richmond weekend, though it's about five miles from the university.

The Westin Richmond

The Westin Richmond

6631 W Broad St, Richmond, VA 23230, USA

About two and a half miles from campus and the most polished of the hotels within easy reach of it, with an indoor heated pool, complimentary on-site parking with EV charging and a restaurant that saves you a drive on arrival night. If you want a full-service hotel rather than a highway chain and you still want to be near campus, this is the compromise.

Linden Row Inn

Linden Row Inn

100 E Franklin St, Richmond, VA 23219, USA

Seven mid-1800s row houses downtown joined into an inn, with a garden courtyard behind and a Poe connection the staff will happily explain. Far more character than any chain in this guide, provided you accept the drive out to campus each morning.

Courtyard by Marriott Richmond West

Courtyard by Marriott Richmond West

6400 W Broad St, Richmond, VA 23230, USA

The closest hotel to the University of Richmond at about 2.2 miles, with a bistro serving Starbucks in the morning and food and cocktails in the evening, free on-site parking and a 24-hour gym. Nothing about it is memorable, and on move-in morning that is entirely beside the point. Book it for the drive time. Note the outdoor pool has been listed as closed for renovation.

Residence Inn by Marriott Richmond West End

Residence Inn by Marriott Richmond West End

2121 Dickens Rd, Richmond, VA 23230, USA

All-suite, about 2.3 miles out, with full kitchens, separate living and sleeping areas and free hot breakfast. This is the one to book for a multi-night stay, for move-in weekend when the car is full of things that need somewhere to go, or for any family that would rather not eat every meal out. Parking is $10 a day and dogs are allowed for a fee.

Embassy Suites by Hilton Richmond

Embassy Suites by Hilton Richmond

2925 Emerywood Pkwy, Richmond, VA 23294, USA

Two-room suites around an atrium, 2.7 miles from campus, with cooked-to-order breakfast and an evening reception both included. For a family of four at Commencement, that combination is hard to beat on value, and the separate living room means nobody is sitting on a bed at 9pm. There's an indoor pool and a restaurant downstairs.

Home2 Suites by Hilton Richmond Glenside

Home2 Suites by Hilton Richmond Glenside

2915 Emerywood Pkwy, Richmond, VA 23294, USA

The newest of the near-campus suite hotels, 2.6 miles out, with in-room kitchens, free hot breakfast, an indoor pool and a combined laundry and fitness room. Sensible for a longer stay, and the laundry is a genuinely useful detail on a move-in trip.

Hilton Richmond Hotel & Spa/Short Pump

Hilton Richmond Hotel & Spa/Short Pump

12042 W Broad St, Richmond, VA 23233, USA

The nicest hotel on the west side, about eight or nine miles out, with a spa, Shula's Steak House, an indoor pool and Short Pump Town Center essentially attached. It's a longer drive to campus, so this is where to put grandparents and anyone treating the weekend as a trip rather than an errand. Also the sensible overflow when the Broad Street cluster sells out.


The Richmond Campus Stops Worth Making

The University of Richmond is one of the more photogenic campuses in the country and it is compact enough to see properly in an hour. Roughly fifty Collegiate Gothic buildings sit across 350 acres, arranged around a fourteen-acre lake that splits the historic Richmond College and Westhampton College sides. Guided tours start and finish at the Queally Center at the River Road entrance, with visitor parking in lot U21 just off UR Drive.

Campus Landmarks

Queally Center

Queally Center

142 UR Dr, Richmond, VA 23173, USA

Admission and career services, sitting at the main River Road entrance as the university's front door, and the building every campus tour starts and ends at. Park in lot U21 just off UR Drive. If you're arriving for a tour, this is the address to put in the car.

Westhampton Lake

Westhampton Lake

Westhampton Lake, Richmond, VA, USA

The fourteen-acre lake at the middle of campus, ringed with Adirondack chairs and most of the walking trails, and the single image that defines the place. It divides the historic Richmond College and Westhampton College sides. It's also where the Candlelight Ceremony happens the night before Commencement, when seniors circle the water holding candles, sing the alma mater and the evening ends in fireworks.

Boatwright Memorial Library

Boatwright Memorial Library

261 Richmond Way, Richmond, VA 23173, USA

The Gothic tower on the highest point of campus, and the building on the front of every brochure. Its ground floor reopened in August 2025 with a new two-story atrium, cafe and terrace, and renovation of the floors above has continued through 2026. Inside is the free Lora Robins Gallery of Design from Nature, over 100,000 gems, minerals, fossils and shells, which reopened in fall 2025 and is one of the better-kept secrets on any campus tour.

Cannon Memorial Chapel

Cannon Memorial Chapel

134 UR Dr, Richmond, VA 23173, USA

A 1929 Gothic Revival chapel on the National Register of Historic Places, sitting on a rise above the lake. Baccalaureate is held here on Commencement Sunday. It's the prettiest few minutes of any walk around campus and the photograph most families end up taking.

University Of Richmond Tyler Haynes Commons

University Of Richmond Tyler Haynes Commons

270 Richmond Way, Richmond, VA 23173, USA

The student center, opened in 1976 and built as the bridge between the Richmond College and Westhampton College sides of campus. Dining, the Spider Shop and lounges inside, overlooking the lake. It's the sensible place to arrange to meet a student, and the place to buy the sweatshirt.

University of Richmond E. Claiborne Robins Stadium

University of Richmond E. Claiborne Robins Stadium

365 College Rd, Richmond, VA 23173, USA

The football stadium, opened in 2010 and bringing the game back on campus for the first time since 1928, an 82-year gap. It seats about 8,700, which keeps a Spiders game day close and loud rather than sprawling, and it hosts lacrosse and track as well. Tailgating happens in the lots around it.

University of Richmond Robins Center

University of Richmond Robins Center

365 College Rd, Richmond, VA 23173, USA

The basketball arena, open since 1972 and seating 7,201 after its renovation, with games played on Dick Tarrant Court. Commencement is held here too, which means most Richmond families end up inside it eventually, usually on a Sunday afternoon in May.

Modlin Center for the Arts

Modlin Center for the Arts

453 Westhampton Way, Richmond, VA 23173, USA

The university's arts complex, opened in 1996, holding three venues including Camp Concert Hall and the Alice Jepson Theatre, plus the Joel and Lila Harnett Museum of Art and its print study center. Admission to the museums is free and open to the public, Tuesday to Saturday 11am to 5pm and until 7pm on Thursdays. The best rainy-afternoon stop on campus.

The Eco-Corridor Entrance

The Eco-Corridor Entrance

121 UR Dr, Richmond, VA 23226, USA

The trailhead for a half-mile paved path running from UR Drive down to River Road along a restored Little Westham Creek, past an outdoor classroom, pollinator meadows and a community garden. It connects two of Richmond's bike routes. This is the green edge of campus that most visitors never find, and the best twenty minutes on a campus visit if the weather holds.

Jepson Alumni Center

Jepson Alumni Center

442 Westhampton Way, Richmond, VA 23229, USA

Home of alumni relations, with the Robins Pavilion ballroom, a walnut-paneled library and a terrace. Worth knowing if you're back for a reunion, because a good number of class events land here. Note it is a different building from Jepson Hall, which houses the Jepson School of Leadership Studies, and the two get confused constantly.

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Frequently asked questions

What are the best restaurants near the University of Richmond?
The two closest are Azzurro and MOSAIC, both in the River Road Shopping Center about a third of a mile from campus, and both on the university's own list for visiting families. A mile north in the Village Shopping Center, Toast is the reliable family sit-down and Christian's Pizza is the move-in day answer. For a dinner that feels like an occasion, GRACE on Patterson is the most interesting cooking near campus and Buckhead's is the classic steakhouse. Further out, Stella's, The Roosevelt and Lemaire are the ones people plan a Commencement around.
Where do University of Richmond students go out?
Not far, and not to a strip, because there isn't one. A lot of the social life is on campus, and The Cellar, the campus pub, extended its hours in 2025 to stay open to 11pm on weeknights. Off campus, Jack Brown's at Libbie and Grove is the late burger-and-beer stop, and The Grill at Libbie & Patterson runs to 2am Thursday through Saturday. Beyond that it's a rideshare: Carytown for New York Deli, which serves until 2am, and Scott's Addition for the breweries.
What is game day like at the University of Richmond?
Compact, which is the appeal. Robins Stadium seats about 8,700 and sits on campus, so tailgating is in the lots right there rather than a mile away, and you can walk from the game to the lake in ten minutes. Football returned to campus in 2010 after an 82-year absence, so the on-campus stadium is still relatively new. Basketball plays across the way at the Robins Center on Dick Tarrant Court, which holds 7,201 and gets genuinely loud.
Where should parents stay during move-in or Commencement?
The near-campus cluster is on West Broad and Glenside, two to three miles north, a seven to ten minute drive. Courtyard by Marriott Richmond West is the closest at 2.2 miles. Residence Inn West End and Home2 Suites Glenside are the suite options with kitchens, which is the right call for a multi-night stay, and Embassy Suites is the best value for a family of four thanks to two-room suites plus breakfast and an evening reception. The Westin Richmond is the most polished nearby. For something special, The Jefferson downtown.
Is the area around the University of Richmond walkable?
The campus itself is, very. It's 350 acres, flat around the lake, and you can walk the whole thing in about an hour. Off campus is a different answer: there is no commercial strip at the gates, and the nearest restaurants are a third of a mile out at the River Road Shopping Center with no continuous pedestrian route. The Village Shopping Center and Libbie and Grove are both around a mile. Realistically, anything off campus means a car, a rideshare or the campus shuttle.
How far in advance should I book a hotel for a University of Richmond weekend?
The moment you have dates, and earlier than you think for Commencement. The whole near-campus hotel cluster is only a few hundred rooms across seven properties, and Commencement is a full Friday-to-Sunday event, with the Saturday-night Candlelight Ceremony at the lake meaning almost nobody drives home before Sunday. Both nights sell out. Move-in in 2026 is staggered across Sunday August 16 and Wednesday August 19, which spreads demand a little. Three to six months ahead is the honest recommendation, and the overflow is Short Pump and Innsbrook.
What should I see when visiting the University of Richmond?
Start at the Queally Center at the River Road entrance, where tours begin and where visitor parking is. Walk in to Westhampton Lake, which is the heart of the campus and the photograph you'll actually keep, then up to Cannon Memorial Chapel on the rise above it. Boatwright Memorial Library is the Gothic tower on the high point, and the free Lora Robins Gallery of gems and fossils inside is worth twenty minutes. Cut through Tyler Haynes Commons for the Spider Shop, then out to Robins Stadium and the Robins Center at the athletics end. If the weather is good, finish on the Eco-Corridor path down toward River Road.

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