Restaurant brings Guyanese flavor to Virginia Beach

VIRGINIA BEACH — When you walk into Shavonne Alexander’s restaurant, she wants you to feel like you’ve stepped into a family member’s kitchen.

From the walls decorated with paintings of Guyana, to the Caribbean music in the air, Alexander gives customers a slice of her Guyanese heritage at Desmond’s Island Soul Grill.

“One of the best compliments that we get here,” she said, “is when someone says ‘it feels like home.'”

Alexander relocated the Carribean-style restaurant in August from its original Norfolk location off of Azaelia Garden Road to a slightly larger spot at 977 Reon Drive in Virginia Beach.

Alexander got into the restaurant game after serving in the U.S. Navy. When she left the Navy in 2014 she considered taking a federal position, but decided to pursue her passion for cooking which led her to the Culinary Institute of Virginia.

But taking classes at CIV wasn’t Alexander’s first time in the kitchen. Her mother and aunts taught her to make traditional Guyanese dishes when she was growing up in Brooklyn.

After graduating from CIV, Alexander was ready to open her own business. She decided to fuse what she learned from her family with the skills she gained from her studies.

“I was going to do a food truck, but where I was [located] in Norfolk became available, so I decided ‘let me do a little spot and make it nice and cozy,’ and we did it,” she said.

With the help of her fiance, Alexander opened Desmond’s Island Soul Grill in 2016 in Norfolk.

Since opening the restaurant’s doors, Alexander said one of her biggest goals was to make customers feel comfortable and serve good food, while also broadening the area’s taste buds.

Along with Caribbean and West Indies items like oxtails and curry chicken, Desmond’s menu is filled with an array of Guyanese dishes like Roti, a tortilla-like bread that is served with curry.

From the food to the customer service, Alexander has worked to create a family atmosphere She even named the business after her father — a man who encouraged her to pursue her love of cooking.

“He’s always pushed me to go for what I believe in, and that’s the way I am with my children,” she said.

Alexander runs the eatery with the help of her family and her close friend and co-chef, Will Riddick. Since it opened, the restaurant has attracted loyal customers with their menu which has been a hit, Riddick said.

“A lot of people are excited because they are from up north and New York,” Riddick said. “In New York, there are a lot of different island concentrations. They feel like this is the closest they’ve had to [New York] since being here.”

While Alexander has no plans of opening another brick and mortar location, she said she would like to eventually open a food truck to travel around Hampton Roads.

Desmond’s Island Soul Grill is open Tuesday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.