I was in Richmond, Virginia doing some site seeing. Needing somewhere to eat lunch, I was driving to a local diner. While turning on Main Street, I saw a brightly painted building in the opposite direction. Realizing it was a restaurant, I turned back. The restaurant turned out to be City Dogs, home to the best hot dogs in the city!

City Dogs is a local, family run restaurant. Cliff Irby opened the first location in 2008 in the historic Shockoe Slip neighborhood. A second location followed a year later in the Fan District, the Main Street location that I had happened across.

The whole family has been involved in the business: Cliff, his wife Sherry, and two of their children. Sherry passed away in 2021, and their children took over. The original location closed in 2024, but the Fan District City Dogs remains open. I’m glad this Richmond institution continues.

The Menu

City Dogs is a sports bar and its menu reflects that. The menu consists of hot dogs, burgers, sandwiches, and wings. But the heart of the menu is hot dogs. They have 16 varieties, plus corndog nuggets and both bratwurst and Italian sausage. All the hot dogs are named after cities, from Richmond to Santa Fe, Manhattan to Honolulu, and lots of places in between (Cincinnati, Chicago, Philly, etc…)

Each has different toppings, although the type of hot dog also varies. Most are Thumann’s hot dogs, but several have Sabrett’s All Beef dog, and the Chicago has a Vienna Beef dog (a Chicago company). All are well known brands that have been around for a 100 years. I’ll describe some of the dogs, to give an idea of how the cities translate into toppings. The Richmond has mustard, raw onions and chili. The Cincinnati also has chili, but it is Cincinnati style, and includes shredded cheese. The Louisville has mustard, and onions that were sauteed in Kentucky Bourbon.

My Meal

The waitress indicated that the hot dogs were standard sized, so I ordered two: the Hanoi and the Honolulu. The Hanoi is a Banh Mi inspired dog. Its toppings are: Hoisin sauce, pickled vegetables, jalapenos, and cilantro. The Honolulu’s toppings are BBQ sauce, pineapple chunks, and melted provolone cheese. Both were good, but the Honolulu was my favorite. I felt that pineapples went better with the hot dog than the Hoisin sauce. The Hanoi dog’s jalapenos were very spicy, which I very much liked.

But my favorite dish overall was one of the sides. City Dogs has a good selection of sides – hand cut fries, tater tots, onion rings, cheese curds, etc. I ordered the Chili Cheese Tots and they are fantastic. The tots have a good crisp on the outside, but soft on the inside. And they are loaded with a delicious, meat filled Chili. The cheese was not quite as generous, but there was a good amount. I would go to Chili Dogs just for these Tots.

Beer menu

As City Dogs is a sports bar, I want to comment on their beer selection. The draft list had about 9 beers, plus some rotating taps. It is a combination of national brands (Budweiser, Miller, etc..), and local Virginia brews (e.g. Falcon Smash). One of my favorite ciders, the Virginia based Bold Rock, is on the list.

Ambience

As I was there in the middle of the day, the restaurant was fairly quite. There were about a half dozen people eating, ranging from businessmen on lunch to young adults hanging out. A few seemed to be regulars. I imagine things are livelier in the evenings.

The waitress was very prompt. I was seated immediately, and my order was taken as soon as I was ready. She provided good advice regarding the menu, and checked up on me regularly. With good, original food and great service, I highly recommend City Dogs.