Pasqually’s Pizza is actually Chuck E. Cheese: Every disguised ‘ghost’ kitchen we found in Hampton Roads

Maybe it’s happened to you.

You’re lazy and hungry, scrolling delivery apps to find food during pandemic times when you’re cautious about eating indoors at restaurants. And you notice a restaurant you’ve never seen before: Hell’s Chicken, perhaps. It’s Just Wings. A new Guy Fieri’s?

How didn’t you know?

The answer, of course, is that these restaurants don’t quite exist. They are instead ghost kitchens, virtual-only brands that have set up shop inside commissary kitchens or locations of corporate chains.

Sometimes, as with Pasqually’s Pizza — named after the fictional chef of Chuck E. Cheese — it’s a straight-up chain restaurant in disguise, designed to lure you into ordering from a restaurant you’d otherwise never consider for home delivery. Ruby Tuesday serves “Pasta Americana.” Arby’s is “Market Fresh.”

Sometimes, the brands are ready-made “franchises” from virtual branding companies, prepared in the kitchen of a local-owned restaurant you may already know. And every now and then, they’re a startup business founded by a local — a restaurant without a restaurant.

It sometimes takes a little sleuthing to figure out what’s an actual restaurant, and what’s a virtual one. And let it be known: In our experience, most of the corporate ghost kitchens don’t exactly serve the best food, as we discovered when we tried 10 ghost kitchens earlier this year.

So you won’t be confused or fooled, we took the time to log all of them we could find in Hampton Roads, and determined where your food is actually being cooked. Where we’ve tried the food, we offered a brief account below. Where we haven’t, we gave you the information we had.

But as a general rule, if a restaurant listed on a delivery app is both unfamiliar and weirdly generic — or it has a name that you can’t imagine someone putting on the marquee of an actual business — the restaurant may in fact not be a restaurant.

Here are restaurants hosting ghost kitchens, and the brands they’re serving up on the apps. Find a ghost kitchen we didn’t list here? Feel free to send a note to matthew.korfhage@pilotonline.com, and we’ll add it.

The corporates

Chuck E. Cheese

Pasqually’s Pizza and Wings: Apparently the cartoon chef who makes fictional pizzas at the mouse-themed pizza spot is named Pasqually P. Pieplate. And so that’s who you get your virtual pizza from. We did not enjoy the pizza we ordered in January. The sauce was almost indiscernible even if you lifted up the cheese, and the crust was cracker-thin. The pizza was also marred by an unplaceable and bitter aftertaste. That said, a large pepperoni pizza is a mere $10.

Red Robin

The Wing Dept: Boneless wings and chicken tenders — essentially, breaded chicken breast in different sizes — or cauliflower “wings,” in sauce. They’ll also bread zucchini for you.

Fresh Set: Also boneless wings, in sauces with many of the same names. Plus, salads with unbreaded breast cubes.

Chicken Sammy’s: Were you looking for yet more names under which to buy “Caribbean Heat” boneless wings from Red Robin, which are also present at The Wing Dept and Fresh Set? Chicken Sammy’s has your back. Grilled and breaded chicken-breast sandwiches are also here, along with an apparent Red Robin novelty: bone-in wings.

Bravo! Italian Kitchen’s hall of celebrity meats

MrBeast: MrBeast is a YouTube star, more popular than you might realize, who showily gives away money on camera. He also sells burgers, through a company called Virtual Dining Concepts, owned by a founder of Planet Hollywood. We ate this in January, and the results weren’t good: rubbery grilled cheese, burgers with texture ranging from unformed and crumbly to cold hockey puck. But your kids, who might watch MrBeast giving away money to lonely gamers on YouTube, might still demand that you order it anyway.

Guy Fieri’s Flavortown Kitchen: Hampton Roads is a very Fieri place, with three Fieri-themed restaurants in Norfolk and Hampton. But until now, Virginia Beach was flavor-free. No more! Donkey sauced-burgers and bacon mac-n-cheese burgers and meaty “Italian Stallion” salads are yours, delivery only, from a suitably excitable Italian kitchen.

Mariah’s Cookies: One could balk at the price of Mariah Carey’s delivery-only cookie brand and be correct: $26, including tip, is a lot for a dozen cookies that arrive cold in plastic containers. But if you’re the sort of person who finds joy in eating a Mariah Carey cookie, you can also find it here. The Heath bar and lemon flavors, in particular, had all the pre-packaged, easy-to-digest sweetness of early Mariah Carey.

Wing Squad: Wing Squad is not a celebrity concept. It’s just wings.

Chili’s

It’s Just Wings: The wings at “It’s Just Wings” are cheaper than the ones you get at Chili’s, though when we ordered Chili’s and IJW delivery side-by-side, the wings that came from the ghost kitchen were significantly smaller, and soggier than Scotland. The sauce selection is broader here, but also inconsistent. That said, the ghost kitchen does make an excellent argument that Chili’s should add curly fries to their menu.

Romano’s Macaroni Grill

Twisted Mac: Twisted Mac is Romano’s Macaroni Grill without the grill. Also, they put weird things on their mac and cheese. Not gourmet-weird, either: barbecue sauce weird.

Ruby Tuesday

The Captain’s Boil: At its brick-and-mortar locations, Canadian Viet-Cajun chain the Captain’s Boil offers a gallimaufry of sauces and heat levels, shaken into bags of corn and potatoes and seafood — not to mention a whole mess of other options. The ghost version of Captain’s Boil is more streamlined: one type of sauce, and one type of protein per bag on small orders, even if this means ordering a plastic bag filled with wet sausage for $11. The crawfish bag arrived as an intimidatingly oily jumble of spare parts: legless bodies and bodyless legs and the occasional missing head or tail, all crumpled into plastic.

Pasta Americana: Six versions of chicken and shrimp, atop fettuccine or penne. Plus cheesecake. For whatever reason, ghost kitchens often love to serve cheesecake.

Wow Bao: Wow Bao, a Chicago-based mall chain of steamed Chinese dumplings, is famous for being entirely automated. But the robots may be off-duty at Ruby Tuesday. Every time we tried to order in February, the order was canceled an hour later.

Boston Market

Rotisserie Roast: In January, Rotisserie Roast’s rotisserie half-chicken arrived in discrete breast-wing halves, with the wing tips charred beyond recognition as meat. The breast was chalky-dry and mealy, with a troubling sour tang. I raided my fridge for sauces that could make it taste better, or make me forget. I never found one that worked.

Outback Steakhouse

Tender Shack: Outback Steakhouse, who surely worries few want delivery of Australian-themed steaks during the pandemic, now wants to sell you breaded chicken with hidden obscenities: Nashville Hot AF tenders. For the milder at heart, they swear the other tenders are “Dang Good.”

Arby’s

Market Fresh: Were you hoping to get beef sandwiches from Arby’s, on different bread, for $8.69? Order from Market Fresh, which also sells turkey sandwiches and jalapeno bacon wraps and, of course, curly fries.

Denny’s

Burger Den: Sometimes, you just step back and imagine the pride of corporate marketing department, as they rename themselves unrecognizably — and yet in a way that seems smack-to-the-forehead obvious once you realize the ownership. Burgers from Denny’s could of course be found nowhere but the Burger Den — that secret place of burnished wood and beef that men can go to be alone, surrounded by books they’ve never read. Ghost cheesecake also available.

Smokey Bones

The Wing Experience: Turns out Smokey Bones knows how to make some decent smoked wings — lightly charred, crisped on their skins, with a not-overpowering smokiness and moistness within. But beware the broadened sauce selection: The strawberry-chipotle was an uncanny replica of those pink-tipped dental swabs you get on your gums before your teeth get drilled. The “Nashville Hot BBQ” was neither recognizably Nashville nor in any way hot — one of those strange corporate word salads that make you question all human language.

TGI Friday’s

Conviction Chicken: Those who feel cooped up during the pandemic can now get jail-themed wings from TGI Friday’s, with fried chicken “slammer” sandwiches, “Felony Fudge” for dessert, and a “Cellmates” combo of wings and rings.

Saladworks

Soupworks: Soup and salad are a tried and true American diner combo. But Soupworks is selling the soups separately. Soups, and no salads, are here.

The Burger Theory

The Burger Place: The Theory, when it becomes virtual, is now a “Place.” Burger Theory runs deeeeeeeeeeep.

Metro Diner

EZ-CHIK-N: Spelling is hard. But chicken is EZ. Wings and boneless wings.

Dave and Buster’s

Buster’s American Kitchen: Dave apparently didn’t make the cut. This is just most of the menu at Dave and Buster’s, with some mild rebranding.

Bar Louie

Sweet Lou’s Deli: Honestly? The fried chicken sandwich isn’t half bad. But the burger was greasy.

The franchised or rebranded locals

Old Beach Tavern (Virginia Beach)

Beverly Hills Burger Bungalow: This is perhaps the most wonderful of ghost kitchen names, evoking a life that could not possibly exist. Old Beach Tavern — a local spot founded with an emphasis on Virginia ingredients — is taking on a little extra revenue by serving burgers and fried chicken sandwiches and hot dogs branded in homage to a cozy, beefy, luxuriant world that sounds like the set of a reality show.

Juicy’s Cheesesteaks: Seriously, though: the names! Cheesesteaks from a fictional and saucy human named “Juicy” are all yours, prepped at Old Beach.

Killer Wings: Boneless wings and bone-in wings. We don’t know if they’re deadly.

The Pig Shop Bar and Grill (Virginia Beach)

UhMazing BLT’s: The BLT brand, conceived by a ghost franchiser called Viturant, offers extra revenue streams to restaurants trying to make extra bucks during the pandemic — such as, for example, the now less-frequented golf-course location of venerable local BBQ pig chainlet The Pig Shop.

Chicken Tender Tribe: UhMazing BLT’s offers chicken tenders as well. But if you happened to be searching for “chicken tenders” on your delivery app, The Pig Shop will also prep Viturant’s chicken tenders under this name.

Sunrise Sandwich Co.: Biscuity breakfast sandwiches, topped with eggs and avocado or bacon, are here.

Uptown Burger: The Pig Shop also sells burgers, including a locally themed mushroom-Swiss 757 Burger, under this name. We’re not sure why “757″ bespeaks mushroom and Swiss.

Hell’s Chicken: Hello chicken at the pig shop! Fried chicken sandwiches, whether spicy or cheesy.

Sal’s Pizzeria Green Run (Virginia Beach)

Eye Heart Pizza: Sal’s.

Freaking Good Pizza: Also Sal’s.

Wing Pop: Wing’s at Sal’s.

Anna’s Italian Kitchen at 1940 Laskin Rd. (Virginia Beach)

Philly Fresh Cheesesteaks: Nashville-based ghost-kitchen company Future Foods advertises up to 200 ghost brands, available to restaurants in need of extra online business. Philly Fresh is one of them. They serve what it sounds like.

Cupid’s Wings: Also, some wings and tenders.

Mama Mia’s Pizza by Adamo’s (Virginia Beach)

Brooklyn Calzones: This nationally distributed ghost franchise serves calzones themed for Williamsburg, the L-Train, and Prospect Park. Adamo’s, which prepares them for you, also makes its own calzones under its own name.

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Cheeky’s Cheesesteaks: Have you ever seen a cheesesteak spot get below 2 stars out of a possible 5, on delivery-app user reviews? I mean, it’s cheesesteaks. What could possibly go so wrong? We didn’t order to find out.

Tamarind (Norfolk)

Gunpowder Cafe: Tamarind’s ghost kitchen is a bit of an outlier. The food at Gunpowder is just the wonderful chaat-house Indian food that Tamarind always serves, except somebody else gets some of the money. What Tamarind gains in exchange is extra visibility on the apps, and some orders they wouldn’t otherwise have received. But if you order instead directly from Tamarind, which also delivers via the apps, you’ll have access to a much broader variety of their terrific chaat dishes, including a chutney-and-yogurt-slathered khasta kachori that is a little bit like the world’s best take on wonton nachos. The food will also cost significantly less.

Entirely local concepts

Fire Ninja Sushi and Shabu Shabu (Virginia Beach)

Ramen Hero: Ramen Hero is an interesting case: a ghost-kitchen incubator for the future of the restaurant it sits in. Fire Ninja’s owners plan to move their restaurant from its current hot pot model to making Hong Kong cart noodles — a mix-and-match approach to ramen that may be new to the area. But before this happens at the physical restaurant, you can get a preview online, as a virtual-only restaurant.

Molly Ramen Poke Tea in Greenbrier (Chesapeake)

Ouka Sora: Kind of the same situation here. In advance of rebranding and becoming a new brand called Ouka Sora, the owners at the Greenbrier Molly are already serving their future menu online. In addition to a million variants of fruited, twisted, boba or “dirty” tea, Ouka Sora serves ramen and poke. Ouka also serves a world of novelty sushi shapes: sushi burritos, sushi tacos, sushi doughnuts. The ramen selection is much expanded from Molly’s, including vegetarian broths.

The Egg Bistro (Suffolk)

MealPro2Go: Local healthful meal delivery service MealPro2Go is available via DoorDash, served out of The Egg Bistro’s Suffolk location. Order on Sunday, and get five ready-to-eat meals for the week ahead.

Food Mood Truck (Chesapeake)

Billed as “the first online food truck EVER,” the Food Mood Truck is a truckless food truck, serving up the stylings of local chef Shelton L. Daniels, Sr., out of a commercial kitchen in Chesapeake called My Commissary Kitchen. Options include burgers, fried chicken and New York sirloin.

Local online rebrandings

These aren’t ghost kitchens, but if you’re looking for quesabirria or street taco delivery from the excellent Taqueria La Hacienda in Chesapeake, you’ll find it on DoorDash under the much simpler “Taqueria.” Similarly, El Tapatio in Williamsburg is online as “El Patio.” In Virginia Beach, Ray’s NY Pizza on Newtown Road sells as “Mini Italia.”