The Ten Top, a Norfolk restaurant staple regularly listed among locals’ favorites, will be leaving its longtime location off Colley Avenue at the end of the year.
After more than 20 years at a location on Shirley Avenue across the street from the Naro theater, The Ten Top will move operations to the restaurant’s Ten Top Market location at the north end of Colley Avenue. That location — across from Elation Brewing — opened in November 2025.
“While we are looking forward to combining our two babies into one, we are sad to leave the history of our original location behind,” co-owner Heather Fraley wrote Sunday in their announcement post on the restaurant’s Facebook page. “So many memories and so much sweat (especially this summer) and so many MANY tears. 748 Shirley has been my labor of love, day in and day out, and I will miss her.”
The announcement post drew nearly 600 reactions and more than 60 comments from fans within the first 24 hours.
The move will bring some changes to the menu while maintaining customer favorites. Their made-to-order sandwiches, salads, soups and sides will be available for walk-ins and phone orders, alongside the current “grab and go” options available at the Market, according to the announcement.
Ten Top’s most popular dinners, such as their meatloaf, lasagna and salmon dishes will continue to be offered at the Market but they’ll be refrigerated for guests to warm up at home, due to the limitations of that location’s kitchen, according to co-owner Rick Fraley. The combined location will add Uber Eats delivery and continue their catering services, but won’t have indoor dining due to zoning restrictions.
Rick and Heather Fraley at their 15th anniversary Friday, Oct. 9, 2026, at the Isle of Capri restaurant in Virginia Beach. (Courtesy/Rick Fraley)
Heather, 44, noted how personal the Shirley Avenue location is for she and her husband, sharing that it’s where they had their first kiss, where they found out she was pregnant with their daughter and was the backdrop for many other life moments.
Rick, 47, said in an interview that he remembers the exact day he met Heather — April 28, 2008 — because it was their first shift together as cooks after he returned to the area.
The Fraleys initially opened the Market to supplement their income, not to merge with the Shirley Avenue location, but rising costs forced their hand.
“Unfortunately, the last year-plus have been really tough financially for all restaurants — for all humans, to be honest,” Rick said, adding that these costs led to customers not eating out as much.
Rick estimated that the price of ingredients had increased by about 20% and their business was down by 12-15% over the last year. He said they’d “exhausted all other avenues” of making up the difference.
The restaurant originally opened in the 1990s as Peter’s Ten Top on Colley Avenue next to Papa John’s and Subway under Peter Pittman, according to The Virginian-Pilot’s archives. By 2000, Alise Pittman had taken over for her brother and moved the restaurant — now just Ten Top — to the location at 748 Shirley Avenue. The Fraleys bought it together in late 2011.
Rick was overcome with emotion as he talked about the outpouring of support from regulars and former employees, who — despite the cliché — he said became “family.”
“It’s almost like getting to go to your own funeral,” he said.
Gavin Stone, 757-712-4806, gavin.stone@virginiamedia.com
Dining and Cooking