We went Colonial Williamsburg in May 2021. Was it a neat place? Yes. Did we get our money's worth? Absolutely not. I sent an email after our visit letting them know how disappointed we were and never got a response.
You can walk all around Colonial Williamsburg without paying anything. You can go into the shops without paying anything. I didn't find any restaurants open the day we went, but I'm guessing you could eat in them without an admission ticket. The tickets were for the presentations and building tours. A majority of the building were closed, so we couldn't have gone in if we wanted to. The ones that were open had super long lines (due to COVID restrictions) to get in (like an hour or more), so we didn't do any house tours. We went to one outdoor presentation, which was very well done.
I want people to know that you can experience the town without paying anything. If you do decide to pay admission, make sure that the vast majority of the buildings are actually open and that you won't have to wait outside in hour-plus lines just to get into a building. If you don't get positive answers on what is actually open, save your money and wander the town for free.