Alexandria Restaurants

John Gadsby opened this tavern and hotel in the 1790s and remained in business until 1808. Among his frequent guests were George Washington, James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and many other founders of our country.

The building narrowly escaped demolition some years ago. Today it operates as an upscale restaurant, with a small museum attached. The food is very pricey, but worth trying at least once.

Favorite Dish: My date and I had a special, four-course Valentine's Day meal. Expensive it was, but exquisitely good. For this occasion, we even had an entertainer in 18th century garb chatting and strumming an antique guitar.

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Southside 815, named after its street address, is a rare restaurant that specializes in Cajun and Creole food. We stopped in one night in our sweats after going jogging (you think we smelled before we went in; the smoke completely covered any lingering scent from our run). The bar area was packed, and we got the last table way in the back by the jukebox. Unfortunately the bar area had no waiter that night so we constantly had to run up to the bar to order drinks and our dinners. I decided on the Jambalaya special which had lots of andouille sausage with rice and some terrible dry corn bread for about $12. I also had a few Yuengling lagers that were strangely priced at $4.12 each, and Sam Adams was $4.59 each.

LHenne1 and I stopped in for lunch one day after a quick visit to Ace Hardware next door. We sat at the bar and had a few beers and sandwiches. LHenne1 had the crawfish po'boy, and I had the shrimp and oyster po'boy. Each sandwich had a huge amount of crispy fried seafood on a crispy and slightly tough French roll, served with fries and coleslaw for $10. By the end of our meal, around 3pm, the bar was starting to fill up with the Friday after-work crowd.

This is a fun and reasonably priced place to grab a quick meal and a beer and watch sports or socialize with friends.

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While wandering around Old Town one warm afternoon, I noticed a tiny hole-in-the-wall called Old Town Deli. I detoured from my planned route and wandered over that way. Before entering, I checked out the small signboard on the street that listed their breakfast and lunch specials and it sounded good, so I headed on inside. As soon as I entered I was surprised by the long line there for a later lunch. I passed about 8 or 10 people waiting and headed to the sign at the back of the restaurant telling customers where to place their orders. Upon arriving at the back of the line I noticed their huge hand-written menu over the kitchen, as well as several aluminum pans of prepared foods waiting to be consumed. With about 15 seconds one of the cooks behind the counter took my order, and I paid, then got my food to go, all within five minutes. Total for a chicken cheese steak sandwich with fries was about $8.50.

When I arrived home the first thing I noticed in the bag was the generic "Chef's Quality" ketchup; not quite like the real deal--Heinz. Digging further into the bag I saw my meal packed into an environmentally disastrous styrofoam container; big, soft fries on one side, sandwich, cut in half on the other. Overall, the food was good, but somewhat lacking in flavor. Maybe just a dash of salt or hot sauce will do the trick next time.

The tiny restaurant had about five workers all cranking out meals while I waited, and they were all very friendly, even if somewhat rushed to take care of all the order. Other items on the menu include a huge variety of sandwiches and Greek foods.

Overall: very fast, kind of expensive for a sandwich, bland food.

We stopped in the Fish Market one beautiful February day in 2009. There were lots of people around, and seafood near the Potomac sounded too good to pass up. Part of the first floor of the restaurant was being renovated, so we almost passed it by, but then we noticed the other side of the building was open. We were greeted at the door and pointed to the upstairs dining room. Behind me I heard the guy call up on the radio "three people heading to the second floor." Kind of creepy and Secret Service like.

We were quickly seated in the huge second floor dining area, in the back, far away from the windows. We ordered our drinks--water, Coke, and a draft beer--then our food. Lhenne1 and I each had the fried oyster po' boy sandwich platter for about $11 ($8 for the sandwich plus another $3 for fries and coleslaw). Mama Lhenne1 decided on the crab cake sandwich platter ($12). The food was pretty slow to arrive, considering they just had to fry it up and throw it on a bun, but it was pretty tasty. The crab cake was very large, and the po' boys bigger than I expected for the price. The fries at the Fish Market are the big, thick steak fries, and the coleslaw is very mediocre.

Overall, the food was tasty but not the best around and the service slow, but the building is unique and the location is great. Maybe a little too touristy for me.

The Fish Market building has been here for about 200 years. They say it was originally built from stones that were used as ballast for ships that would have plied the docks here. Later the building was used as a Civil war hospital, then a butcher shop. This structure also housed a small production facility for soft drinks and later beer. In the 1970s the building was redesigned to replicate its 19th Century look.

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From the outside King Street Cafe looks kind of plain, maybe even divey, with the exception of the inviting bright blue awning. After passing this spot numerous times over the past few months, I finally stopped in one cold February day in 2009. When I arrived there was a friendly woman behind the counter cooking and making conversation with the handful of other customers who were waiting.

I had the Reuben sandwich on toasted rye for about $6. It came with a choice of hot corned beef, pastrami, or turkey breast with melted Swiss cheese, sauerkraut and Russian dressing. The bread was very lightly toasted, the way I prefer, but this meant it got soggy quickly from the tasty Russian dressing. The meat was plentiful and full of flavor.

Other menu options include breakfasts such as omelets and sandwiches, salads, soups, cold deli sandwiches and wraps, and hot sandwiches and wraps. Nothing on the menu is over $6.

This is a nice, kind of non-touristy joint right in the middle of tourist central. Good food, good prices, and very friendly.

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The Pita House is a small Lebanese restaurant in the heart of Old Town Alexandria, though it is just far enough off the beaten path to not be too touristy. About once a week or so, we choose a new local place for delivery and this was our selection one day in February 2009. Their menu has a great selection of choices including appetizers, pitas, vegetarian dishes, and large meat entrees.

We decided to have their baba ghanouj ($5.50), the souvlaki sandwich ($6), and the mixed grill ($17). The food arrived at our house 30 to 45 minutes after we placed our order, not too bad for the area. The baba ghanouj came in a very big serving and including a huge 3 inch stack of fresh pita bread. The souvlaki had grilled cubes of marinated beef with sauteed onions, wrapped in pita bread with feta cheese, lettuce tomatoes and dressing. The mix grill was tasty if slightly overcooked and included grilled kafta (ground beef and lamb skewers), shish kabob (grilled lamb on a skewer) and shish ta wouk (grilled chicken on a skewer) served with grilled tomatoes, onions, rice, yogurt sauce, and a nice little salad.

The restaurant was started in 1992 by a family of Lebanese immigrants, and is still run by their son.

Favorite Dish: Delivery for orders over $15!!!!!

Mon-Sat 11:00am-10:00pm
Sun 12:00pm-9:00pm

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When my parents were in town we headed out on a Saturday night for dinner; the weather was chilly so we stopped at the first place that we came to that was on our short list of options. This happened to be Tarverna Cretekou Greek Restaurant in Old Town. Upon entering we were warmly greeted and quickly directed to a table in the center of the restaurant. Our waiter took our coats to the coat check area for us.

At the start of our meal our waiter was very involved giving us suggestions for wine, appetizers, and salads as well as informing us of the day's specials. We took his advice on the appetizer, the satyrikon, a combination of about six Greek appetizers for $14.50, and we also agreed on the horiatiki salad for four, usually $10 a person, we paid $20 for a large serving for four; this traditional Greek country salad has tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, green peppers, capers, black olives, feta, olive oil and various herbs. For our wine we decided on a sweeter, light white wine, the Kouros for about $28.

My dad had the red snapper special ($24), mom and Laura had the exohikon($20 each), and I enjoyed the great arni (lamb) shishkebab for $20. For dessert we had three American coffees at about $2 each, a thick and strong Greek coffee for $4, and a single piece of rich, sweet baklava for the four of us ($5). The owner's wife even gave us a free round of port or sherry for a digestif to enjoy with our desserts.

The owner was previously the Maître d' here before buying the restaurant in 2005. His wife, was present during our meal, and she was very pleasant and welcoming.

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Joe Theisman's Restaurant sits right across the street from King Street Metro Station on the edge of Old Town Alexandria. It was the closest bar to my hotel (the Westin) in the Carlyle area of Alexandria, so I wandered over for dinner, a beer, and the last game of the 2008 World Series. Part sports bar, part slightly upscale dining, Joe's probably does a better job with the sports. You will see a variety of sports memorabilia, about six big flat screen TVs above the bar, and even three small flat screens in the men's room above the urinals.

I arrived late, around 9:30 pm, and the restaurant seating was empty, but the bar was full with probably 30 people watching baseball. I grabbed one of the few seats at the bar and quickly ordered a Yuengling beer ($4.10) and a crab cake sandwich ($12). Other items on the menu included a huge variety of appetizers, numerous sandwiches, and a nice selection of dinner entrees like seafood, pork, chicken, and steaks. My sandwich was very good, and the fries lightly seasoned and tasty.

I took my family here for another visit for dinner, and we had a great meal. We sat back in the dining room, a ways from the busy bar and we enjoyed a great meal. I had a Yuengling and the Sea Bass with Tomato Basil Butter in corn husk atop polenta with roasted corn salsa for $21. The other meals at our table were also good, including the very rich Spirale Pasta and Chicken for $17.50.

The area is named after John Carlyle, a merchant, landowner, and one of the founders of Alexandria. Much of the Carlyle area is brand new and more construction is underway. This area is home to the Department of Commerce's US Patent and Trademark Office, whose 7,000 employees are located in five beautiful buildings in the center of the district that were just completed in 2006. Also located here in Carlyle is the Federal District Courthouse, just across the street from the Westin Hotel. This is a quiet area, but there are several cafes and lunch spots, as well as a couple of other bars.