Best Restaurants for People Watching in Alexandria

Nice but nothing special dinner at CG - had not been for quite a while since Mothers Day the other year at NM location. Nice ambience….good service…wish the food was a little stronger….not bad just nothing memorable. To start, shared wings, focaccia, calamari and pork belly…all fine…pork belly was best of the bunch. Entrees included short rib (nice short rib but meh sides), scallops (good not great) and a couple of pizzas and burgers plus a side of bacon Mac & cheese (weakest of bunch). Truly wanted to give higher marks but at almost $100 a person all in with drinks (no bottles of wine but two cocktails/glasses of wine and each), was hoping for a bit more.

Our service was not good. We had 5 people at a 4 top which I didn’t mind but I had to ask for a plate and silverware for that fifth seat. No attempt at clearing appetizer dishes to make room for the entrées was made. We had to ask for every drink refill. We had to look like we were leaving to get the check picked up. On the positive side the appetizers and entrées came fast once we ordered. We had pizza crabcake sandwich and two chicken salads, one of which had twice as much chicken as the other. Overall, the food was great. I suspect maybe they were shortstaffed and our server had more tables than she was used to. It is expensive with fountain sodas at $4.50. Our total for 2 adults and 3 teens was $180 and very little food left over. Knowing these things I would go there again but not on a capitals game night.

Nice ambiance. Warm, cozy, quiet. Like being in a neighborhood restaurant in Italy.