Scouting Reception Sites
We checked out four places today:
- Tivoli Restaurant in Arlington — We’ve been to the bakery before, but didn’t know that the site had banquet rooms. The banquet coordinators were not in, of course, since it was Saturday, but we were able to get a look at the room through the glass doors. It looked nice, though not much personality, and the view wasn’t great (a view of tall hotels and squat businesses around the mall).
- Potowmack Landing Restaurant along the Potomac in Alexandria — The web site made it look like the restaurant had a great view of the Potomac, so even though it was a “fish house”, I thought we should take a look. The restaurant, indeed, did have a great view. However, the Chart Room, where the reception would likely take place, had a great view of the parking lot. I didn’t actually smell fish, which was a plus, but it seems unlikely that we’ll do the reception here since I’m not a fish person at all.
- Il Porto Ristorante in Old Town Alexandria — We’d never eaten here, so we went for lunch. It’s a nice Italian restaurant, and the food was quite good. We also noticed that they had a room upstairs, which is were the reception would probably be. I think we would seriously consider this place, if it wasn’t in Old Town. The main problem is that there is that our guests would either need to find a nearby parking garage (we parked 5 blocks away) or try their luck with street parking (which is metered).
- Stardust Restaurant in Alexandria — I wasn’t impressed with the pictures on the web page, but they had several vegetarian entrees on the menu and were reasonably priced, provided we have the wedding on a Sunday. So, we decided to visit. I’m so glad we did. The Stardust is a quirky, fun restaurant that really matches our personalities. The food was quite good, and as we were eating, I was already picturing the reception.