March 27, 2012
Decent atmosphere, with upscale pub fare. Bottle list has some nice surprises. It’s pretty good for a neighborhood restaurant. It can be crowded and parking is an issue.

February 16, 2012
My wife and I visit this location several times a month, and it never gets old. The atmosphere is really nice. It has a very modern feel with nice decor. It’s usually crowded enough to not feel like a forgotten location, but is rarely excessively crowded, though admittedly we don’t tend to go here on Friday or Saturday nights. The only place I take off points here is the lighting, which is almost non-existent in some areas of the bar. The beer quality and selection are both fantastic. While the selection has dipped a bit since Churchkey opened up and presumably takes some of Rustico’s allocation, this is still one of the prime spots in Northern Virginia to grab a beer. The tap list is filled with interesting offerings from here and abroad, and is frequently rotating. The service is normally quite good. Some of the bartenders and servers are friendlier than others, but all tend to be very competent. The food is quite good. The pizzas are my favorite, though the entrees tend to be very nice as well. Overall, it is a bit on the pricey side, but not out of the norm for the area.

February 11, 2012
I had such high hopes and was really let down on my first and only visit. I tried several tap beers and was not happy with any of them. The Sierra Nevada Southern Hemisphere was poor and sad. If you are going to offer so many tap beers you need to work hard at looking after them. The pasta dish I ordered arrived uncooked and was sent back. The manager dealt with the problem well which gave me the impression he had a lot of experience with "problems" On a good note, the decor and feeling of the place was great.

October 21, 2011
Great place if you are in the DC area, some people say it is a little pricey? It has a great wood oven fire smell, medium size bar, and lots of tables, also has out door seating and full restaurant seating, great tap beer selection and 2 casks, also great bottle selection, they seem to rotate beer out pretty regularly, good bar tenders, good food, i love the mussels, I highly recommend this place for a great variety of beer and good food.

June 11, 2011
Great selection of beers and food. What else to you need.

June 6, 2011
Another great place from the same owners as Churchkey in DC. High ceillings and comfortable climate with a suburban feel. There is a well selected bottle list at fairer prices than Churchkey, but certainly not as extensive. It feels less posh and more colloquial, which is good for getting people in the door. The staff is passionate, attentive and honest. The Pizza is all I tried here for food, and it’s certainly tasty and reasonably priced. The draft sanitation is top-notch and the rotation of drafts is great as well. Two casks are on at all times and about 30 taps. I don’t think they serve as accurately to temperature as Churchkey, but that’s not to big of a concern for me. As Dr. Steve Brule would suggest, "just warm it up with your hands, ya turkey!" The only problem with this place is the location if you are in the DC metro area. The cab fare is not cheap, as it’s about 20 minutes out of the city. Either way, it’s definitely worth a visit.

February 17, 2011
This is a great palce, samples available and while many of the beers are more commom, there are plenty of specialties. proper glassware if not with labels. Nice staff and very friendly. If you are visiting from Old Alexandria, it needs a cab ride or car. the area ariound is not that attractive

November 21, 2010
Nice place in Alexandria with a pretty good beer selections. Two cask ales rotate through, along with many bottled beers, some rather expensive. The food is plentiful and very tasty, fresh. The service is quite attentive.

November 22, 2009
I had really high hopes for this place. The beer list is fairly extensive (though I could probably locate most of the brews elsewhere in the area at a cheaper price) and the menu looked decent enough. It’s in a nice quiet area of Alexandria, far away from the waterfront and King St. Well...the server was a straight up bitch who obviously didn’t want to be there. The bar area is way too cramped and the pizza was lame. The people running this place just seem to have an identity crisis - are we a cozy little hipster beer bar or are we a fine dining restaurant? They don’t know and they do both half-assed. That said, I’d definitely return as there are far too few places like this in the DC area. This is about as good as it gets around here.

October 16, 2009 [ Updated May 8, 2010 ]
Nice restaurant with a good beer selection. about 20 taps with high quality and regional drafts. Extensive bottle list. prices are on the high side on par with the area. Food is very very good. More worthwhile visit for the food, but have a solid beer collection. It is not really near old town which is where all the other bars and restaurants are, unfortunately.