Rustico Restaurant

August 21, 2008
This is one of my favorite places to go. The prices are a little high for both food and beers, but both are great. I haven’t had anything from the menu I didn’t like. They have 30 taps that always have a few highly interesting things as well as some hard to find beers occasionally. The rest of the lineup is a solid cast of a wide variety. The bar staff is great and most of the bartenders I’ve met will introduce themselves. Many remember me when I come in even though that’s fairly infrequently.

July 6, 2008
I loved this place. The service was off the scale good. Fantastic beer selection, draft, bottle and reserve. The duck confit pizza is the best pizza I’ve ever had. The salad with duck ham was like something out of France. If you love beer and good food, go there. WOW.

June 2, 2008
Location in a new-ish condo park type area of old town alexandria. Big atmosphere. Kind of flashy. But nice, definitely. Wait service was fine. Beer menu was detailed and seemingly chosen with care. A wide range of style choices represented from an equally wide range of sources, which is much more interesting than the several taps from regional micros and standard imports that many beer bars tend to keep to. Had a nice kellerbier, a great vienna and finished with racer 5 on tap. A pretty unbeatable, refreshing happy hour. Probably a good dinner date type of place. Food seemed carefully done, and my pizza was pretty good if a bit lacking in a few ways (smoked tomato sauce was barely noticeable, goat cheese tasted sandy and not tangy enough). A great place to be if you’re in the area, or to visit now and again if you’re reasonably close.

May 21, 2008
I visited Rustico during a visit to the DC area for the Brewer’s Association SAVOR event. Between the two experiences, I left the weekend thinking that beer certainly enjoys a classier image in DC than it does in the taverns of my current locale (Wisconsin). Rustico is a nice, not-over-the-top-expensive restaurant with an excellent (but not cheap) bottle list and a clear understanding that beer and food belong together. There were some beer/cheese pairings on a chalkboard and beer was featured in numerous menu items. Draft beer could be had in one of three sizes (sample, medium, large). I had a Brigand Belgian and it came in Brigand branded glassware. I had some home-made fettucine with pork shoulder which was quite good. 2 x entrees + 1 beer = $51 including tip. Didn’t challenge our server, but she seemed capable. Incidentally, I thought this place was very kid/family friendly both from a menu and décor perspective while I think adults will still find it to be nice and sophisticated. Non-beer drinkers will also enjoy it. It did not strike me as a stop-by-for-a-few-on-the-way-home place. I would recommend it for dinner or lunch, and hope to return.

April 6, 2008
Décor was pleasing, with wide open spaces and large chalkboards displaying upcoming events and specials. We had our meal in the restaurant section at first. I enjoyed my Beer and cheese soup, and the beef carpaccio was tasty and went well enough with the passable local Saison I had. My buddy seemed to have enjoyed his flat iron steak, especially with the Arrogant Bastard I suggested he paired it up with. We had our first post-dinner pint standing up, and eventually got to belly up at the bar. Great selection of brews from all over the place was on tap. Imperial Pilsner on Cask, some barleywines, tripels, and other high-octane stuff were in hearty supply. Any place with De Glazen Toren Beer on tap is worthy of high marks in my book. And I didn’t even mention the bottle list too, that had plenty of great stuff, truly something for everyone. I liked the fact that you could buy Beer to go. Service was great all around, Greg was really nice and even though he was quite busy he still took the time to chat a bit. Highly recommended.

March 23, 2008
Nicely designed, faux high class type building in a somewhat out of place gentrified section of a neighborhood. Inside is low lightning, open, high ceilings, modern wood and metal but not ultra modern (WTF does that mean?). Tap selection is good, definitely serious about their beer, and occasionally they’ll have something uber rare, such as the Scherlenkerla Festbier. Prices are outrageously expensive if you don’t get 1/2 price drafts during happy hour, and food prices are also ridiculously expensive, with no happy hour food specials. Pizza will be $10-15, entrees are $20+ mostly, and draft prices are $6-10. For these prices I can go eat and drink at Brasserie Beck instead. Caveat emptor.

February 10, 2008
Great place with very good selection of beers, including local micro’s plus some obscure internationals. I went there for a farm to fork dinner event showcasing local farmers produce paired with local beers. The food was great, as were the beer pairings.

February 8, 2008
Awesome, awesome place. I actually liked this better than Pizzeria Paradiso: cool ambiance (lots of original tilework, low lighting, young professional crowd that’s more pleasant than DC), lounge aspect is open and relaxing, outside patio for when the weather warms, easy parking, quick, knowledgeable and friendly service (even while the kitchen was about to close), and an awesome beer selection. I happened to time it right to pick up Victory Donnybrook Stout and St. Michaelsburg Kellerbier. They had Nugget Nectar on cask and Hopslam in bottles already. Up-to-date menu, nothing uber-rare or old, but any place that has 3+ Kolsches and 4+ Geuzes consistently is wonderful in my book. I could always fine something I’d happily drink. Slightly overpriced on the larger-format bottles ($32 for Ommegeddon?). A comparable markup to what you’d see for wine, I guess, but still pretty high prices compared to other places in DC. Looking forward to trying the food.

October 16, 2007
The good: FINALLY a place that has gotten on board with food and beer pairings. Check out the back of the menu for their Mosaics, a series of three similar small, tapas style plates with individual beer pairings. I had the Mac and Cheese Mosaic which was well paired based on ingredients in the dish. Also, the beers on tap were unique and varied and afforadable. They even offer 6oz tasting glasses of beers on tap. Also, Rustico allows you to take any capped beer home with you. See something you like on the beer menu, tell them you want to take it home. The bad: To the untrained eye the beer menu looks long. Take a closer look and you’ll see there isn’t a bottle you couldn’t get for a cheaper price down the street at a gourmet store. The entrees were standard: pizza, burgers, chicken etc. The food was prepared perfectly and with alot of flavor, just nothing that would strike you as origional. The ugly: The service I had was poor at best. The place was packed, both the bar and the restaurant, and it was a Tuesday night. Only one bathroom for both restaurant and bar patrons. Worth a look, but I’m not sure I can’t do better in my own kitchen with the exception of the Mosaic pairings.

September 27, 2007 [ Updated October 1, 2007 ]
Very modern and trendy restaurant bar. Crowd is mixed, but seems to be heavy on the 25-35 young professionals. I stopped in two nights in a row. The first night, I caught the tail end of a DFH tasting and a buzzed Sam Caglione was still there. In fact, he was blocking the path to the pisser ignored me when I said "excuse me." The second night (wednesday) was a little slower and not as noisy, which is more my speed. They have one engine and a nice rotating tap list. Bottle selection covers a broad spectrum. Prices are a tad high (at least what I am used to), as a standard 12 ounce bottle of micro starts at $5. I did not eat, but the Pizzas looked delicious. I do have one gripe. I tried calling them to see how late they would be open and to get directions around the construction. What do I get? An answering machine that directs me to the web site. Uh- it’s hard to surf the web while driving. You have a phone line- answer it! All in all, this is a very nice place to have a beer. Alexandria badly needed a place like this. If you are staying in the area, I highly recommend you stop by. It is much easier than going into DC.