Captain Gregory's — Restaurant in Alexandria

Exclusive and rude are not synonymous.

I miss our old “speakeasy” so was really looking forward to trying this place. I wanted to like it, but the interaction with the staff made that impossible.

Will acknowledge this is a small place and we were a group (7), but had made reservations far in advance and following the website’s instructions to email ahead of time to get together, or close-ish and zero response. My friend, who had been there before and loved it, did finally get a response from them and really had a condescending and unhelpful tone to it. We thought somebody was just having a bad day and because of the previous experience there, decided to still try it and hope it would work out.

A speakeasy being exclusive is expected, but exclusive and rude are not synonymous. We go for the experience, the thrill of getting in the door and the understanding that once inside the door, will be taken care of. I can understand not being able to put us all together, I can understand breaking us up, but what I am not ok with is: Our 7th person was a late add (but had a reservation) and just retired from the military, so our couples meal, turned into a celebration for her, but rather than try to hear or understand that, they put her in a seat farthest from us, by herself and wouldn’t even listen to try and just move her to the other side of the bar closest to us. When we decided to leave, a guy tried to block my way, in an attempt to point me to the exit behind me, and talk over me when I tried to say I was just going to go get my friend and had to repeat it three times before he stopped long enough to listen.

15 years in food service and now a career in dealing with people and problems - customer service is an art, listening is a skill and this place needs to work on both or no matter how good the donuts are (that I didn’t get to try) there won’t be anybody to charge a reservation fee to keep people from bailing. This was a sad miss and...

I highly enjoyed my first visit to Captain Gregory's! I was out celebrating my 4 year anniversary with my boyfriend and we were going to different restaurants/bars in Old Town Alexandria when we decided to try and find a local speakeasy. The thing about speakeasies is you need a reservation, but fortunately at 1045pm on a Saturday we were able to make our reservation for midnight that night through their website. I had already read on Yelp to pull the flag on the right "wall" as you just enter Sugar Shack, so I did and they opened it up, asked for our names, had us wait a minute, then led us in the cozy dark venue to our seats at the bar.

I was actually really pleased we got to sit at the bar because I love watching mixologists create our amazing beverages! We tasted off the menu but the couple next to us were just ordering typical bar drinks which the mixologists made with top shelf ingredients and their own spin. I'm sure their drink menus change constantly but the drinks that stood out to me were the Pine Smoke Old Fashioned and something else made with an Allspice Cloud. Basically all their drinks are amazing and the bartenders are good at recommending cocktails based on your preferences.

The whole ambiance of this place is amazing but probably the best part for me was that they were still serving food after 12am which is so hard to find nowadays!! I definitely needed a little something in my tummy to soak up all the tasty beverages I was imbibing. I ordered the pork belly with a side of brussel sprouts and they were really delicious especially together! I would highly recommend to end a date night with this speakeasy or maybe go with friends, probably no more than a party of 6 though because it is a cozy...

I love, love, love, Captain Gregory's Speakeasy and am so happy we were finally able to go back inside again....seeing the wall slide back and the welcoming smile of the staff just can't be beat....the outdoor patio during COVID has been nice, but not really that speakeasy feeling. My husband and I were last at Captain Gregory's for their Mezcal Tasting event and originally thought we were going to settle with another fun night on the patio, but the crazy storm played into our favor and since we didn't cancel our reservation when others did, we were able to sit inside the speakeasy at the bar. This was my hands down favorite visit because we were able to talk to the mixologists behind the bar and inquire on various cocktail ingredients and creative style of each drink. We had so much fun. I'm also a Maine native; so seeing the story of Captain Gregory on the wall always makes me smile in memory of my home state. I'm so glad when we came to what was Sugar Shack Donuts back in 2018 that I saw someone pull the flag on the wall and then like magic, the wall slid back. I remember saying to the staff at Sugar Shack (now Elizabeth's Counter) what is that place?! They laughed and said it is Captain Gregory's, a speakeasy....I was like, say what?!! I knew I had to visit and my husband and I made our first reservation a couple months later. Definitely make a reservation, even pre-COVID, they were mandatory due to the small size of the place contrasted with its popularity. Do not miss out on this unique and awesome experience. We'll be back soon. ...