King & Rye — Restaurant in Alexandria

My friend and I walked into Jackson’s and were not greeted. I actually had to wait for her to ask how she could help us. We came without a reservation and were told that there was no seating available (though there were plenty of tables open, including outdoor seating that remained open throughout our breakfast). Instead of being offered the bar as an option, we had to ask. We sat ourselves at the bar after asking another customer if the high tables were included in the bar seating. The waitress from the bar took quite sometime to come over to us. She wasn’t at all friendly and very sparse with her replies. She proceeded to take our orders without writing them down and then we received two incorrect orders. They then brought us ONE corrected side dish for the order and tried to tell us that they don’t normally put that much in the dish, so it was for both of us. I asked her to then divide the dish accordingly at which time she put in a correction for the second order. It then took an unusual amount of time for the second corrected dish to come out. It finally did after I inquired about it. Another couple came in and were also not led to the empty high table next to us a n option. So, I signaled to them that it was open. (I later saw them escort a pair to the vacant high table. These two said they had reservations, so this leads me to believe that they don’t point out the bar as an option, because they’d prefer to use it for a reservation if possible.) Anyway, this couple without the reservation also waited for a while for the waitress and inquired about her presences. I could see a waiter tell the manager, who shrugged. (I saw this from where I sat near the kitchen.). After recounting some of the experience I had already had at this restaurant with them, they decided to leave. All of this, and the food was mediocre at best. No worries; if you have a reservation they treat you altogether differently. Or maybe there are other reasons the waitress was more chatty with some patrons than others. A finish to it all was with the waitress coming to ask if we were ready to pay, when we hadn’t yet put the money/cards on the table. She came quicker to collect the money than she did to give us water when we first arrived. Such a poor experience. I won’t be returning and will urge...

SUMMARY: Excellent Southern food that is worthy of attention. Service has varied from outstanding (November 2023 with Azeb) to very good in part (Summer 2023) to subpar in part (Summer 2023.) When the service is on, I highly recommend King and Rye. Here is hoping that management has rectified the Summer 2023 service issue. Read on.

REVIEW, NOVEMBER 2023: Exceptional service by Azeb and another delicious meal (breakfast) have raised my review of King & Rye from 4 stars to 5 stars. Service: We arrived at ~9:50 AM with the knowledge that breakfast ends at 10 AM. Azeb made sure that our order reached the kitchen and reassured us that we were welcome to stay for as long as we wanted. She checked in frequently during our meal to make sure that we were happy. We were! Thanks to Azeb for going above and beyond. Our breakfast was delicious. Perfectly made latte and coffee plus excellent food: a fresh and generous fruit bowl and the Virginia breakfast. The latter was more than ample and was distinguished by airy biscuits and the distinctive and addictive crispy red potatoes — roasted until soft and then lightly pan fried to crisp the potato jackets.

ORIGINAL REVIEW, SUMMER 2023: Terrific food and, initially, thoughtful service in a comfortable modern dining room. Shout out for the scallops and grits (superb) and shrimp and grits (delicious.) The compressed watermelon salad was refreshing, although the molasses in the salad dressing could have used a lighter hand. Excellent cocktails, good wine list.

The desserts look marvelous, and our party of four was looking forward to ordering them. Unfortunately, we dined at King and Rye on a very slow Sunday night. The kitchen decided to close without giving us an opportunity to order dessert. That’s poor service — we would have been happy to pre-order dessert had we been given a head’s up.

The manager was apologetic, but was unable to offer anything to rectify the situation. A small discount on our bill or a credit toward a future dessert would have been apt. One star off for the service lapse.

Despite our dessert disappointment, we enjoyed our meal at King and Rye and would return. Upgrading service to match the food would produce a first-class...

We wanted to do some walking around Old Town Alexandria, and we wanted to try something new for dinner (sorry Fish Market and Chart House!), so we tried Jackson 20. In short, it was terrific.

We were energetically greeted and our reservation, although not needed, was acknowledged, and we were seated immediately.

Our server was attentive and energetic, explaining both the daily specials and some of the regular favorites. She didn't push anything, and let us take our time exploring.

Our cocktails--a Cosmo and a Manhattan--were prepared well. We skipped the appetizer, but had the corn bread with our drinks. Nice. This was followed by our entrees--brisket for her, kielbasa for him. We also shared a side of fried green tomatoes, which were awesome, but unnecessary as our entrees were quite filling. The brisket was thick and tender; the kielbasa was a little (but not too) spicy and was accompanied by perogies, onions, and some cabbage. Aaaahhhhh.....

They had two wine lists--one with under-$40 wines and another with some awesome selections. We opted for a popular pinot noir for just $30--how did they do that? Delicious.

We split a dessert--triple chocolate mousse--which was wonderful with its raspberry accompaniment. It also when quite well with the last of the pinot noir.

Our service was supplemented by another server--who was gracious--some wait staff bringing items--great--and the manager, who came by when he thought we hadn't yet been met by our main server. (We had, and had already dropped our cocktail order with her.)

Oh, they comped our dessert--something about how fun we were. (We were!) But we chucked it back into an extra-large tip--well-earned.

As locals, we have many dining choices in the area. And it is hard to get in and out of Old Town on a Saturday evening. But this was worth it. We'll be back...