Bike-friendly place for drinks and food in Alexandria?

There are probably a ton of great places to go, but I might suggest Bilbo Baggins in Old Town, for the location near the waterfront, the food, and beer and bike friendliness.

Or alternatively you could go to Del Ray and stop in any of those restaurants. Del Ray is very bike friendly, and the restaurants are all pretty good.

There are gazillions of restaurants in Old Town and I’ve never had any of them give me the stink eye for showing up in cycling clothes.

By “keep an eye on the bikes” do you mean you won’t have locks with you and literally want to have the bikes in full view while you eat? Outdoor seating is less common, but off the top of my head there’s MaiThai on King and Union and A La Lucia on Royal and Madison that are convenient to the trail and have outdoor seating.

Mai Thai

Teaism won’t give you the stink eye for showing up in cycling clothes and they have a nice outdoor patio. There aren’t any nearby U racks on the street for a u-lock; I lock up to a nearby street light via a cable lock. There are wave style racks in the next door parking garage for the Trader Joe’s supermarket (immediately on the right when you enter the garage); they do get quite full though.

Del Ray is a good choice since there are racks and street signs you can lock up to and most restaurants have big windows/patios that are right on the street.

@KLizotte 52767 wrote:

Same with the bakery next door to Rustico’s.

Do you mean Buzz across the street. It gets two thumbs up from me!

Both Buzz and Rustico (part of the Neighborhood Restaurant Group) will not care if you lock your bike to their railing. They also don’t care if you bring a dog (outside).

As for general recommendations, I bike through OT every morning and night and used to live there. You can lock your bike up almost anywhere for a few hours during nice times of year without worry of theft. (Note I did say lock it up, you leave it unlocked and who knows, but it never had DC’s problems of ulock bike theft in broad daylight). As for cycling attire, I can think of maybe one restaurant in OT that would actually say anything, and even then I would be surprised. Someone mentioned it, but ironically enough there isn’t a ton of bike parking on King St given the volume. Supposedly the city was installing two new bike racks down by King & Union, but I tend to avoid that way when I commute through. I know there was a rack outside the one bike shop a block off Union. I always just locked mine up to a bench.

Del Ray was also a great recommendation. I’ve biked up to Cheesetique a few times–I love that place. It’s also very easy to get to from the trails. And similar to OT, no one would bat an eye at someone in cyclist clothing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQ_duzQzS1I