Tweaked Posted July 17, 2012 Share Posted July 17, 2012 Attending a wedding at the Arlie Center this weekend. While Saturday will be mainly driving out there and wedding stuff, Sunday afternoon will be free. So any good Restaurants? Wineries? Shopping? You know, fun weekend out in the country crap before we drive back to the big city... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Loblaw Posted July 20, 2012 Share Posted July 20, 2012 I was actually there for a wedding a few months ago. Beautiful venue. Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to really explore the area, but I got the feeling that there's not much to do around there. There's a bar on the Arlie campus, but they don't have a restaurant (IIRC). And the bar closes early - 11pm or so. The only place I could recommend is Claire's at the Depot in Old Town Warrenton, a short drive away. We had a very good brunch there the day after the wedding. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Hersch Posted July 20, 2012 Share Posted July 20, 2012 I think you mean Airlie, not Arlie. I was there for a half-assed, misguided "retreat" about 20 years ago, and it's a very nice place. I'm afraid I can't help with anything but the spelling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonRocks Posted July 21, 2012 Share Posted July 21, 2012 Attending a wedding at the Arlie Center this weekend. While Saturday will be mainly driving out there and wedding stuff, Sunday afternoon will be free. So any good Restaurants? Wineries? Shopping? You know, fun weekend out in the country crap before we drive back to the big city... Iron Bridge Wine Company is the most popular restaurant in Warrenton - the last time I went there on a weekend evening, I couldn't get a table. There isn't much else in downtown Warrenton, but I had a decent (not great) meal at Black Bear Bistro which has a good selection of local beers. Claire's at the Depot is your choice for fine dining. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DC Deb Posted July 21, 2012 Share Posted July 21, 2012 Old Town Warrenton is a cute area. It is 5 or 6 blocks of gift shops on Main Street. There is an old jail museum on one end. The Red Truck Bakery is across the street from the museum. Their moonshine chocolate cake is really good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southdenverhoo Posted July 21, 2012 Share Posted July 21, 2012 Me and 2 of my buddies used to do all the hand-mowing at Airlie, and because i knew how to clean swimming pools I got that duty as well. Best job I ever had, even at $1.75 an hour, because: I was 16 the first summer and 17 the second, and there was a senile janitor who used to forget to lock up the bars after he cleaned them. Two of 'em weren't in visual range of the administrative offices, which meant we used to spend lazy afternoons half-assedly pretending to push mowers or pool brushes & vacuums while sipping draft beer (Michelob, I still remember how it tasted, 42 years later) out of empty Coca Cola cans. Oh and the free lunch: same food the "conferees" (it was billed as a "Conference Center" then, have no idea now) ate, in a little employee dining room right outside the boss's office. Steamship Round of Beef!! Asparagus/Cheese Sauce!! Roasted Baby Red Potatoes!! this was early 70s and most here might think of this as some sort of culinary hell but to a 17 year old high school football player & knucklehead, it was heaven. The we'd haul our can't eat-another-bite asses outside and mosey up the hill to see if the Shooting Lodge bar was unlocked, for 3 or 4 hours worth of free beer to top off that free lunch. I still miss that gig... Favorite all time conferee: Sam Jones, then the recently appointed AD of Federal City College, and former Celtic during the glory years, chatting with me about the NBA and how to clean a pool, pretending that pool cleaning (on which he carefully watched what I was doing and grilled me throughout) was at least as, if not more, interesting than playing basketball for the Celtics. That man had a gift. The OP might also try Mojitos y Tapas in shopping center area (on what we used to call "the bypass" but most travelers probably think is the main drag, ie US 29 or "Lee Highway"), but if there is time a run out to The Plains for The Rail Stop or Upperville for Hunter's Head, Or Paris for the Ashby Inn. Don's got downtown Warrenton fully covered. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kibbee Nayee Posted July 21, 2012 Share Posted July 21, 2012 Over on Intrepid Traveller, I posted about a long weekend of eating in Warrenton last November. Mojitos y Tapas is top-notch, absolutely one of the finest restaurants of its kind around these parts, and worth a trip to Warrenton just for a nice graze through the specials. Claire's at the Depot was a meal befitting a high-end experience in the DC area, and I believe Claire once toiled in Old Town so that's not a reach. And Black Bear Bistro is as good a Saturday night outing as I've had in many years. Warrenton is a little gem, and I would gladly food forage there by night and hit the wine country by day jsut about at the drop of a hat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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