By the Gastronomes
Wow! We never thought we would see the day that one of Old Town Alexandria’s breakfast and lunch icons would open for dinner. We are thinking that maybe the revamping of another icon, The Royal Restaurant, by Alexandria Restaurant Partners (ARP) has something to do with it. While the remodel and menu changes that have taken place at The Royal are a major uptick, it no longer has that down home, neighborhood diner feel that still remains at Table Talk. We are guessing that the some of the “old guard” crowd who frequented dinner at the Royal have moved their loyalty to Table Talk. This, in conjunction with the fact that we needed another reasonably priced place to have dinner in Old Town, may have contributed to owners, Jeff and Kelly Yates decision to open for dinner 5 nights a week.
It isn’t normally our policy to print a restaurant’s menu but we thought it was a good idea in this case. It says it all! The dinner menu is pretty much a mirror image of the lunch menu. The only difference is the price and we think it is way fair that they are charging a whopping $1 more on each item at dinner.
It was a nice surprise to be greeted at the door by our friend Natasha – who we have had the pleasure of serving us at another Old Town establishment over the years. We were also fortunate enough to have our friend Laura with us on our visit. It’s always good to have additional input.
We started out with a cup of the chicken noodle soup and a wedge salad that we shared. The soup was just like grandma used to make and the wedge salad was over the top good. The tomatoes and lettuce were fresh, the bacon perfectly crispy and the blue cheese dressing stellar. Next came the ham, baked meatloaf and roast turkey dinners. The entrée’s come with dinner rolls and your choice of two sides. Lots of food on these plates. All three were quintessential comfort food for sure. The meatloaf was as good as it gets, however, we all think that the ham needed “ham” based gravy instead of the same brown gravy served with the meatloaf and there was a bit too much gravy on the fantastic turkey (which was sliced right off of the bird). It might be a good idea to order the gravy on the side. All in all, our meals were great.
Even though none of us really had room for dessert, we had to give their apple pie a try. This is definitely house made and next time we will save room so we can order it ala mode.
They have a fully stocked stand-alone bar and Happy Hour runs all day long. The vodka gimlets we ordered were small but spot on and the house white and house red filled the bill as well.
Last, and certainly not least, is the fact that Table Talk has FREE off-street parking next to and behind the restaurant!
1623 Duke Street
Old Town Alexandria
703-548-3989
Tabletalkdiner.co