This place is pretty rad. I'd be inclined to call it a dive, except everyone in here seems to be a working stiff just looking for a place to grab a beer and a bite.
Pros:
-Really solid burger for $9. and it comes with tots! Â (1/2 price on Tuesdays?)
-awesome Happy Hour specials one both food and drink.
-very nice service staff, even when busy.
-Very fair prices on drinks, especially considering the area.
Cons:
-Finding the place can be a pain.
-Service can be a little slow.
I'll be putting this place in the rotation.
The service here is absolutely HORRENDOUS. Waited for ten minutes, no host, no acknowledgement by staff (although they saw us). We asked a server if we could get seated for dinner and he looked at us like we had ten heads. Eventually he sat us in the corner by the pool tables, which was fine because it was a Saturday night. Then it took fifteen minutes for a waitress to come over, and when she eventually came back to give us menus... she gave us one menu and said that we would need to share. She was nice and tried her hardest despite the crowd in the restaurant that night. Food was mediocre, at best. My boyfriend had food poisoning a few hours later, perhaps from undercooked chicken? Not sure. This place seems like a good local joint for an older crowd that wants to get a few drinks on the weekend. However, we would never go here again.
Review Source:Reality check, people. Â If you'd only adjust your expectations of establishments based on what they *purport* to be, you wouldn't always be so devastatingly disappointed with them. Â Alley Cat is a dumpy neighborhood sports bar. Â Lemme break it down for you: Dumpy = not nice. Â Neighborhood = not a destination spot. Â Sports bar = not a lounge. Â Perhaps reviewers who refer to this place as "scary" rarely leave their gated communities.
Do you care about well-lit, matching décor when you're enjoying ALL DAY HAPPY HOUR from 11 - 8, playing two dollar pool and free darts, eating halfway decent bar food and hanging out with friends?  No?  Then you won't mind Alley Cat.
Do you live in Alexandria's West End, or have friends that do? Â Yeah? Â Then you won't mind Alley Cat.
Do you enjoy watching sports with your pitchers of domestic draughts? Â Sure? Â Then you won't mind Alley Cat.
Nachos and spinach dip are good. Â Service is mediocre. Â Prices are so right. Â
And that's the Alley Cat according to MacRae.
Service totally non-existent. The waitstaff including management just does not care. Over 20 minutes to order, 30 more minutes for drinks and over an hour to receive a burger. Refills became self-serve and rather than get yelled at, I was thanked. Dirty plates took more time to be removed and then were just left accumulated on table behind us. It's not only the waiters who stink but the female manager walks around aimlessly too.
Burgers are not bad but don't expect your orders to come out together. Also if you watch the kitchen, just as much food leaves it as goes back to it.
Then why two stars? The burger was 'aight and trivia on Tuesdays is fun, but it's not worth it with the awful, awful service by a waiter who just did not care. And with trivia first place is $15 but Alley Cat puts massive unwritten restrictions on it, which most other bars do not. So good luck trying to use it.
This place is just not worth it. You will leave more stressed and a lot later than you planned on after eating out.
Please Robert Irvine, come down upon from your palace of  Restaurant Impossible in the magical land of TV, to this sad dive and bless it with thy glory! Â
It's food SUCKS! Buffalo wings are slime. Lobster* is mushy. Worst of all the beer has a hint of soap. Â I am fairly sure most their food is just (undercooked) microwaved TGI Fridays TV appetizers from the store.
The staff is slow and  less than friendly.
And the decor is dark to the point you KNOW the place is hiding as much filth as scientifically possible.
Amen
*PS the "lobster fest" on the sign outside... "fest"= a scope of overcooked minute rice.
I'm bumping Alley Cat up to four stars....
I love this dump of a bar. It's a real crap hole, my kind of place. Most of the food on the menu sucks, except their burgers are GREAT!! It's bar food though so what do you expect. I like it because when my wife and I visit or when I visit with friends we're always the best looking people in the place. I'm not kidding there are some scary folks here and some real characters too.
I like the Trivia and half priced burgers on Tuesday nights, that's always a nice hit. This place is so close to my home I find myself going here more often. It's real nice that they still have the $25 Gift Certificates on <a href="/redir?url=http%3A%2F%2FRestaurant.com&s=0aab4cbd731f3d3b0d1453050d3abc56a8c80bd214e25469c7555b750dca8a51" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://Restaurant.com</a>. I went here last weekend with one of my wife's friends and we had 4 beers, a great burger, and a chicken wrap between the both of us for $13 (That includes a 20% tip). Not bad I must say :)
Highly recommended!
I'm updating a prior review now that I've been here four or five times. It's OK at best. The service used to be much, much better.  I go here most Monday nights for  a board game Meet Up. About 20 people go and we always get separate checks without a problem.
Tonight, though, the waiter (not our regular server) was actually belligerent. First someone I was eating with ordered the chicken caesar salad. He brought it without the chicken. My friend politely said she'd wanted chicken and the waiter gave her a lecture about how there is no such thing as a "chicken caesar salad" on the menu, and that she should have asked for caesar salad with chicken added to it. He should have just gone and gotten some chicken. Seriously.
Later he brought the check with everybody's food on one check. We figured he didn't know the routine since he doesn't usually serve our group, so we asked him to separate our orders. He said he can't do it. Another woman at our table pointed out that it is possible to do it because other servers have done it in the past without a problem. Waiter turns to her and says "I wasn't talking to you." Seriously?! Wow!!
In 41 years of life I have never asked to speak to a manager of a restaurant. This guy went over the top so I asked. He said there was no manager on duty. (Doubtful.) Anyway, we let it slide, but I'm afraid our group -- which spends a few hundred bucks every Monday night without fail -- will go elsewhere if we have a repeat of this.
For food tonight, the salads looked really good and my dining companions seemed to enjoy them. I had the buffalo tenders which weren't as crispy as I like but they were OK.
Also, the server didn't come around very often at all. The restaurant could have made a lot more money from our group. I usually drink four beers and often have desert but I only had two tonight and no desert because he didn't come around.
Here is my original review from when I had better experiences here:
The draught beer selection is average, nothing really special, but decent enough for me and happy hour prices are good. I had the fish and chips and got a huge portion and was served with malt vinegar.
Service was average, prices were average, atmosphere was average. Just all-around average.
I'll go back again for game night, but it's the games that draw me back, not the restaurant/bar.
It's an old Bennigans, painted yellow which causes you to feel like you are in a familiar, yet strange new place...
I have been to happy hour twice. I had the buffalo strips- they're delicious. Maybe even better than BW3's boneless wings. Served 'wet' in their delicious and lightly hot buffalo sauce. It was good enough that I had to order more and really, I want some right now. On my most recent trip, I also had dessert- the Chocolate Dome. It was also scrumdidlyumptious, to borrow from Dane Cook. It was so chocolaty as it was moist and soft in the middle with a heavier, fudge like outer shell. It was really too much to eat by myself and I should have shared it with someone. I didn't and I ate all of it's chocolatey goodness all by myself.
The bar feels congested and your visual is limited with so many pillars surrounding it; it feels cramped and crowded- I dislike that. It does however have fooseball (as well as multiple pool tables and dart boards), which I like and it's great to know there is a place close by to pwn someone in table soccer. Overall, it's not a fabulous place, but the fooseball and decent food are going to bring me back.
This place is not that bad. Â I went a couple of times to meet up with friends, and I thought it was okay. Â I wouldn't touch the chicken wings or nachos, but the NY Strip Steak was actually pretty good. Â The salmon was overcooked, and the fajitas were okay. Â I usually just get drinks from this spot. Â The football crowd seems pretty dead during the games, but their Karaoke night is a little better. Â Like I said, it's not that bad.
Review Source:Are you super wasted? Â Can you see the person next to you? Â This place parties like a hole in the wall. Â Not a hole in the wall spot that no one goes too, and is actually jammin, but an actual HOLE IN THE WALL. Â Drink prices had me checking yelp, to see if I was in DC, because my friend I was NOT. Â Black lights are defiantly made for house parties in the 80's, and indeed I got that feel.
I make the best of everywhere I go, I did have a good time. Â I had a GREAT time once I was about 8 or 9 shots in. Â The club area upstairs was where I was at. Â I mention that because I hear this place doubles as a Steelers' fan bar. Â Maybe YOU should try that out. Â I won't. Go Skins!
I honestly think, had my friend not had his party there...there might not have been anyone else there, at all. Â Steer clear...unless of course you are a Steelers' fan, or you're super-chocolate-where am I at?-WASTED. Â
Sorry :-/
Awful, awful, awful. I can't say enough as to how terrible this place is. Located in the cut of Alexandria, it does have the dive bar feel. That, I don't mind. What I do mind is going to a dive bar that has Manhattan drink prices. i went there with a bunch of friends and was shocked when my bill came out to be $140 for 11 drinks (nothing special...standard whisky and/or vodka).. I mean seriously...where are we? There weren't that many people there (around 20-25...including my 5 friends) and the service was awful (their idea of serving chilled shots is putting alcohol over ice in a plastic cup). I will never go here again. Thanks for ripping me off.
Review Source:I'm really surprised at all the negative reviews for this place! Â We had a discount coupon so we went on a whim last Friday night. Â We got there around 6:30, and made it in for happy hour specials which were really good - how can you go wrong with $10 pitchers?! Â We had wings to start, which were really hot and somewhat messy, but better than most wings we've had in VA. Â Then we had salads which were good - you can't really mess them up. Â The main courses were fantastic - I had a chicken wrap that was warmed and it was delicious, and went great with their fries, and my husband had fajitas that looked amazing - he was impressed with how much food he got. Â Our server was really attentive and honest about the menu, offering his suggestions when we ordered. Â At 7:30, a band took the stage, and that was really fun because they were good and people were out dancing. Â Yes, this place has a dive bar feel, and it was funny to see the older generation out on the dance floor, but it was really fun for a Friday night. Â So fun, in fact, we stayed until 11:30! Â I saw some reviews about being overcharged, I think that's possible anywhere - you just have to be careful to check over your bill before you pay and sign. Â In general though, really fun place!
Review Source:Went last night with a group of about 25, and have to say, I was pleasantly surprised. Atmosphere is pretty much "dark dive bar", and that's ok....sometimes you need a dark dive bar to hang out in.
Place was pretty much empty for a Wednesday night, not a good sign for them, but worked for us. We had two or three servers working our crew, and the service was great...and I know that managing separate checks for food and drink for a group of people who are milling around socializing is no easy task.
Food was good, and seemed reasonably priced (especially the happy hour specials). I had the two slider/fries special ($5 happy hour) and DBF had the chicken quesadilla ($5 happy hour), and both were tasty. Everyone else in our group seemed pleased as well...and we're not always the easiest group to please! Special thanks to Ben -- he did a great job of making sure we never went thirsty!
Can't speak to what it's like there when they're busy, and I'm a Brown's fan (yeah, I know, it's my cross to bear), so I'm probably not going there to watch football, but we had a good time and will likely go back.
Alley Cat is a pretty cool place. My boyfriend and I starting going there because it's a Steelers bar although there is not really much Steelers paraphernalia. Anyway, I like the place because its close to my house and they have pretty good food, but you have to be careful that they don't over charge you. It seems like its a common practice at Alley Cats. My boyfriend and I starting keeping tally of our drinks, so we don't get over charged. The atmosphere is very nice. They have large projection screens. They had on the Pittsburgh Penguins came last night. They also have IC Light if you like it. All in all, I like the place.
Review Source:Three strikes you're out!!!
So this bar is within walking distance from home and just having moved here, we hoped for the best. The drink specials are decent before 8pm and the food is all right. Here is my problem 3 out of the 4 times we have been there, we were overcharged. And I don't mean a couple of dollars, several drinks. The first time I thought a simple mistake, the second we were there for happy hour only and they charged us full price for EVERYTHING. Last night was the last straw when they charged us for 20 beers. If I had twenty beers last night, I would not be up at 9am writing this review. If you do dare, bring cash only, me thinks it's some sort of way to overcharge, the servers cannot be that dumb.
I have been going to the Alley Cat as part of a meetup Billiards group. The food is good, drinks are affordable and the enviroment offers everything you could want from a dj, to billiards, dart boards, dance floor and much more. If you want to go out to a place thats not over crowded and a good bargain, come to alley cat. If you want to play pool and are looking for free lessons or some good people to play with feel free to meet us on January 28th, 2011 at 7pm. If you aren't able to make it, Â look us up on <a href="/redir?url=http%3A%2F%2Fmeetup.com&s=077f03ca6fcbacbd8626f92bdc3557d252b3b93aff296ea2aa3ca0c4cf2ca2c5" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://meetup.com</a>. Â So far we are the only Billiards meetup group in the area.
Review Source:I come here only because it's a Steelers bar and there is a Steelers meetup group that has picked this place as their location.
Otherwise, I would not come nor would I recommend this bar to friends.
The first time I came here my impression of the prices were that they were a little high for a bar. I'm realizing now this was because only the dinner menu was available that night. If you come before 5pm on a weekend game night they have really unbeatable football pricing specials. $5 for a burger! Their burger is deeeelicious too - however what really takes away from this place is the teeeerrible service!
My 2nd time here, there were 2 girls circulating the bar tables next to the bar in the Steelers section and both of them glanced our way and made eye contact a few times when we sat down. However, neither of them would come over and provide any service. We tried flagging them down a couple times before one of them would come over and she doesn't really ask but grunt, "what do we need?" Try: menus? We had to ask her to bring menus, like this is big mystery what we may need when we first sit down. After placing our order I notice that another bar table that had come in after us, already had their orders taken and were served food. When our food is brought over we are not given any napkins or any utensils. I notice other bar tables are brought utensils but we have to ask for them. My friend ordered fries alone (which were delicious) but he isn't brought any napkins nor ketchup. He has to get up and get the ketchup himself from an empty table and this is the kind of thing that bothers me to no end when patrons have to get their own ketchup, salt, pepper, napkins, etc. It's a matter of principle for me. When my burger comes out the waitress actually has presence of mind to ask if I need anything else, so I ask for mustard. Kind of pointless because she doesn't ever bring it. My friend gets up and retrieves the mustard himself after waiting too long. I don't know if I'm being overly critical but between the 2 girls they were managing 8 bar tables TOTAL w/less than 4 ppl at each table. Doesn't seem like that is overwhelmingly difficult that we should get such piss-poor service.
Overall I would have actually scored this place a 2.5 but because the food really is amazing, I'll bump this up to a 3.
Side note: they play funny 80s music each time the game goes into commercial. Just thought it was odd.
We had a <a href="/redir?url=http%3A%2F%2Frestaurant.com&s=c5fe485af4df376130bee54f875814d79c4d7913e1258123b1206d2bdbf4873b" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://restaurant.com</a> coupon. Â We went last spring. Â This place is nasty. Â I ordered nachos. Â All they did was put cheez whiz and ortega's salsa. Â Food came out to $50. Â WTH. Â The place was empty and creepy looking. Â The tables didn't seem stable and I don't know, wasn't fond of the decor. Â
May be a good night bar place, but I don't go to bars and waste my hard earned money on expensive drinks. Â Plus I don't drink b/c beer and liquor tastes like Robitussin cough syrup to me. Â I was raised on sweet sodas like Coke and fruit juice so I never gone into wine and drinking. Â Stuff tastes nasty plus people waste their money on that crap, plus it diminishes your thinking processes, etc. Â I like to be in control of my mind and not be tipsy and do foolish things. Â
Food was awful and the place creeped me out. Â Can't believe it got 4 stars.
Update: I emailed the "contact" person for the restaurant and received the heart felt, but highly unprofessional reply below. I give them kudos for a quick response, but my verdict on this place stands.
"we really do apologize for what happened , Â every person walking through our door should not be treated the way you have been treated , there is no excuse for that . please accept my deepest apologies , next time just ask for Ben i promise i will make it up to you . Peace"
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