Gadsby's Tavern Museum

Forget a 1950s diner! Try the 1700s Tavern! The food is decent. I think it’s one of those gimmicky locations that you just know the food might not be amazing, but the experience is. I liked the ambience! I think that’s honestly what did it for me. It was such a unique experience! There’s some fun history to the location. If you’re sitting next to the windows, beware as any place on the east coast, it gets cold… It gets hot. We made a reservation. On the night that we went it looked like it probably wasn’t necessary, but I would still do it just in case.

Stopped in Alexandria on our way down to Mt Vernon. Quaint museum and attached tavern/restaurant - Would highly recommend stopping by and paying $5/ticket to walk around or do the guided tour option.

Stopped in for a quick lunch after being told from multiple people that this is a "must see" place in Old Town Alexandria. And let me tell you, they were right! It was lunch time so there were a few groups of people. There was a long wait time to get a table mainly due to low staffing. But everyone I encountered was super friendly and welcoming. After reading the pamphlet about the history of the tavern, I asked the waitress if they still sold the rum punch because I didn't see it on the menu. She said that they do and would check if they had any made. Even though she was super busy helping so many tables, she made a special trip to the basement to get my drink. I felt so sorry for her because then other patrons started asking me what this drink is that looked so good and they started asking for it as well! All in all, I would certainly recommend and will be going again when I'm back in town. Good food, friendly staff and many, many years of history in this place!

The guide was sick when I came so it wasn’t as fun to just go around reading everything. Worth checking out if you like history. Included in the city key pass. The person in the shop was really informative and nice. I was the only one there at 11am on a Friday .

What a little gem of American history. Gary did a fantastic job of bringing that history to life with his tour. The museum is set up for self-guided tours, but if there's a docent available, you'll have a much better experience - the stories are great! Pat in the gift shop was super friendly and helpful as well. A bargain at only $5!

I used my Keys to the City pass and paid extra $3 for the guided tour. Gary was delightful!!! The displayed artifacts and Gary's narration gave a great view of day-to-day life in the 1700's. I was pleased to hear quite a bit of respectful and relevant information about the work of slaves in the tavern.

I opted for the guided tour and am so glad I did. The docent was a college professor and really knew her history. Terrific presentation and a well-preserved historic place. Well worth a visit.

The host who checked us in was very friendly and enthusiastic on answering any questions we had before and after our self guided tour. She made sure everyone was kept safe during this time of covid. The tavern was very beautiful and fascinating !

This place is special. It has an amazing story and historical significance. The food is good and the atmosphere is great. This place will engage all 5 senses.

Cool place. Not sure if it is always a self guided tour but there are enough plaques to explain what you are looking at. I do wish there was an audio or a person guiding the tour option. I only met one staff member. She was really informative. Next time I'm in town, I'll eat in the restaurant next door.

A great piece of history tucked into Alexandria! We loved the guided tour with Gayle - would definitely recommend the guided over the self-guided tour as we would have missed so much information on our own. We learned so much about the history of Alexandria and the big part Gadsby's played in the lives of former presidents and commoners.

My son's been on a haunted places kick lately so naturally he got me curious. Turns out there are tons of haunted places in the DMV, especially in the Old Town and Georgetown areas. We were already in Old Town, so we decided to swing by the museum. It's a good price ($5) for the history and just knowing that you're walking the halls where many of the former presidents used to roam. The boarding and dining rooms are set up as they once were many years ago. There are signs and placards around the room with information about the way of life back then. For example, it was interesting to read that instead of suitcases, people used to have to lug big heavy wooden trunks of their stuff everywhere when traveling. There was one mysterious guest that somehow died in a room at the end of one hallway and you can actually visit that room. I didn't get any chills or weird feelings when I went in there, thankfully. When you get your ticket, you can ask them where it is. By the way, if you look out the windows, you can see a great view of the streets of old town below. Hopefully no one mistakes you for a ghost!

3.5. If you've not visited one of these taverns before, then you should go to learn the history. In the 1700s, these taverns were the main meeting place for everyone. Politicians, soldiers, townspeople... all of it and history started in these places; that's where the ideas that formed this country were born. This one though I didn't take the guided tour. Went in and did myself reading plaques (not many of them and didn't really learn that much). I'd of liked to have known who visited there and what important things might have taken place. But we did learn about the tavern and see how many people might sleep there (you did NOT want to be doing that). It had two huge meeting/ball rooms (huge for that time anyway). I had been to Rising Sun Tavern and Michie Tavern and probably another one (can't remember) so know abut tavern life... suggest you take the guided tour (our timing so off we'd of had to wait at least another hour). We didn't have the time. Without it, done in 15-30 min max. Next door is an actual place to eat (by same name) and heard the food was good and geared to colonial times. We read the menu and not into Oysters etc so skipped it and the ham biscuit probably good but we live near Smithfield so... lol Anyway, go see it, it's something to do. Not spectacular but important place in history.

I gave the restaurant part only 2 stars but the museum part is better. I came here as part of a ghost tour with a group of students. I normally don't go along with them but as they had an extra ticket, I was excited to go. This was just one stop but added greatly to the overall feel of the tour. The one thing that really stands out in my head is the ball room upstairs. You could almost feel the energy of the dances and debates that must have gone on up there during the formative years of our country!

Lovingly preserved 18th century inn. Sponsors a variety of interesting programs including eighteenth century dancing lessons and fencing lessons. George Washington ate here and Light Horse Harry Lee proclaimed Washington, "First in war, first in peace, first in the hearts of his countrymen", from the steps of Gadsby's tavern If you do one thing in Alexandria, go here.

Museum was fun. It was really cool to know we were standing in the same place as George Washington. Take the tour, you won't be disappointed. The staff was very knowledgeable. They have some great props and what not as well to help you visualize.

Went for the Free Open House - they had docents and a self-guided tour. There is so much historical significance to this tavern! George Washington and Thomas Jefferson ate and stayed there and Washington had his inauguration ball here. If you are thinking of visiting, go before September 2017, when they are having a special Exhibit called Centennial Everyday for Everyone with stories about everyday people that have remained unheard of in history - women, African Americans, etc.

I'm gonna confess that I was a little bit obsessed just to be in the room where a Hamilton song kinda happened...and I may have done a couple of "If you had to choose if you had to choose choose..." before the family also on the tour started looking at me funny. It's a cool little museum made out of just a real place that's survived historically preserved. The design of the museum made it fun to visit, it's very cost-effective to go to, and you can even mail a couple post cards on the museum!

Really creative small museum, with enthusiastic staff. Great labeling of displays, and graphic accounts of what travel was like back then. What do we have to complain about? Several labels said to look in the clay vessel next to it. Took me a while to figure out what they were talking about, but when I did look into the jug, or bowl, there was at first what appeared to be an image in water. However, I soon realized that it was a digital display of a relevant object. Really clever! Don't miss the ice well on on corner, either. Really cool display (pun intended).

stairs. lot's of them. for this girl with a cane, stairs suck. when i bought the tickets and they saw me with a cane, they should have mentioned the stairs. i am a sucker for fake food. i love the plasticie representations of things we put in our mouths. they have some great plastic food up in here. too bad the liquor was plastic...

This is a good, medium-sized historic 'house' museum (not really a house, but it works in that category.) Our docent was very knowledgeable and was excited to answer questions. My tour group was very mixed by age and he made it interesting for everyone from the 7 year old to the 70 year old. There are steps involved, just to warn you in case that's a problem. We thought it was a lovely way to spend half an hour in Old Town.

We showed up at 1:45 and the sign said opens at 2:15. We decided to grab a brew at the taverns restaurant and we go back at 2:05 but had to pay for extra time to park. We see them let in 3 people and close and lock the door! Then they changed the sign to 2:45 and will not respond to us knocking. We were knocking at 2:10!!!! What is the point of signs when you just lock people out after you add another 30 mins. You also wasted the extra money we paid for parking. Will never go back!

We went to the Museum & ate dinner at Gadsby's, was a great experience. I had the same favorite meal as George Washington, roast duck. Svetlana gave us a very nice, informative tour of the museum, thanks. Paul, plznnn@yahoo.com

Reading some of the other reviews I'm a little envious because they had great guides who offered a lot of interesting information. I love historical buildings and taking docent guided tours because you normally always glean a little extra information from the guide than what you normally would. That's how we thought our visit to the Gadsby Tavern Museum would be last August. We arrived and inquired about tours. We were told there were "junior docents" in each of the rooms. I figured that meant they were still training. We paid the admission and away we went - only to discover that junior docents meant that 10 year olds were giving the tour. I'm sure their parents think they did a great job, and maybe for their age they did. However, as an exceptionally inquisitive, well read traveler who just paid full price admission to take part in what felt like some kind of school project without any real warning from the man who took our cash, it was the biggest waste of time. I love history and I'm sure the Gadsby Museum has some great stories and I really wish I could have heard them. Instead I was told that octopuses are smart. Good to know.