Cedar Knoll

Me and my boyfriend came here during winter restaurant week 2025. I had very high hopes for this place and there were some high and lows. The service was very, very good. Me and my boyfriend came for our two year anniversary and they had left a handwritten note on our table. Whenever we got there congratulating us. It was very sweet. Our server was fantastic very attentive very on point. The atmosphere was very good and I'm sure if you came during the day there was a beautiful view. The restaurant is lacking a proper bar area. They have one section off to the side with some sofas, but not a real bar, which is a shame cause me and my boyfriend wanted to get a drink after dinner. I thought the food was fantastic. We did do restaurant week, but ordered an additional appetizer, the fried goat cheese balls, which me and my boyfriend both thought were absolutely delicious. The bread plate was amazing. There's like a jalapeño focaccia on there that I would die for. For the individual appetizers I got the scallop carpaccio which I thought was very good and my boyfriend got the Parmesan crisp with ham. He really liked it. I thought it was way too sweet. ( sorry I forgot to get photos of the appetizer.) for the main course I got the short rib and he got the duck confit poutine. I thought the food was very good. It was all very well-made. The flavors were innovative, but still gave you that home-cooked feel. I don't know if it's because it's restaurant week but I do feel like the meat portions in our food was lacking. MyBoyfriend's dinner was mostly french fries with just a little bit of duck confit over top With it only being restaurant week and paying $50. I thought it was a very good deal if this is the kind of portion sizing they do on their regular menu, which is quite pricey I would be disappointed. Dessert was where it got really interesting cause my chocolate espresso cake was super good. His green tea ice cream was good but the "mochi" on the side was disgusting. The flavor was just so weird. My boyfriend said the flavor made more sense. If you ate it with a green tea ice cream I think either way it was disgusting. I actually spit out the piece that I tried and the texture was horrible. It was sandy and crumbly in your mouth, which is not what mochi is supposed to feel like and I can't believe that a restaurant of this quality would allow something like this to go out to diners. With that being said me and my boyfriend would still like to come back and try the restaurant again because most of it was a very pleasant experience and the history behind it is very fun.

Absolutely charming and historic restaurant off the GW Parkway in Alexandria close to Mt Vernon. Delicious crab cakes and excellent service. Can't wait to go back.

I've been coming to Cedar Knoll for about 9 years. The staff is always friendly, they remember my wife and I whenever we visit, and the rotating menu is always fun and different. They have continually made additions and alterations to the venue and it's nice seeing new things when we come in. Great view of the Potomac when available and nice atmosphere inside.

Went here for lunch on a Sunday. After reading reviews, we were a little nervous but we were pleasantly surprised. Should note, it's the same menu as dinner. Food was great and warm!

I went to Cedar Knoll for lunch (not brunch, which was made clear) last Sunday. We sat outside on the patio, which was great for the weather, and it's a beautiful setting. Our party of four had a bottle of rose (though I did have a delicious glass of Sancerre because I'm not a rose gal) and we shared some appetizers and then each got our own entrees. The food was good but the portions were small for the price and the service was beyond slow. The mini biscuits they give you to start and light and fluffy and I felt like I could have eaten 50 of them. We shared the oysters rockefeller, the small bibb salad and the bacon wrapped scallops. Again, they were all good but small and the oysters and scallops were an uneven count which is always tricky in a group of four. For our entrees, two of us had the lobster and scallop risotto and the other two had the crab cakes. My friends liked that the crab cakes were all crab with no filler and the risotto was rich and flavorful. But the service was just off. We waited a very long time to order. Then an even longer time to get our appetizers. And then I didn't think we could wait any longer for our entrees but we sure did. We also had to continually ask for more water. Tables around us kept coming and receiving our food and yet we had nothing. We sat down at 12:30 and left at 3:00pm. I could see that this might be a good spot for an event or special occasion but it just didn't hit the spot for me.

This is a very average restaurant set on a pretty plot of land. We tried a good deal of the menu and it was average at best. I did find all their fried selections were not good - the calamari was over battered with barely any octopus. The fritters were not fritters. My rockfish was good, I will say. The crab cakes were small and my husband said they seemed like a Costco knockoff. The lemon cake was pretty good. If dining in a historic colonial home on a scenic plot of land is your thing then give this place a whirl.

grossly overpriced, and not good food. Tiny crab cake for the price. Terrible service. Good ambience.

Overall very bad experience. Entrees took an hour to come out. Calamari was very tough. Filet was tough and lacked flavor. Crab cakes very small for price and lacked flavor. The food was over priced and frankly not good. The only saving grace was another server, not our server, noticed how long our food was taking and that we were getting increasingly upset. She offered us a discount on our bill and sincerely apologized for our experience. We will not be returning.

The building itself is charming and I really liked all of the colonial decor inside. Lie waited was friendly when taking our orders but then we didn't see much of him for the next 45 minutes while we waited for our food to come out. There was no comment on when the food would be coming or apologies for the delays. We had a party of five and only two of the five really liked their meal. For the price of our meals I wouldn't recommend going back here.

Underwhelming Thanksgiving.(Posting here as Open Table reviews are not functioning...ongoing "server problems)We had high hopes for this meal, as food at Cedar Knoll has been very good in the past. Unfortunately, the restaurant seems to have accepted more covers than wait staff could handle. For example, in our section of the restaurant there was only a single server for ten tables. This logistics problem led to food being delivered cold, or after considerable delay. Coffee and dessert were served 45 minutes after requested. I'm sure the food would have been tasty if served hot and on time. Unfortunately, as it was, this was a sub-par meal at considerable expense. Not the server's fault; I know they are dependent on the kitchen. This restaurant failed to synchronize properly and that's on the general manager and/or chef. Additionally a 23 percent gratuity was automatically included in the bill. Maybe this was in the fine print of my reservation, but it was another regrettable part of the experience, especially since I had already held the reservation with a credit card. Cedar Knoll seems to be fine for the occasional fine dining meal, but they ought to completely rethink their holiday offerings. The single server in the Lafayette Room did an outstanding job with the awful managerial and kitchen fiasco. She was badly overworked, yet cheerful. I did not begrudge her the baked in 23 percent tip. I just hope she received all of it. No one else in the restaurant should have gotten a penny.