Gaylord National, MD - restaurants??

ge0rgette2

DIS Veteran
Joined
Feb 1, 2009
Restaurants nearby with decent family food?

We are staying over the Christmas holiday's for 2 nights, would like suggestions of breakfast, brunch and/or dinner places within a reasonable price range... plus decent food ;)

Thanks!!
:thumbsup2
 
I was there for a conference. There are a few restauants in the area, but from what I was told you do not want to venture too far from hotel. So either water taxi (which is time consuming) or walk a few blocks. I ate at Cadillac ranch (standard fare). There was a Mexican and also a Thai place that looked good. It is sort of an upscale area so more trendy places to eat
 
We loved the Mexican restaurant there Rosa Mexicano. They make guacamole right at your table. That was the only place we tried when we were there a few years ago but there are plenty to choose from right outside the hotel.
 
Rosa Mexicana has great guacamole made tableside. That's in the area of the Gaylord.

Best restaurants would be over in Alexandria after taking the water taxi - much more variety and not all are priced for tourism as most of those that are around the Gaylord.
 


Have you downloaded the National Harbor Dining guide? www.nationalharbor.com/dining

We ate and enjoyed pizza at Fiorella's, cupcakes at Cakelove, thai food at Thai Pavillion, and burgers at the sports bar in the Gaylord Nat'l Hotel. If you act quickly living social has a Ketchup deal. Ketchup is fancy hamburgers and other stuff. Anyway it is purchase a $25 voucher and spend up to $50 at Ketchup.

We found the Gaylord's breakfast options limited to muffins/rolls at the coffee place or expensive sit-down breakfast at the italian market. We didn't find any restaurants open for breakfast in the Nat'l Harbor shopping area.

Have fun...
 
Thanks.

Why not venture far from the hotel?

We are staying 2 nights? Would u suggest bringing snacks etc. to the room
No local pizza? If we park at the hotel can we leave and come back? Its all
Day parking?

We will be there for the ICE show.

Whats living social? The Ketchup is a good place to eat. Reasonable?
 
Thanks.

Why not venture far from the hotel?

We are staying 2 nights? Would u suggest bringing snacks etc. to the room
No local pizza? If we park at the hotel can we leave and come back? Its all
Day parking?

We will be there for the ICE show.

Whats living social? The Ketchup is a good place to eat. Reasonable?

Not sure what your idea of reasonable is, lol. Living Social is the sister site to groupon. You purchase a voucher and then redeem it at the restaurant (or whatever the voucher is for.) I've used both living social and groupon with great success.
 


Lmao@reasonable. Being from NY i guess i pay at least $10. For a good diner
burger lol :-)

I will have a look at living social. I,too, have had great success with
groupon.

I guess I am a bit taken back by the comment of not leaving the area
 
National Harbor is in Prince George's County, the most affluent predominantly African American county in the country. Like most areas, there are parts that are nicer and safer than others, but because it's in an area where most people are black, the dangers tend to get exaggerated. The National Harbor area itself is not at all unsafe, but there are people who hear PG and get worried.

National Harbor is also kind of odd in that it's not part of a larger area. If you were to somehow wander away from National Harbor you'd find yourself in a field, or on a highway or in some other area that is clearly not made for pedestrians. Except of course you wouldn't actually do that, because you'd come to the end of the nicely lit sidewalk and realize you should turn around.

I agree that if you decided to leave National Harbor (which is beautiful but kind of sterile, I kept telling my kid it was like being in a Mars Colony) for food, going to Alexandria is a great choice. If you drove off from National Harbor into PG county looking for restaurants, you'd be in a pretty suburban area, not nearly as touristy or fun as Alexandria which is an area rich with history.
 
I agree that if you decided to leave National Harbor (which is beautiful but kind of sterile, I kept telling my kid it was like being in a Mars Colony) for food, going to Alexandria is a great choice. If you drove off from National Harbor into PG county looking for restaurants, you'd be in a pretty suburban area, not nearly as touristy or fun as Alexandria which is an area rich with history.


And also not in the better area of PG County.
 
We don't plan on walking around --- we are staying 2 nights at the Gaylord, for shows, relaxation, etc. I was just curious what was around there since we've never been.

We have been to D.C. along with Alexandria and Arlington...

I rec'd a great deal per night at the Gaylord that's why I booked it. I can cancel.

I could stay in Alexandria instead and do the ICE show for my daughter on Christmas day... Does that sound better?

It seems that reviews of the Gaylord are great, yes, it's a convention center.

I really don't plan on walking around, weather in December might be icky, who knows..

As I said, we plan on staying 2 nights, then heading to Hershey PA or Williamsburg for some Christmas lights, but haven't found any hotels that are decent in Williamsburg yet.
 
We don't plan on walking around --- we are staying 2 nights at the Gaylord, for shows, relaxation, etc. I was just curious what was around there since we've never been.

We have been to D.C. along with Alexandria and Arlington...

I rec'd a great deal per night at the Gaylord that's why I booked it. I can cancel.

I could stay in Alexandria instead and do the ICE show for my daughter on Christmas day... Does that sound better?

It seems that reviews of the Gaylord are great, yes, it's a convention center.

I really don't plan on walking around, weather in December might be icky, who knows..

As I said, we plan on staying 2 nights, then heading to Hershey PA or Williamsburg for some Christmas lights, but haven't found any hotels that are decent in Williamsburg yet.

The Gaylord is lovely around Christmas time. I was there 3 years ago (did not stay, just visited) but the decorations were amazing. I think you should definitely stay there. There are places within walking distance and National Harbor is extremely safe. There is no real reason to go outside the immediate neighborhood. Have fun.

There is an Italian place there (Bond something....) which I thought was very nice. Many people like Fiorella Pizza (I don't, but I'm in the minority apparently).
 
We don't plan on walking around --- we are staying 2 nights at the Gaylord, for shows, relaxation, etc. I was just curious what was around there since we've never been.

We have been to D.C. along with Alexandria and Arlington...

I rec'd a great deal per night at the Gaylord that's why I booked it. I can cancel.

I could stay in Alexandria instead and do the ICE show for my daughter on Christmas day... Does that sound better?

It seems that reviews of the Gaylord are great, yes, it's a convention center.

I really don't plan on walking around, weather in December might be icky, who knows..

As I said, we plan on staying 2 nights, then heading to Hershey PA or Williamsburg for some Christmas lights, but haven't found any hotels that are decent in Williamsburg yet.

Are you planning to just stay at the harbor for your two days? There is alot to do and just relax at the Gaylord. Several choices for places to eat and I don't think anything is super expensive but the really nice places in the Gaylord. You can take the water taxi over to Old Town and it's gorgeous and decorated there too with more eating choices.

The National Harbor has a website with all the restaurants and activities. Old Town Alexandria also has an updated website with more information.

I would not leave my car in Prince George County like the metro area and walk around. Frankly there is nothing you want to see around outside the Harbor.
 
We are planning to arrive Christmas Eve thru that Wednesday. See the ICE show on Christmas Day... staying 2 nights and then traveling off somewhere else for another 2-3 nights.

Originally, we had plans on doing the ICE show at the Opryland Gaylord location and then off to Dollywood.. then I saw that National Harbor had the same show, closer to home..

I'm still undecided ;) I was just looking at the Opryland location and it's about $40.00 per night more, but might give us a few more restaurant options, etc... then we can head off to Dollywood.

OMG, I better make up my mind :D :D
 
We are planning to arrive Christmas Eve thru that Wednesday. See the ICE show on Christmas Day... staying 2 nights and then traveling off somewhere else for another 2-3 nights.

Originally, we had plans on doing the ICE show at the Opryland Gaylord location and then off to Dollywood.. then I saw that National Harbor had the same show, closer to home..

I'm still undecided ;) I was just looking at the Opryland location and it's about $40.00 per night more, but might give us a few more restaurant options, etc... then we can head off to Dollywood.

OMG, I better make up my mind :D :D

There is no way I'd be traveling along that far in December with the unpredictable weather that happens in the winter. I would stick with things closer to home personally. It is not fun to be stranded or trying to find something to eat on Christmas when everything is closed in nowhere town.
 
We've traveled further in winter months, drove from NY to Orlando 2 years ago over Christmas, hit a major snow storm, was our choice to leave in the snowstorm, it was a record high one too! and just stopped over in a hotel. Which we normally do anyways, but we had too this time.

We don't mind traveling at all over winter months.

I'd rather drive than fly in winter storms ;)
 
We stayed in National Harbor for our anniversary a couple years ago. We had lunch at Ketchup which was pretty good. I had the best grilled cheese sandwich I've ever had and they had the best sweet potato fries. Then we had dinner at Bond 45 the Italian steakhouse and it was wonderful. We stayed at the Hyatt which is right near the Gaylord and everything was easily walkable. We checked out the shops and tasted some wines at the wine bar down the street. It was a fun weekend.
 
There are a bunch of places to eat IN the hotel. We went to see the decorations a few years ago and had dinner in the hotel. I forget which restaurant but we got free cotton candy for dessert. :)
 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!





Latest posts


Top