Around Town

Carlyle restaurant ‘Whiskey & Oyster’ plans to close permanently at the end of the month

By James Cullum
Whiskey and Oyster is closing at the end of February at 301 John Carlyle Street (via Whiskey and Oyster/Facebook)

After nearly seven years in business, Whiskey & Oyster is set to close at the end of the month.

“Mango” Mike Anderson of the Homegrown Restaurant Group told ALXnow he did not renew his lease at 301 John Carlyle Street. The restaurant’s last day is Saturday, Feb. 28.

“I love Carlyle, and Carlyle has been good to us,” Anderson said. “Of all our places it was the best looking of the joints, by far. We poured two years into the build-up, and there were a lot of tears when I made the announcement to staff a couple weeks ago.”

Anderson cited ongoing financial struggles since the Covid-19 pandemic that he said the restaurant did not recover from.

Most of the Whiskey & Oyster staff have been moved to HRG’s other Carlyle-area restaurants Tequila & Taco and Sweet Fire Donna’s, Anderson said. Gift certificates to Whiskey & Oyster can also be redeemed at these restaurants.

“Since 1979, we’ve had 15 different restaurants in the City of Alexandria,” Anderson said in a social media announcement with his wife, Donna. “Some of them have been great, some of them have been not so great, but this has been another chapter in our restaurant life in Alexandria, and we’re just going to move on.”

HRG also owns Pork Barrel BBQ and Holy Cow at 2312 Mount Vernon Avenue in Del Ray, as well as a soon-to-reopen pop-up bar.

Photo via Whiskey & Oyster/Facebook 

About the Author

  • Reporter James Cullum has spent nearly 20 years covering Northern Virginia. He began working with ALXnow in 2020, and has covered every story under the sun for the publication, from investigative stories to features and photo galleries. His work includes coverage of national and international situations, as well as from the White House, Capitol, Pentagon, Supreme Court and State Department. He's covered protests and riots throughout the U.S. (including the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol), in addition to earthquake-ridden Haiti, Western Sahara in North Africa and war-torn South Sudan. He has photographed presidents and other world leaders, celebrities and famous musicians, and excels under pressure.