Josephine Brasserie & Bar Reviews

We had our Rehearsal Dinner at Columbia Firehouse the night before our wedding in Old Town Alexandria and it was a truly wonderful experience. We rented out both the Chop House and the Wine Room, which was perfect for our 40 guests. The Wine Room was the perfect spot for guests to mingle for a "cocktail hour" before dinner and it was so convenient to have a bar in the space too. The guests loved that they could be up in the Wine Room or sitting down at the tables in the Chop House room - it was a great way to break up the space. Emily Saccone was also such a pleasure to work with throughout the entire planning process - she was super friendly, responsive, and flexible and made everything so simple! Overall, the setup was perfect for our event, the food was absolutely delicious and everyone loved the drinks/our signature drink option and the custom printed menus at the bar and for the dinner were such a nice touch as well. We received a TON of compliments from our friends and family about the space and the staff working that night was so helpful. I would highly recommend this venue to anyone for a rehearsal dinner or private event!

Choosing Columbia Firehouse as our reception venue was easily the best decision we made during the entire planning process. We were looking for a venue with great food (check, we are regular patrons here for brunch and dinner), great beer selections (check, they value local breweries and have great selections in can and on tap), that could play music on an ipod and let us play our own live music if we wanted (CHECK!) Emily and Sarah were incredibly helpful from the start of the process to the end, making sure we had everything we needed, meticulously going over details and options. Emily was especially helpful day-of by going ABOVE AND BEYOND and crafted this stunning dessert bar for our guests. Going with Columbia Firehouse means you have access to other excellent Neighborhood Restaurant Group vendors like Buzz Bakeshop and Bluejacket, which was another major selling point for us. Everything was in one place and so well taken care of, even the Chef made us feel like a part of the family. Emily also did a super thoughtful instagram story all about our event with personal details which was so lovely to review the next morning to be reminded of how great the evening was. I'd go back to Emily, Sarah, and the whole Columbia Firehouse family for any of my big party needs in the future.

Final note:
The tasting that we did with Columbia Firehouse was out of this world. We were worried because we were told the tasting would not be "traditional" that we'd have to pay through the nose just to try all the dishes before making a final selection -- this was NOT the case. We paid a nominal fee to try a bunch of different dishes that we could pick out to try in advance, and were treated to an amazing dessert. The Chef came down and spoke with us about each dish, his thoughts behind preparing it the way he did, and we had a really engaging discussion about sustainable eating and the DC/MD/VA restaurant industry. This was really important to us and CF was our perfect fit.

This was a wedding rehearsal dinner and all at the Firehouse were extremely helpful. From the booking to the event planning everyone was very helpful with ideas and suggestions. Brian the Chef called us an offered another menu option the day before the event, this gave us confidence on how well it will go the next day.

The place was magnificent and the food was delicious, everyone enjoyed their meal and the place. The two waiters there were very attentive and flexible to last minute changing of seating arrangements. Everything went well and was more then we expected.

This place EXCEEDED our expectations for our small sized reception! We had about 45 close family and friends and the venue itself is gorgeous and historic, so no decorations needed. The staff were so accommodating and our guests could not stop gushing about the great and friendly service! The food was amazing and cooked to order (not buffet style, seated dinner instead). Also, we were charged based on consumption, so when 20 people bailed due to an unexpected snow storm, we weren't charged for people who didn't show up!! We would highly recommend Columbia Firehouse for your small wedding reception!!

Wonderful rehearsal dinner venue. This is one of our favorite restaurants and everyone loved the food and service

This was likely THE best decision we made in our whole wedding planning process. By selecting this venue: we forced ourselves to cut down on our guest count, which saved money. We avoided per head bar charges and instead paid per pour and had complete control over the bar contents, which saved us money. We didn't pay for plates for anyone who didn't show up, which saved us money. And we had the best venue coordinator and wait staff ever! Columbia has great food and awesome service. This venue is not just for rehearsal dinners. If you want to have a medium-small wedding, this is perfect for a reception. It's beautiful!

We had our 60+ person rehearsal dinner at the Firehouse and couldn't have asked for a better venue. They were flexible, professional, thorough and super nice. The food was outstanding and we continue to get positive feedback from our guests. CF is one of our favorite restaurants in Old Town and this experience just solidified that even more. Highly recommend.

I had a great experience at my rehearsal dinner at Columbia Firehouse. The private event coordinator was responsive (Stacia) and pleasant to work with. The food was good and the service was excellent. I had some concerns due to a recent poor review of the food at the restaurant and my concerns were addressed. I'd recommend this venue to anyone looking for a great rehearsal dinner venue with no room rental fee, priced on consumption (with a variety of menu choices), without a huge minimum.

Columbia Firehouse ended up being our fall back plan, but should have been our go-to from the start. We had trouble finding a venue to match the available dates with our church, and the ones we could find were asking a minimum of $14,000. Not a chance. Remembering this is one of our favorite family restaurants in town, we called and asked if they hosted weddings and if they were available. This was an easy and elegant choice, and our guests left extremely impressed by the ambiance, the food, and the entire experience. No crazy contract, no huge down payment, first rate and incredibly dedicated management and staff. The food and open bar were included in the cost - absolutely no surprises. This was everything I dreamed of and there isn't a single thing I would change.

When looking for a rehearsal dinner venue for ~25 guests for our DC/VA wedding, we had a hard time finding ample space in a restaurant with accessible cuisine that didn't require buying out the entire restaurant. We love the Neighborhood Restaurant Group's other restaurants, so we investigated this place, which doesn't get a lot of attention. The interior is really beautiful, and the areas available for private parties are generously sized. They are also much more private than "semi-private dining" sounds, and they worked extremely well for our group. There is a large dining space and a separate receiving space that leads into a private bar. The food options for the fixed menu are diverse, thoughtful, and accessible and the food we selected was excellently prepared. Food and beverage minimum for our party was around $3k. Service was excellent, and my husband's family (who were in contact with managers and staff in preparation) said that they were responsive and helpful. Only drawback: accessing the private dining spaces requires you to walk up or down stairs. This would make it difficult if you needed wheelchair accessibility for your party.

The Columbia Firehouse was the best possible place for our cocktail style wedding reception. The minute we walked in I knew that's where we'd have our wedding. The styling and decor is beautiful; we didn't want to spend time or money decorating the reception. We loved this place as is. Setting up a meeting to view it and discuss the details with Stacia was very easy. She was able to provide us with a calendar of the restaurants already booked dates so we could decide right away if we wanted to. In our final meeting a few weeks before the wedding we picked the menu (so happy to have craft beers!) and discussed the layout. They were very accommodating of our outside dessert set up (donut towers) and a couple of other things (having a water station with pitchers and glasses, swapping the lower level bar out for a coffee station halfway through the reception). At the last minute, Stacia was unable to be there on our big day so we were transferred to Daniel. I never even got to meet him, so I'm assuming that means things went smoothly for everyone! The bartenders and servers were also great; all of my guests were happy with their drinks. I love that we'll be able to come back to this place for dinner and always remember our wedding!

We selected Columbia Furehouse to host the rehearsal dinner and larger cocktail reception for my son’s wedding. We had hosted a similar event there four years earlier, and because we were so happy with that event, we didn’t even consider a different venue this time. The Old Town Alexandria location was perfect for out of town guests staying nearby and local family and friends. Sarah and Emily made planning easy and were very accommodating to meet our needs. We had dinner for a small group upstairs (they even provided a children’s menu for our little guests!) and then opened that space and the adjacent bar space for a cocktail party for a much larger group. We really appreciated Columbia Firehouse’s willingness to flip the dinner space to accommodate the follow-on reception — not easy for their staff, but perfect to meet our requirements. This was handled seamlessly — dinner guests went up a few steps to the bar area for coffee and dessert while the larger dining room was set up for the cocktail reception. The food and service were excellent and Sarah and Emily were extremely helpful in making appealing choices and selecting appropriate quantities. Only “wrinkle” was that our white wine choice was missing when we checked out the bar — another red had been substituted by mistake (reason for I star deduction for service and professionalism). It is obviously important for the host to check everything before guests arrive, and we caught and corrected this easily. The excellent service and setup for the rooms, bars and food stations facilitated great socializing! I was gratified that the bride’s and groom’s families and friends took advantage of the great opportunity to get to know new people and catch up with those they knew already. Great party and many compliments afterward! I recommend Columbia Firehouse without hesitation — they provide great food and service, and will work with you to customize arrangements to meet your needs.