New Eatery Worries GPS Is Leading Customers Astray

A new restaurant in the far southeastern corner of Arlington is worried that its customers are having a hard time finding it due to outdated GPS data.

Melody Tavern is located at 3650 S. Glebe Road, near Potomac Yard — but mapping software and GPS systems often interpret the address incorrectly. For instance, Google Maps will steer users to a vacant lot several blocks away.

The restaurant recommends that customers use the address 3600 S. Glebe Road, instead, when using navigation systems. That address seems to work in most cases.

The 150+ seat, 6,700 square foot restaurant, which opened with a series of food tastings and soft openings earlier this month, is facing another challenge: it’s barely visible from the street.

“Much of its outdoor signage is difficult to see or obscured by trees,” a press release acknowledged. Still, owner Michel Daley says that the people who do finally find Melody Tavern are becoming loyal fans of the restaurant’s “creative American cuisine, warm and intimate atmosphere and ‘40s style jazz and blues music.”

“We think of ourselves as a ‘hidden jewel,'” Daley said. “We are definitely a destination place, but people do find us, and they are being drawn in by our good, reasonably-priced food. We offer plenty of free parking, and our application to offer live music is being processed.”

Daley hopes to be able to host live jazz and blues acts once his live entertainment application works its way through the Arlington County approval process.