Around Town

Kirby Club pushes back opening in Clarendon, now aiming for spring 2024

The future location of Kirby Club, moving into the former home of IOTA Club in Clarendon (photo via Google Maps)

A buzzy new Mediterranean restaurant in Clarendon has pushed back its opening again.

Kirby Club, which previously was set to be called Tawle, is now aiming for a March 2024 opening in the former IOTA Club space at 2832 Wilson Blvd, a restaurant spokesperson confirmed to ARLnow.

When it was first announced in May 2022 that a casual kebab-centric restaurant was coming to Clarendon, the hope was to open in about a year. That was later moved back to fall 2023. But, now, the eatery is looking at serving starting in early spring of next year.

No specific reason was given for the push.

“The restaurant plans are moving along as planned, just taking more time than originally planned,” a restaurant spokesperson told ARLnow.

Kirby Club comes from award-winning restaurateur Rose Previte, who recently won a RAMMY award for her work with D.C.’s Compass Rose and Maydan.

This will be the second location of the Eastern Mediterranean-inspired casual restaurant, with the other opening in Mosaic District late last year to plenty of fanfare and has received a number of accolades ever since.

A restaurant spokesperson said that diners should expect Clarendon’s Kirby Club to be “similar” to the Mosaic District location.

In an interview last year, Previte told ARLnow that she was excited to open in Clarendon because she had attended school at nearby George Mason University’s Schar School of Policy and Government and also had worked for Arlington Economic Development as part of a fellowship. While going to school and working, she often went out to Clarendon restaurants and bars.

“I maybe had too much fun in Clarendon because I was 25,” she said at the time. “So, to think we are going to have a bar and restaurant there is very cool.”