The last weekend to enjoy fresh pizza and drinks from a new restaurant on the Potomac River is coming up.
Catboat Pizza Bar’s last planned day of service is this Saturday, co-owner Max Zuckerman told ARLnow. The seasonal waterfront pizzeria first opened on Memorial Day weekend at 1 Marina Drive in Alexandria, with spacious, all-outdoor seating and views from the Washington Sailing Marina.
With lawn games and alcoholic beverages, the new restaurant became something of a Northern Virginia weekend destination over the warm weather months, hosting private events and an Independence Day bash with a DJ and snow cones.
“The idea is to facilitate people having a good time and connecting with each other through food and drink and customer service,” Zuckerman said. “At the marina specifically, it also is about taking advantage of all of these beautiful resources that we have in the D.C. area.”
Catboat plans to reopen in the spring, following the off-season. It has been promised at least two more seasons on the marina, with plans for a lease renewal with the property’s operator on the horizon.
With an outdoor kitchen and pizza oven, Catboat serves a straightforward menu of pizza, Italian sandwiches and caesar salad, accompanied by some light snacks and ice cream. The drink menu includes beers, seltzers, boozy slushies and wine by the glass or bottle.
The marina location, adjacent the Mount Vernon Trail, brings in many patrons who jog, walk, bike or kayak nearby.
“I think people just kind of go as a destination, because they know it’s kind of a nice place to hang out,” Zuckerman said. “There’s beautiful views of the city and it’s also really fun to watch the airplanes coming in and out of DCA, right there.”
Catboat initially opened with Saturday and Sunday hours, but customer demand led Zuckerman to expand to Thursdays and Fridays as well — with hours potentially expanding more next season.
The restaurant is the first Northern Virginia venture from the same team behind the D.C. businesses Sonny’s Pizza, Doubles, No Kisses and Bar Americano.
In the off-season, the team will brainstorm ways to improve the space, possibly through some additional seating and televisions. Zuckerman eventually hopes to make the venue more weatherproof and usable throughout the entire year.
While the marina itself is on National Parks Service land, Zuckerman’s team brought Catboat to life through a partnership with Guest Services, which operates the venue.
“Through that relationship, we got this opportunity to kind of revitalize this space,” Zuckerman said. “We kind of jumped at the opportunity, because it seemed cool to be out on the water, and to bring the food, beverage, customer service experience that we like to provide in D.C. at our other places, to Virginia and reach [a] new audience.”
