Bobby Lee, the entrepreneur behind Mister Days who helped shape the D.C. area’s food and drink scene over decades of business ventures, has died.
Lee, 87, passed away over the weekend, his family confirmed to ARLnow. His death brings a final closure to Mister Days Sports Rock Cafe, a popular restaurant and bar that reopened in Clarendon in 2024 after more than four decades in Arlington and D.C.
“There is no Mister Days without Bobby Lee,” Lee’s daughter, Tiffany Lee, told ARLnow. “We’ll be laying that to rest with our father.”
A funeral service for Bobby Lee will be taking place at 2 p.m. on Thursday at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in D.C., to be followed by a funeral reception at Morton’s The Steakhouse. Family and friends are welcome.
“Charismatic, strategic, resilient and endlessly resourceful, Bobby was an extraordinary problem solver and a trusted counselor to family, friends, employees, and often people he had only just met,” his family wrote in an obituary. “He had an uncanny ability to look at a seemingly impossible situation and find a path through it.”
Tiffany Lee said she has been flooded with messages as news of her father’s passing has spread, many referring to him as a “legend” and sharing stories of how he mentored and helped launch numerous careers in the region’s hospitality industry.
Mister Days in Clarendon (staff photo by Jared Serre)
Although Bobby Lee had mostly retired, apart from Mister Days, he carried a lasting reputation throughout the D.C. area and beyond. He is remembered for his charm, kindness and wild parties like the Rally in the Alley, which used to attract crowds in the thousands to Mister Days’ former location in Dupont Circle.
“A lot of people are saying, he’s the last man standing of the original bar people from D.C., that made the bar culture what it was,” Tiffany Lee said.
Her brother, Rob Lee, recalled their father’s determination and the pride he took in helping others. Bobby Lee’s favorite saying in recent years, he said, was, “I’m not done yet.”
“His self-determination and inability to take no for an answer, or listen to somebody telling him it can’t be done that way, was incredible,” Rob Lee said.
Bobby Lee’s ventures included Captain Days Seafood Restaurant and Happy Days Diner in D.C., T-Bones in Bethesda and several other restaurants and beach bars in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Mister Days was particularly well-known.
“If I’m wearing a Mister Days shirt, I can travel across the country, and somebody will be like, ‘Mister Days? Oh my gosh, I met my wife there,’ or, ‘Oh, gosh, my Rally in the Alley,’” Tiffany Lee said.
The restaurant and bar began life in 1977 in Dupont Circle, then moved to Georgetown before settling in Clarendon in 2001. That location drew hundreds of visitors, some flying in from as far as California, when it closed in 2019, with Bobby Lee taking a step back to focus on his health.
“I used to like to take like an acorn and build an oak tree,” Lee told ARLnow at the time. “You get a little idea and it’s kind of crazy but it works.”
The sports bar reopened at 1101 N. Highland Street in November 2024, directly across the street from its former location.
When ARLnow spoke with Bobby Lee a few weeks ago, he mentioned that he was scaling back hours due to August being a slow month. The restaurant was closed as of late last month, according to a notice posted on the door, but Tiffany Lee said that her father was hoping to reopen this week.
The family is still sorting out the details, but does not plan to continue operating the restaurant.
“That’s an end of an era,” Tiffany Lee said.
In addition to his involvement with local restaurants and bars, Bobby Lee was heavily involved in the Arlington community. His daughter remembers putting together boxes with ingredients for donated Thanksgiving dinners, coordinating with the Clarendon House rehabilitation program on community trash pickup, and providing food to students who couldn’t afford meals over Christmas break.
He also helped launch the annual 9/11 memorial 5K near the Pentagon, and provided it with food every year, she said.
“The impact of Bobby Lee on the area, and the nightlife, and the way we celebrated with each other, I think was pretty profound,” Rob Lee said. “You see it in his businesses and the people that gravitated to him.”
Tiffany Lee said she has been deeply moved by over 150 messages she has received in the last few days — friends from around the country honoring the legacy of a man who touched countless lives.
“People just don’t stop talking about what he did for them,” she said.
