Hiya, this is my 1st post. I just wanted a bit of help as I dont know much about Washington. Myself and my boyf are visiting Washington for a few days over Valentines and we wanted to have a nice night out.We have found that there is a Medieval Times near Washington but I cant find any websites to help me find out how far it is from the city centre. Also if anybody has any suggestions on places in the city to go on Valentines, I would really appreciate any advice.
Thanks.

ManchesterGirl --

Washington DC is FULL of wonderful restaurants that fit every budget and taste. It would be a shame to bypass a great opportunity for some unique dining experiences in lieu of a chain like Medieval Times, although I fully appreciate that we all have our own opinions about "nice" nights out. Unfortunately for you, Medieval Times is in Hanover Maryland -- about 32 miles or so from downtown DC and not very convenient at all. If you do not have a car (and I would recommend that you NOT get one), you would pay a fortune in cab fare to get there and back.

It would help to know where you're staying and what your budget and cuisine is for your evening out. You might want to consult a few websites for help in planning your restaurant choices. My favorites for planning are www.opentable.com and www.washingtonian.com which has a full section dedicated to restaurants by location, cuisine, etc. and will even allow you to look at "the very best" and the "best bargain."

Uh, did you google it? If it exists, it should come RIGHT up. Never heard of a Medieval Times place anywhere near DC!?!

For food restaurants, try chowhounds.com. Tons of info there. I mean, you haven't told us your budget for Valentines day, what kind of food you're looking for. There's hundreds of great restaurants in this area! How much did you want to spend and what kind of food?

Good luck,
Steve R
Maryland

One more thing... For calculating distances (and directions) between two points, check out:

www.mapquest.com/directions

Where are you staying in D.C.? There are so many romantic nice restaurants. Are you looking for primarily a show w/dinner attached (I see you mentioned Medeival Times) or will you be willing to go w/just a great meal in a romantic place and do something after that? How old are you all (this will give us a frame of reference for what you might like, young, middle aged, just generally) and what food do you like/dislike? Valentines is a bad night, everything will be crowded, but at least it is a MOnday night so maybe most people will be going out over the weekend to celebrate. Give us more info and where you are staying and we can give you some options.

I believe the Medieval Times is right near Arundel Mills Mall. If you want to go, get a car for a day and do it. It's not that hard. Take the Metro to National and do a one-day rental. MT is not my bag, but don't let snobs tell you what to like. It's not far off I-95 between DC and Baltimore.

For a nice romantic restaurant, try 1789 in Georgetown.

Repete has a great suggestion for renting a car if you want to go to MT. The cab fare would be ridiculously high, but a one day rental would be cheaper. You can either pick up a rental at National as Repete suggested, or you can also pick cars up in DC proper for day-long rentals. You can check www.zipcar.com for more info on a one day rental. For a 1 day rental, prices average around $49 - $59 for one day. That price *might* be higher than picking a car up at the airport, but it may take you less time to pick up and drop off - you will definitely pay for the convenience.

My advice is skip Medieval Times and do a nice restaurant - DC really is bustling with nice eats. Senso Sesto, Red Sage, Georgia Browns, 1789, Kinkead's, Bacchus, DC Coast, Vidalia. All very good and nice experiences.

Hiya everyone. I wanted to thank you all for you quick and informative replies. I think we will give Medieval Times miss as I didnt know it was so far from town plus we wont be able to rent a car so it would cost too much.
Just to answer you guys, we are staying at Best Western New Hampshire at 1121 New Hampshire Ave NW. We don't mind spending a bit on the meal as it is a Valentines treat, maybe about $50 each or if there is entertainment etc a bit more. I'm going to look into all the sites that have been suggested so if anyone has anymore places for me to look at, I'd appreciate it.
One other thing, we do plan to go to Georgetown at least one day on the trip, do you locals think spending the afternoon/evening in Georgetown would be a good idea for Valentines? Is there much there?
Anyway, thanks for all your help, bye for now.

One other little thing, as for what food, my boyf is very picky so I think our best bet would be American restaurants. He wont eat anything spicy so Indian, Mexican etc is out! I am a bit of a veggie so any suggestions, pls!?!

Georgetown is packed full of cool shops, restaurants, and bars and would be a very fun way to spend an afternoon or an evening. For "American" food in G'town, I'd suggest: Daily Grill (moderate prices), J Pauls, Five Guys Burger and Fries (cheap -- but highly rated for a good burger; think they have veggie burgers). Other non-G'town restaurants that I also like (and are more moderately priced) are Two Amy's (best pizza - authentic Napoli style), Chef Geoff's (downtown location), 15 Ria, Firefly, Ardeo (advertises a Valentine's menu) or 701 Restaurant (short walk from Chinatown).

* 701 Restaurant has live piano music which is nice. I had a wonderful gnocchi with spinach and wild mushrooms there on Fri for $15.
* Chef Geoff's has a special 3 course fixed price menu if you go before 6:30. The downtown location is also directly across the street from the Warner theater, so you could check online to see if there is a performance you would like to catch.
* 15 Ria and Ardeo are both showing Valentine's specials, but don't yet have the menu online.

I also am mostly vegetarian so the places above have at least one tasty veggie entree you could eat. Unfortunately, it has been my experience that many fixed Valentine's menus will not cater to vegetarians, but it has also been my experience that many restaurants will accomodate you if you ask in advance.

You can easily eat for $50 per person, but that price will most likely not include drinks or a bottle of wine. Still, you should have plenty of options within your price range.

Another dinner/entertainment option: Marcel's french/flemish restaurant (expensive) has a theater menun ($48 per person). You eat your first 2 courses, then they take you via private car ($5 round trip) to the Kennedy Center (very close) for your show (see online for shows/times), then bring you back to Marcel's for your dessert.

Finally -- do you like fondue? There is a chain called Melting Pot with a location in DC...you can have a multi-course fondue meal including cheese, main entree (veggies or meat), followed by dessert fondue.

Just a note:

It's chowhound.com NOT chowhounds.com - I tried the later and got a bunch of popups and a note asking me if I wanted to change my default home page - ugh, I hate that!

Hi MG - just a note - we made reservations for Sunday (day before V-day) a few weeks ago, and had a hard time getting in anywhere. And we're going Sunday because everything was already full on V-day itself. We ended up booking a nice place in Old Town Alexandria (it's a few miles from where I live), instead of somewhere in DC.

At this point, you may have to pick a more casual place because many of the popular restaurants listed here will be full already.

One place to try is www.opentable.com to look for reservations to a variety of restaurants.

Good luck, and welcome to DC.

Karen

Thanks a lot for the tip kaudrey, I'm gonna try to reserve a table online later.
I'm really looking forward to the trip and what to thank everyone for their brilliant advice, hope you all have a lovely Valentines Day!