In mid-August, a "Coming Soon" banner for Ted's Bulletin hung on construction hoarding at Carlyle Crossing. A matching banner for Honeymoon hung nearby. A spokesperson for Catalogue, the Washington hospitality group behind both restaurants, told The Alexandria Brief the opening is projected for "late fall." Neither brand's website gave a date.
If you live in Carlyle or Eisenhower Valley, you know the feeling of walking past those banners. You've probably also noticed that this year's real changes to everyday life along Eisenhower Avenue didn't come from Mandeville Lane. They came from a rebuilt city park, a renovated pie shop at the western end of the avenue, and a short list of businesses and events that were already running while the hoarding stayed up.
A banner that has outlasted several opening targets
The restaurant space on Mandeville Lane has a long paper trail. Here it is in order, based on The Alexandria Brief's August account and later coverage:
- July 2022: Ted's Bulletin was announced for Carlyle Crossing. It was paired with Sidekick Bakery, and the two were to share a kitchen across roughly 7,500 square feet, with an opening planned for 2023.
- Later: The plan changed and Honeymoon took the bakery's space. Sidekick's website now lists only its Ballston location.
- Early 2025: Catalogue expected the chicken restaurant to open in late 2025 or early 2026.
- July 2026: The Zebra reported that Honeymoon Chicken planned its first Alexandria location at 2461 Mandeville Lane in 2026, with no official opening date yet.
- August 2026: The projection became "late fall" for both restaurants. Ted's lists 2471 Mandeville Lane as its address.
- Oct. 5, 2026: The Zebra introduced the Carlyle team and still described the restaurant as coming.
So these restaurants have been on the way for close to four years, inside a development that Stonebridge finished in late 2021. Carlyle Crossing has more than 700 apartments and about a quarter-million square feet of restaurant and retail space, within walking distance of the Eisenhower Avenue Metro station. As of this week, the only date anyone has offered is a season.
What actually reopened this year sits at the western end of Eisenhower Avenue
Joseph Hensley Park, at 4200 Eisenhower Avenue, closed for renovations in November 2023. Its amenities reopened to the public in April 2026, and in July the city's recreation department announced the park had fully reopened. ALXnow's report lists what you'll find there now:
- a synthetic turf upper diamond field and a full-size natural turf softball field on the lower level
- new LED field lighting, scoreboards, dugouts, spectator seating and batting cages
- a replacement picnic pavilion and bathhouse, plus a new playground
- a flexible court and event space for community programming
- expanded parking and ADA-accessible paths
You can now book the picnic areas through the city's online reservation system. Reservations opened Aug. 1, or you can book in person at the Lee Center at 1108 Jefferson Street. For a birthday party or team gathering in the cooler months, that pavilion is one of the newest bookable spaces in this part of the city.
Farther west on the same avenue, Kiwi Kuisine Pie Shop at 4548 Eisenhower Avenue announced it would reopen its renovated seating area on Oct. 10. It also added 8 a.m. opening hours, coffee and hot breakfast pies, ALXnow reported. On this stretch, a sit-down breakfast with coffee is exactly what the Mandeville Lane banners have been promising, and here it comes from a small pie shop.
What Carlyle Crossing already runs on
The east end of the avenue has plenty of daily life. It just comes from tenants that opened earlier. According to Carlyle Crossing's retail directory, the development's food options are Wegmans and Atlas Brew Works, with Andy's Pizza, the family-owned DMV pizza chain, operating inside the brewery. Atlas opened in the Carlyle neighborhood in June 2024, according to Visit Alexandria, and it was the D.C. brewery's first venture into Virginia. For two-plus years, a brewery with a pizza counter has been the closest thing to a neighborhood restaurant at Carlyle Crossing.
The directory also lists YogaSix, Salon Lofts and BASH boxing-and-conditioning classes. These tenants also feed the plaza calendar. In September, YogaSix South Alexandria led a free outdoor "Restore with Sound" session as part of Carlyle Crossing's Wellness Wednesdays. The Summer Concert Series filled Carlyle Crossing Plaza from June 11 through Sept. 17. The third annual Rock The Ave: Twilight Edition was scheduled for Oct. 9 at 2495 Mandeville Lane, with live music, local food and local businesses.
Hoffman Town Center, next door, lost a longtime restaurant at the end of summer. Rus Uz closed at 210 Hoffman Street on Aug. 31 when its lease ended, after opening there in 2018. Its Arlington location at 1000 N. Randolph Street and its D.C. location remain open. Owner Ismoil Rakhmatullaev told ALXnow that "AMC has been a fantastic landlord" and thanked the Alexandria community for "the many wonderful memories we have shared." Put that closure next to the Mandeville Lane delays and the sit-down options right around the Eisenhower Avenue Metro station got thinner this fall before they get thicker.
The calendar from here, in order
This is what's dated, and what isn't, from now into winter:
- Saturday, Oct. 31, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.: Alexandria Fall-O-Ween at John Carlyle Square Park, with crafts, treats, a beer garden and family activities, according to The Carlyle Council's event listing. The event also appears on the city's approved special events list.
- Late fall, no date set: Ted's Bulletin and Honeymoon at Carlyle Crossing.
- Saturday, Dec. 12, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.: The Old Town Alexandria Christmas Market & Holiday Craft Show, also at John Carlyle Square Park, with food, beverages, carolers and holiday crafts, per The Carlyle Council's listing.
- Winter 2026, planned: The city's Old Cameron Run Trail project proposes a 0.53-mile shared-use path between Hooffs Run Drive and South Payne Street, plus a further 0.25-mile section that depends on redevelopment. The city lists construction as not started and planned for winter 2026.
Both firm dates on this list are Saturdays in the same park, six weeks apart. The restaurant opening and the trail start are still described only by season.
What changes when the doors finally open
Once they open, these two restaurants would add something Carlyle Crossing's directory doesn't have today, which is full meals from breakfast through dinner. The Zebra describes the Ted's menu as scratch-made breakfast served all day, burgers, dinner entrées and seasonal dishes, plus homemade tarts, hand-spun shakes and craft cocktails. This would be the chain's ninth location and its first in Alexandria.
The people running it live nearby. Owner Nick Salis, General Manager Cecil Coleman and Executive Chef Alan Adenan are all Alexandria residents. The team told The Zebra, "As Alexandria residents, we have dreamed of bringing Ted's Bulletin to our neighborhood for a long time."
Honeymoon comes with a track record. It opened in Petworth in January 2022, has won a Michelin Bib Gourmand three times, and Alexandria would be its second location. Fried chicken that has earned that kind of recognition will be a short walk from the Eisenhower Avenue Metro station.
Until the hoarding comes down, the fall plan along Eisenhower Avenue is already set. You can book a picnic table at Hensley Park, have breakfast pie and coffee at Kiwi Kuisine from 8 a.m., get pizza at Atlas, and spend two Saturdays at John Carlyle Square Park.
New restaurants, rebuilt parks and a planned trail all change how a block feels day to day. They also change what buyers notice when they tour homes near Eisenhower Avenue. If you own in Carlyle or Eisenhower Valley and want to know which updates to your own home are worth making before you sell, reach out to Derek Mathew Cole. We'll walk your property together and talk through the improvements that pay off here. Schedule a free consultation.
