Ice House Cafe & Oyster Bar

My wife and I come here often for Happy Hour… especially the Oysters. (They have a great happy hour special on raw oysters).
There happy hour food is very good… Dan’s Burger, Romero sliders, Oysters… etc are quite tasty and make for a nice way to wait out rush hour or just to grab a quick bite. The bar area layout is a bit tight and chaotic (The business occupies an older building that appears to have been seperate areas morphed together). The building could use some renovation. The staff is friendly, and the drinks to accompany happy hour are good as well. They have a good beer selection that rotates some and do serve some of the local beers as well.
I don’t think we have done a full sit down dinner her yet, but will give that try sometime.
A good alternative to Reston town center areas and a go to for us. Recommended.

Met son and his fiancée for dinner. I have been coming here a few times a year since the early 1980’s. Ice House has consistantly been a very nice place for dinner. Service was very good and at 6pm the resturant was empty while the adjacent bar was full. We had two appetizers, 1 drink each, and three entrées for a slightly high but not unreasonable $ 136. Food was very good, Ahi tuna salad, steak salad, and sirloin. Street parking is getting tight but there is a good sized lot behind the restaurant building. A jazz group was starting as we left, and I thought the volume might be a bit too much for a fairly small place. Thats been an issue other visits; between the music and close tables on a full night, talking can be a challenge.
TLDR: Great place, pricey but worth it. Go.

Lucked out a picked a winner with this restaurant! Being that I was on my own for this trip I opted to sit in the bar which if you are alone or with a small group I would highly recommend. Dan the bartender makes you feel right at home. He made a great suggestion for the crab cake sandwich and was right on. The sandwich was amazing! Tasty crab cake, remoulade sauce, a crisp bun, and on Dans suggestion I added the delicious home made Coleslaw on it as well. Hands down one of the best seafood themed sandwiches I have ever tasted. I will definitely return!

I do hope they will take the dead animals down. GROSS. It’s depressing to those of us who are true animal lovers.
Otherwise, I do like this place. It is on the high priced side but I have always found the service to be wonderful. They may suggest a seating but you can always tell them you prefer another area.
I love the giant, meaty fresh oysters. Never a bad one. Always presented perfectly. I have tried several dishes and never had a bad experience.
I have always been treated very well. Sometimes the kitchen may get overwhelmed but that’s not unlike a lot of good restaurants that get packed. I appreciate the music. They obviously do very well and don’t have to offer it. So it’s very cool that they support local artists.
Speaking of supporting local artists, perhaps the animals on the wall can be replaced with art!

Everything was delicious, amazing, and I found myself craving more! The Oysters Oscar?! To die for! Th sauce paired perfectly with the oyster and in the perfect amount! They even we’re kind enough to let us sample their raw oysters without even asking because they saw how much we enjoyed them!

We had an afternoon reception at the Ice House that was perfect. Alice, the manager worked with us to develop a menu that suited our budget. The atmosphere, food & service were all great. Nice people, in a pleasant «village».

Good service. but a bit overpriced.
Taste wise can be improved though.
Good atmosphere.

Outstanding customer service!!! I worked in Herndon for over 12 years and I must say that I been missing out on this outstanding restaurant. Today my wife and I wanted to go out for lunch and wasn’t sure as to where to go so I did some research and found Ice House so I said sure lets give it a shot and boy were we impressed.
From the moment we arrived we were greeted by Henry, He escorted us to our table and told us he would be we us shortly. Henry was our waiter and I must say his customer service was outstanding. His knowledge of the menu and the way he treated us was just amazing. My wife ordered a salmon and I ordered a burger and both meals were delicious. The price on our meal were very reasonable.
Henry was very attentive, I’m a huge believer in customer service being the key to a business and Henry’s outstanding customer service has gained a customer. Thank you Henry for a job well done!

Went here for my boyfriend birthday dinner on Saturday night like around 7, first of all they had a live band and decided to put two tables together right in front of the band. Took the waiter 30mins to fucking bring us drinks! And when we order the clams they told us they didn’t have it. They also didn’t have burgers and it was on the menu. I also asked for a Mai tai and the waiter told me that the bartender said the fucking Mai tai takes to long so he can’t make it. WTF!!! Are you serious! And when I asked for a manger the waiter changed his story. Then decided to argue with us. We had a party of 6, like why!!! Would you argue and yell at your costumers! I have worked in the restaurant business for over ten years and I would never treat my costumers like we were treated tonight! My fallow Unilocalers out there be aware of this. Dan is a great bartender and he works in the afternoon but after 7pm ice house is a joke! They are every unprofessional and loud. I’m not racist but the waiter was a black male that proceed to argue with us and lie about what he had first said. They get ZERO STARS!

Love this place! Great atmosphere on Friday nights with the live music. Food and beer selection is great. Highly recommend!

We had a Groupon for Ice House, so we finally had the opportunity to try this place. I’ve been wanting to go there for years, but for some reason we never made it. It’s a very good, local seafood restaurant. The atmosphere is a little divey, but the service and food both were great. I made reservations for a Saturday night. When we arrived there were only about 6 tables full, but by the time we left it was completely packed. That’s always a good sign. We did not try the raw oysters, but we had the oysters rockefeller and they were amazing. Like really delicious. We both had one of the specials and enjoyed everything. We certainly will return as soon as we can.

Upon entering I just felt that the place needs a facelift, it felt old, tired and dated. The dead animals on the wall had seen better days. Live band was playing to a few patrons inside the café. We knew what we wanted but it took approximately 15 minutes before our order was taken. We had the oysters rockefeller, duck entrée and a cesars salad. The duck meat was a bit tough and was drowned with some kind of black sauce. The oysters were ok but not terrific.

Its a OK place.
The bread was good. The salmon was just OK. The ambiance is good.

Amazing! We came here for our 4^th anniversary. Couldn’t get a Rez until 8:30pm on opentable which turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Place was empty on a weds except for a few tables. Ordered wine, appetizers and entrée. Everything was lovely and romantic surprisingly given all the other reviews. Rice on the duck entrée was the only off the mark thing… And they responded by comping us dessert! They didn’t even know it was our anniversary and made the night so special for us.
Service was amazing needless to say. We went here with no expectations and was bowled over by a great memorable dining experience. What a great surprise and we will be back.

What a great night out! My friend and I are both new to the area and we wanted to hear live music. Someone recommended The Ice House.
From the gentleman who ushered us to our perfect table, close enough to see and hear the incredible jazz band and far enough to enjoy conversation right through to dessert, we thoroughly enjoyed The Ice House.
We both had flounder stuffed with crab over ravioli — one of the three specials offered tonight. The food was delicious, the fish was perfectly cooked and was accompanied by vegetables as well as the raviolis. We also shared a bread pudding that was topped with pineapple and cream. Yummmm.
We stayed after dinner to listen to the music and enjoyed the atmosphere and a nice glass of wine. Our waitress, Courtney was friendly, attentive and professional.
I will definitely be back!

We’ve come twice. Our first visit resulted in great food but terrible service. We were willing to try once more. Second visit resulted in better service but bad food. They were out of stock of the beer we wanted, yet it was still on display. More concerning was our mussels smelled foul (almost like cat urine). I’ve had that dish before. It was great the first time but something was clearly wrong the second.
We like the location and atmosphere. I’m not sure if we will roll the dice again.

Our office is nearby and I had a $ 40 Groupon, so we made an early dinner reservation for the Monday before the voucher expired. We parked BEHIND the restaurant in the large free Herndon lot and walked through the alley (or you could go around the block) to the restaurant on old Herndon’s «main street.» to the nondescript entrance into yesteryear. (Looking at other reviews, it never occured to you to park behind the restaurant???)
The Ice House has been around since 1979, but the building & décor of old Herndon look like it might have been around even longer. A white tablecloth pub-​like place (rare around here), with pleasant professional staff, there seem to be three areas — the bar area to the far left, the main dining room and a second back dining room. Empty when we arrived except for the bar, it filled up with well heeled casual couples & business diners, with more than a few business dinners (in coat & tie) occuring.
Have the raw oysters ($ 12 for 6) and stick to the tried and true fresh blue points. The dinner menu is a bit odd, with ostrich and asian duck. I was expecting seafood and steaks, but not really. I had an old/​new style chicken ballontine (rolled chicken, bacon & shrimp) on mashed potatoes and brown gravy while he had seared ahi tuna on something I can’t remember. We ate it all, but we weren’t overwhelmed. He had 2 beers, I had a drink as they were out of the wine I chose. Final bill was $ 85 (before voucher); entrees ran about $ 18 – 28. A pleasant local restaurant if you are in the area. NOTE: Closed Saturday lunch & all day Sunday except for Mother’s Day.

Picking up my other half at Dulles at 8:00PM, I was looking for a place relatively nearby where we could get dinner. My spouse is a sea food fiend, so Ice House Café seemed to fit the bill perfectly.
The locale and the outside appearance was initially a bit off-​putting. I can see where parking could be an issue, though we had no trouble finding relatively close street-​parking under a street light. But once inside (finding the correct door) the ambiance was warm and fun and the staff very welcoming.
It was a Friday night, so the place was pretty packed and the jazz band was in full swing. It made for a fun atmosphere, but pretty noisy and not conducive to small talk.
But the food’s the thing and here we were very happy. The half dozen oysters on the half shell my wife ordered were sweet, fresh, and delicious. She had the warm duckling salad as an entrée, which was perfectly nice, but nothing to write home about. My Salad Romero was excellent with all nicely fresh ingredients and the Jambalaya was a lovely mesh of flavors with just the right amount of kick. The walnut apple pie was just nice for the two of us to finish off. With a couple of glasses of wine and coffee, worked out to about $ 50/​a piece.
I would rate the evening at least a star higher were it not for the spotty service. It was clearly a busy night. But we waited significant time to place our drink order and then to get the order. The bread did not arrive until our entrees did and when we asked for more bread, our server disappeared (shift change?) and we finally had to flag down two other people before it finally made its appearance. The bill was delivered promptly.
So, overall a nice experience and decent value for money, but we probably won’t be chomping at the bit to go back.

I came here for a farewell dinner with my dear Heather G., who left me for a job in Minneapolis the next day. We wanted to have a nice meal to celebrate her new beginning, but also keep us close to her hotel, so Ice House was our pick after a short drive around town.
I was a little curious at first about the limited parking out front. Honestly, if there is more than street parking, I have no idea were it is, and the street is a terrible place to park in that area (faster speed road). I believe Heather and I both would have preferred to park in a more safe area, but we took what we could get and were just thankful she had a rent-​a-​car and her own vehicle.
The ambiance of Ice House is really old school. Very dark tones galore, and live, brassy music on certain days of the week. It really is a nice place for a classy yet unpretentious gathering. Also, from what we experienced, the wait staff is pretty spot on, so you don’t have to worry about knowing everything there is to know about oysters, alcohol, or steak to get something you’ll enjoy off the menu. With just a little steering, the staff figure out what you’re looking for pretty quickly. They also split plates in the kitchen, which grants larger, much more aesthetically appealing, plates. If you order the steak and don’t have a hollow leg, I recommend splitting it. Also, oysters are a must if you go here. The dozen raw, on the half shell, we ordered were some of the largest, sweetest, and best I’ve have in a long time. On my next trip, I intend to try either the Rockefeller or Oscar style. I can only imagine how good they’ll be after having the raw!
Pop a bottle (or two), slurp some oysters, and kick back in this swanky little restaurant. You’ll be left full and feeling like you had the treat you expected from this style of establishment.

Don’t you hate it when you buy groupons, and forget you have them until they’ve expired? This was the case for me with Ice House, but the fine print said I could still use my $ 17 paid, so I headed over there with a couple folks to try their oysters. What began as a $ 17 trip for shellfish quickly became $ 150 worth of food and beverage. Everything listed on their menu pulls you in, so its disappointing when the dishes don’t deliver, especially when they come with a hefty price tag.
For appetizers, we ordered a half dozen oysters on the half shell and a half dozen oysters Rockefeller. I preferred the traditional oysters on the half shell — they were superb, which is what I expect from an oyster house! I wasn’t as crazy about the oysters Rockefeller — the bacon overpowered the oysters to the point it could have just been some other sea creature buried under all that cheese. One of my friends said, «The oysters Rockefeller taste like breakfast.» And it was true, they were tasty like an omelette, but I learned that I prefer eating an unadulterated oyster at dinnertime. I know, I know, critiquing oysters pretty much instantly makes me sound like a snob. And the snobbery continues…
I ordered the grouper special (grouper topped with crab meat, two scallops, and mango salsa), and was extremely disappointed. The grouper was dry and the texture was chewy in some parts, mushy in others. And the scallops, oh the scallops. One was cooked just fine, the other was rubbery. And I found it odd that the scallops were only seared on one side, the side that faced up (see photo). The rice on the dish was tasty.
As for the other entrees (the ostrich steak as well as the steak fajita salad), apparently they were quite tasty. So maybe I made a mistake by picking «the special.» I had a bite of the ostrich steak and was impressed — the balsamic fig sauce paired nicely with it. If you’re a meat eater, go to Ice House and give this dish a try!
For dessert, we got apple pie with walnuts and cranberries. It wasn’t as yummy as the description led us to believe. However, the bread pudding with caramelized pineapple was PHENOMENAL! I would go back to Ice House for the oysters and this bread pudding. Delicious.
Overall, the meal was average for the price paid. The ambiance was very old-​town Herndon, which I thoroughly enjoyed. If I had only ordered the oysters and dessert, it would have received a higher star rating. But my entrée was so disappointing, I had to knock it down. I’m one of those people who usually finishes what’s in my plate, so the fact that I only ate half the piece of grouper speaks volumes.