Opening Monday in Old Town Alexandria: Vola's Dockside Grill + Hi-Tide Lounge

ALEXANDRIA, VA -- Vola's Dockside Grill & Hi-Tide Lounge, at 101 N. Union St., was a buzz of activity Thursday afternoon, with all hands on deck preparing for the restaurant's opening Monday.

The restaurant will be open for lunch, dinner and brunch.

Alexandria Restaurant Partners' most recent foray into the Northern Virginia dining scene is sure to be a hit, with its location on the Alexandria waterfront in a prime spot next door to the Torpedo Factory art center and the City marina. The restaurant has dining available for more than 200, including outdoor dining looking out onto the Potomac River; diners will have an even better view after the Old Dominion Boat Club is demolished as they prepare to move to their new home down the street. A bar seats 20.

Vola's culinary team includes Corporate Executive Chef Graham Duncan, Executive Chef Santiago Lopez and Chef de Cuisine Walter Silva. See the menus here.

Partners David Clapp, Dave Nicholas and Scott Shaw were all in attendance at their latest venture, with Shaw showing off the the 38-seat hideaway Hi-Tide Lounge, where wall markers show high-tide marks mimicking the real ones right outside; ARP is going for a "Mad Men," Trader Vic's vibe in the lounge, Shaw said. Album covers from the early '60s line the walls. The lounge will offer up tiki-inspired cocktails, craft beer and appetizers.

Other standout features of the new restaurant include black and white photos of the City from days gone by, found this summer by an enterprising intern, at the Kate Waller Barrett branch library on Queen Street. The restaurant owners even tracked down some of the people who are in the photos, now in their 80s, and invited them to visit Vola's.

The interior is designed by Paul Beckman of Beckman Architects in Alexandria;

You'll also find historic photos of the Torpedo Factory, the Ford Motor Plant (now Ford's Landing), businesses from the 1930s-'50s as well as photos from the library sit-in and school desegregation.

There are also plenty of photos of the restaurant's namesake, Vola D. Lawson, Alexandria's first female city manager, a position she held for 15 years. Lawson died in 2013 at the age of 79. Among countless awards and honors, Lawson was inducted into the Virginia Women’s Hall of Fame in 1993 and was named a Living Legend of Alexandria in 2007.

A Sept. 7 grand opening, open to all, will serve as a benefit to the Vola Lawson Animal Shelter with 25 percent of the proceeds going to the shelter's Animal Welfare League of Alexandria.

Patch stopped by Thursday and snapped a few photos as employees prepare for the opening:

Workers were busy completing finishing touches Thursday in the Hi-Tide Lounge, where markers mimick high-tide marks found on the building outside. The lounge is a cross between "Man Men" and Trader Vic's.