McDonald’s

Crystal City McDonald’s Reopens Following Months of Renovations

By Alex Koma
1/5

Crystal City’s McDonald’s has now reopened, following several months of renovation work.

The fast food restaurant, located at 2620 Jefferson Davis Highway, has been serving customers again since at least late last week. The McDonald’s shuttered back in mid-May for renovations.

The restaurant now boasts a new facade, a revamped drive through and an improved lobby area.

The McDonald’s parking lot has become a point of contention for neighbors in recent weeks, particularly as people looking to avoid traffic generated by the new staging lot for rideshare drivers waiting for passengers at Reagan National Airport have sought to cut through the lot and save a bit of time.

Crystal City McDonald’s Closed for Renovations

By Alex Koma
1/3

Crystal City’s McDonald’s is closed for renovations.

Signs posted at the restaurant located at 2620 Jefferson Davis Highway say only that the location is closed during construction, urging visitors to head to the McDonald’s locations along Columbia Pike instead. Construction materials litter the restaurant’s parking lot.

No one answered the phone number listed for the restaurant and construction fencing currently blocks off its parking lot. McDonald’s didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on how long the restaurant might be closed.

A tipster first notified ARLnow about the renovations this past Wednesday.

Photos by Alex Koma

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

ACFD Black History Month Tweets — The Arlington County Fire Department has been recounting the history of black firefighters in Arlington in commemoration of Black History Month. There were several African-American volunteer fire departments in the county during the first half of the 20th century, serving neighborhoods like Hall’s Hill and “Hell’s Bottom,” which was cleared to make way for the Pentagon during World War II. [Twitter, Twitter]

ARLnow Wins ‘Amazon Thirsty Thursday’ Recognition — Our scoop that an internal Amazon website devoted to its “HQ2” search steered thousands of visits to a two-month-old ARLnow article, has earned us the distinction of being named the “winner” of Washingtonian’s “Amazon Thirsty Thursday” weekly feature. Our article pointing out that Amazon has an office in Arlington was apparently the icing on the thirsty cake. [Washingtonian]

Arlington Among Top Places for Women in Tech — Arlington is tied with St. Paul, Minnesota as the No. 6 best place in the U.S. for women in tech. The District ranks No. 1. [WTOP]

Shamrock Shake Sighting — The Shamrock Shake is back at McDonald’s. We spotted it on the menu at a Lee Highway McD’s yesterday. Some locations have gotten the shake, a harbinger of spring, earlier than others, according to social media reports. [Fox News, Twitter]

Flickr pool photo by John Sonderman

McDonald’s on Columbia Pike Adds New Ordering Technology

By Chris Teale
1/4

The McDonald’s on Arlington’s western end of Columbia Pike has reopened after a renovation.

The fast food restaurant at 5005 Columbia Pike closed on June 20 for the refit, and reopened to the public on this past Monday, a spokeswoman said, with updated decor and fixtures and the addition of some new ordering technology.

During the closure, workers added self-service kiosks for customers to place their orders electronically. A spokeswoman said that technology has been rolled out in more than 2,500 McDonald’s restaurants, which includes the recently-opened one at Central Place in Rosslyn.

The restaurant also introduced table service as part of the revamp, which a spokeswoman said “provides a more relaxing and custom dining experience.”

A grand re-opening ceremony is planned from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday (Aug. 5), and will include face painting, games, food and drink and music by local Spanish language radio station El Zol.

Courtesy photos.

Rowdy Customer Shoves Cop After Being Banned from McDonald’s

By ARLnow.com

A 27-year-old D.C. man has been arrested and charged with assaulting a police officer after an incident at a McDonald’s on Columbia Pike.

Just after 6 p.m. yesterday (Monday) police responded to the McDonald’s at 3013 Columbia Pike for a report of “a group of disorderly subjects refusing to leave a restaurant, as requested by store management,” according to an Arlington County Police Department crime report.

“As officers were attempting to conduct their investigation and ban the subjects from the property, one subject became combative and shoved an officer resulting in a physical struggle,” the crime report said. “Derrell Taylor, 27, of Washington D.C., was arrested and charged with assault and battery on law enforcement, obstruction of justice, and failure to I.D.”

The incident prompted a large police response to the McDonald’s, alarming some locals, but no serious injuries were reported.

Taylor was held at the county jail on a $5,000 bond.

Photo courtesy Eric Dobson

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Homeless Population on the Rise in Arlington — “Most jurisdictions saw declines in homelessness from 2016, though the population… increased by 33 percent in Arlington County. Kathleen Sibert, the president and chief executive of the Arlington Street People’s Assistance Network, noted that because Arlington has a relatively small homeless population, modest fluctuations can create dramatic-looking percentage increases or decreases.” [Washington Post]

More on New Rosslyn McDonald’s — The new state-of-the-art McDonald’s in Rosslyn has some food offerings not available elsewhere in D.C. It has an in-house bakery that serves fresh pastries; the other closest McDonald’s with a bakery is in New York City. Also, the restaurant will soon offer two special ice cream sundaes: turtle brownie and strawberry shortcake. [Rosslyn BID]

County Seeks Volunteers for ‘BioBlitz’ — “Arlington County is seeking dedicated volunteers to support its May 20 ‘BioBlitz,’ a quick-but-intense wilderness exploration that will produce a catalog of our natural holdings spotted within a 24-hour window. Think of it as a snapshot of the common-to-rare wildlife that can be found hiding in plain sight within our borders.” [Arlington County]

Drafthouse Continues to Critique Kennedy Center — Arlington Cinema Drafthouse owner Greg Godbout has penned another letter to customers that makes the case for why the Kennedy Center is competing unfairly for comedy acts. The letter also accuses the center of “lying” and a “cover up” after Godbout went public with his initial criticism. [Drafthouse Comedy]

Flickr pool photo by Dennis Dimick

High-Tech Rosslyn McDonald’s Now Open for Business

By ARLnow.com
1/12

(Updated at 4:05 p.m.) A new McDonald’s, sporting shiny gadgets and screens throughout, has opened in Rosslyn.

Located in the base of the new Central Place apartment tower at 1800 N. Moore Street, near where a standalone McDonald’s once stood, the fast food eatery was open for business and bustling around mid-afternoon Wednesday.

The restaurant is among the chain’s most modern, with large flat-screen ordering kiosks, flat-screen soda dispensers, a display case for McCafe pastries and sleek decor. There are also flat-screen menus above the manned ordering counter, for those who prefer to place an order with a human. Patio seating in a plaza just outside allows for outdoor dining.

The opening was not without its hiccups. At one point this afternoon an irate customer started loudly complaining about the wait for his order, which was apparently lost to cyberspace after being placed on one of the kiosks.

“Oh, here we go,” said one of the other dozen or so people also waiting around, watching for their order number to appear on a flat-screen display above the pick-up counter. The irate man’s order eventually appeared.

Hat tip to Eric LeKuch

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

McDonald’s to Open Next Week in Rosslyn — The new McDonald’s restaurant in Rosslyn is expected to open on Monday, May 8. It will feature “mobile and kiosk ordering, with six touch-screen kiosks,” as well as “table service, with servers bringing customers their food after orders are placed using the screens.” [Washington Business Journal]

Petition Against Proposed APS Policy — Among those signing a petition against a proposed new school enrollment and transfer policy is former U.S. CTO Aneesh Chopra. He writes: “We need to be expanding, not restricting access to Arlington’s award-winning, integrated elementary school science curriculum! Counter to the data-driven ‘Arlington Way,’ this proposal is inappropriately rushed with debate or impact analysis. Sad!” [Change.org]

ACPD Officer to Be Added to Memorial — Arlington County Police Cpl. Harvey Snook is being added to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in D.C. Snook died last year of cancer caused by his service during the recovery effort at the Pentagon following the 9/11 attack. Snook will also be added to Arlington’s Peace Officers Memorial on May 10, the first name added since 2005. [WTOP, Arlington County]

Arlington Woman, 109, Still Stays Up Late — Viola Graham, a 109-year-old resident of Arlington, says she still feels young and still doesn’t go to bed until midnight. Graham also “takes no medicine, besides the occasional Tylenol.” [WUSA 9]

Britt McHenry Goes Off the Air — Arlington’s own Britt McHenry is among the mass layoffs at ESPN. Though the sportscaster is going off the air, she said last week via Twitter that her fans would see her again on TV “soon.” McHenry formerly worked for WJLA (ABC 7) in Rosslyn. [Florida Today, Twitter]

Gubernatorial Candidates in Arlington — Democratic candidates for governor in Virginia, Ralph Northam and Tom Perriello, will be debating at a progressive forum in Ballston tonight. [Facebook]

Flickr pool photo by GM and MB

Signs Up at New Rosslyn McDonald’s

By Chris Teale
1/5

(Updated 4:10 p.m.) A new McDonald’s in Rosslyn appears close to opening in the new Central Place building.

External signage is up for the fast food restaurant, and on Tuesday morning construction crews were installing signs inside the windows too. Preparations continue inside the ground-floor space, while the sidewalks around the property appear largely complete.

Rosslyn’s previous McDonald’s at 1823 N. Moore Street closed in 2014 to make way for the Central Place development. At that time, a sign in the McDonald’s window stated it would be closed “indefinitely,” which left open the possibility that the eatery would return to Rosslyn in the future.

A company spokeswoman said the eatery is set to open this spring, although an exact date is to be determined.

UPDATED: Fight Outside Columbia Pike McDonald’s

By ARLnow.com

Arlington County police car(Updated at 5:20 p.m.) Arlington County Police responded to a fight outside of a Columbia Pike shopping center Wednesday evening.

The fight was reported around 4:30 p.m. outside of the McDonald’s at 5005 Columbia Pike, in the Columbia Pike Plaza shopping center parking lot.

Initial reports suggest there was an active fistfight between two men, surrounded by about 20 people watching the fight.

At least one of the fighters has reportedly been detained by police, while officers are still searching for the other.

Police Seek Cadillac Driver Who Struck Two Year Old in McDonald’s Parking Lot

By ARLnow.com
1/2

Arlington police are looking for a man who allegedly ran over a two year old in a McDonald’s parking lot and then drove off.

Police say the driver hit the child with his Cadillac while in the restaurant parking lot on the 3000 block of Columbia Pike. The man allowed the child’s family to pull him out from underneath the car before speeding off.

The toddler was hurt but is expected to be okay. Police are hoping grainy surveillance images of the car (above) may help them track down the driver.

From an ACPD press release:

The Arlington County Police Department’s Auto Crimes Unit is asking for the public’s assistance in identifying and locating a suspect involved in a hit and run incident of a two-year old child on August 30, 2015.

The suspect drove into the McDonald’s parking lot, located in the 3000 block of Columbia Pike, at approximately 7:04 p.m. and was captured on surveillance video striking a two-year old child. The suspect vehicle ran over top of the child and stopped so the victim’s family could pull him from underneath. The vehicle then sped off and the child was transported to Children’s Hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

The subject is described as a black male between 18-30 years old. He has green eyes and dreadlocks past the ears. At the time of the incident, he was wearing a white baseball hat with a black brim. The vehicle is described as a four door, silver-colored Cadillac sedan.

If anyone has information on the identity and/or whereabouts of this individual, please contact Detective Burgess of the Arlington County Police Department’s Auto Crimes Unit at 703.228.4618 or at [email protected]. To report information anonymously, contact the Arlington County Crime Solvers at 866.411.TIPS (8477).

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