The Tabard Inn hosts corporate and social dinners, off-site meetings, cocktail receptions and weddings for groups of up to 115 guests. Private dining takes up to 70 guests, a meeting up to 50, a cocktail reception up to 115 and a full restaurant buyout up to 110. The inn occupies three townhouses at 1739 N Street NW, in the Dupont Circle area of Washington, D.C.
Seminars and company events
The inn sells small and larger group meetings, partner sessions and off-site team days, held in the daytime or the evening, for up to 50 people. Room set-ups and seating follow the program and the number of attendees, and breaks and meals can be added to the day. Several set-ups use the inn's own audiovisual equipment. For more complex needs, a third-party technical vendor can supply a full range of audiovisual equipment, including set-ups for remote participants.
Corporate groups also book seated multi-course dinners, buffets and cocktail receptions. Testimonials on the site mention corporate dinners for 60 guests.
Weddings and receptions
The inn plans weddings in sequence: a ceremony on the Garden Terrace, cocktails and hors d'oeuvres, then dinner and dancing in the 19th-century townhouse. Wedding ceremonies take up to 70 guests. The inn also hosts rehearsal dinners, welcome gatherings on arrival, farewell brunches and bridal showers, as well as birthdays, baby showers and family reunions.
Rooms and capacities
The event areas are an enclosed, all-weather outdoor Garden Terrace, the private function rooms of the 19th-century townhouse and the restaurant itself. The inn publishes capacities by format rather than by room: private dining or reception and dinner up to 70, cocktail reception up to 115, meeting up to 50, wedding ceremony up to 70 and restaurant buyout up to 110.
Accommodation
The inn has more than two dozen guest rooms, each decorated differently. A wedding party or a small team can stay on site, and larger groups will need a second hotel nearby.
Catering
Catering is in-house. A dedicated banquet kitchen team, separate from the restaurant line, writes the banquet and bar menus, which are issued by season. The restaurant is led by culinary partner Chef Pepe Moncayo, with menus drawing on techniques from around the world and local, seasonal produce. It serves breakfast daily, lunch on weekdays, brunch on weekends and dinner every evening.
History and setting
Marie Willoughby Rogers opened the Tabard Inn in 1922 and named it after the inn in Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. The inn expanded into the adjacent townhouses at 1737 and 1741 N Street in the late 1920s and early 1930s. During World War II it housed officers of the WAVES, the women's naval reserve. Edward and Fritzi Cohen bought it in 1974, and the restaurant reopened in 1977 under chefs Nora Pouillon and Margee Wright. An employee stock ownership plan was set up in 1993, and the inn has been majority employee-owned since February 2018. It describes itself as the oldest continuously operating inn in Washington.
Getting there
The inn is in the Dupont Circle neighborhood, on N Street NW between 17th and 18th Streets. The closest Metro stations are Dupont Circle and Farragut North on the Red Line. Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport is the nearest airport, and Union Station serves Amtrak trains. Street parking is limited, so guests are best advised to come by Metro or taxi.
