City Tavern Moving; Hopes to Open New Location Before Christmas

MANASSAS, Va. — The popular City Tavern in Historic Downtown Manassas will soon move out of its home of nearly 20 years.

The restaurant and bar located on the corner of Main and Church streets in Manassas plans to move to a new location further west, just past the Prince William County Courthouse on Va. 28, to the old KC’s Restaurant.

“The reason we are going to move is because the rent; the overhead is getting to be too much,” said Nick Veltsistas, one of the three brothers who operate City Tavern.

The restaurant rents a space inside the Olde Town Inn, the only motel in Donwtown Manassas.

The eatery is popular with city workers who dine in for lunch and with civic groups who hold catered breakfasts, lunches, dinners and other events in the restaurant’s banquet room on the motel’s second floor. At night, the City Tavern’s bar area fills with patrons who come for drinks and karaoke.

KC’s Restaurant closed about four years ago and was described by patrons as a “sports bar with a dance floor.”

Veltsistas says he hopes to bring some of the same experience of his current location to his new home by offering both inside and outside dining, a banquet room, and themed nights – much like the karaoke nights they already host. The new City Tavern location could be open before Christmas, said Veltsistas.

This won’t be the first time the Veltsistas opened a new restaurant in a previously closed eatery. About 10 years ago, the brothers opened City Grille in the old Pargo’s restaurant off Balls Ford and Sudley Roads, near Interstate 66 near Manassas.

City Tavern opened in its current home in June 1995.