FatShorty’s

Awww man! It’s unfortunate that this place closed down, I really liked it. I don’t live as close as I use to so I didn’t go as often as I would like, but the mussels were delicious!
Oh well, time to find a new place. BOO!

Finally got to use my groupon… partially because this place is closing in a week or so.
I ordered the beer and sausage mussels and the sausage platter. The sausage platter is 2 sausages and 2 sides. I decided to try the andouille sausage and the alligator and I chose sweet peppers and onions for my toppings and my 2 sides were the German Potato salad and baked beans.
Review:beer and sausage mussels were pretty good nothing really wowed me about it the broth was okay not a lot of beer flavor nice kick because of the red pepper flake but it was decent. The bread it was served with had a nice toast but it was over salted and killed my taste buds.
The sausage platter: both sausages had really nice flavor the andouille sausage had a great spice to it that hit you towards the end. the alligator since I’ve never actually had gator but it was pretty good nice sweetness possibly from the carrots it did need a bit of mustard but overall pretty good. the texture on both sausages was really good a nice snap in every bite.
The sides are really an after thought. the potato salad was bland and under seasoned it didn’t really complement anything either. The potato salad had bacon but it didn’t look very appetizing almost like old cold cooked bacon. The baked beans are probably the worst I’ve ever has no smokiness all tang literally tasted like ketchup. What a waste of good beans drowned in a horrible sauce.
Overall mediocre the 3 stars are for the sausage only and because that’s their claim to fame I’ll give it to them. But if I didn’t have a groupon probably wouldn’t have tried this place. Atleast I got to try it before it went. This place really has great sausages it’s just overly pricey for a fast casual style restaurant.

German potato salad was okay, but notably less boring than the baked beans. Kraut was decent a topper, though as basic as the hot peppers. I enjoyed the flavor of the alligator andouille sausage more than the rattlesnake rabbit (hardly any jalapeño and surprisingly bland), though both were grilled nicely.
Three and a half stars. Décor typical to Arlington, picnic table seating inside. A small but reasonably interesting array of beers on hand, which is more than I can say for the options for sides and toppings. They were out of duck, but I seriously considered the Mountain Man and fries. Maybe mussels would have impressed me more. Service was brusque without emphasizing the weekend blowout special I saw advertised online afterwards. Place your order at the register and take your number, regardless if you’re dining in or grabbing to-​go. Groupon holders should keep in mind they’re closing 10÷27÷13.

I came here last week with my boyfriend and we ordered the green curry mussels and he got a mixed sausage plate. They took away his favorite mustard which was a downside. Other than that everything tasted pretty good. The mussels come with this crispy bread but I sort of wish there was maybe an option for regular bread to come with it. The bread was a little too greasy and didn’t compliment my mussels as well. I don’t think I was hungry enough to eat them last time so I didn’t notice.
I’ll still be coming back! Next time I might just try something different.

Fat Shorty’s has a great variety of sausages with excellent flavor. Of the sides, the baked beans are awesome, although I wasn’t completely sold on the German potato salad (although it worked very well when eaten with the Kaserkriner sausage, which itself includes gruyère cheese and bacon). There’s also a good selection of beers. The atmosphere is wonderfully relaxed and bright. The friendly, patient staff checks in on you from time to time at the tables, which is nice. However, don’t come in expecting fast-​food prices or even gourmet fast food prices — think «restaurant» pricing. I’ll definitely be returning!

I really wanted to like this place, but it fell way, way short. The atmosphere is casual and fun and I really liked the décor. The food however was just ok. I had the Southwestern Chicken sausage which was overpowered by chili powder flavor and didn’t taste of much else. I had to add ketchup just to make it more palatable. My boyfriend tried the Mountain Man (Elk, Buffalo and Rattlesnake, I believe) and was not impressed. Both were incredibly dry. The fries were half burnt, half tasteless. Overall, definitely not wowed by the meal and don’t plan on going back – and I even used a Groupon, but still didn’t think it was worth it.

I liked this place a lot, because it’s really something unique in the typically droll, cookie-​cutter land of chain restaurants and unoriginality up in Northern Virginia. It’s not often that I’ve come across joints that have primarily just sausages on their menu, let alone those claiming to be of exotic meats.
It was a pretty tame Wednesday afternoon in which I visited this place, so needless to say, it was almost deserted at the time I came, because it was well past lunch time, and closer to before the dinner rush was to start. The outdoor tables weren’t technically even set up when I got there, but at least they were still open for business, and it was also technically happy hour ($ 3 Erdingers).
Although I like the fact that they had exotic meats, to be honest, I’m not that huge of a fan of exotic meats, and since this was my first time there, I really just wanted a baseline experience, so I ordered a bratwurst with hot peppers platter. It’s funny how they describe the platter to choose two sides, when they only offer really three sides, with one of them costing an extra $ 2 (the salad), so it really kind of was like beans and potato salad are your only true options without altering the price. No matter though, the prices are still good-​to-​fair, especially when you see the size of the portions.
And it was fantastic food. The sausage wasn’t rubbery, and had almost that crumbly consistency that kind of is an indicator that they’re fresh, and the flavor was traditional and excellent. Bonus points for actually having _​hot_​peppers which actually have a good amount of heat without being just plain heat minus flavor. I have a high resiliency for spicy foods, but even these made me think about combining them with potato salad to kind of nullify the heat.
Although I sat outside so I could people watch the corporate slaves walking with robotic faces home from the Metro to wherever their destinations were, I still got a good look at the interior. It’s a clean and modern space, it probably doesn’t seat a tremendous amount of people, and given their late advertised hours, I have to imagine it’s a good place to get a unique bite late at night.
The only thing I didn’t like about the place was the location, which is the crowded and suddenly hip Clarendon part of Arlington that is really bizzare to me considering what it used to be when I was still a resident of NOVA. The parking is scant, not free, and all it takes is crossing a street or walking a block to get saddled into a lot where parking is not validated. It’s by no fault of FatShorty’s, but those who balk at the idea of paying for parking or don’t like Arlington traffic might be dissuaded from visiting.
Otherwise, I liked this place a lot. I could very easily see myself coming back here for brats and beer in future visits.

I don’t know if this is fair to either establishment, but the first thing I thought about when I walked in this place was Wurstkuche in Los Angeles. I feel like they’re the exact same place with a 85% similar menu. That being said, I love the fact of having a place like that in the DC area. I came here using a groupon, which made it absolutely worth it, but now that I’ve experienced it, it would be worth it even paying full price. Located right off Clarendon Blvd, near the Clarendon metro stop, it is easy to get to driving although parking may take some effort, but taking the metro it was easy. The location is clean, the staff is extremely friendly. It is picnic table style seating which is inside as well as outside seating. There are also two tvs inside which are probably good for catching a game, especially soccer as I saw tons of DC United gear inside. They have happy hour 7 days a week which includes beer specials. Now to the food. Classic sausages are 6.50, gourmet 7.50, exotic 8.50. I had the southwestern chicken which was okay, but the spice lamb I had was much better. Next time I will try the chicken apple, amerikrainer, and mountain man (elk, venison, bison). The have fries as a side in two sizes, $ 3 small, $ 5 large. You can get a platter with 2 sausages, baked beans, field green salad, but they dont come with buns. I say skip the platter and get two sausages and a large fry and a beer or two. It’s pricier than many places you might consider casual food, and I’m sure someone will say they can cook sausages at home cheaper, but by the time I buy elk/​venison/​bison sausage, rattlesnake/​rabbit, chicken apple, buns, fries, beer, then go home and grill, it would have been easier to just come here. I’m excited to return.

This place is awesome. Owner took our order and was personable and very nice. We got the lamb and mint sausage sandwich topped with sweet peppers and onions with the cajun fries. Watch out — phenomenal.
Not only does this place have fabulous, creative food and quick service but they stock fine quality beers and wine at a reasonable price. A real gem.
So happy with our experience and definitely will be back on a date night soon.

A little bit disappointing, as we felt that the sausages did not the deliver. There’s a plethora of different types of sausages to try, which is very exciting, but the poor execution makes for a sad experience. SX and I expected more from this place, so not worth an hour drive and hunting for parking.
The interior here is quite nice. I really like the super heavy duty sturdy picnic tables they have here. Each table is adorned with several sauces, including a mambo sauce (but no fried chicken wings to go with it), three types of mustard, and 2 types of ketchup. Basically you order up at the counter and you’ll receive a number for your table. The open kitchen is very clean. Staff members was actively cleaning the kitchen area when we were there. But, I felt that maybe the staff focused too much on cleaning than focusing on how the food was being prepped and cooked.
SX went for the 2 sausage platter with sides of potato salad, salad greens, hot peppers, and onions. The two sausages he went with were: the lamb and the amerikranzer. No bread comes with the platter, but you can add that on for extra. I tried thai chicken sausage. We also had a side of fries.
The thai chicken sausage was cooked perfectly and had great texture. The two sausages that SX ordered were a bit overcooked and deflated, leaving them with an unpleasant, rubbery chewiness because there wasn’t enough fat left in them and whatnot. When sausages are made that thin, you can’t afford to cook them for that long as they did. The potato salad consisted of undercooked potatoes that were quite crunchy. The flavor of the potato salad was pretty bland as well. Hot peppers equated sliced, uncooked jalapeños. Overall, the two sausage platter was a let down. The thai chicken sausage was a much better option in terms that it was better executed, however, I felt that the peanut component was lacking (crushed peanuts would have been a lovely touch). The chicken sausage was juicy, making for an extremely different tasting experience compared to the other two sausages. I did like the bun that the sausage came with too. The french fries here, just skip them. Disappointedly soggy, oil drenched, and undeserving to be called french fries.
I did use a Groupon deal here and did not experience any issues redeeming it.

This girl loves sausage!!! And Fatshorty’s has plenty of it! Choose your sausage, choose your toppings, bun or no bun. There’s an option to grab a sausage platter complete with two sides. I heard the mussels are fantastic as well.
I had the lamb and wish I had room for some rattlesnake! They have a simple selection of beer and wine. There is great outdoor seating where you can enjoy the sights and smells of Clarendon.
I wish I lived closer, but I’ll definitely be back!

Yes. Yes, yes, yes, yes, and YESSSSSSSSS! I feel kind of dirty getting excited about and writing about sausages, but I must!
I never thought that sausages had so many varieties! Classic, Exotic — delicious. I had a yen for a hot Italian sausage: giggle:. I got it with sweet peppers and onions on it and large fries that I split with my fiancé. (He ended up getting a hot Italian sausage, plain). The onions and peppers have this AMAZING flavor — like they were cooked in something. I found myself eating them without the sausage.
The sausages had just the right amount of spice. I probably wouldn’t do the mild sausage, as I think it could be bland.
The man at the counter recommended an AWESOME beer. It was called Palm. He told us its made by the same people that do Fat Tire. Well hell, I love Fat Tire, so I figured this should be good. And it was! It’s a little less spicy than Fat Tire, but that was cool, because the sausage had enough spice. Oh, and the bottle of beer was like $ 3. Good deal. Happy hour pricing.
When you come here, try to snag a spot outside. The inside is sort of smoke-​filled. You’ll leave smelling like sausages and smoke if you sit inside. So don’t come here before going anywhere where they’d mind that sort of thing.
We ended the meal with the Snickers pie. Nom. It was simple and delicious and a nice way to end things.
It’s Clarendon, so of course parking is a nightmare. If you are lucky enough to snag a spot on the street, great. If you are just getting something to go, likely, you’ll only need 15 minutes on the meter, and that will include standing in line.
All in all, I like Fat Shorty’s. Fiancé and I will be back soon for one of our mid-​week date nights.

If you’re deciding between a burger and a hot dog, re-​evaluate your priorities and decide instead between a burger and a sausage. The plus side to your newly revised decisioning process is that BGR is on the other side of the same building, so you can’t go wrong either way… but this review isn’t about BGR, it’s about FatShorty’s.
Upon walking in, it became apparent to me that it was empty during happy hour, which is mindblowing to me given the alcohol specials. I’d chalk it up to lack of advertising or perhaps the smoke which lingers in the air. Had it not been for the smoke and the lack of a soda fountain, I would’ve rated this location a five, though I may have just proven myself blind by missing a soda fountain. Who knows.
To the food! I had the Mountain Man, one of their gourmet sausages. It’s basically game meat diced together, and I was genuinely impressed. If I had to choose between this and the Wellington burger from BGR, I could legitimately see myself choosing this 50% of the time, The condiment selection was okay; there could’ve been more to slather on top of the sausage itself. Still, with three different mustards (sadly none of which were infused with honey), I was still able to have a field day.
All in all, the quality of the food was fantastic. The smokey air and apparent lack of a soda fountain were the only downsides, but their drink selection doesn’t appear to be too bad especially during happy hour. Give it a try; it’s worth it even without a groupon.

This place was surprisingly A-​OK! My main goal in purchasing a groupon for FatShorty’s was to cross it off the list – as an Arlingtonian, I felt I had an obligation to say that I’ve tried it, it wasn’t all that, and move on to the next place that pops up.
I am not familiar with the apparently famous chef that is connected to this place – which may have been a good thing, as I came with no expectations of gourmet, boundary-​testing selections. For what it is, FatShorty’s delivered a pretty good version of what you expect sausage to taste like. Our chorizo was spicy and nicely charred on the outside, and our andouille was spicy and plump. The portions look a bit small upon first site, but we ended up not finishing our baked beans and small fries.
That’s not to say those weren’t good – I found the fries to be crispy and nicely salted. But don’t leave them too long, as they started falling limp towards the end of our meal. The baked beans were also pretty good, although I’m not sure there is a very wide spectrum of quality for baked beans. The salad was plentiful, and dressing light. All in all, everything was quite a bit better than I had expected.
For the $ 20 groupon users out there, a two-​sausage platter, small fries, and two softdrinks broke $ 20 even. I love it when that happens.

Damn I honestly REALLY wanted to rate this place better but… I couldn’t, not with what I got from this place.
I came here using a groupon and got about 20 dollars worth of food. I got the alligator and mountain man sausages with buns and small french fries. When you get the sausage with buns you get two toppings… and so I got grilled onion and sweet peppers or something. When I received my food I could barely the see the sausage because of the mountain of onion and peppers on the sausage. The onions were nice and caramelized which is a plus, but the peppers were all greasy and what not.
The mountain man itself was pretty gamy and overall had a good taste to it… as for the alligator… I don’t know, it just tasted like pork to me. Maybe my palette isn’t refined enough but if I couldn’t tel the difference between alligator and pork then I doubt the average joe could do it either. The french fries were nothing special at all. I would even go as far as recommending not to get them. They were HEAVILY salted and my friend’s were burnt, so she shared with me. In fact, it seemed like EVERYTHING was heavily salted, so much so that I had to go refill my water cup 3 times… yeah.
Honestly the décor and staff were the only redeeming qualities for this place, both of which deserved a star each.
A lot of people are complaining about the portion sizes but honestly, the sausages are pretty big and filling. Two sausage sandwiches were enough for me, but overall that’s 13 – 18 dollars depending on which two you get from which section. You COULD get the platter for 14 but you get 2 sides in replacement for buns and I haven’t tried that so I can’t really tell.
All in all, I sadly will probably never return. It’s a shame because I really wanted to like this place after finding out Chef Rocky started it.*sigh*

#44
4.5 stars!
Love me some weiners!
I completely enjoyed my meal at this place. I believe I got the dog that was stuffed with jalapenos and cheese. Forgot the name already– it was hard to say the name that night let alone remember it today. All I can say is with friend that were there I was able to try four different hot dogs and all were good. I prefer those with the polish dog texture over the hot dog texture but still equally as flavorful.
They had a good assorments of your IPA’s, your German beers, and even some wine to add to the meal.
Loved the huuuuge FATSHORTY’s sign in there with the picnic table top venue inside. Great place to catch a game or catch up with friends. Youll find me here again :).

Mediocre and overpriced. You’re not at risk of putting on weight at Fat Shorty’s because the portions are very small. My $ 14 platter got me two very small sausages, a small scoop of potato salad, and a small scoop of baked beans. For some odd reason, sausages on the platters are served without a bun (you know, because bread is so expensive).
Not only were the sausages very small, they were nothing special. The duck and foie gras sausage sounded promising, but it tasted like any other pork sausage, and the boerwors (all beef) sausage was so dry that I had to send it back (and the re-​do was still pretty dry). Both were very salty. The snickers pie was good, but it’s pretty lame when the best part of a sausage joint is a slice of pie (which was also very small… common theme here).
My meal was undersized, ridiculously overpriced, and totally underwhelming, which means that I’m not coming back.

You had me at kielbasa… I love that my childhood foods now come in adult size with beer. I am not a big German beer girl — why can’t they add more hops? But the value seems good for the amount of beer you can get. The food was tasty and can be complimented with a variety mustards.
The picnic german beer garden style seating is interesting because nothing about this place screams outdoors or beer garden but hey everyone should have to rub elbows now and then by sitting on a bench in a hipster takeout joint.

I give it 4 ½ stars.
I really like this place. I talked to them and found out that they buy sausages from Logans and Simply Sausage and another place for the exotics.
Ist visit i had the bratwurst on a bun w/​onions and sauerkraut. Very good.
2^nd visit i had the veal brat on a bun w/​onions and kraut. Excellent. Iv’e eaten brats in Switzerland and Germany and this weisswurst was really good.
Good draft selection, including one of my favorite German Pils, BITBURGER.
No one has Bitburger on draft. This makes my day.
Please Mr Shorty… always have Bitburger on draft and you have a customer for life.

A new concept for the Arlington area, but I’m hopeful that it can draw a loyal following.
Step into FatShorty’s and you’ll feel like you’re in a smokehouse crossed with a biergarten hall. Rustic wood paneling everywhere and large wooden bench seating, it’s a cozy place that gets you to focus on the food and your friends. A huge, multi-​colored «FatShorty’s» sign sprawls across one of the walls and contributes to the fun ambiance going on.
Get in line and check out the three boards of their offerings, everything from your regular pork and beef sausages to more adventurous combinations like alligator and rabbit. Pair it up with a fresh made side (the German potato salad is great) and find a seat. Staff will bring your order out to you shortly.
I opted for a weisswurst (a German white sausage made of veal and back bacon), and it was oh so deliciously tasty. It was juicy, thick, flavorful, and lived up to its namesake tradition. The freshness of the spices contrasted nicely with the minced meat, and the bun it sat on was a champ to hold the whole thing together. Additionally, the bun comes slightly toasted from the grill. The mustardy and fragrant German potato salad complemented the weisswurst perfectly, and the potato had just enough bite to keep the mouthfeel interesting.
With so many menu options, FatShorty’s begs for multiple visits, and I’ll be back for sure. I’m excited to see the owners getting creative with the ingredients because Clarendon definitely needs more variety with «street-​style» food offerings.