Bidding Goodbye to a Room With a View

"When I find an organization that does good work, I'll keep going," Buckley continued. "If a restaurant remembers me, I'll go back. And that's why I really like it here. They remember my name."

Lane and Bishop easily spend half the day at the restaurant, lingering over the sumptuous buffet spread, which includes everything from fresh ahi tuna to lamb chops to sushi to made-to-order omelets and cheesecake and other desserts.

Lane and Bishop, who have watched the seasons change year after year from their weekly perch on the 13th floor, haven't decided where they will dine now.

Nor can scores of other regulars, such as Cindy Cinnamon, 37, who celebrated her wedding and reception at the hotel and restaurant in 1998. Cinnamon now lives in Germantown, but she and her family continue to make several trips a year to the restaurant.

"It's terrible that we won't be able to come up here any time we want," Cinnamon said, with her 6-year-old daughter, Delaney, standing next to her. "Even on a bad day, the view is beautiful."

Angela Cabell, 36, and her husband have made it a tradition to spend the night at the hotel every year on their anniversary. They also eat at the restaurant most weekends, traveling from their home in Woodbridge. And their daughter celebrated her Sweet 16 birthday last year at the restaurant, arriving with her friends in a stretch limo.

"They treat you like family here," she said. "We come here for a lot of special occasions, and so it's very sad for us. They're all family, and they're also like our family. That's what I've always really loved."

Most of the wait staff are immigrants and hail from countries such as Vietnam, Morocco and Britain. Others are from the District, like cook Rodney Motley, 31, who has worked at the hotel for 16 years.

"It's very sad to be leaving," said Motley, who plans to open a restaurant in Capitol Heights next month.

On Sunday, as diners milled about the buffet area balancing small plates filled with food, Sharon K. Lockwood, the hotel's general manager, stopped at Lane and Buckley's table.

She told the couple that the hotel has decided to keep the space open for Sunday brunches after the renovations are complete -- at least on weekends when no other special events are planned.

"You are? Really?" asked Lane, a wide smile spreading across her face. "That's great."

Still, Lane said after Lockwood walked away, it won't be the same without the staff. Chu said the staff will be absorbed by the hotel chain, with several of them assigned to the Key Bridge Marriott's other two restaurants. Others will move to other Marriott hotels, she said.

"It won't be the same because the staff will be broken up," Lane said, referring to waiters like Minh who have worked at the restaurant since they moved to the United States.

At about 2 p.m. Sunday, as the brunch was winding down, two paintings were taken off a wall and sold to a regular diner, leaving behind a rectangular patch of bright wallpaper. The rest of the wall was faded by comparison. Buckley and Lane watched, their plates empty before them.

"Well," Buckley sighed, turning from the wall to the view before him. "We at least have one more visit."

A party honoring the staff and regular customers will be held at the restaurant tonight, Carol Chu said. Tickets are $50 per person, and a portion of the proceeds will go to a charity for children.