Account

Welcome

Sign in to save places, build lists, and keep your score.

Search

The 23 Best Places in Alexandria

The best places in Alexandria, according to the experts: Eater, Time Out, and Washingtonian have all weighed in, and their honors are what rank this list. Swing's Coffee comes out on top.

More Less

Landini Brothers and Thompson Italian hold the next two places. AAA shows up on more of this list than any other guide, with Northern Virgina Magazine next.

All, change section

Departments

A department belongs to one section, so choosing one narrows the list to it.


  1. Address
    501 E Monroe Ave, Alexandria, VA · Alexandria
    Hours

    Closed now, opens Wed 7 AM

    Tuesday 7 AM–4 PM

    Online
    WebsiteInstagram

  2. Address
    115 King Street, Alexandria, VA · Alexandria
    Hours

    Open now, until 10 PM

    Tuesday 11:30 AM–10 PM

    Online
    WebsiteInstagram

  3. Rank 3. Vermilion

    Modern American

    Candlelit brick rooms inside a historic King Street townhouse set the tone: this is a modern American dinner spot that takes farm-to-table seriously without dressing it up in ceremony. The kitchen leans into simplicity, letting a slow-cooked beef rib in blackberry glaze or Amish chicken with saffron aioli carry the room without architectural plating or a lengthy tasting menu to justify the tab.


    Address
    1120 King St., Alexandria, VA · Alexandria
    Hours

    Open now, until 11 PM

    Tuesday 4 PM–11 PM

    Reserve
    OpenTable
    Online
    WebsiteInstagram

  4. Address
    2429 Mandeville Ln Alexandria, VA · Alexandria
    Hours

    Open now, until 10 PM

    Tuesday 11 AM–10 PM

    Online
    WebsiteInstagram

  5. Address
    109 S Saint Asaph St, Alexandria, VA · Alexandria
    Hours

    Open now, until 10 PM

    Tuesday 11 AM–3 PM, 5 PM–10 PM

    Reserve
    OpenTable
    Online
    WebsiteInstagram
  6. The awards


  7. The awards


  8. Rank 8. Barca Wine Bar & Pier

    Spanish Wine Bar

    The awards


  9. Rank 8. Bastille

    French

    The awards


  10. The awards


  11. Rank 12. Call Your Mother

    Jewish American


    Address
    1300 King St, Alexandria, VA · Alexandria
    Hours

    Closed now, opens Wed 6:30 AM

    Tuesday 6:30 AM–4 PM

    Online
    WebsiteInstagram
  12. Rank 13. Sweet Fire Donna's

    North Carolina Barbecue

    The awards


  13. The awards


  14. The awards



  15. Address
    512D S Van Dorn St, Alexandria, VA · Alexandria
    Hours

    Open now, until midnight

    Tuesday 11 AM–Midnight

    Online
    WebsiteInstagram
  16. Rank 16. Nasime

    Japanese

    Fewer than twenty seats, one chef, seven courses, and a kitchen so quiet you can hear the thinking. Nasime is an intimate Japanese tasting room in Old Town Alexandria where the Ginza-trained team runs a set menu that moves through seasons rather than trends. The pacing is unhurried, the combinations are precise, and the sashimi course arrives with a buzz-button flower that earns its spot on the plate.


    Address
    1209 King St, Alexandria, VA · Alexandria
    Hours

    Open now, until 10 PM

    Tuesday 6 PM–10 PM

    Reserve
    Resy
    Online
    Website

  17. Address
    112 King St, Alexandria, VA · Alexandria
    Hours

    Open now, until midnight

    Tuesday 11 AM–Midnight

    Online
    WebsiteInstagram
  18. Rank 19. Makeda

    Ethiopian


    Address
    516A S Van Dorn St, Alexandria, VA · Alexandria
    Hours

    Open now, until 11 PM

    Tuesday 11 AM–11 PM

    Online
    WebsiteInstagram
  19. Rank 20. Bun Papa

    American


    Address
    1512 Belle View Blvd, Alexandria, VA · Alexandria
    Hours

    Closed now, opens Wed 10 AM

    Tuesday 10 AM–4 PM

    Online
    WebsiteInstagram
  20. Finding this Italian osteria means navigating an office building in Alexandria, which is either charming or a mild ordeal depending on your mood. The menu leans into unexpected combinations: a filet mignon draped in cacio e pepe raviolo and shaved black truffle is the kind of dish that sounds like a dare and reads like a flex. A Nutella pizza piled with marshmallows closes things out on similarly committed terms.


    Address
    6361 Walker Ln, Unit 140, Alexandria, VA · Alexandria
    Hours

    Open now, until 10 PM

    Tuesday 3 PM–10 PM

    Reserve
    OpenTable
    Online
    WebsiteInstagram
  21. The stracciatella cheese is pulled by hand, and the dough ferments for 72 hours before it ever sees a topping. This Roman-style pizzeria in Alexandria started as a food truck and now draws a wait for tables, which people seem willing to endure. Specials rotate fast, salads lean seasonal and serious, and the mainstay pies hold up without leaning on novelty. Order by QR code; the servers are worth talking to anyway.


    Address
    106 Hume Ave, Alexandria, VA · Alexandria
    Hours

    Open now, until 9 PM

    Tuesday 5 PM–9 PM

    Online
    WebsiteInstagram

Browse a location

Current Location

Cities within Washington

Metros

Eat Score

The score comes from the awards it's won, weighted by who gave them: a Michelin star outweighs a listicle. When you sort by what's nearby, distance changes the order, never the score.

    How we score →

    Drink Score

    The score comes from the awards it's won, weighted by who gave them: a Michelin star outweighs a listicle. When you sort by what's nearby, distance changes the order, never the score.

      How we score →

      Stay Score

      Four fifths of the score is the awards it's won, weighted by who gave them: a Michelin Key outweighs a listicle. The last fifth is where it is: the ranked places to eat and things to do around it, and how safe the country is. When you sort by what's nearby, distance from you changes the order, never the score.

        How we score →

        Do Score

        The score comes from the awards it's won, weighted by who gave them: a Michelin star outweighs a listicle. When you sort by what's nearby, distance changes the order, never the score.

          How we score →

          Best Place Score

          The Best Place Score rates the area around a point, not any one place. The places are 60% of it: the best of what's within reach, weighed by distance. The setting is the other 40%: how life goes in that country (how people rate their own lives, how long and how well they live, how safe they are) and what it's like right there (the air, and the weather). If the score looks low, we probably haven't found enough critics out here yet.