The Best Places in Washington

Moroccan tile and cozy alcoves set the mood at this upscale-casual Mediterranean and Persian restaurant in Adams Morgan. The kitchen draws from Greek, North African, Turkish, and Persian traditions without treating any of them as fixed texts, so gigante beans might arrive tossed in tahini and sumac instead of the expected tomato. Braised lamb shoulder and walnut-marinated kebabs anchor the menu, and the baked rice pudding with saffron syrup lands as a genuine closer.

1. Washingtonian #98 · 100 Very Best Restaurants

An Irish gastropub in Shirlington where the full Irish breakfast runs on weekdays too, not just weekends. The owner is from Tipperary, and it shows: rashers, puddings, beans, eggs, and a potato cake with homemade brown bread on the plate. The kind of place where a pint and a proper fry-up at noon on a Tuesday feels entirely reasonable, which is really the whole point of an Irish pub.

1. Washingtonian 9 Great Pubs for a Full Irish Breakfast Around DC

A strip mall in Fairfax with walls of actual greenery sets the scene for this casual Southeast Asian restaurant covering Thai, Malaysian, and Singaporean ground with real range. Chili crab comes with soft-shells in a red sauce and sweet buns for mopping, and a fried rice pyramid topped with lump crab closes the loop nicely. The pandan castella cake keeps dessert from being an afterthought.

1. Washingtonian #88 · 100 Very Best Restaurants

1. Washingtonian 9 Great Pubs for a Full Irish Breakfast Around DC

1. Washingtonian 9 Great Pubs for a Full Irish Breakfast Around DC

1. Washingtonian 9 Great Pubs for a Full Irish Breakfast Around DC

1. Washingtonian 9 Great Pubs for a Full Irish Breakfast Around DC

Tucked deep inside the Eden Center mall, this Vietnamese restaurant operates on the assumption that you came ready to work for it. The staff speaks limited English and menu descriptions don't give much away, but the rice-cake and tapioca-dumpling appetizers, some banana-leaf-wrapped, some chicharrón-crusted with tiny shell-on shrimp, make the ordering process forgiving. The spicy lemongrass noodle soup with rustic meatballs in a rich beef broth is what regulars are usually after.

1. Washingtonian #94 · 100 Very Best Restaurants

1. Eater The Best Tasting Menus in D.C. Right Now
2. Eater Where to Find the Best Sushi Around D.C.

1. Washingtonian 9 Delicious Doughnut Shops Around DC

1. James Beard Awards 2024 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Restaurateur · Ashok Bajaj - Knightsbridge Restaurant Group

1. James Beard Awards 2024 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Restaurateur · Ashok Bajaj - Knightsbridge Restaurant Group

1. The Washington Post The 8 best Ethiopian restaurants in and around D.C.

1. Washingtonian 8 Exciting and Delicious Vegan Restaurants Around DC

1. Washingtonian The vegetarian version · 7 Delicious French Onion Soups to Keep You Cozy All Day Long

1. Washingtonian The suburban find · 7 Delicious French Onion Soups to Keep You Cozy All Day Long

1. Washingtonian 9 Delicious Doughnut Shops Around DC

1. Washingtonian 9 Delicious Doughnut Shops Around DC

1. Washingtonian 9 Delicious Doughnut Shops Around DC

1. The Washington Post #2 · The Best Bagels in D.C.

1. The Washington Post #2 · The Best Bagels in D.C.

1. Washingtonian 9 Delicious Doughnut Shops Around DC

1. Washingtonian 9 Delicious Doughnut Shops Around DC

1. Washingtonian 9 Delicious Doughnut Shops Around DC

1. Washingtonian 9 Delicious Doughnut Shops Around DC

1. Washingtonian 9 Delicious Doughnut Shops Around DC

1. Washingtonian 9 Great Pubs for a Full Irish Breakfast Around DC

1. Washingtonian The soup-and-fire combo · 7 Delicious French Onion Soups to Keep You Cozy All Day Long

1. The Washington Post The 8 best Ethiopian restaurants in and around D.C.

1. James Beard Awards 2024 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Restaurateur · Ashok Bajaj - Knightsbridge Restaurant Group

1. The Washington Post The 8 best Ethiopian restaurants in and around D.C.

1. Washingtonian The classic · 7 Delicious French Onion Soups to Keep You Cozy All Day Long

1. The Washington Post The 8 best Ethiopian restaurants in and around D.C.

1. Washingtonian Another great vegetarian version · 7 Delicious French Onion Soups to Keep You Cozy All Day Long

1. Washingtonian The French dip/French onion soup mashup · 7 Delicious French Onion Soups to Keep You Cozy All Day Long

1. The Washington Post The 8 best Ethiopian restaurants in and around D.C.

1. Washingtonian 8 Exciting and Delicious Vegan Restaurants Around DC

1. James Beard Awards 2024 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic · Keem Hughley

Todd Thrasher makes his own tonic water, his own bitters, and his own roasted pineapple juice, which tells you almost everything about PX before you've touched the door. It's a cocktail bar in Old Town Alexandria running on a serious DIY ethic, the kind where the drink in front of you contains something nobody else thought to make from scratch. The room is small and unhurried, well ahead of the speakeasy moment before that moment existed.

1. Difford's Guide 4 stars · Difford's Guide

12 Stories is a rooftop cocktail bar on the twelfth floor at the Wharf, with a DJ, a dancehall and R&B soundtrack, and a view of the whole Potomac. The food is slider-and-truffle-fries territory, so eat beforehand and treat the menu as a courtesy. It's a place to debut a new outfit, with a gingery rum-pineapple Story Teller in hand and a dance floor that rewards commitment.

1. The Infatuation The Best Restaurants In The Wharf

1. Washingtonian Where to Eat Near the National Mall

A converted tourist kiosk steps from the Air and Space Museum that happens to be the only place on the National Mall where you can order a glass of wine with your pizza. The team behind Sonny's Pizza runs this casual counter, pouring natural wine, beer, and spritzes alongside grandma-style pan slices and focaccia sandwiches. Mornings lean espresso and pastries. The footnote writes itself: museum gift shops sell astronaut ice cream; this place sells Aperol spritzes.

1. Washingtonian Where to Eat Near the National Mall

This is the hotel lobby bar at the Pendry on the Wharf, all brass, espresso wood, and dim velvet, the sort of room where a Louis Vuitton-print jacket would blend right in. Hotel guests and the well-funded settle into the lounge with coffee-and-rum cocktails while complimentary nuts and olives arrive unprompted. Entrees exist, but most people stick to truffle fries and a charcuterie board. It's a nightcap spot.

1. The Infatuation The Best Restaurants In The Wharf

1. Eater Where to Eat and Drink on Capitol Hill

1. Eater Where to Eat and Drink on Capitol Hill

1. Eater Where to Eat and Drink on Capitol Hill

Cantina Bambina is a two-story bar on the Wharf where the main attraction is the sunset, which turns the whole room gold around 8pm in summer. Drinks run to beer, wine, and a vodka-strawberry lemonade, and the food is beef sticks, Moon Pies, and potato chips, so eat dinner first. It suits the stretch before a show at the Anthem across the street, or any sunny afternoon with nowhere to be.

1. The Infatuation The Best Restaurants In The Wharf

1. Washingtonian Where to Eat Near the National Mall

1. Washingtonian Where to Eat Near the National Mall

The noodles come from Sapporo, which tells you something about how seriously this ramen counter takes its business. Downstairs, bowls of springy, custom-made noodles arrive in a long-simmered broth, with a vegetarian version that holds its own against the pork. Upstairs flips into a Japanese tavern pouring sake and yuzu cocktails alongside a full menu of drinking snacks. Two moods, one address, zero bad options on either floor.

1. Washingtonian Where to Eat Near the National Mall

1. The Washington Post 9 of the best restaurants in Shaw

1. The Washington Post 9 of the best restaurants in Shaw

1. Eater Where to Eat and Drink on Capitol Hill

Ilili is a Lebanese dinner-and-brunch spot at the Wharf, where hanging vines, cages of light-up birds, and a trickling stone fountain make the dining room look like a very well-funded aviary. Hand-painted tiles cover the floor, and graduation parties and promotion dinners show up in their Sunday best. Skip the small plates for the mixed grill, a charred platter built for sharing.

1. The Infatuation The Best Restaurants In The Wharf

1. Eater Where to Eat and Drink on Capitol Hill

1. Eater Where to Eat and Drink on Capitol Hill

1. Eater Where to Eat and Drink on Capitol Hill

1. Eater Where to Eat and Drink on Capitol Hill

1. Eater Where to Eat and Drink on Capitol Hill

1. Eater Where to Eat and Drink on Capitol Hill

Officina is a multi-story Italian restaurant on the Wharf, and the second-floor dining room looks like a Campari ad, all art deco light fixtures and golden-green everything. The menu roams the whole country with a strong lean toward seafood, plus housemade pastas for when you want a linguine that stays on message. Upstairs, a plant-filled terrace gets a lovely view south and a less lovely one of the overpass north. Dress like you're in Milan.

1. The Infatuation The Best Restaurants In The Wharf

1. Washingtonian Where to Eat Near the National Mall

Pink Tiger is a Wharf cocktail bar and restaurant where everything arrives in some shade of rose, from the patio umbrellas to the drinks, which seem to have been color-matched to the walls. The menu wanders between Southeast Asian, American, and Mediterranean ideas, so go in with a loose itinerary. Expect a dressed-up, mildly flamingo crowd and a tab that matches the waterfront address.

1. The Infatuation The Best Restaurants In The Wharf

1. Washingtonian Where to Eat Near the National Mall

1. The Washington Post 9 of the best restaurants in Shaw

This is a small oyster bar with an outsized patio, parked a few steps from the Wharf's fish market, where the barge bobs and the air does some of the marketing. It's run by the oyster growers whose name is on the door, so the bivalves have a short commute. Weekday happy hour from 4 to 6 puts oysters at $2 and clams at $1.50, which tourists and locals both do the math on.

1. The Infatuation The Best Restaurants In The Wharf

1. Eater Where to Eat and Drink on Capitol Hill

1. Northern Virginia Magazine The 50 Best Restaurants in Northern Virginia
2. James Beard Awards 2022 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic · Matt Hill

1. Eater Where to Eat and Drink on Capitol Hill

1. Eater Where to Eat and Drink on Capitol Hill

The Grill is a sit-down American restaurant at the Wharf, the sort of place you pick when the show at the Anthem starts soon and nobody can agree on dinner. The menu is steaks, salads, mac and cheese, and lobster rolls, a dressed-up cousin of the roadside chain. There's a wine wall with faux wood pillars, and the servers wear formal attire, which feels generous for a burger.

1. The Infatuation The Best Restaurants In The Wharf

The Roost is a Capitol Hill food hall where you order from your phone and the food finds you, which spares everyone the usual tray-and-buzzer shuffle. Under one roof you get Cameo Coffee, Hi-Fi Taco, and a craft beer bar pouring Bluejacket brews. There's also Caruso's Grocery, a sit-down red sauce joint with faded red booths and chicken Parmigiana, doing a convincing impression of a place your grandfather had a table at.

1. Eater Where to Eat and Drink on Capitol Hill

1. The Washington Post 9 of the best restaurants in Shaw

1. Eater Where to Eat and Drink on Capitol Hill

Zom Tum is a casual Thai and Laotian spot on Capitol Hill, set in the old Joselito space, with a papaya salad station right at the door so you meet the main attraction before you meet a host. The name is a playful spin on "som tom." Curries come from a longtime D.C. Thai restaurateur, and a bar pours craft Thai beers and whisky. Daily happy hour covers spring rolls, wontons, and wine, an unusual trio.

1. Eater Where to Eat and Drink on Capitol Hill

1. James Beard Awards 2023 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic · Peter Prime

1. James Beard Awards 2023 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Wine and Other Beverages Program

1. James Beard Awards 2023 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic · Joy Crump

1. James Beard Awards 2023 · Semifinalist · Emerging Chef · Elias Taddesse

1. James Beard Awards 2023 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Restaurateur · Michael Reginbogin and Jason Berry - KNEAD Hospitality + Design

1. James Beard Awards 2023 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Restaurateur · Michael Reginbogin and Jason Berry - KNEAD Hospitality + Design

1. James Beard Awards 2023 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Restaurateur · Michael Reginbogin and Jason Berry - KNEAD Hospitality + Design

The bucatini arrives spun tableside inside a wheel of parmigiana, which tells you immediately that this Arlington red-sauce Italian spot has more going on than the checkered-tablecloth classics. Chef Mike Cordero keeps inventing, so the menu shifts, but the instinct stays the same: familiar comfort food pushed somewhere unexpected. The room fills with people who came for spaghetti and meatballs and end up ordering whatever the server talks them into.

1. Northern Virginia Magazine #8 · The 50 Best Restaurants in Northern Virginia

The lavender dining room is your first hint that Celebration by Rupa Vira is not playing by anyone else's rules. This modern Indian restaurant in Ashburn runs on contrast: crispy kale chaat with yogurt pearls and tamarind, tandoori salmon arriving in a pool of chile and mango with a cloud of foam on top. Desserts come with dry ice and gold leaf, because subtlety left the building. The self-trained chef earned a spot on Northern Virginia Magazine's 50 Best list, and the room makes a convincing case without needing the press.

1. Northern Virginia Magazine #9 · The 50 Best Restaurants in Northern Virginia

The water arrives with a tray of cucumbers, lime, and lemon so you can pick your infusion, which tells you something about how seriously this Korean steakhouse in Vienna takes its choices. A six-course prix fixe builds around American wagyu cuts grilled tableside, but nearly every element is yours to configure, from appetizers to noodles to the savory finish. The kind of place where the decisions feel like half the dinner.

1. Northern Virginia Magazine #7 · The 50 Best Restaurants in Northern Virginia

The focaccia-stacked lamb burger keeps regulars coming back, but at this Sterling neighborhood restaurant, even the fritto misto and a bowl of rigatoni Bolognese feel like they got the same amount of thought. Housemade bread arrives with cultured butter, seasonal cocktails shift with the calendar, and the kitchen seems constitutionally unable to phone anything in. A place that treats a Tuesday dinner like it matters.

1. Northern Virginia Magazine #10 · The 50 Best Restaurants in Northern Virginia

1. James Beard Awards 2022 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Restaurant

The tableside saganaki arrives in a burst of actual flames, which sets the tone for everything that follows. This is a proper Greek restaurant, the kind where white curtains billow, conversations run in several languages at once, and a server steers you toward an Assyrtiko without being asked. The wine list leans Greek and the dips arrive with warm pita still soft from the oven.

1. Northern Virginia Magazine #2 · The 50 Best Restaurants in Northern Virginia

A dry-aged rib-eye on a tabletop grill is a good start, but Seoul Prime is doing considerably more than that. This Korean barbecue steakhouse in Falls Church layers fine-dining ambition onto the tableside format, with a kimchi vinaigrette on burrata and a croissant pressed in a waffle iron for dessert. The beef tours give the meal a shape; the à la carte menu lets you freelance. Dressy enough to feel like a night out, smoky enough to remind you it's still barbecue.

1. Northern Virginia Magazine #5 · The 50 Best Restaurants in Northern Virginia

The dining room of an old country inn in the Virginia foothills, where the kitchen takes a locavore menu seriously enough that nobody's ordering a chicken-fried steak. Housemade gnocchi, herb-crusted rack of lamb, and a mango mousse that arrives looking like a art installation suggest the chef has somewhere to be. The drive out to Paris, VA is part of it, and the setting does a lot of the work before the food even arrives.

1. Northern Virginia Magazine #3 · The 50 Best Restaurants in Northern Virginia

Murals on the walls, A5 wagyu with foie gras on the plate: the contrast is kind of the point at this Arlington sushi spot. The menu runs toward the lavish end of the spectrum, with precision plating that makes you feel slightly guilty picking up your chopsticks. The ceviche with wasabi nori chips cuts through all that richness with real sharpness. Book ahead; the room fills fast and nobody's rushing out.

1. Northern Virginia Magazine #4 · The 50 Best Restaurants in Northern Virginia

Mosaic lanterns cut through the Tysons corporate blur the moment you walk in, and the room stays loud and kinetic from there. Agora is a lively Mediterranean restaurant where mezze plates arrive fast and tables turn on a two-hour clock, which somehow adds to the fun rather than the stress. The Ottoman rice, fragrant with currants and crowned with fried shallots, tends to be the dish people talk about on the way to the car.

1. Northern Virginia Magazine The 50 Best Restaurants in Northern Virginia

The polished metal trays arrive loaded with banchan, and the arrangement shifts every time, which is half the point. Baek ban is the format, a Korean rice-set meal with a main and a rotating cast of small dishes, and at this Chantilly spot the lineup might include cubed radish kimchi, sesame-glossed glass noodles, or a perilla-leaf omelet. The smoky-sweet bulgogi landed on the Washingtonian's favorite dishes list, so that one is worth keeping an eye out for.

1. Washingtonian Bulgogi Baek Ban · Our Favorite Dishes of the Year in the DC Area

1. Washingtonian Nashville Hot Chicken Bánh Mì · Our Favorite Dishes of the Year in the DC Area

1. Washingtonian Bao Bei Bowl · Our Favorite Dishes of the Year in the DC Area

The whole branzino is flown in from Greece, cured, air-dried for days, then grilled until the skin shatters, which tells you everything about the kitchen's priorities at this polished Pike & Rose restaurant. It reads like a classic American steakhouse, and you could easily miss the Greek thread running through it, which is exactly what makes that fish such a pleasantly disorienting moment. The owners also run Cava, which is quite the range.

1. Washingtonian Grilled Whole Branzino · Our Favorite Dishes of the Year in the DC Area

1. Washingtonian Chicago Dog · Our Favorite Dishes of the Year in the DC Area

1. Northern Virginia Magazine The 50 Best Restaurants in Northern Virginia

1. Northern Virginia Magazine The 50 Best Restaurants in Northern Virginia

1. Northern Virginia Magazine The 50 Best Restaurants in Northern Virginia