Washington Restaurants
Things to do in Washington
Are restaurants what make a city great? Some might say its businesses and activities while others would tout its opportunities and quality of life, but nearly every equation includes great places to eat distinctive foods in comfortable surroundings. Here at HelloWashingtonDC.com, you'll find just that ... and much more, including those places that local residents tend to keep to themselves.
It's the best of Washington dining, in one convenient location!
Plenty of waiting passengers can find refuge in the food court at Washington's Union Station, but no cafe speaks to the cosmopolitan traveler the way Center Cafe does. The cafe, located in the center of D.C.'s Union Station, just a few blocks north of Capitol Hill, has French brasserie-style bistro tables and wicker chairs where you can order a coffee, drink or food while you watch tourists, travelers and commuters cross the shiny marble floor. It's a great place to park for a break or wait, and
It’s an art gallery! A restaurant! A hotel! A chic place to be! And occasionally a place to see heads of state. Otherwise known as Palette Restaurant & Bar, this hotel restaurant owned by the Madison Hotel (a Loew’s hotel) is a good stop for business lunches. Its artsy and modern flair can verge on somewhat sterile, but its food is reliable and tasty new American cuisine.
Churchkey is another one of those newer establishments transforming the 14th Street Logan Circle corridor, with artisal comfort foods and ales for the high disposable income that's finding its way to these parts. Its menu is geared towards a snacking (i.e. drinking) crowd, with lighter fare and no real entrees, but you can last all night munching and drinking here. At night, it's a casual hopping bar for the young and single, making Churchkey an establishment for all types.
2Amys Neopolitan Pizzeria is the kind of democracy – where its Neapolitan pizzas are controlled by a governing body (the Denominazione di Origine Controllata) and its clientele are free to be as they are. Translation: it's the most family-friendly restaurant for miles, where shrieking children and quality Italian ingredients go together to create the perfect sanctity for parents, children and other pizza lovers.
Circa at Dupont is a trendy bar and restaurant in Dupont Circle with surprisingly good food and drinks.
If you've spent enough time in the Maryland area, you're bound to have tailed behind the famous green EAT BERTHA'S MUSSELS bumper sticker plastered on someone's car rear. It's a message that is not to be taken lightly: a visit to Baltimore should involve eating Bertha's Mussels, located in the cutesy Fells Point neighborhood near the water. Even if you're not a mussels fan, you'll either become one there, or at least can try other options on their menu.
Julia's Empanadas is a Dupont Circle late-night staple (and Adams Morgan, and Columbia Heights and Brightwood), well-known to revelers in their 20s home from a hard night in the clubs.
Osaka, Springfield is a refreshing retreat conveniently located near the Springfield Mall and just minutes from the Franconia-Springfield Metro Station. Specializing in sushi delights and other Japanese offerings, Osaka provides a pleasant combination of conscientious customer service, calm ambiance and professionally-presented cuisine.
The king of crab houses, Bo Brooks is a Baltimore institution that locals love to dislike. It's overadvertised on too many touristy brochures, and combined with its historic preserved lighthouse. In reality, it's not the place for crab purists who believe crabs should be eaten outside, without utensils (and they actually hand out bibs, something Baltimorians will never be caught dead wearing). However, locals will admit it's one of the most reliable crab places in town, year-round, a good place
The number and variety of mobile food trucks in Washington is literally dizzying – a Mid-Atlantic version of what happened in Los Angeles, where this whole phenomenon emerged.
One of the most charming parts of Baltimore is Little Italy, where a small Italian eatery lies on each corner carefully marked by a valet parking sign. Rocco's is one of the highest-rated of these restaurants, and there's question that its old world, rustic charm and “ah! Italiano!” menu of veal, pastas and other creations of cream and tomato sauces conjures up images of an Italian grandmother's kitchen in Brooklyn (or Baltimore, for that matter).
Step off Connecticut Avenue into Bistrot du Coin, and you'll feel like you've entered a real French brasserie, a laid-back eatery with tiny tables and your favorite basic French grub and wine, frites and all. However, unlike being in France where this is the kind of easily forgettable restaurant, its authenticity in Washington versus Paris makes it an unforgettable dining experience and a lovely place to come back to again and again.
Mediterranean fans, unite. The reason we love Mediterranean food so much is all the different tastes involved. Garlic! Olives! Feta! Mushy things to sink bread into! Who knew that yogurt was something to crave? At Dupont's Agora, it all comes in small plates, so you'll get to taste all of it.
Those who are craving spicy food mixed with tropical fruit or an acceptably hip Asian vibe from a restaurant will inevitably turn to Penang.
Sushi Taro is a true cultural dining experience. Besides having sushi that is extremely fresh and a lunch menu that's among the tastiest around Dupont Circle, Sushi Taro is so much more than just a really good Japanese restaurant. It is a genuinely elegant ancient court cuisine mixed with the simplicity of Buddhist fare. This concept is known as Kaiseki, designed to taste the natural flavors of food at its peak of freshness.
Inside this sleek, modern restaurant is a whole lot of tradition from worlds far away: specifically, the Mediterranean. Zaytinya, located near Chinatown among a row of office buildings, is a great hideaway and a good alternative to the typical soup-and-sandwich lunch option.
Logan Circle's newest addition, a spacious Thai restaurant with incredible décor resembling a wat (Thai temple), brings a hip atmosphere to the neighborhood. Teak Wood, named for Thailand's favorite building material, clears out what was once a popular place to conduct drug and prostitution negotiations. As a result, 14th Street is now officially the coolest places in Washington, and Teak Wood is another example of the city's culinary demands for more diverse foods and fashionable places to be.
Harry's Tap Room fits into the Pentagon City scene perfectly. Its laid-back, after-work beers and festive weekend brunches makes it a perfect setting for the young, yuppie neighborhood, along with its focus on organic food. And like most of Arlington, Harry's Tap Room is clean, bright and modern, with earth-tones and décor.
For some of the tastier gourmet pizzas in the northwest quadrant, visit Sette Osteria, a wood-firing Neapolitan kitchen in Dupont Circle.
Who doesn't like roasted chicken on a stick (other than vegetarians)? Or warmed bread to dip into flavorful spreads like hummus or babaganouj? Here's a great Middle Eastern and Mediterranean lunch and dinner spot right by the 17th Street section of Dupont Circle, appropriately named Skewers, the tool upon which many of its foods are stuck into and grilled to perfection.
It's hard not to love Peter's Inn. A place that serves lardons and beets, one that can explain the difference between dayboat scallops and other scallops. Peter's Inn merits a regular visit, regardless of its slightly pricy menu.
Mie n Yu is a bold statement from the typical Georgetown-based dining establishment – introducing exotic, faraway lands packaged neatly in a five-room restaurant and designed for the slinky and chic of DC.
Bethesda Crab House is Bethesda's favorite crab joint, surprising for its low-maintenance and low-key atmosphere that's held up for nearly 50 years.
In a popular small business section of eateries and shops off the East-West highway is one of Washington's best delis: the Parkway Deli Silver Spring.
Move over, pad thai and chicken skewers. This isn’t your everyday so-so Thai joint: it’s a bold statement on 14th Street and rated the best Thai in the area and even by tourists. Like its namesake, Thai Tanic is not to be messed with, but unlike its namesake, it’s unlikely to be going down anytime soon.
Clyde's is a famous chain of upscale dining around Washington, one of those reliable restaurants with good food and drinks. Locals may shun going to such chains when there are so many other options around town, but they still flock to the saloon-like atmosphere for the brews and food. It's a popular place for the working crowd, but also for out-of-towners and families on weekend lunches.
Anyone walking by this brick brownstone exterior on the corner by Patterson Park would have thought nothing of it: perhaps another neighborhood pub-in-the-wall type place for locals to dwell past hours. But there's something about the name, Salt, and its glowing green industrial lights as seen from the outside that will make people look twice. Food is a modern art form (in a good way) that you'll only partially understand, particularly the menu descriptions, but an extraordinary experience that
Zorba’s Café answers the call for Greek food in so many ways – it’s inexpensive, it’s delicious, it’s easy to order and it’s atmospheric. It’s the kind of place to take an office lunch, or a date, or for a group of rowdy hungry teenage boys from the suburbs who think they’re being cool in Dupont Circle. Zorba’s brings high-quality food and tastes to the masses, without lowering their standards or classiness the way people still view hummus and pita.
Any restaurant within a stone's throw from the White House is sure to be as American as possible, serving steaks and seafood drowned without a calorie care in the world, with old-school décor, dark wood, stiff drinks, a noisy bustle and a lot of patrons in suits. Et voila! That's PJ Clarke's, New York's historic saloon and 16th Street's newest addition.
It's hard to be in the Chesapeake region without becoming a fan of one crucial creature: the Maryland crab. Here are some of the top crab restaurants in DC and the nearby area.
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