It appears a new Chick-fil-A is coming to Pentagon City, alongside a new Wiseguy Pizza location.
Both locations are ground floor restaurants in the Witmer, a new 26-story luxury apartment at the corner of 12th Street S. and S. Hayes Street, amid the Pentagon Centre shopping center. The Chick-fil-A is located at the top of the Pentagon City Metro station on the east side of S. Hayes Street next to the CVS.
The Freshman is, both figuratively and literally, a little underground.
The restaurant comes from Nick Freshman, who’s also behind Spider Kelly’s in Clarendon. The Freshman is not planned to fully launch in its permanent home at 2011 Crystal Drive until 2020, but in the meantime the eatery has had a quiet “soft launch” across the street in Crystal City Shops.
(Updated at 3:45 p.m.) One day after a GoFundMe campaign launched to support Westover stores hit by Monday’s flooding, the fundraiser has passed its initial aim of $25,000 and has moved towards a new $100,000 goal.
Flash floods on Monday left stores on the north side of the 5800 block of Washington Blvd ankle-deep in water, with basements filled to the ceiling with water. Kristy Peterkin, a manager at Ayers Variety & Hardware, estimated the storm caused at least $100,000 in damages to the merchandise. Days after the storm, power still hasn’t been restored and most of the stores on the block remain closed.
(Updated at 9:45 p.m.) The View of DC, the observation deck on the 31st floor of Central Place Tower in Rosslyn, appears to be closing to ticketed guests.
On the venue’s website, tickets are only available through Friday, July 26. A somewhat cryptic message on the website (below) suggests that the observation deck will “pivot” to being primarily a private event venue.
A group of restaurateurs known for their D.C. hotspots are planning to open a new eatery in Arlington.
Brothers Ian and Eric Hilton, along with Chef Brendan L’Etoile, are partnering to open Cafe Colline in the former Cassatt’s space at 4536 Lee Highway, in the Lee Heights Shops. Cassatt’s, a beloved but tiny New Zealand-themed restaurant, closed last summer shortly after being sold by its longtime owner.
A new LensCrafters store is now open in Ballston.
Last week marked the grand opening of LensCrafters in Ballston Quarter (4238 Wilson Blvd). It replaces a former LensCrafters store at the mall that closed prior to its renovations.
Sloppy Mama’s Barbeque is now open at 5731 Lee Highway.
The location is the first full bricks-and-mortar restaurant for the popular D.C. food truck. The barbecue joint does have an outlet in the Ballston Quarter Market food hall, but co-owner Joe Neuman told ARLnow the Lee Highway restaurant handles much of the cooking for the Ballston Quarter location.
Update at 5:20 p.m. — In a new Facebook post, The Lot says it received its ABC permit at the last minute today and will serve beer tomorrow, on the Fourth of July. The beer garden says it will serve liquor starting tonight.
Update: We have received our ABC license at 5 pm!! (Third of July miracle!) We will serve liquor tonight, and beer and liquor tomorrow. Stand by for door opening time!
Cucina Al Volo opened for business this past weekend in the Quarter Market food hall at Ballston Quarter mall (4238 Wilson Blvd).
The restaurant is known locally for serving up authentic Italian cuisine and prides its on using ingredients from local farmers markets whenever possible. An employee of the new location told ARLnow that business has been good so far and they’re expecting new customers to continue discovering it in the mall’s food hall, near Copa Kitchen and Bar.
Naked Lunch, an organic vegetarian and vegan eatery attached to the MOM’s Organic Market at 1901 N. Veitch Street, has closed.
According to staff at the grocery store, the location — along car-oriented Lee Highway, a long walk from Courthouse — meant that Naked Lunch never got the kind of traffic it needed and the restaurant closed last Monday, June 24.
Madison Manor Park (6225 12th Road N.) will close starting next week for renovations.
Arlington County Board members began considering updates to the park back in 2017 and finally voted in May to begin construction.
Law enforcement agencies are planning several road closures for Fourth of July.
Several main roads will be closed on July 4, including Memorial Bridge and Memorial Circle, from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. The Arlington County Police Department is encouraging people to use to use public transit as large crowds are expected during the celebrations.
