Struggling fast-casual restaurant chain Noodles & Co. has closed its location at the Pentagon Row shopping center (1201 S. Joyce Street).
The eatery closed last month after 14 years in business. The restaurant’s exterior sign has since been removed and its interior has been largely cleared out.
House of Steep, a tea house and “foot sanctuary” in Cherrydale, is closing after four years in business.
The well-reviewed business, at 3800 Lee Highway, is based around a number of relaxing offerings: loose leaf tea, foot soaks, massages and reflexology.
The Lee-Lex Service Center, a well-reviewed, long-time automotive business at the corner of Lee Highway and N. Lexington Street, has closed.
Lee-Lex’s website, which has remained largely unchanged for the past 12 years, says that the service center has “been a good neighbor in our Arlington community since 1978 and consistently receive[d] excellent ratings by consumer magazines.”
This year’s long string of restaurant closings in Arlington has people wondering what’s happening to the local restaurant business.
There are a number of factors potentially at play: oversaturation of restaurants, a culling of less-compelling or outdated restaurant concepts, high rent, a national “restaurant recession” and even perhaps a local downturn in “disposable income” spending due to election-related anxiety.
(Updated at 4:40 p.m.) Tazza Kitchen, which served cuisine inspired by the Mediterranean coast and Baja California, has closed at the Arlington Ridge Shopping Center.
The restaurant first opened in 2014, at 2931 S. Glebe Road, replacing the former Cafe Caturra. It closed, apparently permanently, earlier this week.
Another Clarendon restaurant has bit the dust.
Amsterdam Falafelshop has closed its location at 3024 Wilson Blvd permanently, an employee confirmed. Workers were clearing out remaining items from the eatery today.
Medi, a fast-casual restaurant offering Mediterranean pitas, salads and rice bowls, has closed.
The restaurant, at 4037 Campbell Avenue in Shirlington, opened in 2012. It touted a variety of unique flavors and healthy food options, all customizable in a Chipotle-like counter service format.
Arlington Featured on MTP — Arlington County was featured in a Meet the Press segment on Sunday, comparing the level of support for Hillary Clinton here to support for Donald Trump in a rural Ohio county. The show interviewed residents in the Clarendon area. [NBC News]
Surge in Registration, Absentee Voting — Officials are anticipating about 43,000 absentee ballots in Arlington this year, up 50 percent compared to the last presidential election in 2012. Throughout the region and the state, absentee voting is on the rise, which is generally good news for Hillary Clinton. Meanwhile, a surge in last-minute voter registrations yesterday and a statewide software slowdown has the county advising that it could take several days to process all of the applications. [Washington Post, WTOP, WTOP]
Luna Grill and Diner (4024 Campbell Ave) in Shirlington has been closed since last week, but there are no signs or announcements explaining the closure.
The restaurant remained closed during lunchtime today. Chairs were still placed atop tables and nothing looked amiss, save the fact that it wasn’t open as usual.
Several indicators of the pace of restaurant openings in Arlington are pointing down this year.
It’s been a tough year for eateries in Arlington, with at least seven restaurants closing in the Clarendon area alone — the latest of which is Park Lane Tavern.
Eight months after opening, Park Lane Tavern (3227 Washington Blvd) in Clarendon has closed.
The European-inspired pub, which offered reasonably-priced pan-Euro cuisine and a sizable collection of beers and whiskeys from across the pond, opened in February in a location not far from the Clarendon Metro but well off the beaten path. It was the company’s third Park Lane Tavern, with existing locations in Fredericksburg and Hampton, Va.
The rumors were true, unfortunately: Fuego Cocina y Tequileria in Clarendon is closing.
The restaurant confirmed in a press release this evening that its last day will be Sunday, Oct. 16. Fuego opened four years ago, in October 2012, at the corner of Clarendon Blvd and N. Fillmore Street.
