Haven’t made Valentine’s Day reservations yet?
You’re in luck. Here are the top 15 best-reviewed restaurants in Arlington, according to OpenTable, that — as of publication time — still have reservations available between 5:30-8:30 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 14.
It might not court the controversy of the new Columbia Heights Taco Bell Cantina, but national taco and tequila chain Bartaco is coming to Ballston Quarter.
The restaurant is one of the last remaining pieces for the recently-renovated mall, which has seen numerous eatery openings over the last year. It will be located adjacent to the Quarter Market food hall, with a new outdoor dining area in the Quarter Market courtyard.
Don’t be fooled by the signs on the building, the notoriously green shack in Clarendon is still long-time local pizzeria Goody’s.
The “Goody’s NY Style Pizzeria” sign has been taken down from the building at 3125 Wilson Blvd. and replaced with a sign that says “Tacos Mexicano,” while the windows advertise tacos and pupusas. Inside, however, there’s still rows of pizza and staff still call it Goody’s.
In Rosslyn, the owners of Chasin’ Tails, Tea’n You, and Lei’d Hawaiian Poke are opening a new food hall called Happy Endings Eatery. This time around, however, the double entendre name is generating some controversy.
The trio of Vietnamese-American brothers behind the successful restaurant group — two of whom are successful former poker players — may have just had their naming luck run out in the post-#MeToo era.
Crystal City is no longer without an Irish pub.
McNamara’s Pub & Restaurant (567 23rd Street S.) opened two weeks ago in the former Fiona’s Irish Pub space, featuring plenty of Irish beer on tap including varieties of layered Guinness drinks.
By the summer of 2020, a two-block radius in Rosslyn will be home to three food halls: Common Ground, Happy Endings Eatery, and an unnamed concept at the soon-to-be redeveloped Rosslyn City Center.
Common Ground and Happy Endings will both be a part of the Central Place complex at 1800 N. Lynn Street. Common Ground will be on the second floor of the residential building, while Happy Endings will be on a lower level near Nando’s and Bethesda Bagels. Happy Endings is hoping to open in late November, Eater reported this week.
Gluten-free and plant-focused eatery The Little Beet expects to open its second Arlington location by the end of the month.
Little Beet is currently under construction in the food court level of the Fashion Centre at Pentagon City. A marketing spokeswoman from eatery said the restaurant is hoping to open Monday, October 21 but can’t promise an exact date, citing difficulties with “construction permitting.”
(Updated at 3:50 p.m.) A queso catastrophe has local macaroni and cheese fans feeling blue today.
The Nova Mac and Cheese Festival, scheduled for this coming Saturday in Ballston, has been cancelled, according to messages on the event’s ticketing and Facebook pages.
Update on 9/30/19 — The event has been cancelled.
Earlier: Would you pay forty bucks for a beer and and ten samples of macaroni and cheese from “top chefs?”
Crystal City may not be without an Irish pub for much longer.
Fiona’s Irish Pub (567 23rd Street S.) closed suddenly in June, after only a few months in business. Signs in the window said the closure was temporary, but those signs have since been replaced with new ones announcing McNamara’s Pub and Restaurant.
A new hot pot restaurant is coming to 2301 Columbia Pike, near William Jeffrey’s Tavern.
The restaurant, called Supreme Hot Pot, is set for interior construction along S. Adams Street, on the ground floor of the Siena Park Apartments.
Metro’s Fire Hydrant Problem — “A fire safety advocate and a D.C. firefighter took to social media Tuesday to criticize the transit agency after a Metrobus was spotted parked in front of a hydrant in Pentagon City for about 10 minutes. They also said it’s a chronic problem.” [Washington Post]
Va. Was Amazon Oasis After NYC Debacle — “In late January, Holly Sullivan, the head of world-wide development at Amazon, returned to Washington, D.C., where she and some colleagues dined with executives from JBG Smith, the real-estate firm managing the Arlington County site.. A JBG Smith official remarked that Amazon’s team looked like it had come from a war zone. ‘How much more space can we get in Virginia?’ one of the Amazon executives joked.” [Wall Street Journal, Twitter]
