Virginia — Arlington County

Arlington, VA

Washington D.C.'s most sophisticated Virginia neighbor — where the Pentagon's global workforce, Clarendon's restaurant corridor, and the region's most serious Korean and Vietnamese communities redefine what a suburb can be.

6Restaurants Listed
$$–$$$Average Price Range
8Avg Food Score
7Avg Ambience Score

Best Restaurants in Arlington, VA

Five essential tables, ranked by occasion.

$ Under $20  |  $$ $20–50  |  $$$ $50–100  |  $$$$ Over $100

Liberty Tavern Arlington, VA
#1 in Arlington, VA
Liberty Tavern
American / Mid-Atlantic$$$
Close a DealBirthday
The Clarendon anchor that elevated Northern Virginia dining — seasonal Mid-Atlantic cooking with the conviction that Arlington deserves more than chain restaurants.
Food 8Ambience 8Value 7
Me Jana Arlington, VA
#2 in Arlington, VA
Me Jana
Lebanese / Middle Eastern$$$
First DateBirthday
The Lebanese-American kitchen that the D.C. region needed — mezze, kibbeh, and the wood oven flatbreads that have made Me Jana the standard for Middle Eastern dining in Northern Virginia.
Food 8Ambience 8Value 7
Harry's Tap Room Arlington, VA
#3 in Arlington, VA
Harry's Tap Room
American Gastropub$$
BirthdayTeam Dinner
The American gastropub that the Pentagon and Rosslyn office corridors depend on — craft beer, reliable American cooking, and the no-ceremony efficiency that a working lunch requires.
Food 7Ambience 7Value 8
Phở 75 Arlington, VA
#4 in Arlington, VA
Phở 75
Vietnamese$
Solo DiningBirthday
The Vietnamese pho institution that defines Northern Virginia's Vietnamese community — a bowl of pho at Phở 75 is the baseline against which every other pho in the D.C. region is measured.
Food 8Ambience 6Value 9
Ray's the Steaks Arlington, VA
#5 in Arlington, VA
Ray's the Steaks
American Steakhouse$$$
BirthdayClose a Deal
The cult steakhouse that disproved the Washington suburban steakhouse — USDA Prime beef at prices that make the D.C. hotel steakhouses feel like a geographic tax.
Food 9Ambience 6Value 9
Ambar Arlington, VA
#6 in Arlington, VA
Ambar
Balkan / Eastern European$$
First DateBirthday
Unlimited Balkan small plates and rakija — the Serbian-inflected all-you-can-eat format that makes Clarendon's most unexpected restaurant its most fun.
Food 8Ambience 8Value 8

Arlington, VA’s Top 5

01

Liberty Tavern

Liberty Tavern established that Arlington could sustain a serious, independently owned restaurant with genuine culinary ambition — a conviction that was not obvious when it opened and that the restaurant has defended thr...

02

Me Jana

Me Jana brought the Lebanese mezze tradition to Crystal City with the conviction that the D.C. region's substantial Arab-American community deserved a restaurant of genuine quality. The kitchen's success has proved the p...

03

Harry's Tap Room

Harry's Tap Room fills the practical gap between the region's ambitious restaurants and the chain alternatives — a well-run American gastropub with a serious craft beer program, reliably good food, and the accessibility ...

04

Phở 75

Phở 75 has operated in the Clarendon area since the early years of Northern Virginia's Vietnamese community — the community that arrived largely after 1975 and built the Little Saigon neighborhoods of Arlington and Falls...

05

Ray's the Steaks

Ray's the Steaks has been the D.C. region's steakhouse secret since Michael Landrum opened it in 2002 — a small, no-frills space in Clarendon that serves USDA Prime dry-aged beef at prices that make the comparable hotel ...

06

Ambar

Ambar brought the Balkan small-plates tradition to Clarendon with the unlimited mezze concept that makes it one of the most entertaining dining formats in Northern Virginia. The Serbian, Bosnian, and Croatian preparation...

Dining in Arlington, VA

Arlington is Washington D.C.'s most important Virginia neighbor — a dense, walkable urban county of 230,000 that contains the Pentagon, Reagan National Airport, Amazon's second headquarters, and the Clarendon-Ballston restaurant corridor that has become one of the most competitive dining markets in the Mid-Atlantic. Arlington's culinary identity reflects its global workforce: the Vietnamese community that arrived after 1975 built Little Saigon, the Korean community created the K-Street corridor, and the defense industry's international consultants support a level of restaurant ambition that a typical suburb doesn't sustain.

The Vietnamese Community

Northern Virginia's Vietnamese community — one of the largest in the United States, concentrated in Arlington and Falls Church — has created an authentic Little Saigon whose restaurants represent Vietnamese regional cooking with a depth and variety unavailable in most American cities. The pho here comes from a 40-year tradition of cooking for a community that knows what pho should taste like because their grandmothers made it.

The Clarendon Corridor

The Orange Line Metro corridor through Arlington — Clarendon, Ballston, and Virginia Square — has attracted restaurant investment that rivals any urban neighborhood in the D.C. area. The walkability of the neighborhood and the density of the population (including the Amazon HQ2 effect on real estate and demographics) have created a dining scene that consistently surprises visitors who expect suburban mediocrity.

Practical Notes

Arlington is served by the Orange and Silver Metro lines with multiple stations. Reagan National Airport is within the county. Most dining is concentrated along Wilson and Clarendon Boulevards and in the Crystal City area near Amazon HQ2. Card payments are universal except at specifically cash-only establishments noted.

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