Another Washington D.C. Thread

I'm a DC resident myself. The "favorite place to eat" is a tricky one as it sort of depends on your budget. @Andrea1975 suggestions on things to do are pretty much the same I would have listed. I would probably add the Botanical Gardens are pretty great.
 
I'm a DC resident myself. The "favorite place to eat" is a tricky one as it sort of depends on your budget. @Andrea1975 suggestions on things to do are pretty much the same I would have listed. I would probably add the Botanical Gardens are pretty great.
I agree with this. When my kids were very small (we are local), a ride on the Metro and just the food court in a museum was exciting to them! There are also tons of food trucks around the Mall if you want something less formal or a snack.
 
Well, I mean, we are going to have 2 toddlers, so 5 star dining is out, but I was more just looking for kinda a few options that I could write down and then look up. Everyone's going to have a place they enjoyed eating at when on vacation (or in your case, as a local, somewhere you eat at often) that they would recommend.
 
Well, I mean, we are going to have 2 toddlers, so 5 star dining is out, but I was more just looking for kinda a few options that I could write down and then look up. Everyone's going to have a place they enjoyed eating at when on vacation (or in your case, as a local, somewhere you eat at often) that they would recommend.

If you want awesome dining...but not high end...you can't go wrong with Top Chef alum Spike's places, either We The Pizza or Good Stuff Eatery - hit during the lunch hours to get the best bang for your buck (both have really good lunch special options for $10-$12.50, including cool drinks), although they are pretty cheap for DC even if you go at regular prices for dinner...
 


Well, I mean, we are going to have 2 toddlers, so 5 star dining is out, but I was more just looking for kinda a few options that I could write down and then look up. Everyone's going to have a place they enjoyed eating at when on vacation (or in your case, as a local, somewhere you eat at often) that they would recommend.

Spike's places are definitely good hits.

Ben's Chili Bowl is pretty iconic. It's good, don't get me wrong, but I think it survives more of the legend of itself than the food itself. They're known for their half-smokes. A type of hot dog meets sausage DC thing.

Not sure if it was here or on a different DC thread, but Ted's Bulletin has some really good food and serves food that most any kid will eat. You can't reserve a table though, so it's best to arrive early.

Astro Doughnuts & Fried Chicken has some AMAZING doughnuts, but you'll pay for them. I think a dozen doughnuts is like $20?

Another treat for the kids would be Captain Cookie and the Milkman. They make ice cream sandwiches out of the cookies that are amazing. But even if you don't want that much sugar, just the cookies are excellent.

One place where you could sneak in some booze without the kids knowing is Burger, Tap & Shake. Their burgers are great and they make some excellent boozy milkshakes!

If you like novelty food, there's Buredo. They make sushi burritos. Or Abunai Poke which makes Hawaiian poke.

I'll be honest, since we had our daughter we sort of fell out of the food scene. :-/

Dipping a bit outside the "good for kids" unless they're well behaved:

Proof is a good restaurant. They have their wine bottles tapped in this fancy contraption behind the bar so, you can have any wine by the glass and they don't have to worry about it going off. Food is good too.

Farmers Fishers Bakers has some really interesting options. They do some really out there sushi that you wouldn't expect.

Most people will say Central is overhyped and it's possible that's true. It's been almost 10 years since I last dined there, but when I did, I had an amazing experience, so I'd be remiss not to mention it. It's a restaurant run by acclaimed chef, Michel Richard.

The Source is a Wolfgang Puck Japanese Fusion restaurant. Excellent food.

There's lots more of course. LOTS more. But that's all I can come up with off the top of my head/a quick refresher off of Yelp.
 
I'm glad I wondered upon this post. There's a lot of great info! We decided to cancel our $5k Disney trip in the spring and instead are going to do D.C. instead. I went once a few years ago for a day and really enjoyed the few things I did see. I'm excited to go for a few days with DF and our kids, even if the kids might not be super into it (they're only going to be 2 and 3 by the time we go).


Out of sheer curiosity, for anyone, what was your favorite thing to do and favorite place to eat? I'd love to compile a list to show DF.

I think each of the Smithsonian's have a kids' area. At least I can say the American History, Air&Space, and American Indian Museum all did. My kids loved each place, though they are older than yours (4 & 7 at the time). Also, the carousel on the mall is fun!
 
I think each of the Smithsonian's have a kids' area. At least I can say the American History, Air&Space, and American Indian Museum all did. My kids loved each place, though they are older than yours (4 & 7 at the time). Also, the carousel on the mall is fun!

It's a challenge for little little kids.

At the American History museum there's Wegman's Wonderplace
At the Natural History museum they've got the Insect Zoo if your kids aren't squeamish around bugs. And also the butterfly pavilion (not free!)
At the Building Museum, they've got the Building Zone (also not free)
My little wasn't super impressed with Air&Space. Or rather, she was interested in everything for about 10 seconds and then wanted to move on.
I haven't taken her to the Native American museum yet, although I think DW did, but I think it was with a group. Either way, I'm not sure how successful it was.

The obvious answer of course is the Zoo. It's huge and it's free (although they'll ask you to pay a small fee for the maps).
 


Well, I mean, we are going to have 2 toddlers, so 5 star dining is out, but I was more just looking for kinda a few options that I could write down and then look up. Everyone's going to have a place they enjoyed eating at when on vacation (or in your case, as a local, somewhere you eat at often) that they would recommend.
There are a lot of restaurants of every kind on and around 7th Street near the Capital One arena (formerly the Verizon Center, where they have concerts and basketball/hockey). From Legal Seafoods down to California Tortilla, Fuddruckers and even McDonalds, plus Chinatown is right there too. We like Matchbox (713 H Street) for pizza and sliders, and it's kid-friendly.

Fishers and Farmers is good food, but in my opinion, pretty pricey. Especially with toddlers.
 
Oh! And there is a HUGE food truck scene here. Best places to find them are Farragut Square (near the Farragut North and Farragut West metros) and by the L'Enfant Plaza metro.

But this is only for lunches
 
There are a lot of restaurants of every kind on and around 7th Street near the Capital One arena (formerly the Verizon Center, where they have concerts and basketball/hockey). From Legal Seafoods down to California Tortilla, Fuddruckers and even McDonalds, plus Chinatown is right there too. We like Matchbox (713 H Street) for pizza and sliders, and it's kid-friendly.

Fuddruckers is closed now. Matchbox is pretty good.
 
My problem with matchbox is they don't accept reservations for small parties and they're always slammed.
 
My problem with matchbox is they don't accept reservations for small parties and they're always slammed.
Yeah, that is true. We tend to go when out-of-town relatives are here and we've been museum hopping, so our best experiences have been having an early dinner/late lunch between 3 and 4 p.m.

And how is it that I worked in Georgetown not far from Foggy Bottom and never heard of Captain Cookie?? (Maybe because I worked next door to Baked and Wired, lol).
 
My kids loved District Taco when we went to DC back in Feb. It’s fast-casual Mexican, but much better than Chipotle (in my opinion). They also serve Boylans sodas in their fountain.
 

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