Three DMV restaurants made Yelp’s Best New Restaurants of 2026: Lobby Bar on Capitol Hill at No. 17, The Farmhouse Tuscan in the Alexandria area at No. 21 and Fish Shop at The Wharf at No. 22. The national list has 25 restaurants, with two in Washington DC and one in Northern Virginia.
These are Yelp’s picks, based in part on its community’s reviews. DC Spot checked the original list, each restaurant’s current menu and its location so you can turn the recognition into an actual dinner plan. The list was released in September; the restaurant details below were checked October 29.
Yelp’s Best New Restaurants 2026: the DMV picks
| National rank | Restaurant | Where |
|---|---|---|
| National rankNo. 17 | RestaurantLobby Bar | WhereCapitol Hill, Washington DC |
| National rankNo. 21 | RestaurantThe Farmhouse Tuscan | WhereHilltop Village Center, Fairfax County, Virginia |
| National rankNo. 22 | RestaurantFish Shop | WhereThe Wharf, Washington DC |
Read Yelp’s complete list and methodology. No Maryland restaurant appears in this particular Top 25.
No. 17: Lobby Bar on Capitol Hill
Lobby Bar pairs American comfort food with a cocktail-bar setting across from Eastern Market. It opened in May 2025, which falls within Yelp’s eligibility window. The green banquettes, wood paneling and fringed lamps in the lead photo are part of the actual restaurant.
The current menu gives familiar dishes a few expensive upgrades: Wagyu pigs in a blanket, a caviar-topped hot dog and chicken nuggets with an optional caviar addition. You can also keep dinner more straightforward with a double smash burger or spicy rigatoni.
For a sense of the budget, the restaurant currently lists the double smash burger at $22, spicy rigatoni at $28 and Wagyu pigs in a blanket at $18. Its Girl Dinner platter—Caesar salad, nuggets, truffle Parmesan fries and two dirty martinis—is listed at $80 and up. These are menu prices before tax, tip and any applicable charges.
Address: 224 7th Street SE, Suite 300, Washington DC 20003. Google Maps includes the suite; the restaurant’s own address line lists the street address without it.
See Lobby Bar’s current menu · Reservations and restaurant details
No. 21: The Farmhouse Tuscan near Kingstowne
The Virginia pick is at Hilltop Village Center, near Kingstowne and Fort Belvoir. It has an Alexandria mailing address in Fairfax County; don’t head to Old Town looking for it.
Titan Hospitality’s Tuscan restaurant serves pasta, pizza and larger dinner plates. Yelp highlighted its short rib pappardelle, Crab a la Vodka and The Holler pizza. All three still appear on the restaurant’s current online menu: the pappardelle is $30, the crab pasta is $32 and The Holler is $18, before tax, tip and any applicable charges.
The Holler combines smoked pepperoni, spicy Italian sausage, bacon and hot honey. For a different kind of visit, the restaurant also advertises a Sunday brunch buffet with a chicken-and-waffle station and made-to-order omelets. Check the brunch menu and reservation availability separately from the regular dinner menu.
Address: 7879 Heneska Loop, Alexandria, VA 22315.
See The Farmhouse Tuscan’s menus · Reservations and restaurant details
No. 22: Fish Shop at The Wharf
Fish Shop brought its Scottish restaurant concept to The Wharf in 2025, with a menu built around mid-Atlantic seafood. Its current sample menus include Maryland crab crumpets, grilled oysters and a white-fish Massaman curry with housemade roti.
The published sample dinner menu lists the Maryland crab crumpet at $9 each and the Massaman curry at $36. The restaurant explicitly labels its menus as samples that change with the catch, season and availability, so check what’s being served before you book.
Look up when you’re inside: the restaurant credits basketmaker Helen Jackson and artist Angela Eastman with the 200-fish installation above the dining room. It combines North Carolina wisteria with Scottish willow, linking the DC restaurant to its Ballater origins.
Address: 610 Water Street SW, Washington DC 20024.
See Fish Shop’s sample menus · Reservations and restaurant details · Read about its sourcing and makers
How Yelp picked its best new restaurants
Yelp considered full-service restaurant businesses that opened after January 1, 2025. It ranked them using several factors, including review volume and ratings from January 1, 2025 through June 11, 2026.
Where available, businesses had a passing health score as of June 1, 2026. Yelp then consulted trend expert Tara Lewis. That health-score date is part of the selection method, not a statement about a restaurant’s inspection status today.
The order is Yelp’s national ranking. It isn’t DC Spot’s ranking of the three restaurants, and it doesn’t mean they all opened during 2026. Current star ratings and review counts can change after the list’s research cutoff.
Which one fits your dinner plans?
Lobby Bar puts you across from Eastern Market for a Capitol Hill outing. Fish Shop is the waterfront option at The Wharf. The Farmhouse Tuscan is the Northern Virginia stop, with pasta and pizza at Hilltop Village Center. Treat them as three separate dinner possibilities rather than a convenient walkable food crawl.
For more restaurants, browse DC Spot’s restaurant stories. Pair dinner with something in the Washington DC weekly guide or Northern Virginia weekly guide.
Frequently asked questions
Which DMV restaurants made Yelp’s Best New Restaurants of 2026?
Lobby Bar ranked No. 17, The Farmhouse Tuscan No. 21 and Fish Shop No. 22 on Yelp’s national Top 25. Two are in Washington DC; The Farmhouse Tuscan is in Northern Virginia.
Did all three restaurants open in 2026?
No. Yelp’s eligibility window included full-service restaurants that opened after January 1, 2025. A restaurant that opened in 2025 could qualify for the 2026 list.
Is The Farmhouse Tuscan in Old Town Alexandria?
It is at 7879 Heneska Loop in Hilltop Village Center, near Kingstowne and Fort Belvoir. The Alexandria mailing address is in Fairfax County, outside Old Town.
Did a Maryland restaurant make this list?
No Maryland restaurant appears in Yelp’s 2026 Best New Restaurants Top 25. The three DMV entries are Lobby Bar and Fish Shop in Washington DC, and The Farmhouse Tuscan in Virginia.
Are the prices above the final bill?
The listed amounts are published menu prices checked October 29, 2026. Tax, tip and any applicable charges are additional; menus and prices can change. Fish Shop specifically describes its online menus as samples.
Reporting checked October 29, 2026 against Yelp’s original list, the restaurants’ official menus and Google Maps business listings. September release timing is corroborated by Time Out’s September 29 coverage.
Feature image: Nina Palazzolo, courtesy of Lobby Bar, from its official press image collection. Fish Shop photographs: Dave Watts, courtesy of Fish Shop. Photographer attribution. September release coverage.
