A wave of high-profile restaurant closures in D.C.’s Downtown, Chinatown, Penn Quarter and other nearby neighborhoods have left many in the industry questioning whether the city can fully recover from reshaped dining habits, office culture and higher labor costs.
Within the last six months, a variety of restaurants in that core have closed: Cranes, Arrels, Michele’s, and Tonari this year, with Tony Cheng’s, Kinship and Métier shuttering in late 2025. The reasons behind these notable closures vary, but several restaurateurs who spoke to WTOP point to the same pressures in reshaping the city’s dining industry.
Near the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, Métier, which was once dubbed “the best restaurant in Washington” by Washingtonian, closed in December 2025 after 10 years of service. Kinship, located above the space, closed at the same time…