Best Michelin-Starred Restaurants in Washington DC
Our guide counts 21 Michelin-starred restaurants in Washington DC, holding 23 Michelin stars in total, and this page is that set. Jônt in Cardozo and minibar in the East End both hold two stars in the 2025 guide. Other rooms on the page hold one star. Formats include tasting counters, omakase, prix fixe, and a la carte.
Capitol Hill holds Pineapple and Pearls, Rose’s Luxury, Little Pearl, and Omakase at Barracks Row. Shaw holds Oyster Oyster, The Dabney, and Causa. Cardozo holds Jônt, Bresca, and Mita. The East End holds minibar, Fiola, and Rania. Near Southeast, Glover Park, Federal Triangle, Columbia Heights, West End, Capital City Market, and Ivy City also have starred restaurants on this list.
How this list is chosen: Restaurants holding Michelin stars, listed alphabetically. Updated October 8, 2026.
Albi
1 Michelin star · Deep wine list
A Michelin-starred live-fire destination in Washington D.C.'s Navy Yard, Albi channels Palestinian culinary tradition through a wood-burning hearth and peak-season Mid-Atlantic produce. Chef Michael Rafidi's five-course tasting menu earned the 2024 James Beard Award for Outstanding Chef, placing the restaurant among the more decorated in the American capital.
Bresca
1 Michelin star · Wine Spectator Award of Excellence
On 14th Street NW, Bresca occupies a tier Washington D.C. dining rarely sustains: ambitious French-inflected cooking in a room designed to be memorable without being austere. Chef Ryan Ratino holds a Michelin star and a top-35 ranking on Opinionated About Dining's North America list, while wine director Alexandra Padron oversees a 500-bottle list weighted toward France. The format is dinner-only, Wednesday through Sunday.
Causa
1 Michelin star
Causa occupies a 20-seat tasting counter on the first floor of Blagden Alley NW, where chef Carlos Delgado's Nikkei menu moves through coastal Peru, the Andes, and the Amazon in a single sitting. The restaurant earned a Michelin star in 2024 and the James Beard Award for Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic in 2025, placing it among Washington D.C.'s most decorated small-format rooms. Open Wednesday through Saturday evenings only.
Elcielo Washington
1 Michelin star
Elcielo Washington, adjacent to Union Market's La Cosecha, holds a 2024 Michelin star for its Colombian tasting menus anchored in showmanship and ingredient fidelity. Chef Juan Manuel Barrientos frames each course as a document of Colombian food history, from corn broth to chocotherapy dessert. Among D.C.'s single-star tier, it occupies a distinct lane: Latin American fine dining with cultural specificity few restaurants at this price point attempt.
Fiola
1 Michelin star · Wine Spectator Grand Award · Deep wine list
Set behind stone walls and Warhol-esque accents, Fiola is where classic Roman rigor and Venetian lyricism converge in a sumptuous ode to regional Italian cuisine. Attentive, gracious service gently guides guests through a menu that marries tradition with playful ingenuity—think Ravioli alla Genovese cloaked in smoked beef ragù and mozzarella di bufala, or 48-hour dry-aged branzino glossed with silken lemon butter. Each course is an invitation to linger: delicate textures, perfumed sauces, and a finale of caramel corn budino with poached apricot and yuzu sorbet that shimmers with sweet-saline brightness. For the affluent traveler seeking intimacy and polish, Fiola offers a transportive dining experience where sophistication feels effortless and every detail whispers of care.
Gravitas
1 Michelin star · Deep wine list
Gravitas Washington D.C. showcases Chef Matt Baker's Michelin-recognized modern American cuisine in a dramatic industrial-chic space in Ivy City, where local ingredients transform into sophisticated multi-course experiences featuring standout dishes like yellowfin sashimi and house-made tagliatelle with sweetbreads.
Imperfecto
1 Michelin star
A counter within a counter, Imperfecto: The Chef's Table holds a Michelin star and a seat count that keeps it among Washington D.C.'s most intimate tasting experiences. Chef Enrique Limardo works directly above a handful of diners, delivering an elaborate Latin American menu where technique and ingredient quality carry equal weight. Esquire named it among the 35 best new restaurants in the country in 2021.
Jônt
2 Michelin stars · Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence · Deep wine list
Washington D.C.'s two-Michelin-starred tasting counter at 1904 14th Street NW, Jônt sits above Bresca and operates within the Relais & Châteaux network. Chef Ryan Ratino's progressive menu draws on Japanese ingredients and French technique, earning placement at No. 13 in Opinionated About Dining's 2025 North America ranking and 92 points from La Liste in 2025.
Little Pearl
1 Michelin star
Tucked into a glass-enclosed carriage house on Capitol Hill's Pennsylvania Avenue corridor, Little Pearl operates within the same restaurant group as Rose's Luxury and Pineapple and Pearls, delivering seasonal contemporary cooking at a price point that undercuts comparable tasting menus in Washington, D.C. The kitchen rotates its menu regularly, with the angel egg amuse-bouche serving as the one fixed anchor in an otherwise shifting lineup.
Masseria
1 Michelin star
A Michelin-starred Italian in Washington D.C.'s NoMa neighbourhood, Masseria occupies a converted warehouse where brick walls and a glass-encased wine cellar set the stage for Puglian-rooted cooking from chef Nicholas Stefanelli. Ranked among Opinionated About Dining's top restaurants in North America in both 2024 and 2025, it sits at the upper tier of the city's Italian dining scene.
minibar
2 Michelin stars · Wine Spectator Award of Excellence · Deep wine list
Two Michelin stars, a 2025 Opinionated About Dining ranking of #8 in North America, and a curved counter built around a stainless-steel workspace: minibar operates at the precise intersection of science and spectacle that defines avant-garde American tasting menus. Chef Sarah Ravitz leads a progressive format where each course is constructed to upend expectation, from chicharron-and-avocado bites to a fried ice cream donut that closes the meal.
Mita
1 Michelin star · Wine Spectator Award of Excellence
Mita brings a tasting-menu format to plant-based Latin American cooking in Washington D.C.'s Shaw neighborhood, earning a Michelin star in 2024 and a ranking of #118 on Opinionated About Dining's 2025 global list. Chefs Miguel Guerra and Tatiana Mora work across Brazilian, Bolivian, and Colombian reference points, with fermentation, umami layering, and bold acid at the center of their approach. The wine list runs 300 bottles deep, with particular strength in France and Champagne.
Omakase at Barracks Row
1 Michelin star
A Michelin-starred omakase counter on Capitol Hill's Barracks Row, where Chef Yi "Ricky" Wang, trained under Chef Nakazawa, moves guests through otsumami and nigiri with precision and regional sourcing. The industrial-chic space, staircase art rooted in gyotaku tradition, and sourcing that reaches from the Carolinas to Japan place this among D.C.'s most considered Japanese counters at the $$$$ tier.
Oyster Oyster
1 Michelin star · Wine Spectator Award of Excellence
C.'s tasting menu scene, where Chef Rob Rubba's vegetable-focused progression earned a Michelin star in 2024, a 2023 James Beard Award for Outstanding Chef, and a place in the Opinionated About Dining North America top 250. The format is a multi-course plant-led menu in Shaw, with a 165-label wine list weighted toward France and Maryland.
Pineapple and Pearls
1 Michelin star
Pineapple and Pearls holds a Michelin star and La Liste recognition for a tasting menu format that pushes against fine dining convention. At 715 8th St SE in Capitol Hill, Aaron Silverman's room trades hushed reverence for oversized Champagne bottles, velvet dinner jackets, and tableside theatrics. The sommelier program is a serious thread running beneath the celebrations, with pairing suggestions matched to each course.
Rania
1 Michelin star
A Michelin-starred Indian restaurant on 11th Street NW, Rania earns its 2024 star with a menu that pairs classical subcontinent technique with sharply contemporary plating. Chef Laurent Cherchi's kitchen draws on hay-aging, regional dal traditions, and chana masala reimagined as a panisse, positioning Rania firmly in Washington D.C.'s upper tier of modern Indian dining.
Rooster & Owl
1 Michelin star
On 14th Street NW, Rooster & Owl holds a Michelin star and an Opinionated About Dining ranking for a format that resists easy categorization: a mix-and-match menu that moves from the Middle East and Mediterranean to Asia, served in a setting that reads contemporary and casual in equal measure. The bar program pairs wine selections to individual dishes, making the meal a construct rather than a fixed progression.
Rose’s Luxury
1 Michelin star
On Capitol Hill's 8th Street SE, Rose's Luxury occupies a tier of New American dining where a Michelin star and consecutive Opinionated About Dining rankings sit alongside exposed-bulb lighting and family-style prix fixe. The cooking moves between approachable and technically precise, spiced pork with lychee and coconut cream, Korean rice cakes in gochujang alla vodka, in a room that reads more like a convivial dinner party than a formal tasting counter.
Sushi Nakazawa DC
1 Michelin star · Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence
The D.C. outpost of Daisuke Nakazawa's New York sushi operation sits on Pennsylvania Avenue and runs a 20-course omakase underpinned by Jiro Ono lineage and a wine program of 1,550 bottles anchored in Burgundy. Ranked #248 in Opinionated About Dining's North America list in 2024 and awarded a Star Wine List White Star in 2022, it operates at the summit tier of the capital's omakase scene, with lunch and dinner service across the full week.
The Dabney
1 Michelin star
Tucked into Blagden Alley in Shaw, The Dabney holds a Michelin star and an Opinionated About Dining ranking for its wood-fired Mid-Atlantic cooking. Chef Jeremiah Langhorne sources from regional farmers and fishermen, running a menu that shifts with the seasons and leans heavily on produce, herbs, and hearth technique. The tasting menu is the more committed path through the kitchen's range.
Xiquet by Danny Lledo
1 Michelin star · Wine Spectator Award of Excellence · Deep wine list
Xiquet by Danny Lledo brings Valencian fire cooking to Washington's upper Northwest, pairing wood-hearth rice preparations and smoke-driven Spanish technique with a compact, spare third-floor dining room. A Michelin star since 2024 and an AAA 5 Diamond rating confirm its place in the city's serious tasting-menu tier. The wine program, curated across 800 selections with Spanish and French depth, matches the kitchen's precision.
Planning Michelin-starred restaurants in Washington DC
- How many Michelin-starred restaurants are on this list?
- This list has 21 Michelin-starred restaurants in Washington DC, holding 23 Michelin stars in total. Jônt in Cardozo and minibar in the East End both hold two stars in the 2025 guide. Jônt serves a progressive tasting menu at a chef's counter. minibar serves a multi-course tasting menu at a counter inside the kitchen.
- Which neighborhood has the most Michelin-starred restaurants on this list?
- Capitol Hill has four Michelin-starred restaurants on this list in our guide, more than any other neighborhood on the page. The four are Pineapple and Pearls, Rose’s Luxury, Omakase at Barracks Row, and Little Pearl, each of them in Capitol Hill.
- Which restaurants on this list hold two Michelin stars?
- Jônt in Cardozo and minibar in the East End both hold two stars from the 2025 guide. Jônt is a tasting counter with a sake program and a Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence. minibar is a tasting counter with a sommelier-led program and a Wine Spectator Award of Excellence in 2026.
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