business closing

Shirlington’s Taco + Pina is closed and it’s unclear whether it will reopen

By Matt Blitz
Taco + Pina in Shirlington appears to be now closed (staff photo by Jay Westcott)

Fast-casual Mexican restaurant Taco + Pina is closed in Shirlington, at least for now.

Neither the restaurant nor the Village of Shirlington has confirmed whether the closure of the eatery at 4041 Campbell Avenue is permanent.

The door was locked, a ladder was inside the eatery, and no employees were present when ARLnow went to the restaurant late last week around lunchtime. When calling Taco + Pina, the phone rings for a while before going to a full mailbox.

The website also notes that every item and dish is “out of stock.”

Taco + Pina opened in Shirlington at the height of the pandemic, in May 2020. It moved into the former location of Lotus Grill and Noodles. Owner Graham Bartlett was a former executive chef under local restaurateur Richard Sandoval, who owns El Centro in D.C. and Tysons’ La Sandia.

“TACO + PINA’s is a labor of love which has been in the works for almost a year and a half now,” Bartlett said at the time. “While some may question opening during a pandemic I believe it is our destiny to launch on Cinco de Mayo, which this year also falls on Taco Tuesday.”

If it is in fact closed, it’s not immediately when exactly it happened. There hasn’t been a social media post since October, but there are several Yelp reviews from as recently as last month. (The taqueria has a four-out-of-five star rating on Yelp.)

Over the past year or so the Village of Shirlington has had a number of high-profile establishments announce they were moving into the dining-and-shopping center. Many have yet to open.

Great Falls-based Greek restaurant Our Mom Eugenia was looking to open this fall, but it appears that’s been delayed to early next year. ARLnow had the scoop that Jeni’s Ice Cream was set to start serving in Shirlington way back in April, but doors remain locked with no timeline for when the ice cream shop might open.

Astro Beer Hall announced that it was moving into the former Capitol City Brewing Co. space a year ago, but that also has yet to make its debut.

Pentagon City noodle eatery Yong Kang Street is now closed

By Matt Blitz
Yong Kang Street at the Pentagon City mall is now closed (staff photo by Jay Westcott)

Yong Kang Street has served its last meal at the Pentagon City mall.

The Taiwanese restaurant that was situated right off of the food court closed last month, a mall spokesperson confirmed to ARLnow. They didn’t share why the restaurant closed and what might be coming in its place.

“Unfortunately, Yong Kang Street is no longer serving its tasty noodles and dumplings at Fashion Centre at Pentagon City, however we’re working to bring a new and exciting option that shoppers are sure to enjoy,” mall spokesperson Todd Jerscheid wrote in an email to ARLnow.

The eatery, known for its noodles and dumplings, was named after a road in Taiwan famed for its street food.

Yong Kang Street first opened at the mall, otherwise known as Fashion Centre at Pentagon City, in the fall of 2018 after being announced earlier that year. The restaurant also had locations in Houston and Las Vegas, but it appears those are also both closed.

It did seem popular, though, with one reader emailing ARLnow to say it was their “favorite Chinese place in the area so I’m devastated!”

Yelp reviewers also mostly agreed, with a majority rating the restaurant four or five stars.

“Oh. my. goodness,” reads a five-star review from over the summer. “I haven’t had good Chinese food in so long and I definitely didn’t expect to find it in the mall of all places!”

While some lost one of their favorite restaurants, the Pentagon City mall is gaining a couple of new eateries. Rosa Mexicano is now open for lunch and will be opening for dinner as well later this week, per a restaurant employee.

Maizal Grill is also planning on opening soon, next to Rosa Mexicano.

Columbia Pike taco spot popular on Instagram is now closed, likely moving early next year

By Matt Blitz
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A Columbia Pike taco spot that has gained a following on social media has closed until next year and is likely moving.

Nono’s Taqueria announced last week to its nearly Instagram 61,000 followers that it was “temporarily closing” its location at 3207-A Columbia Pike, tucked between Panda Bowl and Family Kabob House. But “better things are yet to come” continued the post.

Those better things appear to be a “mini-vacation” and a move, per chef and owner Christian Ruiz.

“We decided to close because our lease was almost up and it was time for an upgrade. Our clientele is big and we think it’s time to stand out on Columbia Pike with a facility that’s modern, offers more parking, and easier access for all our customers,” Ruiz wrote ARLnow in an email. “Our previous location served its purpose and was a great starting point for Nono’s Taqueria and we are grateful for all that it came with. All that being said, we are taking a mini vacation meanwhile so that we can come back stronger than ever.”

Ruiz also said that all of this might not happen until “close to March.”

We asked where Nono’s Taqueria plans to move but have yet to hear back. The taco shop opened in May 2021 and is known for its “Tijuana-style” birria tacos.

Birria tacos at Nono’s Taqueria (image via Instagram/Nono’s Taqueria)

The Columbia Pike corridor is gaining a bit of a reputation for being home to popular taco spots.

Up until this time last year, the La Tingeria food truck was also serving birria tacos on weekends on S. Courthouse Road right off the Pike before moving to a permanent space in Falls Church.

Last month Tortas y Tacos at 2911 Columbia Pike, next to the Arlington Cinema Drafthouse, announced that it would be extending its hours to 24/7, at least for delivery.

Yogi Castle shutters and Jeni’s Ice Cream waits to open at Shirlington

By Matt Blitz
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Shirlington frozen dessert fans are getting the cold shoulder.

Frozen yogurt spot Yogi Castle at 4014 Campbell Ave appears to have closed a couple of months ago, with the interior now cleaned out and the awning removed. What’s left is an outline of a sign that once read “Yogiberry,” which was the business name prior to Yogi Castle.

ARLnow hasn’t been able to reach the business owners to confirm exactly when and why it closed. Property owner Federal Realty Investment Trust also was not able to provide details about the shop’s departure from the Village of Shirlington.

Yogiberry first opened in 2010, replacing Maggie Moo’s ice cream.

For a moment, it appeared that Shirlington was not going to have to wait long for a new frozen dessert spot.

Back in April, Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream announced that it was moving into a space just down the street from Yogi Castle at 4150 Campbell Avenue. It’s replacing a Thai rolled ice cream spot, which closed late last year.

While Jeni’s stickers plaster the storefront’s windows, it remains unclear when the scoop shop might open.

There is no estimated date or timeline for the Shirlington store’s opening, a Jeni’s spokesperson tells ARLnow in an email. The location is not listed yet on the company’s main site, and interior construction appeared to still be in the early stages a couple of weeks ago.

The Ohio-based ice cream company currently has shops in Bethesda, D.C., Alexandria, and Tysons, which opened in the spring of last year.

Clarendon’s Barre3 studio now closed due to disagreement with landlord

By Matt Blitz
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The Barre3 studio in Clarendon has closed after four-and-a-half years in business.

The workout spot at 2800 Clarendon Blvd in The Crossing Clarendon (formerly Market Common Clarendon) officially closed yesterday, the company confirmed to ARLnow. It blamed a conflict with the property owner and business challenges brought on by the pandemic.

“Barre3 Clarendon is closed as of yesterday 10/25/2022 due to unresolved conflict with our landlord in relation to the insurmountable losses the pandemic has brought our way,” a spokesperson wrote to ARLnow in an email.

ARLnow is awaiting a response from the shopping center owner, Florida-based Regency Centers.

Clarendon’s Barre3 first opened in March 2018 after a bit of a delay. It was a workout studio that emphasized techniques and equipment more typically used by ballet dancers. It was the only Barre3 studio in Arlington, with the next closest one now on Duke Street in Alexandria. There are more than 170 Barre3 studios across the country.

The Crossing Clarendon has seen other closings and openings recently. The fashion store Loft closed over the summer while seafood restaurant Seamore’s opened last month at the corner of Clarendon Blvd and N. Edgewood Street.

Bread & Water has closed its Pentagon Row location

By ARLnow.com
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Bread & Water has closed its standalone “cube” location in Pentagon City after four-and-a-half years in business.

The outpost of the Fairfax County-founded artisan bakery — which in addition to baked goods also offered coffee, tea, sandwiches, salads — first opened in February 2018 at what was then Pentagon Row (now Westpost). It was generally well reviewed online.

The business told customers in an email this morning, below, that it was closing in Pentagon City “effective immediately.”

Hey Bread and Water friends…we just wanted to let you know that effective immediately our CUBE – Pentagon City location will be closed.

We’re so grateful for all the support from our amazing customers here. We have loved our time at the Row, but we’ve got big things planned for our Alexandria location and sister restaurants (shout out to Bun Papa & BeeLiner Diner). We look forward to serving you at our other locations.

See you soon.

Reached by ARLnow, the business said it simply declined to renew its lease.

“Lease was just up,” said company founder Markos Panas. “Bread & Water and the team are doing better than ever and we’re focusing on bigger things… We are moving full speed ahead!”

It’s unclear what, if anything, is planned to replace Bread & Water in the small, standalone space at 1201 S. Joyce Street, near the shopping center’s plaza that hosts the ice rink during colder weather months.

Hat tip to Paul W. Matt Blitz contributed to this report. 

Salt Pot Kitchen in Ballston has closed, new tenant unknown

By Matt Blitz
1/3

The sun has set on the British-inspired Salt Pot Kitchen in Ballston Quarter Market.

The “upscale British street food” eatery closed down its Quarter Market stall back in early August, co-owner Wendy Salt confirmed to ARLnow. Salt Pot first opened there in May, making its run rather short.

“Our contract was only ever for 3 months as a trial run/pop-up. There was always going to be an option to extend, which we would have been happy to consider but it just never got busy enough,” she wrote ARLnow. “Other opportunities came our way, and we have been busy exploring those since August.”

Salt also noted that they are not completely gone from Ballston, keeping a presence at the weekly farmers market on Thursday evenings until mid-November.

“This has been very successful, and we have many repeat customers every week,” Salt said.

The restaurant also continues to sell its food online.

Salt Pot Kitchen is from the Loudoun County-based mother-son team of Wendy and Charlie Salt and the mall stall was their first brick-and-mortar location. It served traditional English fare, like sausage rolls, meat pies, soups, and Wiltshire plaits.

The stall where Salt Pot Kitchen was, near the escalator and across from Bollywood Bistro, is currently dark, as it’s been since August. There’s no word as of yet on what new tenant might move in.

Prior to the British eatery, the stall was the home of Rogi. That pierogi pop-up, which replaced Italian spot Cucina al Volo, closed early this year, making way for Salt Pot Kitchen in the spring.

Long-time Pentagon City restaurant Tasteful Delight appears to be closed

By Matt Blitz
Tasteful Delight in Pentagon City now appears closed (staff photo by Jay Westcott)

It appears that Pentagon City mainstay Tasteful Delight has closed.

The signage is now gone at the long-time Chinese food restaurant on S. Joyce Street. There’s also a lock on the door, plus the interior looks like it has been cleared out. As further proof, online ordering is no longer available on the restaurant’s website and its phone line has been disconnected.

It’s unclear when exactly Tasteful Delight did serve its last meal, with the last Yelp review being from early September.

ARLnow has reached out to the email listed on the restaurant’s website but has yet to hear back as of publication.

Earlier this week, a tip came in that expressed disappointment that the restaurant had closed because “the food was really good.” On NextDoor, there was similar sentiment.

“It was by far the best American style Chinese food I’ve food in the area.” Another says that they “feared” the day it would close and “almost fell to my knees cursing the sky” when they realized they would no longer be able to order from there. Overall, Tasteful Delight garnered 3.5 stars on Yelp.

The restaurant was open at 1301 S. Joyce Street for at least a decade, outlasting until now all the turnover that’s been going on at Pentagon Row — also known as Westpost — over the last two years.

Capriotti’s in Rosslyn seems to have made its last sandwich

By Matt Blitz
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Capriotti’s Sandwich Shop in Rosslyn appears to have made its last sub.

The Delaware-founded and currently Las Vegas-based fast-casual sandwich chain seems to have closed its eatery on the ground floor of 1500 Wilson Blvd, across from the Target. Closed signs are posted on its doors, while equipment inside has been moved out.

Additionally, the store seems to have been scrubbed from Capriotti’s website.

ARLnow has reached out to the company to confirm its closure in Rosslyn but has yet to hear back as of publication.

Capriotti’s first opened on Wilson Blvd in August 2014 to considerable fanfare, with people camped out in order to get free sandwiches for a year. It was part of a torrid expansion for the company, with a number of other locations also opening in the D.C. area around the same time.

The sandwiches were famed for being a favorite of now-President Joe Biden, who attended the opening of the first Capriotti’s in D.C. in 2013 and reportedly liked to tell people that the shop was proof that Delaware makes the best sandwiches. During the first week of November 2020 and with Biden on his way to becoming the 46th president, sales rose by about 30% at the Capriotti’s in Rosslyn.

Despite that brief uptick in sales, though, it was already clear that Capriotti’s was struggling to generate enough sandwich sales to maintain its expanded presence in area. The location in Dupont Circle closed in 2018 and the location in Arlington was the last of the shops in the region.

The closest Capriotti’s currently open is in Chester, Maryland, southeast of Baltimore. An outpost is also reportedly coming to Dulles International Airport, which brings to mind the fact that the last Virginia location of once high-flying regional chain Taylor Gourmet is still slinging sandwiches at Reagan National Airport.

The first Capriotti’s opened in Wilmington, Delaware in 1976. It now has more than 100 locations and is based in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Bank of America branch on Columbia Pike closing as another opens down the block

By Matt Blitz
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When one Bank of America branch closes on Columbia Pike, another one opens.

The Bank of America branch at 3401 Columbia Pike is set to close in late November, per the bank’s website. The building it is housed in at the intersection of S. Glebe Road is likely on its way to being demolished to make way for a six-story, 250-unit residential development with ground-floor retail.

The office building at 3401 Columbia Pike was last sold in December 2020 to Marcus Partners for nearly $15 million, county property records show. That’s a $10 million over what it sold for in 2015.

The bank branch occupies most of the building, with a doctor’s office and an immigration law office also at that location. It’s not immediately clear when those businesses might be moving or closing.

Those looking to make deposits won’t have to go far, though.

A new Bank of America branch is set to open soon after the other one closes just a block away at 3532 Columbia Pike. It’s moving into the former home of a Capital One Bank. That branch was in the news over the years due to it being robbed twice, including one incident that was investigated by the FBI. It closed more than three years ago.

The new Bank of America branch is planning to open by the end of the year, but that timeline is “dependent on construction completion” a company spokesperson told ARLnow.

“The new center has been designed to highlight our high-tech high-touch approach, which helps us best serve all of our clients’ financial needs,” the spokesperson said.

Customers with safe deposit boxes in the existing branch are being urged to retrieve them by October 7, according to a letter from Bank of America shared with ARLnow by a reader.

Arlington has eight Bank of America financial centers and ATM locations, according to the bank’s website. This includes the locations inside of the Pentagon and a State Department facility on Arlington Blvd, which both may require “authorization to enter.”

Gaijin Ramen Shop closes in Cherrydale

By ARLnow.com
1/2

A well-regarded local ramen restaurant has closed.

Gaijin Ramen Shop, at 3800 Langston Blvd in Cherrydale, closed its doors earlier this month, citing “irrecoverable business losses” from the pandemic. The shop was only open for lunch and dinner four days per week prior to its closure.

From the restaurant’s website:

Why did we close? The pandemic hit us hard. We suffered irrecoverable business losses the last few years, but we were sustained by grit and our loyal staff. Ultimately, factors such as skyrocketing food costs, supply chain instability, and other costs are too much for us to continue to handle. We could not find a path to provide high-quality food at a reasonable price. Shutting down Gaijin is an incredibly hard decision, but we are so very grateful for the support. We are so proud to have served the Arlington community since 2015.

We would like to thank our customers and staff who made Gaijin an awesome place for the past 7 years. We appreciate all the love you gave us and all the great memories we shared together! Being voted “Best Ramen” by the voters in Arlington Magazine was an accolade that we will always treasure. Our kids had their first jobs working at Gaijin, we’ve watched our servers “grow up” and go off to college and then return during summers and breaks, we’ve grieved and celebrated inside the walls of our restaurant, and we are grateful for every minute.

Thank you for your support; we’ll miss you!

Gaijin opened in July 2015 and was co-owned by two women who pooled their savings in order to follow their passion for scratch-made ramen. The name, which means “foreigner” in Japanese, was a light-hearted nod to neither being from Japan.

Its lengthy, painstaking approach to making ramen earned Gaijin some local accolades and 4.4 stars via Google reviews.

A restaurant that seemingly matched the description of Gaijin was listed for sale this year via a business brokerage website, but a co-owner took to ARLnow’s comments section last month to deny that it was for sale.

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