Fairfax County had a strong showing in this year’s round-up of the 50 Best Restaurants in the region by Northern Virginia Magazine.
Unveiled in full at noon today (Wednesday), the annual tribute to Northern Virginia’s top dining establishments features a total of 24 eateries in Fairfax, including five that made the ranked top 10 released last Friday (Oct. 16) and seven that are making their first-ever appearances on the list.
There has been some upheaval at the top of Northern Virginia Magazine’s annual ranking of the region’s best restaurants, but Fairfax County and Fairfax City remained dominant with five spots among the top 10.
After placing first or second for each of the past five years, including a no. 1 finish in 2025, Executive Chef Bertrand Chemel’s 2941 in the Fairview Park area of West Falls Church slipped to no. 7 in the 2026 Top 10 Best Restaurants list released today (Friday) by the magazine.
Northern Virginia remains a hot spot for Asian cuisine, judging by the five local establishments that found spots on the Washington Post’s annual ranking of the top 40 restaurants in the D.C. region.
Released yesterday (Wednesday), the 2026 list is the first compiled by new food critic Elazar Sontag, who took over the position in November 2025 following the retirement of longtime reviewer Tom Sietsema.
A Chinese restaurant that generated buzz as soon as it opened in Vienna last year has garnered the attention of the Washington Post.
Elazar Sontag, who took over as the newspaper’s food critic in November following longtime scribe Tom Sietsema’s retirement, has ranked Chef Tan as one of the 10 best new restaurants in the D.C. area.
Hilton is still among the best companies to work for in the U.S., but it’s no longer number one, according to Fortune.
After holding the top spot in 2024 and 2025, the hospitality giant, which has been headquartered in Tysons since 2009, slipped to no. 2 behind Synchrony — a financial services company located in Stamford, Connecticut — in Fortune’s annual ranking of the country’s 100 Best Companies to Work for.
Elevated prices didn’t stop new homeowners from flocking to Burke last year, drawn to its traditional suburban environment and proximity to amenities like shopping centers and parks.
The mostly residential community in the heart of Fairfax County at 22015 topped Northern Virginia Magazine’s recently released ranking of the Top 20 Hottest Zip Codes in Northern Virginia.
Fairfax City is in the running to be ranked among the nation’s best small town arts scenes.
USA Today’s panel of independent editors nominated Fairfax for Best Small Town Arts Scene in its 10Best awards. There are 20 communities across the U.S. nominated in the category, including Abingdon in Southwest Virginia.
Washingtonian released its annual ranking of the D.C. region’s 100 very best restaurants yesterday (Tuesday), championing culinary offerings to seek out in 2026 from across the District, Northern Virginia and Maryland.
For the third year in a row, Joon in Tysons placed higher on the list than any other Fairfax establishment, though at no. 35, it has slipped down from 23rd in 2024 and 24th last year.
Fairview Park’s 2941 Restaurant is back on top in Northern Virginia Magazine’s annual list of the region’s 50 best restaurants.
After dropping to second last year, the West Falls Church-area restaurant returned to the no. 1 spot for 2025, a feat it has now managed in three of the past five years. Both times it missed (in 2024 and 2022), 2941 was bested by The Restaurant at Patowmack Farm in Lovettsville, which closed its doors for good at the end of August.
Longtime food critic Tom Sietsema wrapped up his 25-year run at the Washington Post last week with the release of his final fall dining guide.
Sietsema’s survey of the “40 Best Restaurants in and Around D.C.” is dominated by the District, which is home to all of the top-five ranked entries. But five Fairfax eateries still made the cut, along with one that will soon set up shop in the area.
