3 Best Restaurants in Northern Virginia, Virginia

The Vietnamese dishes at this small family restaurant are made from fresh, organic ingredients—as are their specialty smoothies, bubble tea, and coffee. The expected dishes are all deliciously there, but they’re always experimenting with something new, such as Viet shaking beef and salted egg shrimp. There’s even a keto section on the menu.

Autographed photos of U.S. military and political leaders gaze down from the walls at this Vietnamese restaurant just a block off Wilson Boulevard. Soup and pho have a prominent place on the menu (the sweet-and-spicy salmon soup has many fans), as do salads and vermicelli bowls. Dine outside in good weather. Residents tend to fill up street parking; get here early to find a spot, or take the Metro.

Drab walls and communal tables may seem cafeteria-style, but that's part of what makes Pho 75 one of the most authentic Vietnamese restaurants in the D.C. area. Customers come from across the region to line up at this no-frills joint for the high-quality traditional noodle soup. Choose your bowl size and then what kind of meat (and how many kinds of meat) you want to cook in the soup, including flank steak, brisket, tendon, tripe, and eye-of-round steak. Pay at the counter as you leave—and don't forget to bring cash as Pho 75 doesn't take credit cards.