Below are my personal recommendations for different occasions with a price guideline for entree+appetizer:
$=$25 or less per person, $$=$25-75 pp, $$$=$75-200 pp, $$$$=$200+ pp
Casual
$-Daikaya: Sapporo-style ramen shop (1st floor)+Izakaya (2nd floor)
$- Hokkaido Ramen Santouka: Sapporo-style ramen chain originating from Hokkaido featuring ramen with a shio, shoyu, or miso broth.
$-Taipei cafe: Taiwanese cafe, cheap comfort food with a good variety of traditional taiwanese dishes.
$- Yu Noodles: Chinese-style cafe focused on noodles, mostly Szechuan/Chongqing style with rice dish options and xiaolongbao. Great for a quick comfort meal
$/$$- Sushi Hachi: Modern sushi joint that is more reasonably priced and decent quality, but don’t expect top quality fish like otoro or uni.
$$- Sushi Cho: Japanese restaurant with a focus on sushi with very fresh and high quality ingredients and a great selection of fish.
$$- Mama Chang: Owned by Peter Chang, a great family-style chinese restaurant serving a variety of traditional chinese dishes.
$$- Gyu-Kaku: Japanese barbecue (yakiniku) chain with a great selection of high quality meats. Locations all over the country and in Canada.
$$- Honest Grill: Korean BBQ restaurant with high quality meats as well as a selection of traditional Korean rice and noodle dishes. Pricier than many other KBBQ places in DMV area but has better quality meats. Also tends to be less crowded
Date night
$$-Tosca: Northern Italian cuisine, featured on Michelin Guide with a Bib Gourmand designation
$$-Dirty Habit: International cuisine featuring dishes from all over the world. Blog post here
$$- Lao Tse Chuan: Upscale chinese restaurant featuring many traditional chinese dishes as well as Peking Duck with a focus on Szechuan cuisine. Original location is in Chicago, IL.
$$- SER: Spanish restaurant with an excellent selection of meat dishes as well as other traditional Spanish cuisine including Jamón Ibérico.
$$/$$$- Cranes: Spanish-Japanese fusion cuisine featuring dishes taking elements of both japanese and spanish cuisine. Many of its dishes are served tapas-style with an omakase option.
$$/$$$- Shōtō: Modern Japanese Izakaya featuring a robata grill as well as sushi and other modern twists on traditional Japanese dishes.
Fine dining
$$$-Sushi Nakazawa: Sushi omakase counter, one michelin star designation. Also has a location in NYC.
$$$$-Metier: Modern cuisine offering a fabulous tasting menu featuring flavors from various cuisines with an emphasis on french cuisine. One michelin star designation
DMV Eats 