Water Park, an outdoor food hall in Arlington, opened earlier this week, and it fills a big gap in National Landing’s food/entertainment scene.
Set the Scene:
The park is decked out with nine local food vendors, an entertainment stage, lots of seating, heat lamps, and a giant water fountain. The entire area is a "sip and stroll" zone, so alcohol is permitted. Above the fountain, there is a sit-down restaurant called Water Bar, which has a raw bar-focused menu. And around the fountain, there are these food stalls:
☕ Brij
A local cafe that donates proceeds to the local Latin American Youth Center
🍔 Bubbie’s Plant Burger
An alternative burger shop from the owners of D.C. fast casual restaurant Pow Pow.
🍳 Cracked Eggery
The third location of the egg-centric restaurant.
🫓 DC Dosa
An Indian street food concept serving up giant dosas with vegetarian fillings.
🍨 Dolci Gelati
Upscale Italian gelato shop with flavors like olive oil and hibiscus.
🧆 Falafel Inc.
Top-notch, extremely affordable falafel. This is their third D.C. location.
🍲 PhoWheels
Pho and bánh mì, along with some non-traditional options like tacos and sweets.
🍜 Tiki Thai
Originally from Reston, this stand serves up Thai and Polynesian food.
🍗 Queen Mother’s
Hefty fried chicken sandwiches and duck fat fries.
The chicken pho from PhoWheels and the fried chicken burger with duck fat fries from Queen Mother’s. (Kaela Cote-Stemmermann/City Cast DC)
First Impressions:
While we couldn’t try all the stalls, we tried out best. Meals cost between $15 - $20 dollars and were generally quite tasty. The stand-out was the khao soi from Tiki Thai and PhoWheels’ pho. As someone who’s in the area regularly (ahem, fellow Movement fans), I am delighted to have the previously dead park turned into an affordable dining option. Have you tried it? What did you think?
The Big Picture:
This is the first of many big openings in the National Landing area, with several dozen more retailers set to open before the end of the year. These will cater to the new Amazon H2Q employees and Crystal City’s growing residential population. It all begs the question: is National Landing the DMV’s next big thing?
