21 Family-Friendly Restaurants Open on Thanksgiving in DC, Maryland, and Northern Virginia
Hosting Thanksgiving at home is a lot of fun, but let's face it—it's also a lot of work. Gathering the crew at a restaurant instead allows everyone to be together on Thanksgiving without all the hassle of cooking and cleaning. Luckily, there are plenty of restaurants open on Thanksgiving in DC and its surrounding areas where you can do just that.
Here are 21 restaurants open on Thanksgiving in DC, Maryland, and Northern Virginia in 2024. Not only are they all kid-friendly, but many even offer special pricing for kids ages 12 and under. If you see something you like, make a reservation ASAP, as spots fill up quickly.
Wherever you choose to gather this Thanksgiving, bring some laughter to the table with our list of 25 Thanksgiving jokes for kids. For even more Thanksgiving fun, try one of our 50 Thanksgiving crafts, games, and activities for kids and families.
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Whether at home or in the restaurant, Founding Farmers & Distillers will make your Thanksgiving delicious.
Restaurants Open on Thanksgiving in DC
1. Founding Farmers & Distillers
Founding Farmers & Distillers offers a three-course prix fixe Thanksgiving dinner for $47.50 per person and $22.50 per child 12 and under. It includes a choice between six main entrees—turkey, spiral ham, fried chicken, whitefish, honey-glazed salmon, veggie loaf, and prime rib (for an extra $8)—plus a variety of sides, butternut squash soup or salad for appetizer, and 11 options for dessert.
Take it Home: The restaurant also offers a Heat and Eat Thanksgiving Weekend at Home menu, which includes partially cooked food that you can pick up the day before Thanksgiving or on Thanksgiving morning and finish cooking at home. Order a complete dinner for four or various a la carte items to customize your feast.
2. Farmers Fishers Bakers
Farmers Fishers Bakers serves the exact same Thanksgiving Day menu as its sibling restaurant, Farmers & Distillers (see above) for the same prices, as well as the same Heat and Eat Thanksgiving at Home menu to pick up the day before Thanksgiving and finish cooking at home.
Take it Home: Both Founding Farmers & Distillers and Farmers Fishers Bakers are offering a Leftover Kit for Home as an add-on for $75 that includes turkey and various fixings—because who doesn't love leftovers?
3. Lincoln
For those who want a true Thanksgiving feast (and who doesn't?), Lincoln is providing an all-you-can-eat carving station with turkey and gravy, beef tenderloin, and maple mustard-glazed Atlantic salmon, plus endless sides such as mac and cheese, cheddar grits, creamed kale and spinach, and more. Each guest can also choose one of four appetizers and four desserts. The feast costs $71 per person and $32 per child age 12 and under.
4. Blue Duck Tavern
If you're looking for one of the fancier restaurants open on Thanksgiving in DC, this Michelin-distinguished eatery in the Park Hyatt is offering a three-course prepaid menu for $165 per adult and $65 per child under 12. Main-course options include prime rib, halibut, squash risotto, and—of course—turkey, served with butter-whipped potatoes and green-bean-and-mushroom casserole. Guests can also choose one of five appetizers and two desserts.
Take it Home: The Thanksgiving To-Go menu at Blue Duck Tavern includes a 12- to 14-pound turkey and gravy, two loaves of bread, five traditional sides, and two pies for $595. Get even fancier by adding on a charcuterie and cheese board.
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Full up on a buffet-style Thanksgiving meal at Teddy & The Bully Bar.
5. Teddy & The Bully Bar
President Theodore Roosevelt loved simple American comfort food, and the Thanksgiving menu at his namesake, Teddy & The Bully Bar, certainly reflects that. For $75 per person ($28 per child 12 and under), you'll enjoy an endless carving station with turkey, prime rib, and wild salmon, plus endless helpings of 10 sides including mac and cheese, caramelized yams, and stuffing. Guests can also choose one of five appetizers and four desserts.
6. Sfoglina
Celebrate Thanksgiving Italian-style at Michelin-starred chef Fabio Trabocchi's Sfoglina, which serves up its full menu of fresh pasta dishes, meats, seafoods, and more on the holiday at its downtown, Van Ness, and Arlington, Virginia locations. Thanksgiving specials include roasted turkey with traditional sides like stuffing and whipped potatoes, tortellini en brodo, and pumpkin cake for dessert.
Take it Home: Order a Thanksgiving Take-Out Box, available for pickup at the Van Ness location on Wednesday, November 27. The box includes bread, salad, tortellini en brodo, turkey with three sides (plus gravy and cranberry compote), and pumpkin cake.
7. Unconventional Diner
For $55 per person and $28 per child, your family can enjoy a spread of modern comfort food at this downtown hot spot. The meal includes roast turkey, cranberry relish, cornbread muffins, mushroom-sage stuffing, brussels sprouts, mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie, and mushroom bisque. A limited selection of a la carte items from the regular menu is also available.
Take it Home: Pre-order Thanksgiving Dinner To-Go for $95 for every two people. The meal includes the same items as the restaurant's sit-down Thanksgiving menu. You can also add on a pumpkin, apple crumble, or maple-bourbon pecan pie (each pie serves six).
8. Estuary
This elegant restaurant in the Conrad hotel is offering a lavish Thanksgiving four-course meal for $135 per person and $50 per child 12 and under. It includes plated hors d'oeuvres, salad, a carving station with turkey and ham, family-style sides like creamy mashed potatoes and stuffing, and assorted desserts.
9. Osteria Morini
Enjoy a three-course family-style dinner at this Navy Yard Italian staple for $70 per person and $35 per child. The meal begins with three appetizers and continues with turkey, wild mushroom rigatoni, and various sides including stuffing and whipped potatoes. Finish with caramel apple crumble pie.
Take It Home: Osteria Morini's Thanksgiving catering package feeds two to three people for $125. It includes four appetizers, turkey, vegetable lasagna, five sides, and either apple crumble pie or pumpkin pie for dessrt. Dishes are also available a la carte.
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Enjoy Thanksgiving dinner in an elegant setting at La Ferme.
Restaurants Open on Thanksgiving in Maryland
10. La Ferme Restaurant — Chevy Chase
This popular restaurant serves up fine French cuisine in an elegant country-farmhouse setting. For Thanksgiving, La Ferme is offering a three-course prix fixe menu for $72 per person. Choose between six items for the first course (from roast autumn squash soup to jumbo sea scallops), seven main-course entrees (options include roast turkey, New York strip loin, and Icelandic cod with fried oysters), and five desserts.
11. Founding Farmers — Potomac (also in DC and in Reston and Tysons, VA)
At all of the Founding Farmers locations, families can enjoy a three-course prix fixe dinner for $47.50 per person and $22.50 for kids 12 and under (the same menu that's offered at its sibling restaurants, Farmers & Distillers and Farmers Fishers Bakers, as described above).
Take it Home: Preorder that same meal, hot and ready to eat, for pickup or delivery for the same price. Or, you can order a complete, partially cooked Thanksgiving dinner for four, along with various a la carte options, to pick up the day before Thanksgiving and finish cooking at home.
12. Seasons 52 — Columbia and North Bethesda (also in McLean, VA)
All three locations of Seasons 52, which offer seasonal menus and 52 wines by the glass, are open on Thanksgiving. Families can enjoy a Thanksgiving feast that includes turkey and gravy, mashed potatoes, brioche and sage stuffing, green beans, mashed butternut squash, cranberry relish, and pumpkin pie.
Take it Home: Order a complete Thanksgiving dinner for four to six for $230 to pick up the day before Thanksgiving, then heat up and serve it on the big day. It includes everything on the dine-in Thanksgiving menu plus a field greens salad.
13. Alexandra's American Fusion — Ellicott City
Feast on a Thanksgiving buffet at Alexandra's that includes turkey and gravy, bourbon-glazed ham, prime rib, and salmon with shrimp scampi along with 11 different sides and four desserts. The buffet, includes all non-alcoholic beverages, costs $58 for adults and $28 for kids ages 4-12. Children 3 and under eat free.
Take it Home: Enjoy a family-style meal for six from the comfort at home for only $180 with Alexandra's Turkey To-Go menu. In addition to the bird you'll enjoy cornbread stuffing, garlic and parmesan mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes with honey and marshmallows, garlic butter green beans, brioche rolls, and pumpkin pie.
14. Twin Arch Tavern — Mount Airy, MD
For a more casual holiday, Twin Arch Tavern is serving up a Thanksgiving buffet for only $40 per person and $15 per child 12 and under. For two hours families can feast on a spread of turkey and gravy, roast beef, ham, salmon, nearly a dozen sides (including mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, green bean almondine, and vegetable stuffing), and pumpkin and apple pie.
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Experience Thanksgiving in a 19th-century setting at Gadsby's Tavern.
Restaurants Open on Thanksgiving in Northern Virginia
15. Gadsby's Tavern — Alexandria
This historic restaurant serves up a three-course menu on Thanksgiving that includes a choice of peanut soup or salad to start, turkey and ham with all the fixings or herb-crusted rockfish filet for the main course, and pumpkin or pecan pie for dessert. Bread, cornbread, and non-alcoholic beverages are also included with the meal, which costs $72 per person and $36 per child age 12 and under. Or, enjoy a family-style meal in the 19th-century ballroom for the same price.
16. Wildfire — McLean
Thanksgiving dinner is served family-style at Wildfire. The meal includes two appetizers, two salads, two entrees (options include roasted turkey, cedar-planked salmon, and roast tenderloin of beef), two sides, and two desserts. The dinner costs $69.95 per person and $29.95 for kids age 12 and under.
Take it Home: Wildfire offers a Thanksgiving carryout menu with appetizers that serve eight to 10 people, various-sized salads, and main courses and sides for four to five people or eight to 10 people. Individual dinners are also available, as are whole pies or slices.
17. Theismann's Restaurant — Alexandria
For many people, Thanksgiving and football go hand in hand. Head to Theismann's to watch a game while enjoying a Thanksgiving buffet for $59 per adult and $19 per child. The carving station includes turkey, spiral ham, and NY strip steak. There's also salmon, several chicken dishes, and a variety of salads, sides, breads, and desserts.
18. Mount Vernon Inn Restaurant — Mount Vernon
This restaurant on the grounds of Mount Vernon is serving up a Thanksgiving buffet that includes turkey and gravy, maple-glazed ham, hanger steak, swordfish, and fried chicken along with six sides (stuffing, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, candied sweet potatoes, broccolini, and cauliflower), five salads, and four desserts. The meal costs $72 for adults and $27 for kids ages 6-12. Kids 5 and under eat free.
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Thanksgiving dinner at L'Auberge Chez Francois includes a whopping seven courses.
19. L'Auberge Chez Francois — Alexandria
Want to go home stuffed this Thanksgiving? Enjoy this French restaurant's traditional seven-course dinner that includes a classic organic turkey with all the trimmings, plus nine other main-course options such as Maine lobster and rack of lamb, for $122-$132 per adult. Kids 12 and under can order off a special children's menu for $75. There will be three seatings to choose from: 11:30am-1pm, 3-4:30pm, and 6-8pm.
20. Hamrock's Restaurant — Fairfax
Gobble up a three-course Thanksgiving dinner for $46 per person at this cozy restaurant in downtown Fairfax. The meal includes your choice of six appetizers, five main courses, and four desserts. Main-course options include turkey with various sides, Chesapeake crab cakes, NY strip steak, butternut squash saffron risotto, and grilled salmon. There are lots of gluten-free choices on the menu.
Take it Home: Hamrock's offers Thanksgiving Family Meals To-Go for $170 for five adult-sized portions. Enjoy roasted turkey, maple-glazed ham, mashed potatoes, stuffing, sweet potatoes, and more. Add a fall salad for $16 and individual desserts for $5 each.
21. Vola's Dockside Grill — Alexandria
Enjoy gorgeous waterfront views while feasting on a three-course Thanksgiving meal at Vola's. For $49 per person, choose between crab salad and lobster bisque to start; turkey, stuffed pork, and rockfish for the main course; and pumpkin tart and apple-cinammon cheesecake for dessert. Kids can order their own, child-friendly three-course feast for only $19. The restaurant's regular menu is also available.
All photos courtesy of the restaurants open on Thanksgiving
Places featured in this article:
Founding Farmers Tysons
Founding Farmers Reston Station
Sfoglina - Van Ness
Unconventional Diner
Hamrock's Restaurant
Vola's Dockside Grill
Theismann's Restaurant
Osteria Morini