![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Screenshot-2026-03-18-at-1.01.49-AM-1024x769.png\")
Mario\u2019s Pizza on 25th Street. The restaurant sells Pizza and Sub sandwiches to local Anacostia customers.<\/p>\nBy Alejandra Mora Ortega<\/p>\n
Washington D.C. restaurants face economic and staffing problems depending on the Ward they\u00a0reside\u00a0in with the United States economy fluctuating throughout 2025 and 2026.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThere used to be five of us in this kitchen, 14 years ago,\u201d said Sergio Lobo, the owner of Mario\u2019s House Pizza in Anacostia. \u201cNow it\u2019s just me, one staff worker, and my wife\u201d.<\/p>\n
The restaurant has been around since 1936, serving sandwiches and pizza\u00a0by\u00a0the slice. It sits in Ward 8, next to the bridge that connects Anacostia to the rest of D.C. Lobo worked in the restaurant as staff for over a decade before moving to Nevada in search of job opportunities. When visiting D.C. two years ago, the owner of Mario\u2019s offered to sell the restaurant to Lobo, leaving him as owner.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cEverything right now is expensive. Especially meat. We only buy ribeye. Since people are so used\u00a0to us\u00a0using ribeye, I\u00a0can\u2019t\u00a0change the cut\u201d,\u00a0said Lobo. \u201cVegetables are expensive too, sometimes tomatoes fluctuate in price\u201d.<\/p>\n
Tariffs and inflation have affected various businesses throughout D.C.\u00a0ABC News reported\u00a0that in 2025, 92 restaurants throughout the city were closed. The number went up from 2024, where 73 restaurants shut their doors. \u201cIf the trend continues, the city could surpass 100 closures by the end of 2026,\u201d said ABC.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe majority of\u00a0the tourists\u00a0that come to D.C. are downtown. We\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0get a lot of them down here,\u201d\u00a0Lobo said. \u201cWe\u2019ll\u00a0sell around 60 pizzas on a good day. On\u00a0a\u00a0bad day,\u00a0we will sell 10\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mario\u2019s Pizza on 25th Street. The restaurant sells Pizza and Sub sandwiches to local Anacostia customers.<\/p>\n
Lobo points out the neighborhood\u2019s lack of security, pointing at a bullet hole on the main door of the restaurant.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Anacostia is regarded as one of the least safe neighborhoods in D.C.\u00a0CrimeGrade.org\u00a0reports Anacostia to be in the 7th percentile for safety, meaning it is less safe than 93% of average U.S. neighborhoods.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Urban Institute, a\u00a0D.C.\u2013based nonprofit research organization\u00a0reported in 2023\u00a0that there is a disparity in capital and funding distribution within Washington, with lower-income Wards like Ward 8 being less likely to receive funding.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cDC\u2019s neighborhoods east of the Anacostia River, as well as much of Prince George\u2019s County, received relatively low investment per household,\u201d\u00a0the authors of the report said. \u201cIn the Washington region, in general, the greater the share of white residents in a neighborhood, the more investment that the neighborhood receives. On average, neighborhoods with the largest shares of white residents (more than 80 percent) receive 2.3 times more overall investment than neighborhoods with the smallest shares of white residents. These trends are\u00a0largely the\u00a0reverse for majority-Black and majority-Latine neighborhoods\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lobo mentioned the current political climate under the Trump administration. \u201cThe Hispanic business owners are dealing with the worst of it right now, due to the political situation,\u201d\u00a0said Lobo.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A\u00a0Reuters\u00a0article reported that after the continuous ICE raids that have occurred within the U.S. throughout the Trump administration, Hispanic people are more likely to stay at home and do shopping online. The authors of the article said that small businesses have suffered the most from this, as those with small online presences lose a chunk of their market. This same thing is happening in D.C. to the restaurant business.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Seventeen minutes away from Mario\u2019s House Pizza is Barcelona Wine Bar, a Spanish restaurant known for serving tapas. It has two locations within D.C. Established near Logan Circle in 2013 and later expanded into Tenleytown, the restaurants are funded by private equity. They lie within Wards 2 and 3, two of the most affluent Wards in D.C.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have never had to worry about closing. We have expanded to other states. The restaurants here on 14th Street are the busiest ones for the whole business.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0really popular, we have some customers that come by every day,\u201d\u00a0said Bryan Alas, the manager for the Ward 2 location of Barcelona Wine Bar.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cOur location helps a lot. When tourists come, they are near our\u00a0location\u00a0and our restaurants always appear on recommendation lists. People come from so many places, increasing our popularity,\u201d\u00a0said Alas. \u201cI attribute the success to our location and team. All the team we hire gets a lot of preparation to become good servers, line cooks, and bartenders and to give the best service. Our\u00a0(low to medium) food prices help us too\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n
On a good week, the Logan Circle location of Barcelona Wine Bar sells around 30,000 to 40,000 plates.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI go about twice a month,\u201d said Abagael Smith, a Barcelona Wine Bar frequenter. \u201cIt\u2019s a cool atmosphere and offers something different than other bars. There\u2019s just more options, and it feels a bit more upscale and safe\u201d.<\/p>\n
Barcelona Wine Bar sits a short distance walk away from important D.C. landmarks like the National Mall and the White House.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Alejandra Mora Ortega Washington D.C. restaurants face economic and staffing problems depending on the Ward they\u00a0reside\u00a0in with the United States economy fluctuating throughout 2025 and 2026.\u00a0 \u201cThere used to be five of us in this kitchen, 14 years ago,\u201d said Sergio Lobo, the owner of Mario\u2019s House Pizza in Anacostia. \u201cNow it\u2019s just me,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7489,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[6768,6766,6764,6767,6765],"class_list":["post-19545","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-district-of-columbia","tag-district-of-columbia","tag-district-of-columbia-dining","tag-district-of-columbia-food","tag-district-of-columbia-grocery-stores","tag-district-of-columbia-restaurants"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/vive.im\/@dc\/117296403873937386","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19545","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19545"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19545\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7489"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19545"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19545"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19545"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}