‘The city is dead': D.C. restaurant reservations drop amid federal crackdown

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2 days ago

'The city is dead': D.C. restaurant reservations drop amid federal crackdown
Since President Donald Trump announced his takeover of the D.C. police force last week, restaurant reservations have dropped in the city by as much as 31 percent year over year for a single day, according to restaurant booking data. Business owners are concerned that the continued surge in law enforcement could impact their revenue during a vital period of the summer.
Several operators say the decline does not bode well for them or the 380 establishments participating in Summer Restaurant Week, which started Monday in the greater D.C. area. The bargain-dining promotion is considered a lifeline for restaurants hoping to survive the doldrums of August, when Congress is on recess, locals are on vacation, and many area residents are gearing up for back-to-school season. One of the goals with the promotion, says Shawn Townsend, president and chief executive of the Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington, is to help the industry make it to Labor Day, when D.C. springs back to life.
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This August has been particularly tough on D.C. restaurants, numerous operators told The Washington Post. They were already dealing with a number of destabilizing issues - rising labor and ingredient costs, soaring rents, federal worker layoffs, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement audits - when the president announced last week that he was sending in troops and federal agents to deal with a city where crime is 'totally out of control,' despite local and federal statistics showing otherwise.
'It's like drowning and then someone throws a 100 lb weight to you,' texted one D.C. restaurateur who asked that his name not be used because, he said, he was 'just focused on keeping my businesses alive (this week).'
It's difficult to get an exact read on the state of D.C. dining since the federalization of local police. On the day of Trump's announcement, the number of online reservations in Washington dining rooms dropped by 16 percent from the same date the previous year, according to OpenTable. Since then, reservations have dipped almost every day, falling as much as 31 percent in a single day compared to the same period in 2024. But on Monday, the first day of Restaurant Week, OpenTable reservations were up 29 percent compared to the same day the previous year.
Some of the decline in reservations could be attributed to timing: The first week of the takeover, Aug. 11 to 17, ended one day before Restaurant Week began. Those same dates in 2024 fell during Restaurant Week, when presumably reservations were increasing as diners scrambled to secure the discounted three-course meals.
Townsend with RAMW, which organizes the biannual promotion, says that none of the 380 restaurants involved in this year's event - a record number - have reported a drop in reservations for the seven-day run. But at least two participating restaurant proprietors told The Washington Post that their numbers are well below last year's bookings.
'Reservations are low, low, low' compared to last year, said Mauricio Fraga-Rosenfeld, co-owner of El Secreto de Rosita on U Street near 16th Street NW, across the street from a police station where he said federal troops have often assembled before fanning out across the city.
'The city is dead,' Fraga-Rosenseld said. 'If you walk on the street, there's no feeling. People are scared … You don't see any Latinos on the street.'
Nick Pimentel, co-founder of Elle in the Mount Pleasant neighborhood, said he's seen a significant drop in walk-in traffic and reservations since January. But the bottom fell out this month. 'Compared to last year's Summer Restaurant Week reservations - and even Winter Restaurant Week in January - it's looking like we dropped more than 50 percent,' Pimentel said.
The numbers suggest, he added, that this will be the slowest August in Elle's seven-year history, including during the pandemic-affected summer of 2020.
'Seeing law enforcement - armored and plainclothed - in the neighborhood, casing our building and looking into our windows definitely put guests and staff on edge,' Pimentel said.
Mount Pleasant and the nearby Columbia Heights and 14th Street areas have seen several arrests of food delivery workers, including a Saturday morning incident in which six mostly masked agents wearing police vests tackled a food delivery driver outside of a coffee shop.
The president and White House are disputing the numbers. During a Tuesday call in to the 'Fox & Friends' morning television show, Trump said his orders have transformed Washington into 'just an incredible place in literally four days.'
'Did you see what's happening with the restaurants? They're bursting,' Trump said. 'They were all closing and going bankrupt.'
On Monday, Trump disputed local and federal statistics that show crime is declining in the city, claiming in a social media post that 'D.C. gave Fake Crime numbers in order to create a false illusion of safety.' A White House spokeswoman sent a statement to The Post, along with a Fox News story indicating that 52 restaurants closed in Washington in 2023, in part due to crime.
'Dozens of DC small businesses, restaurants, and local shops have closed their doors due to the violent crime that has plagued the city. President Trump's bold leadership will restore our nation's capital by creating opportunities for businesses to flourish without fear of criminals looting and destroying their property. President Trump is delivering on his promise to make DC safer, which will inherently make D.C, more prosperous,' spokeswoman Taylor Rogers said in a statement.
Busboys and Poets, a chain of community-oriented cafes, has seen a small collective drop in August sales among the five locations in Washington while its three suburban outposts are enjoying an uptick, said founder Andy Shallal.
'The streets seem to be a little bit thinner in certain parts of town,' said Shallal. 'There's a little bit of a malaise in the city. I think people are just frustrated and just not in a good mood.'
Shallal and others say federal checkpoints are scaring some people from visiting Washington, regardless of their legal status. The unexpected traffic stops may also be preventing workers - particularly back-of-the-house cooks and dishwashers who often hail from Latin American countries - from showing up to shifts.
'I think people would much rather stay where they are and not have to deal with this,' said Shallal. 'A lot of our customers are immigrants that have either newly immigrated to America or have been naturalized Americans. ... In general, they'd rather not expose people or expose themselves to those kinds of conditions or situations that may put them in harm's way.'
Council member Charles Allen (D-Ward 6) has spoken to nearly a dozen restaurant owners in his district, which includes Capitol Hill and the NoMa neighborhood, and said they're telling him the same thing: In the last week, they're seeing less foot traffic. Reservations are being canceled. Employees, especially back-of-house staff, are not showing up for work, leaving restaurants shorthanded for evening shifts. Some restaurant owners are hesitant to complain publicly for fear of being targeted by federal agents.
'I haven't heard a single restaurant say 'this is great for business,'' Allen said.
'Our businesses are suffering by what they're doing here,' the council member added. 'It's an unwarranted, absolutely ridiculous, unnecessary step that federal government's doing. It sure is more than just immigration issues. This is impacting bread-and-butter local businesses.'
Med Lahlou, founder of an eponymous hospitality group operating neighborhood restaurants throughout the city including Lupo Verde on 14th Street NW, said the police presence and public arrests have been demoralizing.
'It has been heartbreaking to watch my hometown of 40 years feel like it's coming apart,' the restaurateur said. He said the takeover is 'devastating businesses to an unimaginable degree' - including the service industry.
'People are scared to go out, regardless of whether they are U.S. citizens or not. That fear alone is enough to damage restaurant week and the livelihood of countless workers,' Lahlou said.
Oji Abbott had been expecting an uptick in sales at Oohh's and Aahh's, his soul food restaurant on U Street, as Howard University students returned to campus last week, preparing for the start of a new semester. But the uptick never arrived. Instead, Abbott says, he has experienced a decline - a small but noticeable one. He pinned some of the blame on the presence of federal law enforcement officers.
'We got losses because some people are not coming out and dealing with that,' Abbott told The Post. 'They say, 'You know, I heard they were at 14th Street, they were in U Street. I'm not going.''
Abbott is fortunate compared to other businesses on the U Street corridor, he says. Oohh's and Aahh's has two other locations. If diners don't feel safe - or just don't want to deal with the hassle of navigating the neighborhood with all the extra vehicles on the streets - they can go to one of Abbott's outlets on Georgia Avenue NW or in Alexandria, Virginia. But the chef and owner also worries about the impact of 30 straight days of federal agents and officers on the streets.
'We have to operate within this 30 days, and do you have enough wherewithal to be able to have a week or month of short money coming?' Abbott says. 'Most small businesses, I'll say no. Small businesses, you don't have money to say, 'Oh, yeah, I'll just take the short money for 30 days and I'll still be able to pay the rent and my electric bill and my water bill and my gas bill.'
Townsend with RAMW is more bullish on the restaurants that his group represents. They will make Restaurant Week work, regardless of how many staff no-show for a shift. Owners will roll up their sleeves and pitch in.
But Townsend is also concerned about the federal takeover of Washington's streets as restaurant week revs up.
'There's a sense from the restaurant community in D.C. that folks who live in Maryland and Virginia will opt to dine in Bethesda or Tysons or Falls Church,' Townsend said, 'as opposed to trying out a new restaurant in D.C. this week.'
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Emily Heil contributed to this report.
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