Cost of Eating Out in Washington DC 2026 — Restaurant Prices, Half-Smoke Costs and DC Food Budget Guide

Cost of Eating Out in Washington DC 2026

Washington DC has evolved from a city historically considered a culinary afterthought into one of the United States' most exciting food cities, with a dining scene enriched by its extraordinary diversity of diplomatic and immigrant communities. Ethiopian cuisine (particularly in the Adams Morgan and U Street neighbourhoods) is a DC speciality, and the city's food truck scene and the Eastern Market food hall are local institutions. DC's prices are high but slightly lower than New York or San Francisco for comparable dining. This guide covers eating-out costs in Washington DC in 2026.

DC Restaurant Prices by Category

• Half-smoke (Ben's Chili Bowl, U Street): $7-11 ($10.50-$16.50 AUD)
• Ethiopian combination platter (Adams Morgan): $18-28 ($27-$42 AUD) per person
• Food truck lunch (National Mall): $10-18 ($15-$27 AUD) per person
• Eastern Market casual restaurant: $18-30 ($27-$45 AUD) per person
• Capitol Hill or Penn Quarter mid-range dinner: $45-80 ($67.50-$120 AUD) per person
• Georgetown or Dupont Circle upscale dining: $70-130 ($105-$195 AUD) per person
• DC fine dining (downtown or the Wharf): $120-250 ($180-$375 AUD) per person

DC Best-Value Food Areas

• Adams Morgan has DC's best Ethiopian restaurant concentration with excellent value injera and combination platters; U Street Corridor (Ben's Chili Bowl is a DC institution) has good mid-range options; the H Street NE corridor has a diverse and affordable restaurant strip popular with young DC residents; Georgetown's side streets away from M Street have competitive mid-range restaurants

Tipping in Washington DC

• Tipping of 20% is standard at sit-down DC restaurants; DC is a high-cost-of-living city and restaurant workers rely heavily on tips; tip prompts at counter-service venues are optional; some DC restaurants have moved to a no-tip, higher-base-price model — the bill will indicate if this applies

DC Daily Food Budget

• Budget (food trucks, half-smokes, ethnic restaurants): $30-55 AUD per day; Mid-range: $70-130 AUD per day; Upscale: $150-320 AUD per day

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