Café Fiorello's run in Penn Quarter is ending almost as quickly as it began. The Italian restaurant at 1001 Pennsylvania Avenue NW is closing permanently this week, barely 17 months after it opened in the space long known as the home of TenPenh.
The exact closing date depends on who you ask. PoPville reports the restaurant will close permanently on October 29, while Eater DC reports it will serve its last customers after service on October 28. Café Fiorello's own OpenTable page backed up that earlier date, showing no reservations available after October 28, according to whatnow.com. Either way, diners hoping for one last plate of lasagna have only days left to get in.
On its site, Café Fiorello describes its menu as Italian classics from New York City brought to the nation's capital, per PoPville's report. The restaurant also thanked its guests for being part of its journey, PoPville noted, a sign-off that reads as an acknowledgment of just how short that journey turned out to be. Café Fiorello's D.C. location opened in May 2025, according to bizjournals.com.
A Legendary Address Loses Its Latest Tenant
A Legendary Address Loses Its Latest Tenant The Pennsylvania Avenue corner has seen plenty of turnover. Before Café Fiorello moved in, the space briefly housed San Francisco's Tadich Grill, and before that it was home to TenPenh for years, according to dc.eater.com. PoPville also identified TenPenh as a former occupant of the space.
Café Fiorello isn't closing alone. Its sibling restaurant, Fiorella Italian Kitchen & Pizzeria at 152 National Plaza in National Harbor, Maryland, is also shutting down, according to whatnow.com. The Coconut Mama reports that the National Harbor location is expected to close on October 29 as well, meaning Fireman Hospitality Group is set to lose two D.C.-area outposts within roughly the same week.
Bankruptcy Behind the Closures
Both restaurants are operated by New York-based Fireman Hospitality Group, per whatnow.com's reporting. The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in August, according to bizjournals.com. Its D.C. and National Harbor locations are also closing.
Eater DC offered another layer to the story, reporting that the cause of the Penn Quarter closure is that Café Fiorello's new owner simply does not want to keep it. The outlet's report ties the shutdown not just to the broader bankruptcy proceedings but to a change in ownership that left the restaurant without a future in the nation's capital. Café Fiorello's original New York restaurant, by contrast, had served the Lincoln Center crowd on Manhattan's Upper West Side for 52 years, according to bizjournals.com, making the D.C. spinoff's brief lifespan all the more striking by comparison.
Part of a Broader D.C. Restaurant Reckoning
Part of a Broader D.C. Restaurant Reckoning Café Fiorello's exit adds to a wave of high-profile restaurant closures that have hit Downtown, Chinatown, Penn Quarter and other nearby neighborhoods, according to WTOP News. Restaurant owners have pointed to workers not returning to offices, along with traffic, crime and parking issues, as ongoing pressures on the dining industry, the station reported.
There are some signs of recovery. A string of closures has included Cranes, Arrels, Michele's and Tonari this year, with Tony Cheng's, Kinship and Métier shuttering in late 2025, the station reported.
For now, it's unclear what will move into the Pennsylvania Avenue space once Café Fiorello clears out. PoPville said it will provide updates once it learns what becomes of the address — a corner of Penn Quarter that has now cycled through TenPenh, Tadich Grill and Café Fiorello in a relatively short span of years.
