A new neighborhood Italian restaurant is set to take over a long-troubled storefront on Connecticut Avenue next month, bringing handmade pasta, wood-fired pizza and a curated wine list to a stretch of Woodley Park that has increasingly turned into Washington, D.C.'s own little Italian row. Pastiamo Osteria plans to open in November 2026 at 2614 Connecticut Avenue NW, filling a 2,614-square-foot space with indoor-outdoor seating designed for long dinners and shared bottles of wine.
The restaurant is operated by LRH Hospitality, LLC, which applied for a District of Columbia Retailer's Class “C” Restaurant alcoholic beverage license under license number ABRA-136087, according to the Alcoholic Beverage and Cannabis Administration. The application already has the formal backing of the neighborhood: Advisory Neighborhood Commission 3C voted during its June 15, 2026 public meeting to support the permanent license application. As reported by PoPville, the restaurant describes itself as a neighborhood Italian spot built for casual weeknight meals and leisurely weekend brunches, with warm Italian hospitality as part of the pitch.
Occupancy and Outdoor Seating Details
According to ANC 3C licensing documentation, Pastiamo Osteria is described as having 85 indoor seats; its separate total interior occupancy load is 120 patrons. The approval also includes two sidewalk café endorsements accommodating 30 outdoor seats each, giving the restaurant room to spread diners along Connecticut Avenue when weather allows. The menu itself, per PoPville's reporting, centers on fresh pasta made in-house and pizzas pulled from a wood-fired oven, alongside Italian-inspired cocktails and seasonal dishes.
The storefront has seen plenty of turnover before Pastiamo's arrival. The space previously housed Elsa Ethiopian Kitchen from October 2023 until early 2025, and before that it was home to Mediterranean restaurant Medaterra, according to a blog post from Hagenberg Strom. Elsa was an Ethiopian restaurant in Woodley Park before it closed.
Two Doors Down From Another Italian Newcomer
Pastiamo's opening places it three storefronts down from Via Roma Pizzeria at 2606 Connecticut Avenue NW, an Italian restaurant that opened in 2025 specializing in Roman-style pinsas, as PoPville has previously noted. Via Roma adds another Italian concept to a block that now hosts two within shouting distance of one another.
That proximity is part of a larger shift along the corridor. The launch of Pastiamo comes amid a broader 2026 turnover along Woodley Park's Connecticut Avenue stretch, where non-Italian restaurants have closed or gone up for sale even as Italian concepts expand, per the Hagenberg Strom post. French bistro Petit Monde closed at 2653 Connecticut Avenue NW in February 2026, and Thai restaurant Thai and Time Again was listed for sale that March. The post offers landlords' preference for tenants with proven build-outs as one possible explanation for the pattern, alongside other possibilities.
Beyond Pastiamo and Via Roma, pizza lovers in the area already have Mika's Neapolitan Pizza across from the National Zoo, as described in the Hagenberg Strom post.
Getting There and What to Expect
The 2614 Connecticut Avenue NW storefront sits within a short walk of the Woodley Park-Zoo/Adams Morgan Metro station, according to The Washington Lobbyist.
Business directory listings for Pastiamo Osteria outline planned operating hours of 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday, per AAA Trip Canvas. The weekend morning hours line up with the restaurant's plans for weekend brunch service alongside its regular dinner offerings. Ahead of its targeted November opening, Pastiamo has already set up shop on Instagram at @pastiamoosteria and selected OpenTable as its primary reservation platform, the same Washington Lobbyist report notes.
