Food & Drink

Best Restaurant

Ray’s The Steaks

The carnivores have spoken. Owner Michael Landrum’s bare-bones steak house, with its crisp black-on-white décor and beautiful house-butchered, hand-trimmed steaks, is in a class by itself.

“I think we do what we are supposed to do,” says Landrum, who opened the original Ray’s in 2002. “We put out the best food and beverages at the best prices, while not being fancy. That’s what people want.”

What do customers crave? The most popular cut is the New York strip (16-ounce, $30.99), he says, with the hanger steak a close second. Penrose resident Matt Gilkeson, who frequents Ray’s for business dinners and special occasions, counts among Landrum’s loyal fans. “They are steak-focused,” Gilkeson says.  “You know what you’re getting when you go there.”

2300 Wilson Blvd., Arlington, 703-841-7297, www.raysthesteaks.com

Other top vote-getters:

The Liberty Tavern
Willow
Carlyle
Lyon Hall