Tired of tipping? Smoking Kow BBQ on Duke Street recently stopped asking customers for tips.
That’s right—after ordering burnt ends, spare ribs, sweet potatoes, and cornbread, customers are no longer prompted to tip by the restaurant’s electronic payment system, and the tip jar has also been removed.
It’s been 16 years since Generous George’s Positive Pizza & Pasta Place closed, and only a few months before it reopens as a Japanese sushi restaurant.
After an extensive interior renovation, Umiya Alexandria is expected to open by August, a contractor working on the project told ALXnow.
Update at 5:15 p.m. — All lanes have now been reopened
The Alexandria Police Department (APD) warned drivers to avoid the Duke Street and Quaker Lane intersection after a crash involving anywhere between nine to eleven vehicles.
Hidden behind the relatively boring title “Long-Range Planning Interdepartmental Work Program” is a peek at some of the biggest planning efforts in Alexandria over the next year.
The program spells out some of the biggest priorities for the various city departments for FY 2026-27. For the Department of Planning and Zoning, one of the top items on that list is possible regulations for Alexandria’s short-term residential rental market — i.e. Airbnb and other home-sharing apps.
Japanese restaurant Umiya could be opening in a location previously haunted by a ghost kitchen and the pizza palace that never was.
Umiya Alexandria Inc. filed a permit to open a full service restaurant at 3006 Duke Street, offering Japanese sushi, seafood and grilled food.
One person is dead after a fire at a homeless encampment near Holmes Run Park in Alexandria’s West End.
The Alexandria Fire Department discovered the fire under an overpass in the 4600 block of Duke Street, near the entrance to Holmes Run Park and the Shoppes at Foxchase. The Friday night fire was reported at around 10:45 p.m. by a resident in a nearby apartment building, according to AFD dispatches.
Traffic safety advocacy group Northern Virginia Families for Safe Streets (NoVA FSS) compiled crash data from 2021 to 2024 and put together a ranking of the city’s most dangerous corridors with one standing out in particular.
The ranking looks not at the number of crashes, but the number of total casualties — from visible and non-visible injuries to severe and fatal crashes — reported by the Virginia Department of Transportation.
New restaurant Zaytoun Halal Grill has filed for a special use permit to replace AJ’s Pizza and Cheesesteak at 5418 Duke Street.
Owner Mushtaq Habibi told ALXnow the restaurant will offer a menu focused around Mediterranean food.
An argument over major roadway changes left City Council members, like drivers at the Duke Street and Cambridge Road intersection near Bishop Ireton High School, stuck at a messy impasse.
As the City of Alexandria’s been working through the Duke Street In Motion plans — an overhaul of Duke Street with a bigger focus on transit, cyclist and pedestrian safety — the intersection of Duke with Cambridge Road has been a sticking point.
The Alexandria Police Department apprehended a man wielding a knife and trying to board buses on Duke Street around 11:20 a.m. today.
Scanner traffic indicated the man attempted to a bus at the intersection of Duke Street and Jordan Street. The bus driver reportedly shut the door to keep him from entering the bus. The man reportedly tried to get onto another bus with the knife and the second driver did the same thing.
The fight over the future of S. Pickett Street will rage on tonight (Thursday).
A virtual open house allowing attendees to “ask questions and talk with the project team” has been scheduled for 7 p.m., according to the city’s Department of Transportation and Environmental Services.
