My Favorite Fast Casual Restaurants in the DC Area

Fast casual restaurants are a great option when you want a quick meal! There are so many delicious, healthy, and gluten-free friendly fast casual restaurants in the DC area. Below are some of my favorites!

Cava
Cava is a Mediterranean restaurant that sources their food from local farms and switches up their offerings based on the seasons. They have a full list of the allergens in their food on their website and at their restaurants. This makes it easy to build a bowl that is gluten-free and dairy-free! My typical order: salad bowl with arugula, braised lamb, cucumbers, seasonal veggie, cabbage slaw, olives, mint, lemon, and green harissa dressing.

Sweetgreen
Sweetgreen serves salads that use local and seasonal ingredients. They have warm bowls and salad options that you can choose from or you can make your own salad from all the fresh ingredients! I love to make my own salad when I go, the options are always changing with the seasons, which keeps it interesting. My typical order: arugula, seasonal veggie and fruit, broccoli, avocado, basil, cilantro, chicken, and the jalapeño lime cilantro dressing. I always ask for less greens because they really fill the bowl with them, and it’s too much for me.

Buredo
Buredo offers burrito-style sushi rolls in seaweed-rice wraps or salad bowls. They have the gluten-free options marked on the menu, which was recently expanded! You can start with something off the menu and tweak it to be perfect for you! If you aren’t into raw fish, they also have beef and pork options, which my boyfriend, Tommy, loves! His favorite is the Crazy 88 with avocado and sriracha.

Crazy 88 with avocado and Sriracha from Buredo

Chipotle
Chipotle serves mexican burritos, tacos, bowls, and salads. Chipotle is the first fast casual restaurant, that I ate at, that actually cared about the quality of their ingredients. They source their real food ingredients from farms and care about the quality of their meat. I have loved Chipotle since before my paleo days. I’m so thankful that I could just switch up my order a little bit to get something that’s gluten-free and paleo! I usually get a bowl with lettuce, carnitas, medium salsa, and guacamole.

The Little Beet
The Little Beet focuses on local, seasonal, and real food ingredients. They have salad, grain, and rice chef made bowls, or you can make your own your choice of base, protein, sauce, and garnish. Everything at The Little Beet is completely gluten-free. You can find options on their menu that are dairy-free, soy-free, vegetarian, vegan, and nut-free too! So far I’ve tried a bowl with salmon and veggies and it was delicious. It’s super easy to eat paleo here too!

Modern Market
Modern Market is a farm to table restaurant that uses simple, real food ingredients. They offer a wide variety of allergen friendly foods, making it really easy to eat gluten-free and paleo here! Their menu changes with the seasons so there is always something new and exciting to try. I love their gluten-free pizza, Thai coconut salad, lemongrass pork bowl, and their steak home style plate.

Lemongrass pork bowl (to go) from Modern Market

Gluten-free pizza with prosciutto, pear, arugula, and goat cheese from Modern Market

SEOULSPICE
SEOULSPICE offers fast casual Korean comfort food. They use quality ingredients and make their own sauces and marinades. The best part about the menu is that it’s 100% gluten free! They have rice bowls, Korean-style sushi burritos, tacos, and salads. After choosing the base you want you can add protein, veggies, sauce, and other toppings. You can also choose from their signature dishes. I like to build my own!

Honeygrow
Honeygrow’s main offering is their signature or make your own stir-fry dishes. They use fresh ingredients and have seasonal dishes using locally sourced veggies. The menu has labels for what is gluten-free and vegan, so it’s easy to make a gluten and dairy free meal here! The gluten free bases for the stir-fry are rice noodles, spiralized zucchini, salad greens, or brown rice. For dessert they have a fruit-based treat called a honeybar. You can customize your honeybar with different fruit, honey, maple syrup, and other toppings. When I go to Honeygrow I like to make my own chicken stir-fry with salad or rice noodles as the base and a honeybar for dessert!

Oath Pizza
Oath Pizza is a fast casual pizza restaurant. They use ethically sourced ingredients and certified humane meats. Oath Pizza is gluten-free friendly and even has vegan cheese! So far this is my favorite gluten-free pizza I’ve tried! I like to make my own with a gluten-free crust, tomato sauce, vegan cheese, Italian sausage, bacon, spinach, basil, and oregano.

Flower Child
Flower Child is one of my favorites on this list! They make all their food from scratch and use local ingredients where possible. It’s easy to eat paleo, vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, or sugar-free here! They have appetizers, like avocado hummus, salads, bowls, entrees where you add your choice of protein and sides, and wraps. There are usually some gluten-free desserts to choose from by the register too! I like to get the salmon entree with brussels sprouts and Indian spiced cauliflower, so good!

This is the list of places I enjoy so far! Check the websites of the restaurants to see if there is one close to you, they are adding new locations all the time for each of these! I will be sure to update as I find and try new restaurants. If you have any questions or recommendations leave me a comment!