Ryan Ratino is opening a steakhouse in Georgetown, and it's nothing like his other two restaurants

Ryan Ratino is opening a steakhouse in Georgetown, and it's nothing like his other two restaurants

The space at 3201 Cherry Hill Lane NW has been empty since Johnny Spero's Reverie closed in October 2025 after seven years. It sat in a cobblestone Georgetown alley, quiet, while people who loved that room wondered what would come next. Now there is an answer. Ryan Ratino, the chef who runs both Bresca and Jônt on 14th Street NW, is taking over the address with Ox & Olive, a 50-seat American steakhouse that opens May 7.

That combination, Ratino, Georgetown, steakhouse, is worth unpacking, because each piece is a little unexpected.

Two Michelin stars, no tasting menu

Ratino's Jônt is a two-Michelin-starred tasting room with a 14-seat counter on 14th Street. His group, Hive Hospitality, also operates Bresca, which holds one Michelin star, in the same building directly downstairs. Those two restaurants represent a very specific kind of ambition: exacting, course-by-course, every detail deliberate.

Ox & Olive is something else. Ratino describes it as a "petite steakhouse" that is a looser, more playful counterpart to his Michelin-noted tasting rooms. The format is a la carte. Ratino has said: "Our fine dining ethos will come into play when it comes to the sourcing and the details, but we're going to keep it very straightforward. We're going to make sure that it looks and feels like a steakhouse."

He grew up in Ohio. Meat and potatoes. He is one of the youngest chefs in the country to earn a Michelin star, and now he is channeling his Midwestern roots into Ox & Olive. That framing is not a marketing pivot. It's just a chef doing something he actually wants to do.

Beef from a dozen farms, steaks around $50

Ratino says the restaurant will source beef from 12 to 14 different farms across Australia and America, including producers near his hometown in Ohio, and will rotate breeds and cross-breeds nightly. Staple steaks, strip loins, tenderloins, short ribs, will hover around $50.

Servers will also present silver trays with pedigreed large-format cuts that change on a nightly basis, with some farms supplying as few as four loins per week. Beef is the star, sourced from over a dozen farms. A $95 Chef's Table experience is also available for those who want the full ride.

The rest of the menu keeps things honest without being boring. Black bass and Spanish turbot represent the seafood side, while sides include steak fries with sour cream ranch and a whipped potato loaded with beef jam, comte cheese, chive, and cultured butter. Small plates include mini brisket hot dogs and steak-tartare "eclaires." For dessert, there's a whole carrot cake and milk-chocolate soft-serve served with shoestring fries. The cocktail list leans hard on martini riffs, including a passionfruit Pornstar Martini with a bubbly sidecar.

A room with history, and a new look

The former Reverie space is already one of Georgetown's most atmospheric addresses. Off Cherry Hill Lane, down a block most visitors walk right past, the alley has a character that the neighborhood's main drags on M Street and Wisconsin Avenue can't replicate. Ratino has taken over the former tasting-room space and is going for a "contemporary gothic-meets-neon" look. The space is designed to be dark and moody.

That design language is a deliberate departure from the refined neutrals of Jônt. It's closer to the energy of Bresca's jewel-box dining room, but turned up. Ratino told Eater DC the format will be intentionally approachable, "not a classic $95 steak" experience, meant to feel comfortable for regulars, guests, and families in a more intimate setting. Fifty seats in a Georgetown alley, moody lighting, a beef program built on traceability, martinis on the table. That is a specific kind of evening.

Why Georgetown, and why now

Georgetown has been adding serious food destinations at a clip over the past two years. Kelly Singer's cooking school, the arrival of Osteria Mozza on M Street, the steady strength of restaurants like 1789 and Chez Billy Sud. But a proper steakhouse with this kind of sourcing philosophy has not had a Georgetown address. Ratino spotted the gap. He had long identified Georgetown as the right market, and when the Reverie space became available, he moved fast.

The move also says something about the broader DC dining moment. The city's most decorated chefs are increasingly stepping outside the tasting-menu format, not to go casual exactly, but to find rooms where the stakes feel different. Lower cost per seat, fewer courses, more wine ordered by the glass. Ox & Olive fits that pattern without apology.

Ox & Olive opens May 7 in Georgetown as a 50-seat steakhouse with aged beef sourced from more than 15 producers, playful sides, and martinis. Reservations are available on OpenTable. The address, once again, is 3201 Cherry Hill Lane NW.

Sources

• Hoodline: "Ratino Tucks Petite Steakhouse Ox & Olive Into Hidden Georgetown Alley"
• Washingtonian: "Ox & Olive May Be DC's Cheffiest Steakhouse Yet"
• Georgetown BID: "New Steakhouse Opens in Georgetown"
• The Georgetown Dish: "Ox & Olive Open in Georgetown"
• The Washington Lobbyist: "Georgetown's New Steakhouse Sensation: Ox & Olive is Coming Soon"
• Jônt official site (jontdc.com)
• Bresca official site (brescarestaurant.com)