Union Station’s Toscana Cafe Will Serve Its Last Sangria Tonight

Two-story Italian mainstay Toscana Cafe, which has kept nearby Union Station travelers full on pastas and pizzas for the past 10 years, will close for good this weekend.

The quaint eatery (601 2nd Street NE) will serve dinner for the last time until 9 p.m. on Friday, August 3. It’s expected to undergo a complete renovation — complete with a full bar — and reopen this fall under new ownership, an employee tells Eater.

“The new owner has not made their menu updates clear ... it may reopen as Italian/American, or perhaps Indian food,” says an employee, in an email to Eater.

The worn-in space looks much like an Italian grandmother’s aging house and is clearly due for a renovation. Its facade got a facelift over the past few years, but its interior has largely stayed the same. A family from Tuscany originally opened Toscana, and it’s switched ownership at least once over its decade-long run. Its Italian-inspired lunch and dinner menu largely includes paninis, pizzas, pastas, and salads.

The identity of its new owner is a mystery, other than the fact he has a hand “in several other restaurants,” the employee tells Eater.

Stay tuned for more details as they emerge.

A few blocks away, Liaison Hotel’s Southern-style lobby restaurant Art & Soul is also expected to close for an overhaul later this year and reemerge with a new TBA cuisine theme and name.

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