Trip Advisor is a popular American online travel company that offers ratings of restaurants primarily from those who have traveled to the area, rather than locals. If you’re interested in seeing the opinions of those who have traveled to the area, you’re in luck, as today we’ll be sharing the top 10 restaurants according to Trip Advisor as of October 31, 2023.

10. Copper Canyon (928 Ellsworth Dr, Silver Spring): With a 4 out of 5 rating after 471 reviews, Copper Canyon’s Silver Spring location comes in at #10 overall in the county and #2 in Silver Spring. The restaurant has an additional MoCo location at Gaithersburg’s Rio.


Last month we reported that Z-Burger and Maman Joon will be taking over the space that was previously home to Taco Bar and Jerry’s Subs & Pizza at 18100 Georgia Avenue in Olney.  Both restaurants are now open, beating out the Bethesda Z-Burger location as the first in Montgomery County for the DMV-based regional restaurant. The space offers food from both the Z Burger and Maman Joon concepts.

Z-Burger is a local, DMV-based chain that describes itself as “a Washington DC landmark! Home to the area’s most delicious handcrafted burgers with endless toppings, fresh cut fries and 75 varieties of hand spun milk shakes and concretes made with premium Wisconsin custard.” Z-Burger has multiple locations in DC, a few in Northern Virginia, and three in Maryland– with more to come. Its first location opened in Tenleytown in 2008. Earlier this year, its first Montgomery County location was announced. Prior to starting Z-Burger in 2008, founder Peter Tabibian was the general manager at a Jerry’s Subs & Pizza in Maryland.


Everyone has had their share of terrible experiences in MoCo parking lots, and while there are more than 25 “bad” parking lots, we’ve narrowed down a list (in no particular order) of what may be the worst based on our experiences and comments left by readers throughout the years.

Featured image courtesy of Google Maps. 


Rivera-Delgado was arrested for a parole violation in Nevada and extradited to Maryland on Tuesday, September 29, 2023. The 23-year-old suspect led Montgomery County Department of Police – Major Crimes detectives to the location where Sanchez Merino was buried. On October 1, 2023, an autopsy of Sanchez Merino was conducted by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, and the death was ruled a homicide.


Back in March we let you know that the 100-year old building that is home to the Olney Ale House was sold to Two Sibs LLC, led by Selim Kantar, for $1.45 million. Olney Ale House, located at 2000 Olney Sandy Spring Rd (Rt. 108 and Doctor Bird Rd.), operated in the space until a kitchen fire caused the restaurant to shut down in 2019. We spoke with new owner Selim Kantar today, who told us that they are still chipping away and anticipate a spring 2024 opening.

The restaurant will keep the Olney Ale House name and operate with an updated menu and new cocktails. Kantar tells us that work is just getting started and that there is a lot of it that has to be done before the restaurant is ready to open, so a 2024 opening is the most likely scenario. We will have updates for you as the restaurant continues with renovations and moves closer toward opening.  Below we share with you the restaurant’s rich history, courtesy of the previous Olney Ale House website:


Ledo Pizza opened its first “Ledo Pizza Corner Shoppe” inside of a Giant Food store at 1649 Crofton Center in Crofton, MD (Anne Arundel County) this past summer. Now it has opened its first MoCo Corner Shoppe inside of Giant at 18140 Village Center Dr. in the Olney Village Center.

Why open less than half a mile from a Ledo restaurant? The “Corner Shoppe” offers take and bake pizza that allows customers to take home a frozen pizza to bake themselves at a later time. The store will also offer hot pizzas from the oven as well.


The haunt is a benefit performance for Calleva, a 501c3 organization dedicated to building young leaders through positive outdoor experiences. “We spend all year empowering people through outdoor experiences that foster teamwork & individual achievement,” says Nick Markoff, one of the three brothers who founded Calleva. “Then we bring them out to Markoff’s Haunted Forest to knock their confidence back a bit.”  The haunt began as a small scale event, but has grown into one of the nation’s top-ranked performances. Markoff’s Haunted Forest still helps fund Calleva’s summer camp scholarships, community partnerships, and outdoor education programming. It’s a partnership that delivers seasonal fun AND year-round benefits to our Montgomery County neighborhood. Tickets are on sale now at www.markoffshauntedforest.com.

Since 1992, when the Markoff brothers started with a Haunted School Bus driven to events and festivals around DC, our haunt has provided fright fest lovers with a creative, dramatic, and – YES — terrifying haunt experience. Our creative team combines music, lights, scents, actors, make-up & prosthetics, and artistic brilliance in a series of high-tech, detailed scenes that consistently place MHF among the top haunts in the country.


Per MCPD: 57-year-old Georgia man is dead following a domestic-related shooting in Olney. On Saturday, October 7, 2023, at approximately 8:24 p.m., the Montgomery County Emergency Communications Center received a call for a shooting in the 4500 block of Mount Olney Lane.

4th District officers responded to the address and learned that the suspect, 25-year-old Nicholas Marquis Stull, was possibly inside of the home where he lived with his grandparents, and armed. Officers were informed that the victim, Michael Wayne Stull, the suspect’s father, had been shot and was also inside the house.


Update: This incident is now being investigated as a domestic related homicide.

4th District Montgomery County Police officers responded to the 4500 block of Mt. Olney Lane shortly before 8:30 for a shooting. The suspect is in custody and officers are still on scene. This story is developing and we will update with additional information as soon as it’s available.


Washington Parent readers name The Adventure Park (16701 Norwood Road, Sandy Spring) winner in 3 “Parents Picks” categories Sandy Spring, MD: After nearly 25,000 votes, Washington Parent Magazine announced its readers voted The Adventure Park at Sandy Spring Friends School the best Amusement Park and Climbing Destination in the greater Washington area in their Parents Picks competition for the second consecutive year. The Adventure Park also won the best “Date Night Venue” for the first time and placed as a finalist in the “Party Venue” competition.

“I am thrilled to hear that the Adventure Park at Sandy Spring has won the “Best Amusement Park” and “Best Climbing Destination” in the DMV area for the second year in a row. It’s a wonderful facility for outdoor recreation, family fun, parties and gathering for guests of all ages. My own family loves it there, our Scouts Troops just finished a troop outing there this past weekend – always a hit with the Scouts, and it gives me great pride in my district to have this gem right in our own backyard.


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