Jamie Leeds opens build-your-own Hank’s Pasta Bar in Alexandria

Jamie Leeds has turned Hank’s Pasta Bar into one of Old Town North’s most flexible new dinners, pairing a recognizable local chef with a build-your-own pasta format above Hank’s Oyster Bar at 600 Montgomery St. in Alexandria. The 50-seat room officially opened for dine-in service on May 7 and is designed to give guests control over shape, sauce, proteins, vegetables and toppings without losing the feel of a seated restaurant.

The concept sits in an easy middle ground between fast-casual and full-service dining. Customers order electronically at the table, then get plated dishes from servers, with a full bar, Italian wines and craft cocktails like a berry negroni. That setup makes Hank’s Pasta Bar feel less like a counter stop and more like a tucked-away upstairs dining room, while still keeping the meal quick enough for a weeknight crowd.

The kitchen leans hard into choice. Diners can start with seven artisanal pasta shapes, including gluten-free options, and nine house-made sauces, then build from there. One local report said bowls started at $16, while the online ordering menu showed a build-your-own option at $13 and other finished bowls in the $14 to $16 range. The menu also spells out the range of the concept with dishes such as rigatoni bolognese, linguine pesto & shrimp, fettuccine & artichokes, mafalde & sausage, four-cheese macaroni, cheese lasagna and chicken cacio e pepe.

Jamie Leeds developed the restaurant with Darren Norris, chef of Shibuya, whose Italian-cuisine roots stretch back to the 1980s. The partnership gives Hank’s Pasta Bar a cross-genre edge: it is comfort-food forward, but still anchored by a chef-driven point of view. Leeds has also kept the restaurant tied to community work, continuing a partnership with Real Food for Kids and allowing guests to round up orders in support of programs such as Chefs Feeding Families.

The opening stretch brought a little extra theater, too. From May 14 through May 17, the first 50 dine-in guests each evening received a complimentary glass of prosecco or a nonalcoholic sparkling alternative. That kind of launch fits the restaurant’s pitch: a pasta bar with enough customization to keep regulars returning, and enough personality to make the upstairs room above Hank’s Oyster Bar feel like its own destination.