diff --git a/cmd/limactl/main.go b/cmd/limactl/main.go
index 268fad0dcf3..621ad4e829e 100644
--- a/cmd/limactl/main.go
+++ b/cmd/limactl/main.go
@@ -159,6 +159,7 @@ func newApp() *cobra.Command {
 		newUnprotectCommand(),
 		newTunnelCommand(),
 		newTemplateCommand(),
+		newRestartCommand(),
 	)
 	if runtime.GOOS == "darwin" || runtime.GOOS == "linux" {
 		rootCmd.AddCommand(startAtLoginCommand())
diff --git a/cmd/limactl/restart.go b/cmd/limactl/restart.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..f7ad977c609
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cmd/limactl/restart.go
@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+// SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright The Lima Authors
+// SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+
+package main
+
+import (
+	"github.com/lima-vm/lima/pkg/instance"
+	"github.com/lima-vm/lima/pkg/store"
+	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
+)
+
+func newRestartCommand() *cobra.Command {
+	restartCmd := &cobra.Command{
+		Use:               "restart INSTANCE",
+		Short:             "Restart a running instance",
+		Args:              WrapArgsError(cobra.MaximumNArgs(1)),
+		RunE:              restartAction,
+		ValidArgsFunction: restartBashComplete,
+		GroupID:           basicCommand,
+	}
+
+	restartCmd.Flags().BoolP("force", "f", false, "force stop and restart the instance")
+	return restartCmd
+}
+
+func restartAction(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) error {
+	instName := DefaultInstanceName
+	if len(args) > 0 {
+		instName = args[0]
+	}
+
+	inst, err := store.Inspect(instName)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
+	force, err := cmd.Flags().GetBool("force")
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
+	ctx := cmd.Context()
+	if force {
+		return instance.RestartForcibly(ctx, inst)
+	}
+
+	return instance.Restart(ctx, inst)
+}
+
+func restartBashComplete(cmd *cobra.Command, _ []string, _ string) ([]string, cobra.ShellCompDirective) {
+	return bashCompleteInstanceNames(cmd)
+}
diff --git a/cmd/limactl/stop.go b/cmd/limactl/stop.go
index 554547fe23b..2eba31ad1e4 100644
--- a/cmd/limactl/stop.go
+++ b/cmd/limactl/stop.go
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ func stopAction(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) error {
 	if force {
 		instance.StopForcibly(inst)
 	} else {
-		err = instance.StopGracefully(inst)
+		err = instance.StopGracefully(inst, false)
 	}
 	// TODO: should we also reconcile networks if graceful stop returned an error?
 	if err == nil {
diff --git a/pkg/instance/restart.go b/pkg/instance/restart.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..37572d9e596
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/instance/restart.go
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+// SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright The Lima Authors
+// SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+
+package instance
+
+import (
+	"context"
+
+	networks "github.com/lima-vm/lima/pkg/networks/reconcile"
+	"github.com/lima-vm/lima/pkg/store"
+	"github.com/sirupsen/logrus"
+)
+
+const launchHostAgentForeground = false
+
+func Restart(ctx context.Context, inst *store.Instance) error {
+	if err := StopGracefully(inst, true); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
+	if err := networks.Reconcile(ctx, inst.Name); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
+	if err := Start(ctx, inst, "", launchHostAgentForeground); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
+	return nil
+}
+
+func RestartForcibly(ctx context.Context, inst *store.Instance) error {
+	logrus.Info("Restarting the instance forcibly")
+	StopForcibly(inst)
+
+	if err := networks.Reconcile(ctx, inst.Name); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
+	if err := Start(ctx, inst, "", launchHostAgentForeground); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
+	return nil
+}
diff --git a/pkg/instance/stop.go b/pkg/instance/stop.go
index b98eb806330..1605ca16221 100644
--- a/pkg/instance/stop.go
+++ b/pkg/instance/stop.go
@@ -19,8 +19,12 @@ import (
 	"github.com/sirupsen/logrus"
 )
 
-func StopGracefully(inst *store.Instance) error {
+func StopGracefully(inst *store.Instance, isRestart bool) error {
 	if inst.Status != store.StatusRunning {
+		if isRestart {
+			logrus.Warn("The instance is not running, continuing with the restart")
+			return nil
+		}
 		return fmt.Errorf("expected status %q, got %q (maybe use `limactl stop -f`?)", store.StatusRunning, inst.Status)
 	}
 
@@ -31,7 +35,13 @@ func StopGracefully(inst *store.Instance) error {
 	}
 
 	logrus.Info("Waiting for the host agent and the driver processes to shut down")
-	return waitForHostAgentTermination(context.TODO(), inst, begin)
+	err := waitForHostAgentTermination(context.TODO(), inst, begin)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
+	logrus.Info("Waiting for the instance to shut down")
+	return waitForInstanceShutdown(context.TODO(), inst)
 }
 
 func waitForHostAgentTermination(ctx context.Context, inst *store.Instance, begin time.Time) error {
@@ -64,6 +74,31 @@ func waitForHostAgentTermination(ctx context.Context, inst *store.Instance, begi
 	return nil
 }
 
+func waitForInstanceShutdown(ctx context.Context, inst *store.Instance) error {
+	ctx2, cancel := context.WithTimeout(ctx, 3*time.Minute)
+	defer cancel()
+
+	ticker := time.NewTicker(500 * time.Millisecond)
+	defer ticker.Stop()
+
+	for {
+		select {
+		case <-ticker.C:
+			updatedInst, err := store.Inspect(inst.Name)
+			if err != nil {
+				return errors.New("failed to inspect instance status: " + err.Error())
+			}
+
+			if updatedInst.Status == store.StatusStopped {
+				logrus.Infof("The instance %s has shut down", updatedInst.Name)
+				return nil
+			}
+		case <-ctx2.Done():
+			return errors.New("timed out waiting for instance to shut down after 3 minutes")
+		}
+	}
+}
+
 func StopForcibly(inst *store.Instance) {
 	if inst.DriverPID > 0 {
 		logrus.Infof("Sending SIGKILL to the %s driver process %d", inst.VMType, inst.DriverPID)