Ashburn Reviews

Restaurant Reviews from Ashburn Virginia

Archive for the ‘4 Stars’ Category

« Previous Entries

Annie’s

Posted by ashburnreviews on April 6, 2009

stars-4

Annie’s
5 W Washington St
Middleburg, VA 20117
(540) 687-4754

Location: From Ashburn, you can get to Middleburg a few different ways – but basically it is about 45 minutes out. Once you get to Middleburg, Annie’s is on the main drag.

If you are in a traveling mood, you must drive out to Middleburg for the day. Middleburg is a charming town that is just right by us. It is beautiful country out there.

Once in Middleburg, I recommend that you stop at Annie’s and grab a sandwich. Annie’s is a lovely little cafe – owned by a husband and wife – that features soups, salads and sandwiches. They buy everything local and make everything in house.

(If Middleburg sounds familiar to you, the other restaurant that I have reviewed from MB is the French Hound. Like Annie’s, they are also very good. Maybe you could go to MB for the day and have lunch at Annie’s and dinner at the French Hound?)

My husband and I were fortunate enough to try Annie’s this weekend. We ordered a Potato and Leek Soup, a BLT, a Club Sandwich and a French Onion Soup. We split the sandwich and I enjoyed the French Onion Soup while my husband had the Potato Leek. I wouldn’t change a thing about the food. It was just great. You can really tell that they use quality ingredients. And the portions were good too. The club sandwich was huge!

P.S. I just read some review online of Annie’s and I see that sometimes they have cupcakes and that they are very good. Sorry I missed those. Next time I guess.

Posted in 4 Stars, Middleburg | Leave a Comment »

Yen’s Cafe

Posted by ashburnreviews on March 27, 2009

Update 03/27/09: My husband and I ate at Yen’s last night. In fact it is one of the places that we continue to return to. Eating at Yen’s is such an enjoyable meal for both of us. The people that work there are so nice. We particularly like the lady who makes the teas. She is always so welcoming. (I know you’ll read this eventually – so Hello!)

The food at Yen’s remains top notch. We particularly like the Taiwanese Pot stickers. You cannot get a better pot sticker in my opinion. Yen’s has a way of just barely burning the bottom of the stickers. Yum – they are just so good.

Another favorite of ours is the Corn & Ham Egg Drop Soup. For just over $2.00 you cannot get a bigger better bowl of soup. I’ve been a bit under the weather this week – and in my my opinion there is no healing like a big bowl of soup. I enjoyed it tremendously last night.

Our favorite entree here tends to be the General Tso’s Chicken but everything is generally good. The menu is a bit hard to understand but the staff is always eager to help. They want you to enjoy your meal – and it shows.

I’d say that the only minor thing that has gone down in quality since we started going there are the plate garnishes. Initially they were really unique and spectacular. Now they are just okay.

Considering they are just a small restaurant – I think it is pretty amazing that they have been able to keep up the quality of everything else. The food is still top notch. The place is till very clean and nicely decorated. And I still have a guilty pleasure in their Jasmine tea. And of course my husband still loves their smoothies – a strawberry and orange juice smoothie warms his soul. :)

—–

Yen’s Cafe
43490 Yukon Dr,
Ashburn, VA #113

703-723-8811

Web Site: Yen’s Cafe

Location: Shoppes at Ryan Park – In the same shopping center as the new Red Robin. Behind the Panera Bread.

I am thrilled to tell you about this new jewel – they opened just a week ago. My husband and I just got back from eating at Yen’s Cafe.

The name of this place doesn’t do it justice. While it sounds like a deli or a cafe, it is really quite an elegant Chinese restaurant with a twist. The twist is that they also offer herbal teas, juice and smoothies.

While this place is a tad small (I would say less then 10 tables.. maybe 7), it is decorated just lovely, including a beautiful bar (no alcohol yet) and a crystal chandelier that is hung right by the door.

Our waitress and the woman who made the tea were both top notch. Very friendly and they offered great suggestions on what to eat and drink.

I ordered a beef satay (although I cannot find it on the take out menu.. so it may have been called something else) and my husband ordered the bourbon chicken. Both entrees were flavorful yet light. And their plates were uniquely decorated with turnips, radishes, lemons and cucumbers decoratively carved – nicer then I have ever seen. The white rice served with the meals was also good – extra warm and sticky.

In addition to our entrees, we also ordered the pot stickers. They were tasty as well.

For drinks, we both had water. I had the jasmine hot tea – extra yum – good quality tea leaves. My husband wanted to have coffee but the tea lady suggested that it was too late for coffee and he should have something else for dinner tonight and to instead come back again at lunch time to have the coffee. Not wanting to buck the system and not liking tea, on our tea lady’s recommendation, my husband had a strawberry smoothie and asked for it without yogurt (as you recall if you have been reading this, he is rather allergic to yogurt). He throughly enjoyed his drink and said that he will get it every time.

Our waitress ALSO brought over free samples of hot tea and smoothies during our meal. I enjoyed both. The smoothie I drank did have yogurt in it – it was great. Very sweet and yet tart at the same time. The tea that was brought over was I believe a lotus flower tea. It tasted a lot like peach. Very smooth.

We had a good time at Yen’s. I hope that they are able to keep up its quality. You could really see the care that they put into picking out the drinks, food, wait staff and decor. We shall return.

—–

On a side note… I struggle with spelling the word entree. It is always used on menus but spell check never thinks it is right. I found this definition on wikipedia… so I know I have it with the two ee’s:

An entrée (French, literally meaning entry or entrance) is a smaller course that precedes the main course, except in North America, where it is the main course. (Source: wikipedia.org)

First Published on: Apr 15, 2008

Posted in 4 Stars, Chinese, Ryan Park | 2 Comments »

The French Hound

Posted by ashburnreviews on December 8, 2008

stars-4

The French Hound
101 Madison Street
Middleburg, VA 20117
540-687-3018

Web site: thefrenchhound.com

Location: Middleburg is actually pretty close. It took us just over an half hour to get there. It is a cute charming town that is worth a day trip to just for the shops and atmosphere.

I had the pleasure to have lunch at The French Hound this past weekend. What a treat.

Although their dinners can be on the expensive side (i.e. $20 – $25), lunches are very reasonable. At lunch time, for about $10 to $15, you can get a good salad or a pizza or sandwich.

I tried the duck confit pizza – which was amazing. It was warm and gooey. It came with sweet onions (that seem to have been cooked for hours) and a salty cheese (I forget the name). What an excellent combination.

My husband had the BLT veal sliders. Which were just as they sound. Little BLT sandwiches with veal on them as well. He loved them. From the taste I had, they were much more mild then my pizza – but still very good.

Other hits of our group was the beet salad and the lamb sausage sandwich. Yum. What a great place.

I would be remiss not to also mention that I tried a hot buttered rum from the French Hound for the first time ever this visit. Sweet and hot and rich. It is worth a try for a cold day beverage. I will surely get it again.

One other neat thing about their menu is that they offer a lot of snacks that you can purchase and munch on if you are not too hungry or just while you are waiting for your food. The surprise for me were the salted radishes. I wasn’t sure I would like radishes – but they were actually rather tasty. We also had a plate of dried salami and pickles. I didn’t get to try the pickles but the salami was good. Very fatty – in a good way.. There was also spicy nuts and pretzels with mustard.

Take a Saturday or Sunday and go visit Middleburg for an afternoon. And while you are there have a gourmet meal at The French Hound.

Posted in 4 Stars, French, Middleburg | Leave a Comment »

Mariachi Restaurant

Posted by ashburnreviews on October 27, 2008

Mariachi Lansdowne
19405 Promenade Drive
Leesburg, VA 20176
571-333-4280

Location: In the Lansdowne Center, with Joe’s and Silk Roads. The shopping center with the fountains that you can see on route 7.

Web Site: mariachilansdowne.com

I am pleased to tell you of another great restaurant in the area. I was beginning to think there were none.

The other night my husband and my friend and I tried the new Mariachi Restaurant – that is hidden in the back of the Lansdowne shopping center.

The tables are covered with white table clothes and the walls are painted white with art work all around. The look of the place is simple but also elegant. It reminded me of a high class Italian restaurant.

Warm nachos and salsa started our meal. They were good. And great for us because we were starving.

Our waitress was very friendly and warm and answered all questions we had about the menu an dteh restaurant.

Mariachi’s prices seemed very reasonable. Our meals ranged between $10 and $16 each.

My husband has the Chimichanga – which he loved.

I had the Lomo Saltado which is described on their menu as “Sautéed strips of prime sirloin with fresh tomatoes, cilantro, red onions, green peppers in a special Peruvian sauce.” It was delicious and I finished nearly every bit of it. My entree had a hint of soy sauce flavor to it but also it tasted of lime.

My friend had the Pechuga a La Parillla, which is described as “Boneless grilled chicken brest seasoned with fresh lemon and herbs served in out homemade Durango sauce”. It was also yummy. The sauce was cheesy but with some other flavor in it. Maybe cilantro?

The food was all just so tasty and wonderful. It was a real treat. And surely went above my expectations.

I am so glad that we got the chance to try it and we will surely return.

Posted in 4 Stars, Landsdown, Mexican | 1 Comment »

Asian Spice Cafe

Posted by ashburnreviews on September 8, 2008

Asian Spice Cafe
42395 Ryan Road, #126
Brambleton, VA 20148
Phone: (703) 327-2525

Location: In Brambleton, the same shopping center with Nicks and My Thai Place.

Web Site: asianspicecafe.com

My husband and I were able to try Asian Spice Cafe this past weekend and we really enjoyed it. For what it is, I can only think of a couple minor things that I would have changed about the experience.

What we noticed when we walked in this place was it decorated nicely and it was clean. The restaurant looked a lot like Pei Wei’s in concept and decor. We ordered and paid at the counter, and we brought a number to our table and they brought our food to us.

The staff was friendly although we didn’t talk to them to much. They smiled when we entered. And got our order correct. And brought out our food promptly. You cannot ask for much more then that.

The menu is larger then Pei Wei’s with a wide selection including Sushi (although we did not partake of the sushi) and wine and beer (although again we did not drink there). The food that we ate was excellent. We had Spicy Dim Sum, pan fried Peking Dumplings, Lettuce Wraps and an order of General Tso’s Chicken. Everything was fresh and good and served hot. Our favorite of the batch was the Dim Sum – which was little fried purses of chicken and shrimp. Yum. But it was all great. I liked that the Lettuce Wraps were served with fancy lettuce – bib lettuce instead of the iceberg lettuce. It is just a nice touch.

One minor thing I would change is that they serve their drinks in styrofoam cups and I would have preferred plastic or glass ones. They did such a nice job with real dishware and read silverware that I would have liked to see them carry it through. But they did give us the same cups to get our water that they would have for soda. I always like that because I think it means that they give their customers the benefit of the doubt that we aren’t going steal soda. It is just a nice touch. I don’t want to have an adversarial relationship with my restaurants.

My other issue was the bathroom sink was a bit dirty – but the bathroom itself was otherwise nice and clean and nicely decorated.

But the cup and the sink, these are just nits. It was such a nice experience. We will return.

I noticed on their site there there are some coupons that are good to the end of this month. Check it out.

Posted in 4 Stars, Brambleton, Chinese | 2 Comments »

Texas De Brazil

Posted by ashburnreviews on August 4, 2008

Texas De Brazil
11750 Fair Oaks Mall
Fairfax, VA 22033
703-352-4111

Web Site: texasdebrazil.com

Location: Fairfax, at the Fair Oaks Mall. Between Champs and Macy’s.

This one is a bit of a hike from Ashburn, but for an usual and fun experience, I recommend it.

If you are a meat lover and you haven’t ever been to a Churrascaria, you are in for a treat.

You get to eat all the meats that you can handle plus a full salad bar for one price.

The salad bar was huge – and more like a “sides” bar. There were all sort of cheeses and breads and asparagus and shrimp and artichokes and potatoes and soups. I’d recommend not filling up on that…. to get your money’s worth, stick with the meat. But the salad bar was a lot of fun and what we had on it was tasty.

Roving servers bring by a verity of beef, pork, lamb, chicken, etc., in rapid succession, to each table. Meats are served from swords and servers cut off slices of the meats for you to enjoy. Each person at the table as a 2 sided color-coded card. If you want more food, you put your marker to green. If you don’t want more food, you put it to red. If your marker is green, the servers come by constantly and ask you if you want the fillet or the chicken or the pork or the flank steak or whatever meat it is that they are carrying.

I went there for the first time with some friends this weekend, and what most surprised me was that in addition to their being a large variety of meat, the meat servers were not stingy at all about giving it out. They cut generous portions and continued to come back with all cuts of meat including the steaks. The variety of meat was impressive. My favorite cuts of meat were the house special sirloin and the sausage. But it was all rather good. They all seemed to be tender and served rare. Although we didn’t take advantage of it, our server told us that if we wanted our meats more or less done, they could cook them special for us.

As for sides, Texas De Brazil, also serve mashed potatoes and fried bananas at the table. For my money, I think the very best part of the meal was the fried bananas. They were just amazingly delicious with a crisp outer edge and small hint of cinnamon and sugar.

All the people that we encountered that worked there were friendly and rather attentive.

The downside for me was that the restaurant has a dramatic decor.. which felt a bit chain-like and masculine and over-kill to me.. but that wasn’t enough to damper the experience. And everyone else seemed to enjoy it.

All and all, it was a fun experience. And it was pricey (like $40 a person to start) but it was – I believe – a very unique experience that was fun and worth returning to.

P.S. I’ve heard that if you join their mailing list they frequently send coupons for 50% off and buy 1 get one free.

P.P.S If you go, keep in mind that the meat people will keep coming with the meat. You do not have to get it all at once. It is tempting, I know. But if you get it all at once then when you get to all the different meats, they’ll be cold. Instead, how about pacing yourself? I know it is hard… but I think worth it in the long run.

Posted in 4 Stars, Brazilian, Churrascaria, Steak, fairfax | Leave a Comment »

Greenberry’s Coffee

Posted by ashburnreviews on November 8, 2007

Greenberry’s Coffee and Tea Co.
703-J East Market Street
Leesburg, VA 20176
571-258-0801

Location: In the plaza across from Anita’s.

Web Site: http://www.greenberrys.com/

I got a chance to try this place. I love it. the atmosphere is good. Good colors. good lighting. Nice chairs and a fireplace! The staff is very friendly. And I love the coffee. I tried two kinds of coffee and they were both great – the Mocha Java and the Dark Sumatra. Although I haven’t tried them yet, they also sell fresh baked cookies. Yum.

Posted in 4 Stars, Coffee, Leesburg | 1 Comment »

Hunan Lion

Posted by ashburnreviews on October 15, 2007

Hunan Lion
2070 Chain Bridge Rd #G5
Vienna, VA 22182
703-734-9828

Location: In Tyson’s Corner. On 123, at Old Court House Road, in the “toilet bowl” building.

My parents live in Maryland, and as you know, I live in Ashburn, so Tysons Corner is a good middle ground for us when we meet up for a meal. Hunan Lion is a family favorite. It tends to be our go-to for birthday dinners.

One of things that I like most about this place is that to me it looks like how Chinese Restaurants used to look. Elaborately decorated. Fancy table cloths. The waiters wear fancy suits (tuxes I think). It feels like an event to eat there.

The food is always good. I went there last night with my parents and we had the Orange Beef, Pork in Garlic Sauce, and Sweet and Sour Shrimp. We also had soup. Waton soup for my dad and myself. Chicken and Corn soup for my mom. Everything was excellent. Hot tea was goos as well.

The service is usually very attentive at Hunan Lion. Although unfortunately the waiters don’t seem to understand English very well. They know enough to take your order. And they are pretty friendly. But they don’t appear to know enough to answer questions about the dishes. That isn’t to say that all the waiters there have poor English… just as a general rule, that is what I have noticed.

For the first time since I have been going to HL (at least 10 years), I was VERY disappointed in where we were sat at the restaurant last night. We were sat in a booth, a foot from the bar. The restaurant was rather empty when we got there – so they could have sat us anywhere. But for whatever reason, this seemed like the best table choice for the host. And although I was somewhat disappointed about the seating at the start, I didn’t say anything because we were pretty secluded eating there and I was excited for the good meal to come. But as the dinner went on, unfortunately our seating location became more and more annoying. For one, at the bar was their credit card machine and every time they ran a credit card through, we heard their modem (maybe 10 times during an hour and a half meal). Later on the half wall that I was sitting next to in the booth, a waiter left some food on the top of it, about 2 inches from my ear. Eww. Lastly and MOST annoying was towards to end of our meal, a patron sat down at the bar and started smoking and unfortunately we could smell it strongly.

Needless to say… although I am saying it anyhow, last night’s experience at HL was a disappointment. I just feel like you go to a fancy meal, it should feel like a fancy meal the whole time, every time. However, HL HAD been so good up until then, I’m going to chalk up the whole where we were seated last night as a fluke. And just insist the next time that we go, to be sat AWAY from the bar. I hate to have to do that, but the bar location really but a damper on an otherwise great meal.

Posted in 4 Stars, Chinese, Tyson's Corner, Vienna | Leave a Comment »

Willard’s BBQ

Posted by ashburnreviews on October 9, 2007

Willard’s BBQ
4300 Chantilly Shopping Ctr.
Chantilly, VA 20151
703-488-9970

Web Site: http://www.dcbbq.com/

Location: In a strip shopping center near the Dulles Expo Center.

I work in Chantilly, so you’ll probably see some Chantilly restaurants thrown in here. In my top 5 in Chantilly is Willard’s. Maybe even in my top two.

They have excellent food. I love the pulled pork sandwich with mac and cheese on the side and green beans too (or potato salad or sweet potatoes). Yummy. I think by far, this is the best BBQ in the area.

Willard’s can get crowded because it isn’t that big of a place. I wouldn’t go there with groups of more then 4 either because there just wouldn’t be enough room.

Posted in 4 Stars, BBQ, Chantilly | Leave a Comment »

Lightfoot

Posted by ashburnreviews on October 9, 2007

Lightfoot Restaurant
11 N. King St.,
Leesburg, VA
703-771-2233

Web Site: lightfootrestaurant.com

Formerly The People’s National Bank of Leesburg, Lightfoot is a fun restaurant to visit and see.

I have eaten here once and I enjoyed the experience.

The food was good. Fancy if I recall. Although it was a bit expensive.

Parking was challenging because Lightfoot is located right on King Street.

Posted in 4 Stars, Fancy, King, Leesburg | Leave a Comment »

« Previous Entries