Ashburn Reviews

Restaurant Reviews from Ashburn Virginia

Archive for the ‘5 Stars’ Category

Blackthorne Inn & Restaurant

Posted by ashburnreviews on June 23, 2008

The Blackthorne Inn
10087 John S. Mosby Highway
Upperville, Virginia 20184-1742

Web Site: blackthorne-inn.com

Location: Upperville

Upperville isn’t that close. Down route 50, it is about an hour away. But if you do the drive right – down 606 to 50, it is a very lovely drive. Great for a nice evening or sunny day.

Saturday night, we joined friends for a lovely dinner at Blackthorne. There were 6 of us. We had made a reservation. If you drive all that way – I would suggest you too make a reservation.

Blackthorne is a very nice beautiful restaurant located in an old building with tons of charm.

The land around it is just breathtaking. Trees and land and a lake. Blue Ridge mountains in the distance.

The oddest thing about Blackthorne to me is that once we walked in through the front door, we walked through 2 dinning rooms of people eating (a table in each one) before we met the hostess. It looked as though we were actually walking through people’s dinning rooms – in their houses – or like TV sets. It was hard to know if the right thing to do was to look forward and ignore them or glance around normally. I opted to do both.

After that initial oddity, we were sat. And from the moment we were sat till the end, what a lovely experience we had.

Our waitress was amazing and incrediably attentive. What struck me was that each time I dirtied my fork, silverware or break plate, she brought me a new one. It didn’t even occur to me that I left my silverware that dirty until I kept getting new pieces. I bet you I went through 8 sets of silverware when I was there. Fascinating.

We were at Blackthorne with our favorite group of foodie friends. Which is always fun because we wind up ordering crazy appetizers – that normally would be too exotic or odd for me to try – but in this setting I give it a go. And they are always good.

We ordered for appetizers:
- Onion Tart with Gorgonzola Cheese
- Sweetbreads
- Paté
- Conch Fritters

My husband and I were married in Key West – so we both know a bit about Conch Fitters. I am happy to report that these were some pretty darn fine conch fitters. Yum. Very good. They were a special though, so I don’t know how long they will have them.

The surprise for me were the sweetbreads. I had heard about these prior but had not tried them. Sweetbreads aren’t breads. They are glads (I’m not sure what animal) soaked in milk and fried. I wouldn’t have expected to like this, but it was really wonderful. Like a very mild sausage. Maybe like a bread pudding also. Wow. You need to try this if you eat here. What a great surprise.

For my tastes the Paté and the Tart were just okay. The Paté was served with a mustard though that was really top notch in my opinion. (I liked the Paté at Tuscarora Mill a bit better.)

For entries, I had the Porter House (a special), three of us had the Prime Rib (another special), one had the Chicken, and another had the Pork Rib Chop. All were good. Although I wasn’t wowed by mine – I think mine was a little thin – all others enjoyed their meals. I just ordered poorly.

The vegetables were served family style, in a dish on the side that got passed around. They were amazing. The sugar snap peas that were just sweeter then candy – yum. They were my favorite. But there was also scalloped potatoes and mashed parsnips and carrots. They were all great. We ordered an extra set of the veggies.

A wonderful meal. And a great experience. 5 stars.

Posted in 5 Stars, Fancy, Upperville | Leave a Comment »

The Melting Pot

Posted by ashburnreviews on September 27, 2007

Melting Pot Restaurant
11400 Commerce Park Dr
Reston, VA
(703) 264-0900

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

Location: It is in an office park.

For a special location, this place is hard to beat. That is if you like fondue. Which luckily I do.

You start off your meal with a big bowl of Cheese and in that you dip veggies and bread.

Then comes the meat which you cook in front of you in either water of oil. I always use the water. You get a bunch of sauces to dip the meats into.

Dessert lets you dip cake and fruit and marshmallows it chocolate.

It is such a fun time. For two or for a group.

Expect to spend a bunch there. For two people, with one drink for each person and the works (cheese and chocolate as well as the entree in the middle) is about $100 total without tip. But for a special occasion, the MP is a real treat.

Posted in 5 Stars, Dessert, Fondue, Reston | Leave a Comment »

Peking Gourmet Inn

Posted by ashburnreviews on September 27, 2007


Peking Gourmet Inn
6029 Leesburg Pike
Culmore Shopping Center
Falls Church, VA 22041

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

Location: Off of Route 7, Past 7 Corners approximately 1.5 miles. Peking Gourmet Inn is located a few blocks past Sears, in the Culmore Shopping Center.

Okay yes Peking Gourmet Inn isn’t in or “near” Ashburn, but for an every once in awhile trip, I recommend driving out to it.

Very good food. The best Chinese restaurant that I have found. You must try the Peking Duck. My family calls this restaurant, “The Duck Place”. For nearly all special occasions, we drive out to it.

The place is always packed and unfortunately this means sometimes there is a wait. So you should call first and make reservations. This doesn’t mean you won’t wait. But maybe the wait will be less.

The place does quite a business and it can sometimes feel like a bus station terminal in New York but for me well that is part of its charm.

The walls are filled with photos of famous people shaking the hand of the owner and smiling.

It has been said that PGI was a favorite restaurant of George Bush Sr., while he was president. And that there is a room there that is bullet proof for GB to eat in.

Posted in 5 Stars, Chinese, Culmore, Falls Church, Readers' Choice | Leave a Comment »

Kobe’s

Posted by ashburnreviews on September 26, 2007

Kobe Japanese Steak House
122 Edds LN
Sterling, VA
(703) 404-8700

Location: If you go the back way to get to it, near the Regal Countryside theater.

I probably come here two to three times a year. For special occasions mostly.

The biggest treat of course is that nearly everything you can order at Kobe’s is grilled fresh at your table, including steaks, chicken, seafood, and vegetarian meals. And the chefs are so good at what they do. Not just in cooking a good meal but also entertaining. I love the onion volcano which fire shoots out the top, and when the chef does tricks with raw eggs and spatulas.

Kobe’s food is excellent. I am not sure how they cook their vegetables so tasty, but on those alone, I could fill up on them. All menu items are good but what I like is the Filet Mignon and the Lobster combination. Yes I know, it is a bit decedent, but wow, what a great meal. No matter what you order, it comes with salad (with a yummy peanut dressing) and soup and rice (get the fried rice, trust me) and fried noodles and a couple appetizer shrimp.

As a heads up, if you have never been to a Japanese Steakhouse, is because of the unique dinner and a show, they tend to seat up to 10 people at a table. And why this matters to you, is that if you come with just 2 people for example, you may be sitting with 8 other people that you don’t know at the same table. I assure you, this isn’t alarming or uncomfortable. You all watch the show together and then most people keep to themselves and eat. There isn’t a lot of forced cross-group conversation going on. How this multi-group seating affects you at Kobe’s is that they do not want you serve you until the table mostly fills up – so sometimes there can be a bit of a wait, until more people come in the restaurant.

Posted in 5 Stars, Japanese, Steak, Sterling | Leave a Comment »

Blue Ridge Grill – Leesburg

Posted by ashburnreviews on September 26, 2007

readerschoice-endof2008

Blue Ridge Grill
955 Edwards Ferry Rd
Leesburg, VA 20176
PH 703.669.5505

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

Location: In Leesburg, near the outlet mall.

This place is a bit fancy but in a casual way – if that makes sense. You can get away with wearing jeans and a nice top.

The food is always pretty good. Recently I had pasta with steak tips. Another time, the snapper. It is always good. I all but licked my plate with the pasta.

If you are going to get dessert and the strawberries are in season (ask them – it is worth it) get the brownie sundae with strawberries on top. Yum.

The wait staff is friendly but sometimes it can get a bit confusing because the will serve you in teams. Meaning the person taking your order or taking your check may not be the person who brings you your food.

Posted in 5 Stars, Brambleton, Leesburg, Readers' Choice, Seafood | 2 Comments »

Bonefish Grill

Posted by ashburnreviews on September 25, 2007

Bonefish Grill
43135 Broadlands Center Plaza
Ashburn, VA 20148
703-723-8246

Location: Off of Claiborne.

Much to my boyfriends chagrin, they do not serve bone fish here.

But if you like seafood, this place is very good and worth a try. Everything is fresh.

The place is pretty fancy. And popular so a lot of times there is a wait. You can call ahead though.

Dessert is great. The creme brulee in particular is very yummy. And if you don’t want Bonefish’s dessert you can walk a couple stores down and have Maggie Moo’s Ice Cream.

Wait staff is friendly.

My favorite thing is the mussels. This is the only place I’ll eat them. They come out in a butter wine sauce. So yummy.

Bread is served at the start of the meals with a pesto dipping sauce. It is pretty good. You can get butter if you ask for it.

Posted in 5 Stars, Broadlands, Claiborne, Fancy, Seafood | Leave a Comment »

Clyde’s

Posted by ashburnreviews on September 25, 2007

Clyde’s Willow Creek Farm
42920 Broadlands Boulevard
Broadlands, VA 20148
Phone: (571) 209-1200

Web Site: http://www.clydes.com
Location: It is off of Claiborne Parkway kind of near the Bone Fish Shopping center.

We probably make it here about once a week. Hands down this is the nicest fancy restaurant in the area. Although you don’t need to dress for it, some do, and there is even a room where jackets are required for men.

The restaurant is made up of old buildings that are beautifully decorated. There are 4 bars and at least 5 dinning rooms (although I’ve only sat in two of the dinning rooms) and outside seating. I love the outside seating. It is just done so pretty with a fountain and an arbor with vines growing up it.

My favorite time to go there is for Sunday brunch. They serve a free coffee cake with brunch. It is so good. My boyfriend loves the country breakfast which is eggs served with biscuits and sausage gravy.

Their menu changes so unfortunately sometimes I find something I like and then they stop serving it. Last fall they had a very yummy chicken with pasta dish that I sorely miss. But nearly everything is good there. Just the other night my boyfriend has ribs and I had trout and both were great. He also had a very good bacon sandwich once. And my cousin loves the salads. Large portions.

We had one bad experience there. Their French toast was pretty horrible (a big hunk of too sweet cake). And then months later, we tried it again (when the name changed of the French toast) and it was still pretty horrible. So we asked for something else. The bacon sandwich actually. And it took 30 minutes for the sandwich to come out! The manager came by and asked how we were doing (when my boyfriend has stepped away) and I told him about the sandwich because I believe at that point we were still waiting. I said… how hard could this be. We are waiting for toast and bacon? The sandwich came out shortly after. The manager apologized and suggested we try dessert. We did. A yummy peach cobbler with a crust on it that tastes like sweet corn bread. In the end, when we went to pay, the a manger said no that the bill was on them. We ate a big meal for free that day. And I was really touched. We were upset and that was surely the right thing to do to make up for our poor experience.

Last year for New Years some friends and family of mine ate at Clyde’s. They have a dinning room that only seats 8 (maybe 9) people and so we pilled in there. It was very nice. Felt like the whole place was running just for our meal.

Posted in 5 Stars, Broadlands, Claiborne, Fancy, Outside Seating | 6 Comments »