foodiecritics's Profile
Just moved to Cherrydale, Arlington area
I think all the recommendations here are great, just a few to add
Pie Tanza on Harrison and Lee Hwy, You will be pleasantly surprised I was, Everything is tastier than you would expect. It is more family style italian they have a Brick Oven so the tastes are very much what you would see at a high end place without the pricetag.
Pollo Rico in the Clarendon area is By Far the BEST Peruvian Chicken in the area.
Ray's Hell Burgers in Rosslyn is awesome.
Anyway Arlington has plenty to offer so you are good to go!
Tart Frozen Yogurt Wars Have Begun in DC
Because of this Post I decided to see for myself what all the FroYo Wars were about and our first venture was TangySweet.
I have to thank Jacey because now I am hooked on this stuff. So we decided to try ALL the places mentioned and then some and also frequented some of these places more than once.
TangySweet: Excellent, i enjoy the tangy taste with the fresh cut fruit. Staff was friendly and the place is so clean you notice it immediately. This is a plus since there is a great deal of food prep that you want cross-contamination to be nil
Decor is very cool especially at night with the lighting. (Been here 5+ times)
Mr. Yogato: a little sweeter than I expected but it was still good. I guess I was looking for the tangy taste.
Staff was friendly but we answered the 'Trivia Question' for the 10% disc. and we asked about it they were so busy he asked if he could do it after the line died down. yeah right like we were going to wait. I think it was all bs but oh well not going back anyway.
Place was filthy from outside all the way to the Yogurt Machines.
This was a big turn-off for our group because of this we will not return.
Ice Berry: This place is excellent and we have been back 10+ times. Uber clean... staff is very friendly except when you get one of the owners. They are polite but they want you to pay and MOVE ON. We are always in a group so we always find the humor in it. Reminds us of the 'Soup Nazi' episode in Seinfeld
Flavors are spot-on for what you expect. Fresh fruit is always fresh and cut nicely.
Only other thing is you never know what size to order because depending on who is pulling the slot machine arm on the FroYo machine yo never know what you really going to get I have had a small that was too large and a large that seemed too small.
Medium with 3 toppings seems to be the safe bet.
They are in Reston and now Springfield. Reston is by far the nicest Springfield is next to a Giant Foods but the area is a little shady in the eve.(Been 10+ times)
Shillas: Not really anything special, don't ask for a sample they will look at you like you asked for a sample of their blood. The bakery items although are very good apparently they are very popular because of the baked goods and FroYo was an afterthought.(Went once that was enough)
GreenBerry's : The Mclean location is the only one that has this so far. It is a small part of their business and the newest and it shows because it is crammed into the back corner of an already small very busy location;
The FroYo was very tasty and fruit is always fresh. Staff is amazing
parking is very ample.(Been here 10+ times)
Sweet Green's: This is OK but the FroYo was a bit on the icy side and was very 'airy' fruit was very good but with the yogurt it seemed like it was a bit lacking. ( Been 2 times and not going back)
Yogi Berri: This is in Olney MD, Decor was amazing, FroYo was a bit on the sweet side but still very good. Fruit and topping selection was the best to date. Staff was very friendly and portions were larger than expected.
only drawback Olney,MD??? this is somewhere between Silver Spring and Gaithersburg, MD we went because we were curious plus it had such a cool name.
They are opening in Rockville in the Fall apparently.
I have been hearing some talk that a place in Merrifield will be opening in the coming months I will keep you all posted
Ray's Hell-Burgers Opens in Arlington
I finally got to check out Rays Hells Burgers... It is one of the few places that really lives up to the hype. Burger is a very high caliber cut of meat. In fact while we were waiting the butcher was preparing the cuts of beef and explained to us the ratios that he used and why.
This is definitely one of the best burgers I have ever had.
Staff was extremely friendly the cash only thing is a bit inconvenient but easy to overcome.
I agree with other posts that there should be fries but oh well chips were not bad and next time we will probably bring fries from one of the local places in clarendon before arriving.
Burger was cooked to perfection and we tried all the different ways of preparing it since there were six of us. I preferred the blackened, the grilled was the standard.
Numerous toppings and cheeses allow for numerous possibilities.
The other posts are correct there is very limited table space so either get there early or later than the rush if you can.
Best Burmese restaurant in the area, hands down
I tried Taste of Burma with my family this weekend and was very impressed. The postings here on Chow were fairly accurate. It is a fusion of Chinese Thai and Indian. With wonderful flavors and a welcomed break from the other types of asian food. We ordered a little bit of everything and were not dissapointed
We will return here very soon, and to those who comment on Myanmar vs. Taste of Burma we talked to the owner as we were leaving and he said I enjoy the competition...especially because the owner of Myanmar is my sister...Who knew???
Wildfire Coming To Tysons
I recently went to Wildfire in Tysons Corner II for a night out with my sons, It was one of the worst experiences I have ever had. Steak not cooked right, sides tasted like they came out of box, Baby Back Ribs were as tough as leather. Wait staff was terrible we asked for A-1 and got it about the time I needed the check and the waiters only response was "Oh well you know I told 'those' guys you needed sauce but "those' people don't speak english you know. Wow not only was his service abysmal but his view on people of different nationalities seem oh so narrow... we saw him all of 2 times in the almost 2 hours we were there.He smelled of cigarettes when he finally brought the check.
Even the hostess made a comment that we should have gone to Ruth's Chris down the street. And for the prices we paid ... She was right!
Great Vietnamese Food...Great Price
I recently went to Saigon City In 6333 Brandon Ave. Springfield,VA
I have driven by this place dozens of times, I hesitated because it was a converted McDonald's and thought it wouldn't be that good. I have eaten at many Authentic Vietnamese restaurants throughout the NOVA area and am friends with many owners of these restaurants so I know whats hot and whats not.
That being said this is one of the best Vietnamese restaurants I have been to in quite a while.
The flavors were fresh and vibrant. Just the right balance that is very hard to find these days.
The portions were big for such reasonable price. In fact I have a family of 6 and we over ordered because we are so used to the smaller portions at other places.
The staff was quite pleasant, parking was ample (Former McD's ya know)
I have been back twice since and the consistency was spot on. I hope you will try this place and someone please explain Chow.com to the owners, I tried but I think he thought I was trying to sell something.
