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Al Jazeera
Category: Restaurants Middle Eastern Middle Eastern [Edit]
3813D S George Mason DrFalls Church, VA 22216
(703) 379-2733
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Private Lot
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Takes Reservations:
- No
- Delivery:
- No
- Take-out:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Good For:
- Lunch, Dinner
- Alcohol:
- No
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
6 reviews for Al Jazeera
6 reviews in English
-
Review from A D.
Washington, DC
9/28/2008
I'm going to let you in on a little secret with this review. I've been guarding this place since I was first taken to it in March of 2008.
I almost didn't Yelp it because I wanted to save it for myself and the few American Arabists who know about it. I've been four or five times now and never seen another American inside. A couple of times I've seen a few Latinos, but otherwise it's a mostly Arabic speaking crew.
Because I feel loyalty to my soon-to-be-fellow -American friend Miriam, to her favorite Washingtonian (and mine too), and to her wonderful enterprising spirit, I've decided finally to post a review. Also, in the interest of full disclosure, I'm leaving the country and can't really justify hogging this place to myself.
First, you should know that this is a Yemeni restaurant. This means it is Gulf cooking with a heavy horn of Africa spice inflection (after all, it's a small straight separating Yemen from the African mainland). If you have Saudi friends, or know someone from the Levant, they'll probably tell you it's not really "Arab". Especially Syrians and Lebanese who vie for "best cuisine" in the Middle East. Saudis might even look down on the whole idea of eating Yemeni food. All you need to know is that it is great: better than Fairouz and better than The Jerusalem Cafe, or whatever it's called.
Second, the owner is Yemeni, but the waitresses appear to be Ethiopian, or Eritrean. I'm not precisely sure; I only know many of them don't speak Arabic. The cooks do (or some do) at least. Don't let the mix of nationalities throw you off track. Everyone there is extremely nice and happy to see you.
Third, AND MOST IMPORTANT, for your first trip you MUST go for the lunch buffet on either Friday or Saturday ONLY!!! Why? Because these are the days and hours in which they roast whole lambs and serve them whole (minus the head) on a gigantic bed of Yemeni rice. The rest of the food is fabulous with real textured flavors: lots more cardamom, cinnamon, and turmeric than you might find at other Middle East joints. In fact, I kind of think the stewed lamb dishes are better than the roast lamb...but when they bring out the whole lamb, it is really a sight to behold. The pleasure and excitement in the room is palpable.
The buffet is around $11 or $12; I think it's 12 if you get a drink. Oh...the drinks are lifeless juices that seem to be made from some instant mix. Stick to the water or soft drinks. The coffee is pretty good...if you get the Arabic variety (see the wizened man behind the coffee bar upstairs in the hookah room).
Be aware that every taxi cab driver in the area (they all seem to be Sudanese) is waiting for this meal. Get there on the early side and start in on the buffet, but pace yourself. The first lamb doesn't usually come out of the kitchen until 12:30 or so. They'll usually do two or three for the lunch buffet, depending on the crowd. So...pace yourself and enjoy the hummus, the babaganouj, the meat-stuffed pastries, the soup, etc. The selection of buffet items changes a little bit each time, so it's hard to say what will show up on any given Fri. or Sat.
Note that this restaurant is in the same strip mall as Fairouz cafe, but it's on the other side of the building. It's not big, but there is an upstairs hookah room that is large and has tables where you can eat should the downstairs be completely full. Yeah, the guys smoking and watching soccer might eye you warily, but it's worth it for the buffet. If you can greet people in Arabic, that's even better. -
Review from Kemo K.
Sterling, VA
6/25/2011
I am not quite sure how this place has earned four stars at all. The restaurant is pretty small to start, the wait is very long until you can get the attention of anyone, and if your a newbie your often unnoticed. More importantly, the parking although it sucks to find a spot to park, whats even worse is everyone is parking very close to you, to the point you cant even open your car door, or double parking and leaving their car in the parking driveway so you cant even drive off.
The food, it sucks to be quite honest, for $11-13 plus tips, I feel like I am being ripped off. Most of the food lacks flavoring, spices, or even salt. The only big hype or main focus of every diner is the lamb offering which isn't properly juicy, almost every portion I had was dry and the meat wasn't chewy, it was like I am chewing on a beef jerky or something. The juice is overly sweet and tastes like concentrate with large amounts of syrup, very unhealthy especially on your teeth.
Not a very good experience, but I give it a 2 stars because the staff seem to be nice. -
Review from Chunnu B.
1/3/2011
Yeah, not like the TV Station...
Why weren't we helped even after the man who seemed to be the owner spoke to us? We asked for some (spicy) chai and we waited...and we waited...and we waited some more...and then...we waited UNTIL we caught his attention and told him we hadn't received our chai. He was surprised no one had come along to take our order...but we told HIM!
After he got the attention of a waitress, we ordered a bowl of lamb soup and a piece of cake (the name escapes me.) Well, just so you know, the lamb soup actually does not have any lamb in it - it's just broth. It does come with this really good spicy sauce you can add in though! The cake - overly sweet, completely doused in the syrup that is used on baklava. I wouldn't call it a desert or even a decent accompaniment to the chai, it was just sugary syrup over a not-so-moist cake.
A second chance? Sure. Only because we didn't order a proper dinner and everyone around us who had, looked like they thoroughly enjoyed their meal. It all looked yum... But the service here seemed pretty disorganized. -
Review from Trisha D.
Arlington, VA
3/6/2010
Ate here for the first time today and decided to try the lunch buffet. Got there at about 11:00 and found the restaurant (on the opposite side of the building from where we parked). It's kinda one of those places where you go in and they just look at you and expect that you know what you are doing if you look like you don't belong there. I think the mentality is, "If you found us, it must be for a reason. So you probably know how it works."
We settled into a table and dropped our belongings on chairs, and headed for the buffet after finding the plates. We tried a little bit of almost everything, but we were mostly just waiting for lamb to come out.
Pretty much everything I tried was good, but I guess I prefer Lebanese style food more because that always seems to have lots of lemon in the tabouli and hommus and such. I don't know if Yemeni food isn't like that, or if this place just does it different, but I followed my husbands lead and tried to just use the lime to add a little tang myself.
The first lamb came out at 12:30, it was good, but not extremely flavorful. I used lime and sauces to add a bit more flavor. Don't get me wrong though. It's all still very good, especially for the price, and the fact that its AYCE. I'll be back sometime, but it is not my new favorite Middle Eastern place. -
Review from Rissa O.
Falls Church, VA
11/19/2010
I went to this restaurant based on the positive yelp reviews. I wasn't disappointed. I came in with two of my friends who are not quite as adventurous with food as I am. When I asked what spices were in the food, she responded "It's arabic food". Not much on descriptions but I went with it. She recommended the special which was either chicken or lamb with rice, soup, and salad. I had the chicken and it was absolutely amazing. Seasoning was good with a bit of spice but not too spicy. The portions were so enormous that I ate my fill and had a couple meals left over. You may want to split the entrees here.
The negatives were that the staff weren't really very attentive. You have to wave them over to get their attention and they are not big on refilling your glasses. Also, the location leaves much to be desired as it's behind the shops facing S. George Mason. My friends had a little trouble finding it as a result.
Overall, I'm quite pleased with this restaurant and would definitely come here again. -
Review from Jonathan M.
Alexandria, VA
2/16/2009
I frequent this strip mall, as it has some of the best middle eastern food and markets in the area. Although my friends were hesitant to try this place based simply on the name (Al Jazeera simply means Peninsula and I assured them that they would be decapitated only if they misbehaved), I persuaded them to give it a shot. There is a wide variety of food on the buffet, including hummus (some of the best I have ever had) soups, stews, spinach, fried fish, meat pies, and chicken, and good bread. All of this was very good and filing, but the main attraction was the whole lamb. It was pretty amazing; definitely a sight to see them carry it out to the buffet and quite delicious. The service was fine, but it was kind of an all around serve your self type of place, as I found myself filling my own water glass with the pitcher sitting on the table. The guy serving up the lamb was very friendly, and recommended a number of things on the buffet. Most of the food was great, with several things I could have done without (the fish wasn't very good). The buffet is $12 and it is served on Friday and Saturday. I definitely recommend going, especially for the lamb. Oh, parking can be very difficult in this parking lot so be patient as you look for a spot.
