Nicole "discojing" O.'s Profile

We went here for their soft opening.

I thought they were going to just take over the space and use what American Flatbread had left behind, but you can tell they put a lot of effort into the design and decoration of the restaurant. I like the open kitchen and long communal table as well as the floors, tabletops, and tiles used on the wall and centerpiece in the dining room. The lights on top of the bar facing the kitchen were super-bright, but I'm sure they'll get around to tweaking things like that later.

Rolls or Cornbread? We went with rolls, which was a dangerous decision. We had a whole plate of soft, buttery/lard-y rolls to ourselves. I would almost say that the butter was actually better than the rolls! Soft, smooth, light, tangy, salty, and at times, even a hint of citrus. But, the rolls were still a tasty, pillowy vessel for the butter.

Corned Ox Heart Reuben - three tiny snack-sized sammies with pickles on top. They had the perfect zing of crunch and spice and paired well with the crunchy buttery bread and flavorful meat

Snail & Mushroom Toast - Unlike other times I've had escargot, the snail was cut into small pieces the same size as the mushrooms so that the two ingredients worked together instead of against each other. I loved the richness ontop of the crunchy yet airy bread. Boyfriend didn't like when the bread got soggy from the sauce, but I actually liked it and used it to mop up all the snail and mushroom leftovers for one last tasty bite.

Octopus, Chickpeas, Pork Rinds - the octopus was too charred and got sent back. I didn't get to try this, so no opinion

Donuts, Peanut Butter Ice Cream, Chocolate - The ice cream was nostalgic, smooth, and a great balance of richness and sweetness. The chocolate was hot, held in a little gravy boat, and poured table-side. The donuts were more like muffins and were a tad dense. The order holds 3 donuts to an order (about tennis ball size) and by the third donut, we just scraped the "ice cream sandwich" insides out and ate the delicious ice cream and chocolate on their own.

For drinks we had Aprihop (draft), and two cocktails: The Green Pig & Almost Paradise.

The green pig (fat washed bourbon, chartreuse) and the almost paradise (parfait amour, gin, lavender) were both served in retro glasses and were both surprises.  In my experience, it's very hard to find drinks that are expertly crafted with a balance of ingredients and alcohol content, but they were both strong yet smooth and easy to drink. I swapped out bluecoat for tanqueray in the almost paradise and wish I would have stuck with the bluecoat -- i think its original role as a dry herbaceous gin was to offset the sweetness of the rest of the drink.
Lesson learned: trust the bartender at Green Pig!

Given that this was their absolute first service, I am impressed and excited. I've been to restaurants that have been open for years that don't have service, food, and management as good as this place.

We live in the building,  and are so happy that a great, solid restaurant with actual food and drink I like (ahem.. love?) has taken over the space. We definitely plan to go back soon (and often). First thing's first -- more drinks and the fried pimento cheese and sweetbreads!

All of the other Shillas are better than this location. This location offers the same things except a much smaller selection of cakes, breads, and pastries. I also find their sampling selection much smaller as well. This is probably due to the fact that they are physically smaller than all the other Shillas and there is not much space for sitting or display.

The staff is not as nice as other Shillas either. I went here with my sister on Tuesday (2/6) and ordered a yogurt bing soo with no strawberries because she is allergic. I reminded them twice about no strawberries and they forgot, but luckily got to the back before it was done being made. The bing soo came out and had red sauce drizzled all over it I've had the bing soo without my sister so I knew what it was, but just to be sure I asked "what is the sauce?". The cashier replied with "Strawberry Sauce". And then tried to convince me that it was okay to eat even through my sister was allergic to it.

"Oh, you can't eat strawberries?" No, that's why I said 'no strawberries" "Why, are you allergic or something?" "My sister is, that's why I said no strawberries"

They close earlier than all the other Shilla locations (10pm), so the only reason to go to this as opposed to Centreville, Annandale, or even Rockville is if it's more convenient for you. They started turning the lights off even though we had just gotten our bing soo re-do.

Note: I had a Specialicious deal, or else would not have gone to this location probably.

I've been other times for boba and pastries and they were consistent with other locations. The green tea mousse from the case is super yummy, and if you eat in, they decorate the plate. I think I like Jireh better than the fairfax Shilla since the selection is bigger and the people are nicer, but since Jireh is in centreville, I could go to the Centreville Shilla, which is better...

I went here last weekend with two friends to use a Specialicious deal during lunch. I noticed that there was a message on the door that stated "Tell us when you sit down that you have a Specialicious deal or else you cant use it!". I don't know what that means, but we gave the deal when we sat down and we had to sign it (?).

Like most Chinese restaurants, the menu was less of a menu and more of a book. There were some very interesting tea choices on the menu, so I chose Blackberry Sage. Good and Bad thing is that the tea was by Republic of Tea. Good thing is that the tea tasted great (naturally sweet, but I didn't taste any sage), so I can replicate the tea at home by visiting the grocery store. Bad thing is that I paid $3.50 for a tea I can buy at the grocery store.

We ordered Crispy Honey Pork, Hot and Sour Chicken, and Cashew Chicken. I honestly couldn't tell the difference between the two chicken dishes. They both had nuts in them and both had dark, sweet and salty sauces. They tasted good, so no complaints here. I really liked the honey pork, but only in moderation. It was nice to mix in after a couple bites of the chicken since it had a cleaner flavor, but was heavier. The sauce was more drizzled unevenly over the pork instead of poured over like the other dishes. This was good because a little went a long way.

The owner seemed nice, but pushy and eager. There was only one other table in the whole restaurant and while the layout is spacious, the chairs seem a bit large for the tables since we had trouble sitting next to each other at a four top. The decor is nice, clean, and modern compared to other Chinese restaurants I've been to.

It was a good experience and I would go back again if I was in the area (though I don't know how likely that is since it's in a new shopping center slightly in the middle of nowhere on route 50).

The service is fast and friendly--the branding is bright and unique. For $4.25 more you can add a taco and a bubble tea to a sandwich. The bubble tea (3 flavors: thai iced tea, coffee, and gren tea) is $4 and I was going to get it anyways, so I bought into the 25 cent taco.

I'm glad I did because the taco was the best part. The foot-long banh mi I got was the lemongrass chicken. The bread is nice and crusty, not too soft, but with a crunch. The chicken had a fishy taste to it for some reason (fish sauce) that was off putting, but the pickled veggies were zingy and brought balance to the sandwich. I wish I would have  filled the sandwich with the same filling I got in the taco -- the roast pork. The pork was sweet and savory with red on the outside and brown on the inside, reminding me of my beloved char siu pork. The zingy mayo added a creaminess that blended well with the sharp pickled vegetables.

The total was $11.75, which was a bit pricey. But, this place takes credit card (bonus) and I like supporting local businesses. I wouldn't go here everyday, but it's a nice option when they're in the neighborhood to change things up a bit. It's like a mini-trip to Eden Center without the trek or traffic and it leaves you feeling full and cultured.

The only reason I go here is because it's in my building and the people are nice. Other than that, the prices are expensive and we've had lots of problems.

My boyfriend was missing a pair of pants that they were supposed to deliver. These were $80 Banana Republic pants that he had paid to get tailored. They said they delivered them and that someone in the building must have stolen them. Apparently, they had been having this problem a lot (?) and had still decided to "deliver" things to the building.

Another time, my boyfriend brought in a pair of pants for hemming. A few weeks later, he brought in the same pair of pants for dry cleaning and noticed that one of the legs had come partially un-hemmed. They charged him to re-hem the pants, can you believe that?

I've also had them sew on buttons while dropping the items off for dry cleaning. Since I'm a regular, you'd think they'd give me a free button once in a while (I know how to sew buttons, but it's the convenience factor). Not only did the button promptly fall off and I had to re-sew it, they charged me for it too!

This place is pretty solid when it comes to lunch. I visited here last week with a group of co-workers and had a good experience. The food came out quickly and the menu seemed to have everything I could ever think about eating at a Indian-with-some-Asian restaurant.

I had the lamb curry, which had a good, deep spice to it. The naan is moist and warm with some charred parts to it. It was a very large portion, though it was also a bit expensive (~$12) when I added a drink to it. Since it was such a large amount of food, I ate it the next workday and the lamb was only half salvageable. Some parts were too gristly and tough. It might have been my fault -- the sauce was so delicious that I ate that first with the naan and mixed it with the rice, so the meat probably dried out.

A co-worker of mine is from Bangladesh and said that the food was pretty legit in his opinion. He also noted that the soup with the samosa in it was very unique and offered it up to the table to try -- I can attest to it's creaminess and dynamic, complex flavors, though I didn't grab a chunk of the precious semi-immersed samosa. Two other co-workers ordered Tikka Masala and the Malai Kofta and were both happy with their dishes.

I just realized this is a national chain, not just a local Virginia chain. It feels a bit like a chain, but less commercialized. All in all, a good, decently fast stop for work lunches. The atmosphere doesn't lend itself much to sit-down dinners though.

Disclaimer: I was invited back by the owner after my 2010 review

We visited Tuesday night (11/15) and had a great experience. Our waiter, Rohit, was very knowledgeable about every aspect of the food and structure of the restaurant. He knew how every dish was made and where all the ingredients were sourced, down to the ingredients in the olive oil! The service was excellent and he had great recommendations for pizza and appetizers. After our meal, he offered to give us a tour of the pizzaiolo's working space, but no pizzas were in the queue at the moment.

We tried the calamari again; there was a better ratio of zucchini to calamari and the plate came out piping hot. Though the zucchini was a little watery, the texture of the breading and calamari more than made up for it. The sauce was also more flavorful and paired well with the fried morsels. We also ordered two pizzas, the Il Canale and the Diavola. The Il Canale had a perfectly crunchy crust and the toppings were flavorful. My favorite part of the pizza was actually the tomato slices that burst with a great flavor--and I don't really like tomatoes! My only concern was that after I finished eating one slice of pizza, the rest of the pizza had basically turned to mush because of all the cheese and veggies. The softened crust mixed with the moist ingredients melded together and lacked textural contrast. Maybe a quick zap in the toaster oven at home will revive the slices? The Diavola didn't skimp on the ingredients and while the crust wasn't as crunchy, each bite was still flavored well with the salami and cheese. We didn't have room to try dessert, though we were eyeing the tiramisu.

I'm glad I visited again--I can tell that the ingredients, processes, and service has all been changed. But, I just don't like soupy pizzas, so I will probably not be back again.

A few things: there was a guy going around selling roses, which made us feel uncomfortable (especially since they were so expensive!). There were also several times that a server tried to bring us other people's food, or give our food to the wrong table and we had to flag him down. Other than that, the rapport with Rohit and the host was great and the weather outside was refreshing.

Not what I expected:
i was expecting a more modern hotel.

What I liked:
pillows were comfortable. free mouth wash. location was good.

What I disliked:
i was afraid to use anything in case i would be charged for it. it took a very long time to check in, there weren't people to get cabs for us, the bell hop was hit or miss. towels were very rough. no comforter, just thicker than average top sheet/blanket.

(note: I went here on a Jetsetter deal)

I went Friday night around 1130/midnight to Kyotofu. We sat at the bar. We had to wait a while for menus, then we had to wait a long while for the server to come take our order.

We ordered the chocolate miso cake and I mentioned that I wanted to order bakery to go items. When we finished the cake, we had to wait an extremely long time for the server to come over. I tried several times to make eye contact with him, but eventually had to flag him down from behind the register.

I ordered the items I wanted (mini cupcakes, cupcake, and genmaicha sakura fananciers). He gave me shortbread cookies instead and argued with me over what I had chosen, even though when I ordered I had pointed to the physical item in the case. He was quick about switching to the correct item, but I just felt miffed. Maybe because I was with my younger sister, and we were the youngest pair in the crowd, he figured we were only ordering one thing and no drinks, so it wasn't worth his time?

I live in DC and always come to Kyotofu when I'm in the area. I've been three other times and service was great. This was the first time I took my younger sister there (we were in NYC to celebrate her graduation) and she didn't get the experience I wanted her to.

Every other time I've gone, the food has been great and delicious, regardless if it's just stopping in for some soft-serve, brunch, or to-go snacks.

Compared to the other Pizzeria on Fillmore (http://www.yelp.com/bi...), this one has a little bit different of a vibe, more "funky".

We started our day at Tartine around the corner and by the time we made it through that line and process, there was already a line outside waiting for Delfina to open! This pizzeria is part of Delfina, so it's smaller and to the left, almost like an after thought. The only reason that this review isn't 5 stars is because I had the excellent service and decor to compare the other location too and this one had a line. The pizza was cooked great here, but not as perfect as the other location. Maybe it was just because we got a different pizza (we opted for the margherita w/ Prosciutto)

This is a great, delicious option in the Mission, but go to the Fillmore one if you're ever nearby! It'll be a faster and less cramped experience.

One bonus about this location is that a portion of their wall is almost all window, so you can people-watch or catch some sun if you snag one of those seats.