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Phoenicia Resto & Lounge - Mediterranean Fusion on Gallows Road in Tysons Corner


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This place is ~just about to open~, but they've yet to put up a website.  The only proof they exist at all is their Facebook page and a really ostentatious and attention-grabbing fascia - see for yourselves!

Ballsy of them to decide to compete with Nostos and the Tysons Galleria Lebanese Taverna in far more centralized locations right down the road.  One plus of their place over Nostos - covered/underground parking - though it looks like it'd be a tight fit.

I'll try to get a menu or something from this place - or eat there - sometime soon.

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They've got a picture of it on their Facebook page.  I honestly can't blame them much for the big gaudy ship, as I'm sure no one's looking for a restaurant in that spot, and strangeness attracts the eye...at least enough to spur them to Google them out of curiosity.

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I can't verify this person's claim that Phoenicia is the "Best Lebanese restaurant in the DC Metro area" with "Authentic, delicious food and" [wait for it] "hands down the best shawarma in the US"; what I can verify is that I drove by it about ten days ago, and it has some of the most garish signage of any restaurant I've ever seen. Even by Merrifield's tacky standards, this restaurant may have the tackiest exterior of them all, although it's really closer to Tysons than what most people think of as Merrifield.

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It's on my list for at least a lunch in the near future -- I sometimes work out of our firm's Tyson's office, so I'll have to arrange a business lunch there.

A couple of concerns from Web observations....no website yet, so Yelp and Facebook are the only sources of information. Too bad, because I want to see a menu, and how they spell certain items, to determine what part of the Levant the ownership hails from. I also don't see any reference to alcohol -- that doesn't mean they don't serve alcohol, but it might be a halal restaurant. Like Mount of Lebanon, a halal restaurant with no alcohol will clobber their total covers in the Merrifield - Dunn Loring - Tyson's area. (However, I also saw a reference to potato kibbeh, which is usually a Christian dish for Lent.)

The other thing I detect from Facebook is that the entertainment and dancing is very Lebanese, which might be fine of you're catering only to the Middle Eastern community, but is not inclusive enough to carry business. Lebanese Taverna (and Me Jana and Pita House) understand the concept of getting a wider population in the door, but entertainers like Hadi Khalil and Ehab Tawfik will attract a mostly-Middle Eastern clientele.

So....I'll take a wait-and-see attitude on this one, and I'll try it soon....

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Stopped for lunch today at 11:30. But they don't serve lunch until noon, so I checked the place out and talked up some of the staff.

The first thing to hit me was the decor. This is not a cheap place -- it's really nice on the inside, and even that strange-looking Phoenician vessel out front is made from inlaid tiles and clam shells. And it has a full bar on the inside, so this is not a halal restaurant. Phoenicia is a real sit-down Lebanese restaurant.

Next, I scanned the menu, and I asked if Phoenicia was Lebanese, or Levantine. The young lady working the greeting stand tried to tell me it was all the same, and the more I questioned, she pointed out that the owner is Lebanese and at least one of the kitchen staff was Syrian. The menu dishes were Lebanese-mostly, but I will refrain from any food commentary until I actually eat there.

The menu says "Soft Opening" and I was told that means new items are being tested and added all the time, until they decide on a set menu. But I did see an item called "Nayeh Bar" for $29, which appears to be a variety of "Lebanese sushi" (their term) for items such as my beloved Kibbee Nayee! Count me in on that one.

There is not yet a web site nor a carry-out menu, but my sense from this brief visit is that it's beautiful and large (two floors), with plenty of menu potential. It will have its growing pains, but the owner seems to have high quality ambitions. I'm looking forward to a dining adventure here.

 

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Well, I finally got around to trying Phoenicia for lunch today. It was just me, sitting all alone, plus an office dinner for a party of 12 across the dining room. Overall, this place has solid potential, is quite nicely appointed, but is still going through its growing pains. I am providing a mostly favorable commentary.

Let me start with visuals -- somebody spent some serious thought and money building out this spot. It's beautiful on the inside, from the wooden plank floors to the mural and mosaic on the wall, to the water glasses with the Phoenicia logo etched into them, to the individual plates of all shapes and sizes with the Phoenicia logo glazed in, even to the faint scent of incense as you walk into the place. I'm really pleased with the overall looks of this place, notwithstanding its out-of-the-way location.

And, it's definitely a Lebanese Christian restaurant, from the "Merry Christmas" greeting on the front door to the full bar. Interestingly, the offices of Saudia Airlines is right down the street, but most Saudis eat halal food.

As for the food, I was really excited about the "Naye Bar" -- a "Lebanese sushi" boat of kibbeh nayyeh for $29. Alas, I learned it was only available on evenings after 7:00pm and weekends. Oh well....

So I switched gears into mezze, and my young Ukrainian waitress took my order without writing it down. (Aside -- I really dislike that practice, because it is almost never the case that the order comes out correctly, and such was the case today.) I ordered arbanet, a cauliflower dish I had not enjoyed before, the "fusion soujok", and the cooked kibbeh. She brought out the arbanet, the kibbeh, and stuffed grape leaves. When I asked about the mixup, and where my soujok was, she brought out her iPad, noticed the error (where was the iPad in the first place?), and comp'd the grape leaves. Out came the soujok soon after.

The cauliflower has the potential to be a good dish -- fried to a golden brown and sprinkled with cilantro (the chick peas that were supposed to come with it, according to the menu, were absent), but sitting in a puddle of a bit too sour pomegranate vinegar. The kibbeh was fine, served as five thumb-sized pieces fresh out of the fryer. The soujok was a nice surprise, with three mini-disks of slightly overcooked soujok (combined beef and lamb sausage, hence the term "fusion soujok", and nicely spiced), each topped with a slice of tomato, and then topped with a slice of melted cheese. Think of zesty sliders without buns.

A few additional observations....typically, the first thing that lands on the table at a Middle Eastern restaurant is usually pita bread, and I didn't see any throughout my meal. I wouldn't have eaten any because I'm trying to cut carbs, but just saying, it was noticeable by its absence. Also, a few menu items like batata harra (potatoes with hot peppers), potato kibbeh and pumpkin kibbeh, also caught my eye for future visits.

In a nutshell, this is a beautiful restaurant, with a menu suffering through some growing pains, but with good potential. I hope to grab that "Naye Bar" at a future visit.

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On 10/26/2016 at 9:36 PM, Destruya said:

This place is ~just about to open~, but they've yet to put up a website.  The only proof they exist at all is their Facebook page and a really ostentatious and attention-grabbing fascia - see for yourselves!

Phoenicia now has a website.

What's a "Glory Beam?"

Screenshot 2017-05-16 at 5.29.19 PM.png

Oh. Oh dear.

GloryBeam.jpg

And after all that flowing prose about ships, an entire day dedicated to subs:

Screenshot 2017-05-16 at 5.33.50 PM.png -_-

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Dinner at Phoenicia tonight was memorable.

First, a few comments about the place and the atmosphere are necessary. It is two levels of restaurant, very nicely appointed, but the first thing a patron encounters is smoke. From the kitchen staff smoking cigarettes outside the front door to the hookahs all over the second floor. Second, the waitstaff is slooooow, to the point where a normal 45-minute meal lasts about two hours, with frequent wait staff disappearances. Third, there appears to be a group of waitstaff or other people associated with the restaurant who are content to chit-chat, gather off to a side of the second floor, light up hookahs, and deploy their laptops and hand-helds. In other words, this is not a very well run establishment, although it is quite nice visually.

On to the food, and from my moniker, you can imagine that I would order the "Naye Bar" -- 3 of their 4 kibbeh nayyehs in a Phoenician boat. One was the Habra Neya Sushi Style with steak tartar, pistachio, walnuts, and pine nuts. It was the best of the 3 types. Next was the Kibbeh Neya Beirutieh with steak tartar, burghol, fresh mint, and kibbeh spice. Third was the Handcut Kebbeh Kronflieh with steak tartar, fresh mint, scallion, parsley, green pepper, and spice. All 3 were very good, although the burghol was not softened with water ahead of incorporating it into two of the versions. The burghol crunch was not pleasant, but the rest of the flavors and textures were extremely enjoyable. Add a basket of fresh, hot pita bread and a glass of middlin' Italian wine, and the experience was nice.

The food here is good, but the service and management is puzzling. I'll keep trying it to see if it finds a rhythm....

Phoenicia Kibbeh Nayyeh.JPG

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Nice review Kibbee Nayee! We drove by the restaurant going from Merrifield to Tysons and both my wife and myself wondered exactly what kind of restaurant it was and if it was any good. Thanks for the detailed analysis. 

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