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Lena's Wood-Fired Pizzas & Tap, The Yates Family near Braddock Road Metro Station


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I don't see a thread for Lena's Wood-Fired Pizzas & Tap at 401 E Braddock Rd, near Braddock Metro Station. Friends and family opening was this weekend, and soft opening reported for today. This is said to be a partnership between management of The Majestic/Virtue and the Yates family.

The space looks great. Large bar. Extensive outdoor patio with fire pit and gas heaters.

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Opened this week, and I've driven by it every day after work. Looked hopping, and I wanted to check it out. Really hoping for something unique in the 'hood. Like it's said above, it's right by the Station next to 7-11. Awesome patio, heaters, flames abounding. I went in at 650pm, and there wasn't one available seat at the bar or at any of the tables. There were people standing at the bar, even. It's super cool, very un-Del Ray. Feels DC, like you're at Matchbox or something more like that. It's low lighting, brick walls, cool bar. I loved it, felt very urban, rather than the neighborhood feel of most of the places in the area.

From 4-7, they have happy hour with some beers for $5, wines for $5-6, and cocktails for $7. They don't have a happy hour food menu, so currently, they are serving the appetizers for half price, which is a pretty good deal. I got a beer (A Kolsch for $5) and a charcuterie ($8 happy hour) plate to start, while waiting for friends. I had called and made a reservation for 745p, and all they had was the "commune tabes", so I took that. We were seated at the end of the table, the 3 of us. We were actually sitting next to the archictect of the restaurant, and had a nice discussion about the place and what their vision was. We ordered a butternut squash gnocchi, based on the architect's wife's suggestion, to share. Tasty! A touch sweet, but I liked it. We each ordered a pizza, I got the Diavola (spicy), the Captain got the Sunny Side Up (eggs, potatoes, sort of like a breakfast pizza), and retired Captain got the Korean (with BBQ short ribs on it;a funny exchange occurred with the waiter when I said, 'Did you recommend the Korean to him because he's Korean?" I'm good at making things awkward!).

Anyway, the pizza was good not great. They have an awesome oven, and they use good ingredients, but I don't think they are master pizzaiolos, or are not yet. The crust wasn't charred, there wasn't that .. I don't know what you call it .. the blotching you see on the pizza at Ghibellina's (which I went to the night before). It was good. I liked it better than DRP, but it's not serious pizza yet. I really, really, really hope they work on it. I don't know who the main chef is.

The scene was great .. I loved it. I will go a lot. I like the location for them, they will get all the young professionals who get off at the Metro there for happy hour, b/c the only other option before was Dos Gringos or whatever that Mexican place is. Then in the evening, they will get the locals, like Mayor Bill who was there and enjoyed the big meatball and pie. The patio is amazing, and will be kicking when the weather is nice, like last night. Mr. Yates came around to chat with everyone, and that's sort of the thing they were going for. His son was involved in the place, and that's how they made it more a scene-y place. If they keep the happy hour special, it will be the "hot" place for a while. The non-happy hour beer prices are a little obnoxious (comparable to Lost Dog, which does not do a happy hour), like $7.50 for Optimal Wit, $8 for a Bell's Two Hearted, and $5 for Bud Light (for real??!). The pizza prices were comparable to what you would expect for 10 inch and 14 inch pies.

I hope the pizza gets better!

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Brief review: Our expense was very similar to Simul's. We went last night for the first time. Great venue and good service. The venue is attractive inside and out. They've constructed a great patio, with lots of fire! It'll be reasonable to sit out there until it gets much more cold.

I would say they need to work on timing -- our pizzas arrived only a few minutes after salads and apps. One appetizer with special addition didn't arrive until after the pizzas. Our server, Travis, was great and made the dinner more fun. They've been open officially since Monday, so...

I had the mixed green salad and prosciutto and arugula pizza The salad was impressive, with some slices of salami. Fine. The pizza... well, not great. The crust is much too thick. It's the thickest individual sized pizza I've had. The ingredients and toppings were all good tasting, but nothing great. Pizza is much better at Pizza Paradiso in Alexandria. (I no longer recommend Red Rocks because I've had bad service experiences there, but their pizza is better too, by a good margin.)

They have a good wine list and a goo Virginia-focused craft beer list (about 12 drafts). In addition to about 12 interesting pizzas, they offer "panini" sandwiches and a few pastas. Can't comment on them. We'll go back again, but oooh please work on those pizzas!

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Anyway, the pizza was good not great. They have an awesome oven, and they use good ingredients, but I don't think they are master pizzaiolos, or are not yet. The crust wasn't charred, there wasn't that .. I don't know what you call it .. the blotching you see on the pizza at Ghibellina's (which I went to the night before). It was good. I liked it better than DRP, but it's not serious pizza yet. I really, really, really hope they work on it. I don't know who the main chef is.

The scene was great .. I loved it. I will go a lot. I like the location for them, they will get all the young professionals who get off at the Metro there for happy hour, b/c the only other option before was Dos Gringos or whatever that Mexican place is. Then in the evening, they will get the locals, like Mayor Bill who was there and enjoyed the big meatball and pie. The patio is amazing, and will be kicking when the weather is nice, like last night. Mr. Yates came around to chat with everyone, and that's sort of the thing they were going for. His son was involved in the place, and that's how they made it more a scene-y place. If they keep the happy hour special, it will be the "hot" place for a while. The non-happy hour beer prices are a little obnoxious (comparable to Lost Dog, which does not do a happy hour), like $7.50 for Optimal Wit, $8 for a Bell's Two Hearted, and $5 for Bud Light (for real??!). The pizza prices were comparable to what you would expect for 10 inch and 14 inch pies.

I hope the pizza gets better!

I'd say there is hope and lots of room for immense improvement with time and experience.  Some years ago when Fire Works Pizza opened in Arlington, (courthouse) I would have described their early pizzas as excellent toppings and a crust that was unimaginably horrible.  It was something.  Couldn't quite describe it.  Bad, stinkin' bad has to suffice.  That was then.

Now their crust is good if not superior and toppings are even better.  Huge improvement.   Hope your neighborhood pizzeria experiences the same level of improvement and I hope it occurs relatively quickly.

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My two cents on this place. If they can really focus on the bar and creating a wealth of regulars they will crush it. Reason being, there are really no other bars except DRP along that whole stretch from Braddock Road Metro down to the crossroads at Commonwealth and Mt. Vernon. Yes, the Star has bars up and downstairs but this is built out as a place with lots of big TV's and plenty of 'bar' seating. I would go back if these things happened. a. My bartender that I got a 'big pour' for my glass of wine because she just topped it off. What actually happened as I watched her was she married two opened bottles that had about 1/4 left in one and a littles less than that in the other and viola! One big happy glass of red wine. Uh....what if they were opened on different days? Please don't do stuff like that, its cheap and at the end of the day we are talking house pours that cost the place anywhere between $7-$10 a bottle. Oh well, no biggie, right? B. As a manager please don't tell me that the person bartending is one of their best. Reason? So if he is your best, what do you tell people when you have the weak link on board? As well your best bartender forgot my second round. Again no biggie. C. This is one that really should go to all restaurants that follow this policy. If you ask if someone would like to take the rest home with them, then please by all mighty goodness don't turn to the customer and hand them a box so that they can box it up, you do it. Customer service extends all the way from the greeting to the departure. Period.

 

I like the place and if all this happened while they were three deep at the bar and on a 2 hour wait for tables I might be able to excuse some of the issues, but it wasn't. It was actually rather quiet and that is where we all know service can tumble. Will I go back, of course. Just because mistakes happen doesn't mean that anything was intentional or done out of spite. They were mistakes that we as industry people make from time to time. I agree with Simul that once the weather takes a turn towards spring and summer they will crush it outside. But lets just hope that it doesn't become one of those establishments that is only seasonal. So work on the small service kinks now to have year long business through every season.

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My Mom and I went to Lena's the other night- mainly because of how late they serve dinner.  We ordered glasses of wine, and there was a fair amount of choices at what I think are a reasonable price point.  We got the eggplant parmesaen and the margerita pizza to split.  The pizza isn't bad, but it isn't great.  I think perhaps they don't do a long rise like some pizza places, so there isn't as much funk in the dough???  Just a guess.  The ingredients are good, and the oven is good, it's just missing a complexity in the crust itself, which gets nice rise.

The eggplant parm though was really good.  It was done lasagna style, stacked up high with cheese in between the layers.  Both Mom and I really liked it.  Very heavy, but we were hungry and cold and it hit the spot.  They serve it with homemade pasta with red sauce, it's more of an orange sauce in color, but I liked the flavor, again not my favorite, but not bad.  This place is a great bar, and I will try more of the menu.  It isn't a top pizza spot, even Lost Dog down the street, to me, is better on pizza.  But it is open late, service was very nice, and wasn't bad at all.  I would try more stuff on the menu, but might not worry about getting pizza.  I will say for the pizza though, it was really good warmed up in the oven the next day.

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Mom and I were back at Lena's.  This seems to be our comfort food place, it helps they have parking.  Mom had been sewing and teaching me to sew that evening, so this was a well deserved break.  We got the chicken marsala and proscuitto and arugula pizza.  I thought the pizza was better than last time, maybe it was because there wasn't as much pressure on the sauce?  The crust is still not write home about crust, but it did the job of conveying decent toppings.  The chicken marsala isn't very traditional, no spaghetti, linguine type pasta, instead it gets I would say a rotini/maccherroni style noodle?  The sauce wasn't very wine heavy, and was more like a light gravy, but this was a very comforting dish on a colder than I thought it should be evening.  And being as hungry and tired as we were, we devoured it.  This is a good cold weather, comfort food dish, but don't expect it to be like what you think it should be.  

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I tried my first outdoor dining experience at Lena's Oasis.  I thought the whole thing was pretty incredible.  For those not familiar, they put a large tent on their parking deck- with a floor, lots of potted plants, partitions, etc.  The tables are incredibly well spaced out, and you feel like you have a lot of personal space.  The wait staff was wearing masks, gloves at times delivering items. The food was fine- I got chicken parm- it wasn't the best or the worst, but it sure was nice to go to a restaurant in a way I felt safe.  

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Had brunch there today with the kids.  The donut holes were dusted with sugar and cinnamon powder, 6 for $10.  The fried calamari was nicely seasoned and crispy.  The portion was just enough - not too much so you don't get full just eating them.  The biscuits were topped with poached eggs and then gravy.  The pizza is definitely not Neapolitan, but the crust is soft and pretty tasty.

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