Four Sisters Grill, In The Former Fat Shorty's Space in Clarendon

[goldenticket]

This is kind of exciting:

ARLNow is reporting that paperwork has been filed that shows Four Sisters Grill will be taking over the space last occupied by Fatshorty's.

[ktmoomau]

Now this is something I can get behind!

[Barbara]

If this place is accessible by Metro I am so there.

[Kibbee Nayee]

As much as I've been enjoying the Clarendon makeover for the past 20+ years, when Queen Bee closed and some of the chains started moving in, Clarendon was going in a direction was Old Town-ish. I'm happy for this development. I will take detours for Four Sisters Grill....

[naxos]

Do you think that the closing of Song Que is related to the opening of Four Sister's Grill? My understanding that all are owned and run by the same family.

[DonRocks]

Do you think that the closing of Song Que is related to the opening of Four Sister's Grill? My understanding that all are owned and run by the same family.

I hadn't thought about this, but now that you mention it, it seems plausible.

[hopsing]

It would be great if they bring their banh mi's to Clarendon -- even closer for me.  Doubt that they will be as cheap though.

[cheezepowder]

Four Sisters Grill looks like they're ready to open, and their door had a sign saying they were closed for a private event on Friday.  I found this Instagram by djphlipz saying that their grand opening is on Tuesday, April 1.

[cheezepowder]

Update-- they're not open yet. Sign on door now says coming soon.

[cheezepowder]

It's opening on April 17 according to ArlNow.  (Thanks to dcs for sending the link.)

[cheezepowder]

It would be great if they bring their banh mi's to Clarendon -- even closer for me.  Doubt that they will be as cheap though.

Yesterday, they put out a sidewalk sign with their menu.  The menu has 5 kinds of banh mi (grilled pork, cold cut combination with pate, grilled chicken, grilled beef, and tofu) at $6.25 each.

Three appetizers:  crispy spring rolls, pork or vegetarian for $3.95, shrimp and pork papaya salad for $9.95, tofu papaya salad for $8.95.

Six entrees served over rice noodles at $7.95, $8.95, and $9.95 each.

Nine entrees served over rice from $8.95 to $13.95.

I'm looking forward to trying it when it opens.

[DaveO]

Popped my head in yesterday and chatted with the executive chef from the Mosaic site.  As referenced above they are opening this Thursday 4/17.  The chef, whose name I regrettably forgot, is quite psyched.  He said he has wanted to do a menu like this for years.

Its quicker, faster, simpler than a full menu from Four Sisters.  I wish them a ton of luck and plan on being there.   If they execute well its a big win for Clarendon.

[lion]

Looking forward to the opening. We dined at Four Sisters last weekend and as usual they did a good job. 

[dcs]

It is open now, Wednesday, April 16.  I was just there.

[dcs]

dcs, do you have any initial thoughts? It's okay to be gentle since they just opened.

I just grabbed a grilled pork banh mi to go.  I had not even begun to eat it when I posted above.  It was a fine sandwich; what you would expect. The pork was well cooked and not overdone.  The roll and other ingredients were fresh.   At $6.25 it rings up a bit less than $3.00 more than you could get a comparable sandwich at the Eden Center or Banh Mi DC off Route 50, but this place is certainly more convenient to my home.  The interior gives the vibe of sleek lines.  No cloth anywhere that I can recall, just clean flat surfaces.  The ordering system is like Pete's next door.  You give your order at the register and they give you a number on a stand.  You grab a table and they bring you your food.  I failed to notice whether they served beer or wine.  I also did not notice whether the they use real bowls/plates and cutlery or disposable plastic.  I need to get back to try some of the rice and noodle dishes.  They offer 12 different rice dishes and 6 different noodle dishes.  I love a good banh mi, but at the end of the day it is still just a sandwich and so once it reaches a certain level, it plateaus.  If they pull off the rice and noodle dishes, however, this would raise the bar on quality fast casual cuisine in Clarendon.  They appeared to have an army of folks working there, and clearly thought about and invested in the space.  They seem to want to do this right so my bet is they pull this off.  The place is not so large that the rent should crush them (but Arlington has been wacky with the taxes for Clarendon business properties lately).

[cheezepowder]

Here are pictures of the menu (plus they have beer).

[lion]

Stopped by to check it out. Nice bright design in the restaurant and overall very eager and helpful staff.

Banh Mi to go was fresh and like Song que, only difference was the bread. Mrs. Lion commented that the bread seemed like a low sodium version so either they changed the recipe or someone forgot to add salt. The taste was slightly off because of that but still decent. Would chalk it up to getting things ironed out.

[DaveO]

Stopped by today during an unhappy day of work on Easter Sunday.  Its fast casual dining;  you order, get a number and the dish is brought to you.  When I stopped by on an off hour on Easter Sunday it was very quiet...but by the time I left it was relatively busy....and on Easter Sunday.

As a fast casual dining experience I liked it.  It is not great dining...but it's far far better than most fast casual and it has what looks to be a fairly large beer menu...which is perfect for the neighborhood.

For my first visit I had a noodle dish with grilled chicken.  The veggies elements include radish cucumber, onion, with basil, cilantro mint and some peanuts.  Tasty.  Frankly much better than any fast casual with which I'm acquainted.  The noodle dishes are dinner sized.  Excellent value and tastes for the price.  The staff was very accommodating.  Nice folks.  Very young very eager.  as the governator once said......."I'll be back"

I'll go through the banh mi's the other dishes.  I see it as a big step up from the former tenant and a nice addition to Clarendon.

[ktmoomau]

We stopped by on Friday to have dinner with absolutely no squash.  We ordered the lemongrass beef bahn mi, lemongrass pork noodles, spring rolls and garden rolls.  I had a Bold Rock and Matt had a 33.  The food was very good.  I really enjoyed the garden rolls, not as good as Slanted Door, but probably the best I have had outside of that.  Spring Rolls were tasty and good.  The bahn mi is definitely bigger than some others, the rolls are pretty wide.  With the appetizers we thought it was 2 pieces to an order, but it was 4 (2 rolls cut in half), so I ended up eating half my sandwich and taking the other half home.  Matt really enjoyed his noodles, he said it was a great dish.  It was pretty busy, but the time food was ready there seemed to be a seat for people. They had runners bringing food, clearing tables and bringing to-go bags and boxes.  The service for a fast casual place was really outstanding.  

[cheezepowder]

I don't know when they started, but I noticed when I visited today that they are now offering a few phos (not on the printed menu but on the screen behind the cashiers).  I didn't try one.  (I had the grilled pork chop with rice, which I enjoyed).

[Escoffier]

Do you think that the closing of Song Que is related to the opening of Four Sister's Grill? My understanding that all are owned and run by the same family.

Suong Que means (roughly) 4 Sisters.  They have been planning on moving form Eden Center for some time. Apparently, they have now found a way to do so.

[ktmoomau]

I saw the pho on the menu a couple weeks ago too, and was interested, but it was one of those few really warm days we had so I went for a beef bahn mi instead.  It was really quite good, it made me want to try to imitate that beef at home.  I think their fish sauce tastes different than mine, mine seems a lot fishier, I wonder what brand they use.

[ktmoomau]

I had lunch at Four Sisters Grill yesterday.  I am always happy when I see that place busy, and it was very busy.  I got the vegetarian imperial roll cha and lemongrass chicken vermicelli noodles bun ga.  I was debating getting a bahn mi, and now am kind of craving one.  It was very good, as usual. I think the carmelized pork is better than the chicken, but that is just a general preference.   I finished the roll, but not the chicken and noodles, so I am eating the leftovers for lunch I added some lettuce, pickled carrot and radish and soy beans.  I explained to the table next door what green papaya was.  Service staff is very nice and helpful here.

[Genevieve]

I really like the fresh spring rolls here (Gỏi Cuốn/Gỏi Cuốn Chay). We had an excellent dinner a month or so ago when I had those and green papaya salad with shrimp (I've never ordered that before so don't know how it compares to elsewhere, but it was very tasty). Husband likes their banh mi, son had I think grilled lemongrass beef over rice noodles and was happy, and I previously had their grilled shrimp over rice noodles and liked it a lot.

I still miss Minh's a lot, but having Four Sisters in the neighborhood helps (fewer options, of course, but everything's been good).

[NolaCaine]

Really like 4 sisters. It's my go-to pho place when I can't muster the energy for Eden Center. Child-friendly too. Bahn mi today was super fantastic. Cruncy, yummy.  The 5 year old reports that the broth is fatty; really yummy and fatty. So there's that.

[Genevieve]

I really like the fresh spring rolls here (Gỏi Cuốn/Gỏi Cuốn Chay). We had an excellent dinner a month or so ago when I had those and green papaya salad with shrimp (I've never ordered that before so don't know how it compares to elsewhere, but it was very tasty). Husband likes their banh mi, son had I think grilled lemongrass beef over rice noodles and was happy, and I previously had their grilled shrimp over rice noodles and liked it a lot.

I still miss Minh's a lot, but having Four Sisters in the neighborhood helps (fewer options, of course, but everything's been good).

We've eaten there a bunch since I last posted and always been quite happy with our food. The boba tea is good, too.