Mykonos, Andreas and Maria Dimitriou's Little Greek Cafe on Michael Faraday Drive in Reston - Closed

[infohunter]

Just wanted to alert everyone to a new Greek restaurant in Reston called Mykonos. They have been open for just over a week and are located where Peppers BBQ used to be at 1810 Michael Faraday Dr, Suite 11. off Sunset Hills just before and across from the Reston Post Office.

I talked to Nikki Dimitriou who was acting as hostess and waitress when we were there this past weekend. Evidently her dad Andreas is one of the owners with Costas who used to be at Sylvanas (sp?) in Herndon. We first discussed the renovations of the space. For those of you that aren't familiar with the previous tenants this location was dark, brown, and to me just plain dirty and run down. It's now been transformed into a lovely space that is open and inviting. Evidently Andras and Costas did all the work themselves. It's a small space with about 40 seats (plus a couple at the bar that overlooks the kitchen).

As to the food I ordered the Mykonos Combination and the hubby just did the salad bar and then we split everything. The Mykonos Combination was a wonderful combo of mousaka, pastichio, soutzoukaki (meatballs) and spanakopita. Also accompanying this was wonderful fasolakia (braised greenbeans), oven roasted potatoes, and real garlic bread. All of the main entries called house specialties come with a very nice salad bar. We ended up with a very satisfying feast. To end our meal we had bakalava. I like mine cold but Nikki also offered to warm it up if we prefered.

We really enjoy the food and the friendlyness of everyone there. I think that this will be a nice little gem in Reston. They are open early for breakfast from 6:30 - 11am, and are open till 9pm Monday through Saturday and closed on Sunday.

For those that are interested I'm typing in the most of the menu for you. If you need a description on something let me know and I'll add it, otherwise I'm just giving the titles.

Appetizers
Mykonos Shrim Saganaki
Tzatziki
Saganaki
Calmari
Avgotaraho
Feta Cheese & Olives
Melitzanosalata
Skordalia
Spanakopita
Loukaniko
Chicken Wings
Mozeralla Sticks

Soups & Salads
Soup of the day
Avgolemono Soup
Salmon or Shrimp Salad
Chef Salad
Horiatiki - Mykonos Greek Salad
Greek Salad
Grilled Chicken Salad
Salad Bar (all you can eat soup & salad)

Sandwiches & Subs
Steak & Cheese Sub
Meatball & Cheese Sub
Vegetarian Sub
Tuna Salad Sub
Ham & Cheese Sub
I talian Sub
Turkey & Cheese Sub
BLT Sandwich
Gyros
Chicken Souvlaki
Pork Souvalaki
Lamp Souvlaki
Fish Sandwich
Hamburger
Crab Cake Sandwich
Grilled Chicken Breast
Italian Sausage Sub

House Specialties
Baked Pastichio
Baked Mousaka
1/2 Chicken Greek Style
Brizolakia (Lamb Chops)
Lamb Shishkebab
Chicken Shishkebab
Mykonos Combination
Seafood Combination
Broiled Salmon
Crab Cakes
Shrimb Kebob
Shrimp Scampi
Soutzoukakia (Greek Meatballs)

Desserts
Bakalava
Galactoboureko
Rice Pudding

Mykonos Restaurand
1810 Michael Faraday Dr, Suite 11
Reston, VA 20190
703.689.0060
703.689.0061 (fax)
mykonosva@verizon.net

[bilrus]

For those of you that aren't familiar with the previous tenants this location was dark, brown, and to me just plain dirty and run down.

This is an understatement. Peppers had to be the nastiest looking restaurant I've ever been in. Ever.

[DanielK]

Is this related at all to the Mykonos in Rockville? We like that one a lot - not cheap, but everything is very very good.

[Joe H]

Sylvana's had some of the absolute best New York "style" pizza in the entire D. C. area. Are they doing pizza at Mykonos? Marie's which used to be in the South Lakes Village shopping center also had surprisingly good pizza. It's gone, too.

[DonRocks]

As to the food I ordered the Mykonos Combination and the hubby just did the salad bar and then we split everything. The Mykonos Combination was a wonderful combo of mousaka, pastichio, soutzoukaki (meatballs) and spanakopita. Also accompanying this was wonderful fasolakia (braised greenbeans), oven roasted potatoes, and real garlic bread. All of the main entries called house specialties come with a very nice salad bar. We ended up with a very satisfying feast. To end our meal we had bakalava. I like mine cold but Nikki also offered to warm it up if we prefered.

I'd been to Mykonos 1-2 times in the past (the last time I went, my young dining companion and I had gone ice skating first, and neither of us has skated in over five years).

I called to make sure they'd be open ('twas the night before Snochi), and we showed up in an empty restaurant around 7 PM - I suspect we were the last, and perhaps the only, dine-in customers of the evening.

I was dismayed that Mykonos was out of the three Greek beers they had advertised on the menu, so I was stuck with a very pitiable list, and ended up getting a skunky smelling Corona Extra ($4.50) while my young dining companion wisely stuck with water.

 

Generally, I let Matt order first (sometimes throwing in a hint or two), and this evening he was set on the Mykonos Combination ($18.95) with mousaka, pastichio, soutzoukakia, and spanakopita, served with oven-roasted potatoes and fasolakia. Since Matt ordered it, I decided I would as well - we'd both either sink, or swim.

General advice: don't ever order a combo platter, anywhere. Each item has disparate cooking times, and things are bound to be either cold, or sitting under a heat lamp. While it might give you a nice overview of any given restaurant's wares, I've more often than not been disappointed.

Mykonos was not only empty on this evening, with cars flying down Michael Faraday Drive, trying to beat the snow home, it was also very cold - even the wooden seats were cold. We ate with our coats on.

"Do you want to split an app?" I asked.

"I think I'm just going to get the salad bar."

"There is no salad bar."

"It's right behind you."

Sure enough it was, and the entrees at Mykonos come with unlimited trips to the soup and salad bar (making the $18.95 price of the combination platter very easy to swallow - not to mention the two generous, piping-hot loaves of garlic bread we were served). The one soup on this evening was Avgolemono, and not much was left at the bottom of the kettle. There were perhaps a half-dozen salads, and they looked very colorful and appealing: kidney beans, green beans, marinated mushrooms, as well as the standard lettuce-tomato-red-pepper tray.

The avgolemeno, which I generally adore, was very mild and good, but it was barely above room temperature - I doubt it even cracked the 80-degree threshold. The salads were very boring, and must have been bought that way - while attractive and colorful, they tasted like they came straight from a food-service container. Not off-putting, but very, very bland from A to Z.

Two massive plates of food arrived, and they must have weighed several pounds each. The mousaka and pastichio were each the size of softballs, the spanakopita was about a six-inch equilateral triangle, and the soutzoukakia was the only item that wasn't portioned for gorillas.

Back to the cold restaurant again. The avgolemono soup was, unfortunately, a mere preview of what was to come. Except for my soutzoukakia, all items were still colder than room temperature. Although I didn't see it, Matt said he saw our server put both our plates into a microwave - unfortunately, she didn't microwave them long enough. The meal was somehow feeling "cramped and rushed," even though our server was delightful, and I'm not sure I can explain why (Matt agreed with me on the way out).

You might think I'm going to trash Mykonos, but I'm not. It was a frigid evening, there were no customers, and I suspect the three or four people working there desperately wanted to close and get the heck home (it had begun to snow as we walked out to the car). I only took a few bites of my meal; Matt finished maybe half of his, and we got two styrofoam containers which we filled up to the brim.

Later that evening, I got hungry, and microwaved most of my dinner. As I pretty much knew at the time, this food was very good with the notable exception of the spanakopita. When it was hot, it was just fine, and the mousaka and pastichio had clearly been oven-baked at some earlier point in time.

So while our experience was sub-par (wonderful server aside), it was all due to external factors, and the food itself is certainly something I would get again as carryout - these items (other than the spanakopita) all microwave very well.

A Yelper would trash this as a one-star meal; but that's just not the case. Mykonos serves perfectly decent homestyle Greek food - I remember from before that I enjoyed it, and, other than it becoming a bit more run-down over the years, and tragically being out of all their interesting beers, this meal was a one-off. This place is a mom-n-pop that, while not outstanding by any means, is certainly "good."

[MarkS]

Don

While I am not proud I work down the block from Mykonos and generally avoid lunch as the time comitment is too large, Mykonos is one of my go to places when I go to lunch in Reston.  Food is generally fresh, unlike your experience and the parking much easier the Reston town center,

[DonRocks]

Will be interested to see how that development turns out. Wonder what restaurants or stores will be in either the Reston International Center or Wiehle Avenue Metro that will draw people

lion's post reminded me: Mykonos is closed, and has been replaced by Sweet Heat BBQ. I had at least one pretty solid meal at Mykonos (it used to be rated in Italics in the Dining Guide), but the last time I went (over a year ago), it was so empty-dreary that it felt like I was in a haunted house.

Hey, Al Dente, you should try this place, man:

[lion]

lion's post reminded me: Mykonos is closed, and has been replaced by Sweet Heat BBQ. I had at least one pretty solid meal at Mykonos (it used to be rated in Italics in the Dining Guide), but the last time I went (over a year ago), it was so empty-dreary that it felt like I was in a haunted house.

Hey, Al Dente, you should try this place, man:

Screenshot 2015-06-09 at 21.18.43.png

Dangerous to know that's nearby and open seven days a week!