Sunflower Vegetarian, Vienna, VA

After having recently dined at Sunflower Vegetarian in Falls Church, I decided to check out their other location in Vienna, Virginia. I thought it would be really close to Tysons Corner, but it turned out to be much further away than I expected. Finally, we saw their green and yellow awnings over yonder in the two-story building and turned in with anticipation.

Inside, it's a medium-sized restaurant with small wood tables. Sunflowers adorned everything -- as it is their signature flower. This all-vegetarian restaurant has just a few non-vegan items, which are clearly marked. Yes, the non-vegan items are marked -- I love that.

I really enjoyed the dish I got at the Falls Church location so I really had to try hard to find something I thought I'd like as much at this location. They seem big on the faux meats here, which aren't my favorite thing. I'm more of a vegetable dish person myself. This is where our server came in. As we described what we were looking for, she helped us identify what we might like. With her help, we placed our orders.

The restaurant was really cold this day. I mean, really cold. I didn't even want to take off my knit hat. They obviously saw how cold I was as they suggested I order a cup of tea.  I went for a funky tea that was mix of mu, earl grey, ginger, and burdock. It was very unusual, but I liked it.

For my lunch, I ordered the Kale and Burdock Deluxe that came with lots of kale, burdock (a root vegetable), organic tofu skins, seitan, and chickpeas in a light ginger sauce. As simple as it was, it was just what I needed. It felt cleansing and the ginger sauce was quite mild. I asked if they had any hot peppers and they brought me fresh hot peppers that were burn-your-ass-off hot. They added just the right amount of spice to my dish.

Chris ordered the vegan General Tso's Magic, which came with steamed broccoli.  They have a non-vegan version as well so be careful when ordering. These crispy chunks of soy protein were tossed and cooked in a hot kung-pao sauce and served with sliced carrots. I thought it was pretty good, but I'm generally not a big fan of deep-fried dishes. Chris proclaimed that it was better than the same dish at Vegetable Garden. That's a lofty statement -- but, he really, really liked it.

We had to flag our server down to get our check, but it is a casual veg restaurant so I don't expect top-of-the-line stellar service. I have to say that I am very excited to have found that they greatly improved their dishes over the past few years. We found both of our dishes, moderately priced at around $10 each, to be quite good and very filling. The atmosphere is inviting, minus the cold temperature, and the drinks are good too.  I think this is a great place to schedule a get-together with veg and non-veg friends.  Now, it is time for them to open one in DC. A girl can dream, can't she?

Sunflower Vegetarian
2531 Chain Bridge Road
Vienna, VA 22181
(703) 319-3888