RESTAURANT REVIEW

JOANNA B. LEWIS
Restaurant Critic
December 23, 2005

Let’s Go Out

Sorrento Grill:
Healthy Mediterranean Cuisine

Located in the Clock Tower Shopping Center, after Elden Street becomes Centreville Road, the Sorrento Grill is just under the clock tower. It's tucked into a corner, and is a small, 60-seat, self-serve restaurant.

I went there expecting to find a kebab house and was very surprised to learn they are much more than that. While they serve kebabs, which are excellent, their emphasis is on healthy food.

They serve a very healthy cuisine, without anything heavy, including spices, to allow the quality of the food to shine through.

Almost anyone can cook delicious food with butter and salt and spices. To make food delicious without those ingredients is quite another challenge.

Salt and pepper are used, along with olive oil, and that is pretty much the basis of the flavor, except for the tabbouleh and falafel, which contain a large amount of parsley. Dill is also used, as well as some cilantro and garlic.

The cuisine is exotic but fresh and simple. It relies on local ingredients, seafood, poultry and meat, vegetables, as well as abundant produce and grains. The Mediterranean diet has been proven to lower cholesterol, and wine is part of this equation. They serve wine and beer.

Appetizers are mesclun and Caesar salads, the soup of the day, stuffed grape leaves, tabbouleh, hummus, shirzai salad, falafel with tahini sauce, grilled shrimp and an exquisite grilled eggplant dip topped with yogurt sauce. The use of black pepper in this dish has caused me to reevaluate my own use of the ingredient. It is used abundantly, and provides a heat that feels nothing like that of the chilies or cayenne generally used to generate heat. It is quite remarkable, similar to baba ganoush. If you like eggplant, be sure to try it.

They offer a number of vegetarian platters, salad entrees—a salade Nicoise caught my eye, not often available, topped with Albacore tuna or grilled salmon for an entree—gourmet wraps and a number of grilled kebabs.

I sampled the chicken, lamb, beef, and shrimp kebabs, and all are spectacular. I thought the shrimp and salmon kebabs were exceptionally good.
There are combo grill platters and grill and salad platters.

They offer a daily special that is not to be missed. Monday, the special is chicken stew, Tuesday is lamb stew, Wednesday braised chicken, Thursday fresh herbs and lamb stew, Friday lamb shanks, and on Saturday and Sunday lamb chops and salad platter are featured at $14.
Most specials, except the lamb chops, are in the $7 to $9 range.

There is a group of diners who call themselves the "Friday Lamb Shank Club" because they enjoy the entree so much they meet there on Fridays.

I was there on a Monday and found it hard to pace myself with the chicken stew. I knew I had to save room to sample a large number of dishes, but the taste was so delicious I kept returning to it.

The Wednesday braised chicken with barberries was a quarter of a chicken in a lovely garlic and tomato sauce. The barberries are grown only in Iran, and added an interesting counterpoint to the dish, a sweet and sour note.

I found the falafel and tabbouleh to have much more parsley than found in other versions of these dishes. The falafel is a bright green because of the amount of parsley, and the tabbouleh contains very little bugler wheat. The baklava is a very large portion for $2.30, which is a low price for this dessert.

They make their pita daily, and offer a roller, a wrap made of their homemade pita and a choice of chicken, beef or ground beef, for children at $3.25. They serve rice on the children's platter. Their rice is spectacular—basmati rice steamed and topped with saffron.

While this is a self serve restaurant, without tablecloths of any kind the food is worth whatever special effort it might take to dine there.

A new restaurant is opening in a food court in Ashburn, the middle of next year. Look for its opening, and if you live to the west, give it a try. Prices are low, and the food is excellent as well as healthy.

Loudoun's Next Favorite Spot!
By STEFANIE CARDONE and DONNA HICKMAN

When you walk into Sorrento Grill in Ashburn, your first impression is most certainly WOW! When leaving, you can't help think, "Why have I never been here before?" The decor is beautiful, complete with a large water feature toward the center of the restaurant. Its soothing white noise helps to create an intimate dining experience (and successfully drowns out all others in earshot). There is a modern, yet warm bar area complete with plasma TV, fantastic happy hour specials and a handsome leather lounging section.

The menu is more than fairly priced and the food is PHENOMENAL! From unique wine selections to amazing Creme Brule, Jay and David, the managers, have put their all into making this restaurant a soon to be favorite for Loudoun residents. They took a moment to chat with us in between warmly greeting their regulars. "Our goal is and always will be delivering fresh, healthy, delicious food. We want people to come here if they are training for a marathon and need a meal high in carbohydrates, if they are on a diet and need a low carbohydrate, low fat meal, if they want to have a bite with the kids or for an intimate, romantic evening out. There is something for everyone."

We recommend the red pepper hummus served with delicious warm pita bread and any of the kabobs. The lamb chops are outstanding and the vegetables and salad are incredible, complete with lightly grilled tomatoes (a nice touch).

Sorrento Grill has two locations in both Ashburn and Herndon. The Ashburn location, on Waxpool Road, is easy to pass since the restaurant is set back off the road in a newer shopping center. It is located between the Embassy Suites and Guardian Storage. Once you dine there, it will most definitely become a regular trip. Visit Sorrento Grill tomorrow! You will be glad you did!

Sorrento Grill Herndon (Clocktower Shopping Center)- 2443 Centreville Road Herndon, VA 20171 (703) 793-8030 Ashburn-44460 Waxpool Road Ashburn, VA 20147 (703) 729-6999 www.sorrentogrill.com

Northern Virginia Magazine Review
(May 2006)
By Warren Rojas

The homey Sorrento Grill provides fresh-tasting favorites that are short on flash but full of authentic flavor.

Nothing on the menu climbs above the $15 mark, and most individual entrees or combo meals remain under $11. Twin scoops of rich red pepper hummus ($3.50) are the perfect companion for the fresh baked flat breads passed out with every meal. An order of falafel ($3.95) brings three snowballs of fried herbs accompanied by a zippy tahini sauce (a traditional cucumber-yogurt blend). A grilled lamb wrap ($6.95) bears slivers of roast lamb mixed with diced tomatoes, onions and herbs, all wrapped in a warm pita (the entire bundle gets that much better when you add any leftover tahini sauce). The kubideh, a strip of moist ground beef, is always flavorful and filling, whereas an often zesty boneless chicken breast sometimes emerges from the grill a tad too dry. Additional grill selections include filet mignon, lamb, salmon and shrimp kabobs, and virtually every specialty kabob comes with an abundance of roasted vegetables, as well as rice or additional oven-baked flat breads.

Meanwhile, an order of the golden baklava ($2.38), an extra flaky pastry made up of chopped nuts and phyllo, virtually bleeds honey (very dense and very sweet).

Sorrento Grill: A tasty food adventure
By Michael Birchenall
08/20/2003

It's a Friday afternoon and the scene in the Sorrento Grill is vibrant. A constant flow of carryout patrons and diners are enjoying a meal in the bright modern decor of a suburban shopping center eatery.

There's nothing fancy or pretentious about Sorrento Grill; it's just a place where you can pick up, rather quickly, a hot, fresh, well-seasoned meal that is both filling and tasty. It's a place where you come in expecting something good to eat and you leave with your expectations not only met but surpassed. What more can you ask for?

At first glance the Grill is a kabob house--the freshly made kabobs appear to fly out of the kitchen and you can see your selection being cooked to order. The menu covers the other areas of the Mediterranean with items like a Tuscan wrap (albacore tuna with mesclun greens, grilled tomatoes and onion) and the grilled salmon wrap (this served with a marinated salmon and fresh herbs). You can enjoy a refreshing Tabouleh salad or a delicious Moroccan-Spiced Caponata with its minced zucchini, basil yellow squash, eggplant, tomatoes, onions and bell peppers seasoned with allspice, cumin, ginger and cayenne served with fresh baked pita bread. The veggies are freshly cut and mixed and the spices generous and properly in balance for a great value start to a meal at $3.45.

But it's the kabobs I always come back to. My favorite is the lamb shish kabob, of course. The lamb cubes are freshly grilled, the meat flavorful and tender enough for a kabob. It's served over a wonderfully fragrant basmati rice (or you can get it with bread alone). All the meals come with a half order of the freshly baked pita that comes from their clay oven; you can see the orders of bread continuously being prepared during the busy meal periods. It is a wonderful way to have the appetite stimulated while you enjoy your bread with its yogurt/cucumber dip while you wait for your meal.

The Kubideh is a deftly seasoned ground sirloin and you can order a combo if you like. The kabobs can also be ordered with chicken and filet tenderloin or in any combination. There is even a grilled salmon kabob.

The cuisine of the Mediterranean used to be considered exotic by many, but, in our ethnically diverse communities of the Washington, D.C., area, it is another tasty food adventure made with authentic ingredients and served fresh to an appreciative consumer. The Sorrento Grill takes advantage of that market demand and goes a step further with meticulous care in preparation, using obviously fresh ingredients and serving it all with a smile.

They may be busy, but a friendly attitude is never too much to expect at the Grill. That makes a winning combination--in any cuisine.
 

International Cuisine
Staff
07/04/2001

Sorrento Grill
2443 Centreville Road, Herndon
703-793-8030

This exotic yet casual Restaurant has the friendliest hosts and the most delicious and nutritious entrees immaginable. The offerings include such items as Mediterranean salad with chicken and pita bread (baked daily on the premises) and dill sauce. The meals are delectable works of art that are not only pleasing to the taste but also beautifully presented.