Severe lack of fast food options in this area (Reston: shopping center, metro area)

[NOVAsMexican]

Originally Posted by queenswake

I'm specifically talking about the Alexandria area bounded by 395 and 495. It's incredible how such a huge, dense geographic area has so few options for fast food. As of a couple of years ago, there is not even a single Wendy's in this region, no KFC, no Burger King, no Taco Bell outside of a mall. And few options even bordering this region.

I heard that Chipotle is demoing a new Asian takeout concept, so that could be interesting. Since everyone likes Chipotle, maybe this will spread too.

I know what you are saying but there use to be a Wendys down on duke and quaker. That got torn down tho. There is also one on Van Dorn. As far as I am concerned there is no Burger King, tacobell, KFC (Expect the one in del rey) etc in the City of Alexandria (Outside of landmark mall). Everything is just outside the city limits. Its sucks sometimes but at I personally prefer the countless "call in / take out not so fancy restaurants in the west end.

Always thought someone would make a killing if they opened up a burger king around here

[persnicketygal]

There's a McDonald's in Del Ray, too.
But I think it might have something to do with Alexandria's zoning laws -- it wouldn't surprise me to find out that they have serious restrictions on drive-throughs and that the folks on the zoning board love their Old Town so much they turn their noses up at fast-food places, even though there is (or was) a Popeyes/Bojangles kind of place on King Street. Wasn't there a Wendy's at the edge of Old Town several years ago that's now closed?

Even on Duke Street, from between the G.W. Masonic Temple going north past the strip mall with Giant and Baja Fresh, and up to where that Wendy's was, there's still only a McDonald's.
Which is quite strange to me -- it's not like that's an "Old Town" kind of location.

[Alicia Bradley]

Originally Posted by michgc

A good local chain is California Tortilla. It's similar to Baja Fresh. It started in Bethesda and has expaneded into Pennsylvania and Delaware as well as DC, MD, and VA. It's very good.

I like California Tortilla, too. I got in a bad habit of using the California Tortilla in College Park for dinner every evening during an especially lazy period of my life (back in '07, I believe). I caused a minor kerfuffle at that location when I asked them to leave the 'pico de gallo' (you know, the onion-y fresh salsa) off my black bean tacos. The guy waiting on me wouldn't drop the issue (even after I wised up and called it 'salsa'), either.. he kept marveling over how 'he'd just never heard anyone use that word before.' I delicately extracted myself from the awkward conversation by explaining that I was from "um, west of [t]here." Let him think it was California, if it resulted in less psychic dissonance for him. I just wanted my tacos.

[stpickrell]

In Vienna:
2 McDonald's (well one is getting remodeled)
Wendy's
Subway
Taco Bell
Popeye's
KFC

Fast casual:
Panera (coming soon)
Chipotle
Noodles & Co.
Foster's Grille

[foursixtwo]

Originally Posted by Alicia Bradley

I honestly think *most* of the eating responsible for all American obesity cases viewed as one huge (ouch.. no pun intended) data set is the bingeing that takes place in the privacy of people's own homes (or even cubes/workspaces, sometimes). Our sense of scale governing what constitutes a *normal* amount of food to be eaten for <snack1/snack2/lunch/snack3/before-bed snack/whatever> has gotten really out-of-whack. Obviously, not helping is that the number of calories in the typical McDonald's combo meal (for instance) - not to mention the typical Great American Restaurant (Coastal Flats, whatever) special - far exceeds what anyone should be consuming in one sitting. But people are WAY more likely to be irresponsible (with eating or any other behavior) to ridiculously egregious degrees in private than in public.

You do have a point about bingeing being a private activity. Not just bingeing, though. I've struggled with disordered eating most of my life, and it works that way across the board. A bulimic doesn't announce that she is about to go vomit. An anorexic doesn't tell you that she's only eaten an apple all day and even then she's worried that it had too many calories, she just says she already had lunch. And a binge eater will eat a reasonable meal in company and THEN go home to eat a bag of chips, three granola bars and some leftover pizza all alone.

Drive-thrus totally enable this, because you can order 2 full adult meals, or more, and eat them both yourself in your car without anyone else being the wiser. The clerk at the window will probably assume you're taking the second meal home to someone else, unless you're extremely large. Most people would never ever order 2 meals for themselves and then sit to eat them both in the dining room, in full view of humanity, even at a fairly lowbrow place like McDonald's. I feel like humans evolved to eat communally, and had norms in place to govern that communal eating experience (when we weren't starving, of course)...but now that eating is so often a solo activity, if you have any sort of bad relationship with food at all, it's very very easy to slip into disordered behavior. Fast food doesn't cause this, but certainly exacerbates it.

Anyway, that's all off-topic. I once lived in a city with a drive-thru Subway, and that was pretty awesome.

[Jlyles]

Alexandria's been quite cranky with sign restrictions, etc. That said, they make their own exceptions for long-time owners and the landscape requirements are quite nice and seem to "prove" that they appreciate the curb appeal.

Originally Posted by persnicketygal

There's a McDonald's in Del Ray, too.
But I think it might have something to do with Alexandria's zoning laws -- it wouldn't surprise me to find out that they have serious restrictions on drive-throughs and that the folks on the zoning board love their Old Town so much they turn their noses up at fast-food places, even though there is (or was) a Popeyes/Bojangles kind of place on King Street. Wasn't there a Wendy's at the edge of Old Town several years ago that's now closed?

Even on Duke Street, from between the G.W. Masonic Temple going north past the strip mall with Giant and Baja Fresh, and up to where that Wendy's was, there's still only a McDonald's.
Which is quite strange to me -- it's not like that's an "Old Town" kind of location.

[saganista]

Originally Posted by stpickrell

In Vienna:
2 McDonald's (well one is getting remodeled)
Wendy's
Subway
Taco Bell
Popeye's
KFC

Actually, there's just one McDonald's -- the one in the Cedar Park shopping center. The two on 123 are each just on the county side of the town line. The Town Council zoned out free-standing fast food joints back in the 1960's or so. Also car dealers, so there aren't any of those at all. There were already two fast food places open at the time -- Roy Rogers IIRC which is now Wendy's, and Colonel Sanders which is now KFC. They got grandfathered in. The Taco Bell was for decades the town donut shop, but when the proprietor finally retired, nobody else wanted the place, so the Council reluctantly gave in.

Originally Posted by stpickrell

Fast casual:
Panera (coming soon)
Chipotle
Noodles & Co.
Foster's Grille

The Greek Grill, Skorpios, Church Street Pizza, Tara Thai, Johnny's Pizza, Joe's Place, Natta Thai, Hunan Delight (very good), Anita's, Maple Avenue Restaurant (newish), Wolftrap Deli (very good), Barbeque Country, Italian Gourmet, Tequilla Grandé, Cenan's, Neighbor's, El Punto Hispano, Peking Express, The Virginian, Jerry's, and of course...THE VIENNA INN.

[michgc]

Actually, the "Madison McDonald's" is within the Town limits. Here is an article about the renovation. In it, it states the McDonald's became part of the Town in 1993 when the boundaries were redrawn.

"Madison McDonald's" Gets A Facelift - Vienna, VA Patch

Originally Posted by saganista

Actually, there's just one McDonald's -- the one in the Cedar Park shopping center. The two on 123 are each just on the county side of the town line. The Town Council zoned out free-standing fast food joints back in the 1960's or so. Also car dealers, so there aren't any of those at all. There were already two fast food places open at the time -- Roy Rogers IIRC which is now Wendy's, and Colonel Sanders which is now KFC. They got grandfathered in. The Taco Bell was for decades the town donut shop, but when the proprietor finally retired, nobody else wanted the place, so the Council reluctantly gave in.


The Greek Grill, Skorpios, Church Street Pizza, Tara Thai, Johnny's Pizza, Joe's Place, Natta Thai, Hunan Delight (very good), Anita's, Maple Avenue Restaurant (newish), Wolftrap Deli (very good), Barbeque Country, Italian Gourmet, Tequilla Grandé, Cenan's, Neighbor's, El Punto Hispano, Peking Express, The Virginian, Jerry's, and of course...THE VIENNA INN.

[saganista]

Originally Posted by michgc

Actually, the "Madison McDonald's" is within the Town limits. Here is an article about the renovation. In it, it states the McDonald's became part of the Town in 1993 when the boundaries were redrawn.

Wow...thanks! I remember all the boundary tweaks and land swaps with the County back in 1993, but I hadn't realized that the McDonald's had been absorbed. Both the 123 McD's are where they are because that's as close to the town as they could get when they were built. For a while there was an enclosed McDonald's downtown in the last slot of what is now becoming the Panera building east of Magruder's. It didn't last so long though. The one in Cedar Park is also enclosed, and it's been there for a pretty long time now. Used to be a High's Dairy store.

[tylerSC]

Originally Posted by chariega

THANK YOU OP!!! I thought I was the only one who thought this area had relatively few fast food options. Some days you need something quick and don't really have time to get out of the car, wait in line, etc, so it would be good to have a little more variety for quick/drive-thru places. This place has WAYYYYY too many McDonald's. There are about 5 within a ONE MILE RADIUS of my house and that's nuts!

I'd love to see a Sonic, Checkers, a CHICK FIL-A (for the love of GOD, can I get one near Kingstowne ugh!!), drive-thru Arby's, and a COOK OUT <---that would be PHENOMENAL! omnomnom!

The reason there are too many McDonalds is because they bought all of the old Roy Rogers from Hardees and doubled their locations. But there are some Roy's remaining in NoVa and Md and they are slowly expanding again. Bring back more Roy Rogers. Great variety - roast beef, burgers, chicken, and a once dominant local/regional chain.