The Block

This is review is strictly based on the anti customer practices that the owners are implementing from long time ago, they are aware about this issue and they are doing nothing to change it. They created a greedy parking situation where they are forcing all customers (even take out ones) to pay valet parking if you want to buy their food, they didn’t leave at least one spot for take out customers, and if you park behind the restaurant, even at 10pm when no one is working at any office/building and all the parking spots are empty, you will be towed almost immediately, that’s what happened to me last week and it took less than 10 minutes to grab my food and when I was coming back to my car, it was being towed, the tow guy forced me to pay 50$ and he pointed out that there are signs and cameras all the way around, but I would say, this is clearly a scam between the tow company and the owners, you should help your customers to give you business, not the opposite, no place in Tysons does this, and you are not a luxury or a Michelin restaurant. Your food could be good, but the only way to stop this to keep happening is not going anymore. UPDATE: I appreciate the owner getting this issue solved and taking care of their customers. It is quite clear that the parking situation is very complicated but the restaurant provided a practical solution. The food is quite excellent as I mentioned before. Thank you again 👍

We love the Block.. The food, quality, pricing, time to prepare, …. and many many other factors make us regular customers to them.. we can’t skip it if we are around the block, any time during the day we always make the stop and order food!! Enas has been helping us all the time and we love her smile and warm welcoming vibe which a big win to the BLOCK.. if you are hungry or want food to go!! This is your place !!!

This palace is just beyond amazing, everything you order is simply amazing. Zaatar, cheese, pastirma, sujuk, kafta kabab l, lahm bi ajin. The chef Jihad and Amani and everyone who works here will make your experience just amazing. We will be definitely coming back again here next time we are in town!!!

The Block has one of the best Manakeesh dough in the region, and their Manakeesh are often great but here are a few key points: - The Zaatar + Cheese combo is always amazing, definitely the best item. The Cheese man’ouche is also always good. - The Kafta pide used to be fantastic but quality has dropped over the years. First, the size shrank since 2021. Second, the used to evenly spread a thin layer of Kafta below the Cheese but now it is a few pieces here and there. Third, the Kafta used to taste like the authentic Lebanese Kafta but now it is a bit closer to spiced ground meat than Kafta. I wish they go back to where it was, it was quite fanatstic, now it is a hit and miss. - The Taouk is pretty good. - The Lahm baajin is not great. It lacks the Lebanese mix with tomatoes and onions, and it tastes more like a meat pie not a Lebanese Lahm baajin. - The place often lacks consistency, some times items can be a big miss. - They often forget items. - Prices are high for the DMV. - Zaatar mix is good but not as fantastic as the authentic Lebanese one. If they just improve their Kafta and Meat, while also becoming consistent with better pricing, they would become the best in the DMV.

I heard of this place for a bit and finally had a chance to tried it with my roommate. The parking was a bit awkward but later found out that both the brick oven and sandwich place are the same but parking might be difficult for first timers. The staff were somewhat friendly and there were plenty of options despite being halal joint. I tried beef shawarma calzone and my roommate got sujuk pide(which I'm pretty sure I keep butchering how it's pronounced) it took a bit longer than what they said(10-15min but more like 20-25min) the sujuk was great but the calzone was but doughy and the topping was wasn't packed evenly. It was too packed in the middle and too little on the edges. I'd recommend it to anyone who has a strict halal diet but anyone else, try with a grain of salt. Oh and they offer classic halal dishes outside of Italian food. Which was a definite bonus.