Lebanese Taverna

Amazing service and great food!! I usually go to their Pentagon City location so today was my first visit here Sat outside enjoying the weather. Great, attentive service. Food delicious! The ouzi was a huge portion, plenty more for 2nd meal. Same as kafta kabobs (it's nice to have your meal grilled to a certain level as well!)

Had an amazing experience with the takeout from here. The shawarma was grilled to perfection, with spices that sang with authentic Lebanese flavor. Paired with fluffy, fragrant rice and smooth, rich hummus, each bite was a delight. The salad was fresh and zesty, and the pita bread, warm and inviting. It’s hard to find food this good outside of Lebanon. Can’t wait to go back for more!

Excellent service and delicious food. Amazing people, special thanks to server Sanisha and the manager. Make you feel home. Great taste👍🏼 A++

It's one of my favorite Lebanese restaurants. My friends don't like it much and believe that it's overpriced. Love the bread and zaatar Love the lentil Soup I love the taboule They have a lot of good options, I love almost everything they have except for the grilled things (mix grill.. shishtawook.. kofta.. etc. ) those are dry and not the best. Parking available

This place sets the standard for Lebanese cuisine in the DMV. This location has a family friendly and casual vibe. The complimentary bread and zaatar are a nice touch, the humus trio is the stuff dreams are made of.

I really enjoyed this place. I had the mixed platter. It was very good. Service was great. Decor was nice. I think this is the original location. I would definitely recommend this place.

Lebanese Taverna is an upscale restaurant in Arlington serving traditional and gourmet Medditranean fare. Inside the restaurant they have dimmed lights and black tablecloths. The servers will quickly bring you hot pita bread while you survey the tempting menu that includes shawarma sandwiches, salads, and gourmet entrees. The chicken shawarma sandwich was chockfull of warm, juicy meat with a traditional yogurt dressing and fresh vegetables. The only problem with Lebanese Taverna is that staff is very slow preparing your food. Don't expect to get out of here in less than an hour and a half.

Clean good food. We got hummus and falafel appetizer for takeout. The pita bread was fresh, the hummus was creamy and tasty. Husband loved falafel. Happy with the experience.

I brought some friends to Lebanese Taverna for a birthday dinner, and we had a fantastic meal with wonderful service. We loved the lemony, crispy camel wings, the beef and lamb kibbeh with tangy lebneh, the delicious shrimp kabab, the excellent rice pilaf, and of course the puffy fresh pita bread. Our server Mustapha was kind and attentive, making us feel very welcome. They brought my friend a birthday dessert surprise that was the perfect end to the meal!

Had a great lunch here yesterday. Authentic food. Very, very good. We had many appetizers and meals. I recommend the grape leaves - super good and not rough - and the lamb and artichoke stew. Premium lamb no fat. Cooked to perfection. The rice pilaf was great too. Excellent server and quaint site. The original ! We have eaten at Tyson's and pentagon city too but this site is the best.

Wonderful service from Mustapha. The food was delicious. They brought me baklava and ice cream to celebrate my birthday without a request. Really enjoyed the experience.

Pita bread tastes amazing! Especially eat it hot, when you tear it open you can see the unique velvet texture inside (like many threads). The salad with parsley tastes very refreshing. Beside, the entrees are mostly kabobs or lamb leg, though not surprising, but definitely at good quality.

As the other reviews of the other Arlington, Lebanese taverna shows not every taverna is rated the same. But this one I can say is top notch. I've ordered from here more than a handful of times, and each time I received food that was not only perfectly seasoned and hot. I like my Mediterranean food hot. I usually order the chicken kebab that comes with rice pita, and some grilled veggies. I've never had a complaint about how juicy my chicken was and I've never had a complaint about anything in the food or the veggies not being chard well. I've never eaten in the restaurant so I can't speak to the service or to the ambience of the establishment or how well the dotations compliment the food, but I can say that their delivery is quick and easy and they make picking up their food from the restaurant and even simpler process. I would definitely recommend this place if you're looking for a quick bite to eat and do you like Mediterranean food!

Some colleagues at my last job and I went here while they were in town. We ordered the hummus trio, pumpkin kibbeh, calamari, grape leaves and falafel and shawarma rolls. We received everything but the hummus trio. Somehow that never made it to the table. Honestly, we were so busy catching up that we didn't realize it until we 3/4 the way through everything else. The calamari was overcooked and I was unhappy when I bit into a fried lemon. I thought it was a potato. The star of our food was definitely the pumpkin kibbeh. Wow. Super delicious. The rest of it was fine. Nothing spectacular. We had to ask them to take the hummus off the bill since it was never delivered. Overall decent experience. I have been to this location a few times and definitely have had better food and service when wi was here a couple of years ago.

Food was not good although it is a nice restaurant and the service was good. The hummus was ok, but the tzatziki was very disappointing, lacking flavor, very heavy on yogurt and extremely light on cucumber and served with a drench olive oil (if you enjoy the Zaytina version this is not that). The pita recipe seems to have changed, not for the better, now crispy. The shawarma sandwich was not quite edible; poorly assembled with shards of char, nothing imparting the flavor of meat. There may have been some version of a tahini sauce on the meat. The sandwich assembly packed lettuce at the bottom of a crunchy pita with poor quality tomatoes and some pickled onion; served with good fries but the ketchup had an odd very flavor that was not pleasant. Might be time to review recipes and preparation here given the quality of Lebanese and Mediterranean food that can now found in the DMV.

This location does not honor their menu prices. We ordered a $71 family platter and they charged us $90. When we showed them this menu they said "WE DON'T CONTROL YELP!" Would not give us the proper price. Don't go here unless you want to be ripped off!

Recently my mom and I visited this location, the original Lebanese Taverna. My mom talked about visiting here in the 80s with fellow teachers and developing a love of the food. This is a tried and true location. The hardest part about this visit was deciding what to order and thus what not to order, it just all sounds so good. The bread and olive oil is awesome as are the hommus options and of course the baba ghanoush. These with grape leaves and a lamb dish and I am in heaven. Add to this the wonderful service and well, this is as good as it gets. The parking can be interesting, we watched several folks enter the parking lot through the exit only side making for some entertainment while enjoying our meal. Thankfully, when it was our time to leave there were no issues and we were even able to take a relatively easy left turn out of the lot. While it is easier to visit the Tyson's Galleria location this is my favorite spot and certainly worth a visit if you are already a fan of the fare or even if you never tried it before.

One star for thin, dry, old tasting chicken shuarma. Also, the shuarma rolls were the worst food I've ever had. Shame shame shame on this place for feeding customers old food. I do not recommend for quality of food. Waiter was friendly.

everything was amazing this is the best restaurant in the whole world. The ambiance was off the roof amazing. I had the chicken shawarma was amazing juicy and tasted like heaven. I highly advise people to go here. My server was awesome she gave our food out very fast.

We ordered a delivery and didn't dine in so I can't speak about the ambiance. We tried the falafel sandwich with fries, Kibbeh, and the shawarma rolls. The shawarma roll are A MUST TRY!! The falafel are perfect, the kibbeh was great, and nothing much to say about the fries. They're just your regular fries.

We came as a family of 3 for dinner one evening. The ( maybe owner?) showed us to our table- not much of a welcome but we had a lovely server. The food was amazing- we ordered 6 starters for the 3 of us and it was amazing- tons of food and loads of variety. The bread is amazing! My 4 year old tried lots of things and we had a lovely time. I can highly recommend the tzatziki, labneh, pickles and shawarma sandwiches. The prawns were ok- not my fave. THE BREAD! Was delicious and there was plenty m. My kid ate lots of it with the dips. Great price point. They also seemed to be doing tons of take out business so we will check it out for take away soon!

I've been coming here for 20+ years and I'll continue to do so until I no longer can. They have been a staple in my family with their great food and warm atmosphere. The kibbeh is second to none I get it every time.

Great family style restaurant with competent and polite staff. We had many appetizers and shared several main dishes. All were excellent! We enjoyed a wonderful family birthday dinner and discovered some great new Lebanese white wines!

The original location. Still the best. Consistently, great food, wonderful hosts, warm environment, convenient location, Lebanese Taverna hit all the right spots for me (again) this week. I had not been here since pre-pandemic and happy to report that nothing changed. It's still a wonderful place to eat a superb meal at an affordable price. I always prefer their mezza's (small plates) that can easily be shared with all of my table mates. My favorites are the garlic hommus, falafel, kibbeh, maanek, tabouleh and taverna salad, but you won't go wrong with anything here. Btw, the pita bread is always hot and absolutely delicious--be careful -- its tempting, but don't make a meal out of them. We ate with some friends this time, and they insisted on entrees, rather than multiple small plates, so I was able to enjoy (for the first time) the Lamb and Chicken Fatteh. Add a bottle of their Lebanese wines and we had a phenomenal, tasty and enjoyable meal. Also before you leave, read the back of the menu about this family-owned business story -- here is an American success story. Best wishes.

Stumbled upon this place because it's one of the few places with open patios right now. My family and I were very pleasantly surprised. The restaurant is located in a very charming neighborhood in Arlington with ample street parking near by. We ordered camel wings, falafel, lebneh, chicken samosas and chicken shawarma salad. Everything was absolutely delicious! The wings were some of the best lemon flavor I've ever had, the sauce they come with are to die for. I've never had lebneh before tonight but it was amazing with the fresh bread they brought out. I ordered entrees to go and I honestly can't wait to get home and try them. I will be back to this little gem very soon. The cocktails and sangria were very tasty as well!

Parking was tight for about 10 minutes, with only a handful of spaces in front of the restaurant & try your luck parking on the street. We sat by the window giving us a view of Washington Boulevard. We were pleasantly served by Mohammad, who went the extra mile to ensure his Vegan customers were well taking care of. The General Manager even made a visit to our table to ensure all was well. This location seemed to be quainter then the other locations I've been to. Yet, the ambience oozed an atmosphere of friends & family with dim lighting & music providing a warm & welcoming balance. Our quick dinner consisted of the Garlic Hommus from the infamous Hommus Bar, the Mehshi - a grilled Eggplant dish & an order of Pickled Vegetables. I'm a big fan of pickled veggies, yet this version didn't do it for me & Mohammad was more than understanding in taking it back...he was persistent as a positive trying to find me something else to try. I appreciate the depth of the menu & the serving/kitchen staff being so friendly to accommodate anyone's preference. Food came out fresh & delightful & on top of good service, we enjoyed ourselves.

Manager is super disrespectful and hung up the phone on me and refused to give me his name!

Absolutely a fantastic meal! The chef cooked the lamb kabobs to perfection. The vegetables were melt in your mouth. The hot bread with toum was delectable. Absolutely worth stopping in. The service was as good as the meal prepared by their excellent chef.

The best Middle Eastern Food in Virginia. Great Ambiance, just an all around enjoyable place to eat fine dining. Best humus and bread to start off with. I have had one of everything on the menu and all were equally delicious. They know how to run a professional business, constant quality food, all homemade I think. One of my favorite places to eat.

The best hummus I have ever had by far!! The bread that is served with hummus is soft and crispy, yes Delicious. I am from Atlanta, can't wait to come back here on my next trip

The Hommus is lovely. The shwarma is most excellent. The lamb stew (I'm told) was also excellent. Cocktail was just okay. Food comes out quick and the atmosphere is comfortable and welcoming. I've been passing this place for years. My family moved to Arlington in the mid 90s and I've gone off to college and moved to a different time zone since then, but I have always wanted to try this place and I finally did..... all those years of food I have been missing :( I'm quite perplexed by the prices though. Sure, they're on par with Arlington "nice dinner" prices, but for this type of food it should really not be as expensive. They must be making a killing charging what they do. Food is definitely delicious, but the price means I won't be going very often.

While we have enjoyed the Lebanese Traverna in Tysons, this location is odd and... just not good. My family's food culture is Mediterranean; we know what Lebanese food should taste like. The Latino staff, while amiable, clearly had no idea what the food should be like. The kofta was a strange, congealed mess. The coffee was dreadful. We didn't finish our food. When we asked for butter with our bread, the waiter's initial response was that there was no butter. He went off to search and never came back. We flagged down a helpful waitress, who quickly found the butter.

Second time we've been here. The first time was around dinner time great food great service. This time early lunch. Definitely the B crew. Lacking attention and I clearly asked for no onions. Surprise my food was filled with onions. This place is pricey so I expected my order to be right. Definitely disappointed.

Kabobs were delicious! CHICKEN FARROUJ was out of this world! Great little spot with good and quick service!

Always our go-to for decades when friends and family come to town. One of the top neighborhood restaurants in all of Arlington. Treated like family, always.

Great food, great staff. We ordered the hummus and pita( best ever) salmon and mixed kebabs. Will definitely go back

A staple of the DC area. Excellent baba ganoush. I always enjoy shopping at their market off of Old Dominion Dr.

I have had takeout from here many times, but Friday night was my first dine-in experience. I have yet to have anything from this restaurant I didn't like. It's quality, delicious and filling home cooked food. The traditional beef/lamb shawarma and arnabeet are my favorite. The restaurant is lovely; it feels more like a home versus a restaurant and our server was very nice. I am a fan.

The mix kebab is a scam $32 for 8 pieces of meat mostly burnt and a plate flooded with just steamed vegetables My parents and I were very disappointed

Half of my chicken was undercooked. Undercooked meat? Could over look but undercooked chicken?? Inexcusable. My friend ordered a lamb dish but was definitely not lamb, it had to have been goat or beef unless it was lamb that tasted terribly gamey and old. And my other friend also had undercooked meat. Service was also very slow and we were the only customers there at the time. Super disappointed all three of us left our food and paid so much money leaving the restaurant unsatisfied.

This was my 1st time here and the food was amazing. The staff was very helpful in recommending gluten free options for me. I really enjoyed the spicy fruity sangria. The appetizer plate is a great option for your 1st visit and ended up ordering more falafel balls for lunch because that was my favorite item on the sampler plate. Look forward to visiting again!

Since restaurants are also about community, I'm going to add this first/second paragraph. If you just want the deets on the food, go to the last paragraph. Love this place. My dad/mom were old government. During their time working for Uncle Sam the family lived in Lebanon and fell in love with the food long before I was born. But I grew up on it and it was always part of our big meals/family gatherings. I remember stories of my mom talking about Taverna when they first opened back in the late 70s/80s, since she finally had a good local place to get the flavors of Lebanon again. She could speak the language again, it felt like some of home to her. They used to know the family before moving to the burbs, but time goes on and those connections are gone for us. My Mom and dad passed but Taverna was always revered. Whenever I'm in Arlington, this is dinner. It's always perfect. Do yourself a solid and get the Lamb or Chicken Fatteh, it will change your life. The bread is so good if you put it on top of your head, your tongue will beat your brain to death trying to get at it.

Beautiful day to sit on their patio! I was greeted and seated quickly. I ordered an Arnold Palmer immediately. Whoever mixed the drink must drink them-self... the lemonade tea ratio was perfect. About half way through the meal, a replacement showed up unsolicited. That is good service. Cadence of meal was good. Ordered Lamb Sharhat which was perfectly cooked and tender. The sides were incredible as well... the herb sauce, potato lamb combo couldn't have been more satisfying. One more thing... before receiving our meal, we received a basket of warm bread which seemed like a cross between a pita and naan. Very lite. But diners beware! I could have finished the basket with the olive oil, pepper and bunch of other stuff dipping sauce not leaving room for what was to come!

We were there yesterday for dinner. We love the server. He was funny and friendly guy who's name is Lopez. But the reason i am giving 4 stars is the lamb sharhat. I was totally disappointed. I couldn't evet eat the food. Probably it wasn't fresh. The rest was good and i know the restaurant since 2018. So it could've been better. The passion fruit punch is the best cocktail ever. Thank you!

This used to be one of my favorite restaurants. One of my favorite salads is fattoush. Yesterday my husband brought fattoush home for me and it was terrible. Mostly lettuce not chopped up, one little square of tomato, maybe 3 tiny pieces of cucumber, no mint, no persimmon, lots of radish, no onion. I have a Much better Middle eastern Restaurant here in Great Falls, The Village Grill.

I came here with my friend on a Thursday night arounf 6. It got very crowded around 7 (there was a wait). You make want to make a reservation if coming around this time. The bread and dip stuff (sorry, don't remember the name of it) was good. They served warm falafel and pita bread and and dip consisted of sesame seed, olive oil, and dried thyme. I ordered the chicken and rice. It was a bit sad because there was not much going on. Lebanese food I've had in the past has been more flavorful. Even a vegetable on the side would have been nice. My friend had kebabs which were better than my dish. Her side veggies were good so was her rice. Caution: for what you get, the prices were a bit steep. It's worth noting, the Lebanese Taverna ale was good! I would recommend it.

Lebanese Taverna is one of my favorite restaurants. I've been to several of their locations but this one is my favorite because, as other reviewers pointed out, it's cozy. The food is consistently good. I was just there on 3/15/2013 and they've redone their menu. It's a lot simpler with food on the front and drinks on the back. It's great because now there are English descriptions corresponding to almost all dishes. When I was there, they were serving white bread only, but if you ask, they'll bake you wheat bread fresh from the oven. My guess is that they stopped serving wheat to everyone because the majority of people eat white. I love pretty much everything I've had there. If you're new to Lebanese, I'd highly recommend one of their mezza platters to try different things. To name a few of my favorites, I enjoy their hummos, grape leaves, falafel, tabouleh and most of all, their baba ghanoush because it has just the right amount of smokey flavor without being overpowering. I get the chicken kabobs most of the time but I've had the fatteh as well. The Mehshi Bel Zeit is really really REALLY good even if you're not a vegetarian. I tried desert for the first time. I had the baklava which was delicious and my friend had the Molten chocolate "Turkish coffee" cake which was also really good. I ordered the Arabic tea with desert. It was delicious. So delicious that I asked the waiter if he knew where I could buy it. He gave me a card and directed me to their market but he also gave me an extra tea bag to take home and enjoy. Really nice of him. Sum it up? Great food and great service. Love this place!

The food at this place was okay, but damn its pricey. I didn't think it was anything that special. This Lebanese Taverna was the original restaurant in the DC area and now they have a few other locations too. So they have done pretty well for themselves. The parking here kinda sucks, but there is plenty of street parking. The food was pretty standard middle eastern, but I doubt I'll be coming back since its so pricey. I didn't think anything in the Westover Hood was that upscale, but they proved me wrong.

Excellent service. Excellent, but homey food (if you grew up in a Lebanese home and your mom, unlike mine, was a great cook). And a cozy, family friendly atmosphere where we ended up talking to the people at the next table. Between the four of us we had ouzi (lamb stew over rice), mouzat (braised lamb shank), chicken shawarma, and lamb/beef shawarma. Hommos to begin with. Maradona (no kidding: Maradona), our waiter, was excellent -- always there with refills, made suggestions, ensured we were happy with our meals, and brought the check as soon as we asked for it. I hadn't been to the Lebanese Taverna in years. What a pleasant surprise! The dining room is nicer and the menu is more extensive. No wonder they were jammed on a Monday night.

Ate their for the first time last week and I was missing out!! Our server (Francesca) was very professional and had a good menu knowledge. The food was amazing. The chicken samosa was so flavorful and delicious. They even gave us a complimentary dessert (my favorite) and I they also had the traditional Turkish coffee which was soo good!! Will definitely be back to this restaurant.

As other reviewers have noted you can get much better Lebanese and Mediterranean food at cheaper (even fancier) places in the area and with better service. We live in the neighborhood and have stopped going here due to the poor service, uneven food quality and high prices. The wait staff is indifferent and sadly could care less about the neighborhood. Look outside on the sidewalk on McKinley and you'll see it covered with their cigarette butts. Someone who lives above the restaurant even posted a No Smoking sign to try and cut down on them hanging outside and littering the sidewalk. We saw that person one day sweeping up the butts. Sad, you'd think the owner would care and provide a receptacle for disposing. They just stand farther up the block during their breaks and litter more of the sidewalk with their butts.

I love the service here. Greeted with a smile and the place is clean! Good food. The soda waa a little flat but that's expected from a tap I guess. Lol.

A long time friend invited to meet there for lunch last week. I was super impressed with the friendly staff, great service and reasonable prices.

Amazing food. Could eat here mezza style. Too many amazing appetizers to choose from. Always have to sacrifice one ya love if want to avoid overeating. You can go straight to the main menu. Again, so many choices. Would love to do it family style. Usually a combo of appetizers and 1-2 main courses. I believe they have a lunch special. I used to go to one at a different location.

I took a young man from Ireland who wanted to try Lebanese food. I told him how popular it was. I ordered the Tavern platter. The chicken served was very dry and over cooked. The wait staff was pleasant but after trying other Middle Eastern restaurants in the area, I thought it was very mediocre.

Terrible service and inattentive server. I was very disappointed in this restaurant. This evening around 5pm, I went there, solo, for dinner. At the time there was only one other table of diners. I was greeted and seated right away and my server immediately took my drink order and delivered it right away. Well, that was all I saw from him while I waited another 10 minutes for him to return to take my order. He never did. I had to hail the hostess to get him back. I never saw him again, after I placed my order Kitchen assistant delivered my food, and a young woman refreshed my drink.. no one ever checked on me again...until I waived someone else down to bring me my check...and, I wanted to let him know that I found a small piece of aluminum foil in my food. I alerted the young woman who took my payment and gave her the piece of foil to show to my server, since he never would return. She said, "oh, this was in your food?" Yes, it was..please show this to my server. Well, I never saw either one again, and at this point I just paid the check. On my way out, I walked over to the servers station, where I saw my server, and told him about the foil. He said "sorry about that"." But, since I didn't see it, I can't do anything about it." as if I made the whole thing up. I told him that he should talk to the young woman that I gave it to, since she probably threw it away.i told him it didn't matter anyway, since I had paid the bill, but I wanted him to know about it. And he turned around and continued whatever he was doing. I wasn't expecting any compensation, but expected at least acknowledgement and average attention and service!! Will never go back there, again

My girlfriends and I visit often. The place is classy, good ambiance and great food. Servers are awesome. Beware the place can be loud on a busy nights.