New Seafood Restaurant at Lansdowne Town Center

Fellow Fish Foodies and others--

Recently while doing some research for an article on local and upcoming restaurants and nutrition issues, I ran across an interesting "tidbit" article from the James Beard Foundation. It listed NEW restaurants for Loudoun County opening soon. Here is the link:

www.jamesbeard.org/dateline/2006/archives/washington_dc.shtml (James Beard Foundation's web site.)

The Loudoun Independent newspaper in the January 3, 2006 edition noted that Great American Restaurant group who owns Coastal Flats, Sweetwater Tavern, and other restaurants in Northern VA area will open a NEW Seafood restaurant at Lansdowne Town Center.

The restaurant will be called The Dock at Lansdowne Center and grand opening date is slated for last WEEK of February. Web site is below--looks like Coastal Flats and Sweetwater Tavern combination.

www.thedockatlansdowne.com (The Dock's web site.)

Good eats??

Foodie

 

I wonder if that kills the rumor of them opening a restaurant in Brambleton Town Center.

 

Fellow Foodies--

Just wanted to repost this info concerning The Dock restaurant opening soon at Lansdowne Town Center (end of February or first week of March 2007 is target for opening date.).

Owners worked formerly at Great American Restaurant group, I believe.

Foodie

 

Fellow Foodies--

The Dock Restaurant at Lansdowne Town Center has "landed" (sorry for the bad pun.) We ventured to the Dock at Lansdowne Town Center with our family for an early dinner. The dinner was good as well as the service. The price points average. They still have some "kinks to iron out" like most new places.

The restaurant features specials like the "Fresh Catch of the Day". The fresh fish will be more expansive as time goes on. Hubby had surf and turf and I had their seafood pasta dinner. Kid friendly restaurant for a casual dining experience. The owners were former partners at GAR (Great American Restaurant). When asked, one owner said that GAR is still "looking" at opening a Sweetwater Tavern (or some other restaurant) in the Ashburn/Brambleton areas. Hope so--we love their microbrews for their beer selection.

Anyway the Dock is worth considering--I would give it 3 stars (***). The bar is good also.

www.thedockatlansdowne.com (The Dock's web site.)

Good eats--

Foodie

 

Would love to have a Sweetwater out here. Yum!

 

I thought I posted in here last night... strange. Anyway, foodie, I was asking if you could compare/contrast that new seafood restaurant to Bonefish. Better? Not as good? More or less expensive? Thanks!

 

Bonefish IMO is not that great for the money.....love doing my own seafood on the grill........

 

sharse--

Thanks for asking about the Dock. Honestly, I think it is better than Bonefish for a casual meal out with family members. Not as good as McCormick and Schmick or M&S Grill--but good and decent for what you get.

It is cheaper and better to grill and prepare fish at home. The pasta was done "in house", I believe. What I do when I do not want to eat alot of "adult entrees" is I will split an adult entree with my husband or order from the "Kids Menu". Yes, I actually do--HALF COST, HALF PRICE, and HALF FAT.

Not been turned down yet from ordering Kids Menu items--Red Lobster, M&S Grill (McCormick & Schmick), and steakhouse, and others.

tyger31--

I concur with your opinion about Bonefish. You can prepare better seafood and fish dishes at home. We eat alot of fish at home. We grill alot of fish and use cedar smoke planks for salmon and other fish steaks. I am hungry!

In fact, alot of the items that Wegmans and Whole Foods carries--you can order DIRECTLY from the food distributors and food companies. We do it often. For example--Ducktrap is a company that smokes various fish and seafood items as well as other food products.

Just look at the back of the food item and go to their website or call their customer service number and sometimes you can obtain FREE offers(i.e. samples of products and coupons, etc.) You can receive a wholesale catalog of any food company/distributor. If you wish info, ask and I will provide on separate thread if interested.

www.ducktrap.com (Ducktrap's web site.)

Foodie

 

Thanks for all the great info Foodie! We try to eat as natural and healthy as we possibly can. That's why we tend to NOT eat out a lot, plus I love to cook and it's less expensive.

 

I'm from Seattle and the McCormick and Schmicks out there are way better. The ones here pale in comparison. But I guess your review encourages me to at least try the Dock and see what I think. I love to cook (and after my New Year's party I think most of my neighbors will tell you I'm pretty good at it) but sometimes I like to go out, too. But when I go out, I want it to be EXCELLENT. (Which is why I have no desire to eat at Clydes.)

 

I'm with you Sharse, I expect Excellent food when we do eat out........I've come to the conclusion that people don't really care as long as they're eating out - that's fine. Clydes in my opinion is mediocre at best....atmosphere is better than the food...but when I eat out - I want good food.....otherwise - I'll stay home.

 

Sharse and others--

Just curious if any one had tried the Dock at Lansdowne seafood restaurant yet. We tried it recently and thought it was better than Bonefish for a casual meal with families/friends.

See previous posts on this thread for their web site link.

We have not returned to the Dock since they opened--what is your opinions?
Would you recommend it to others? Some friends of ours just bought a new single family home in Lansdowne and wanted me to ask others opinions since they have not had time to try some of their new restaurants at Lansdowne. We told them it was okay.

Thanks for input--

Foodie

 

My husband and I had dinner there about a month ago. We thought the food was very good and the service was attentive. They had an excellent house merlot too. The only thing we found lacking was the atmosphere. Not quite as "fun" as Bonefish. It is certainly a more family type restaurant, which is not what I am looking for on a night out with my husband. Just my opionion.

 

Wow, am I ever dissapointed. After hearing all about the Dock, my wife and I were looking for a place better than Bonefish. Admittedly we only ate at the Dock once, but it was so bad that I can't imagine going back. The service was fine and the servers nice, but the food was a disaster. The mussels didn't even compare to Bonefish and everything else we got was not up to par. We've had far better seafood at Glory Days. In fact my wife swears the Salmon at Glory Days is the best in the area. Not being a salmon fan myself, I can't comment.

Sorry for not agreeing with many on here but the Dock gets a solid "thumbs down" from us.

 

foodie,

Thanks for letting everyone know about the Dock. We recently had dinner there. We've never been huge fans of Bonefish (the food is OK, the drink menu is OK, and the service is OK, you get the picture...). However, everything was great at the Dock. We had the homemade potato chips with blue cheese. It has to be the worst food for you in the world, but it was delicious. Our main courses were great, too, especially the seared ahi tuna. Finally, the bar is well stocked, and the bartenders don't skimp!

We definitely recommend it. Two thumbs, err fins, up!

 

gryphon and others--

Yes, we concur--the Dock is better than the Bonefish. I think you must have meant SML Branding's post about his/her experience with the Dock?

We had no problems with service or food. Good eats--

Foodie

 

My husband and I went last night. The place had no wait, but was sufficiently crowded. I still thought it was owned by GAR so I was surprised. My bad for not rereading closely that it is people who used to work for them. No Best Buns bread...

Anyway, all was good. I had the lobster stuffed with crab meat special and my husband had the surf and turf filet and crab cake. Funny thing is, the seafood was good, but not great. The filet though was excellent. And the side of linguini with marinara was also excellent. Strange that the best stuff at a seafood place was not the seafood! We'll have to check out the fish next time to be sure. But I'd highly recommend the steak and pasta.

For dessert, we had the hot chocolate cake, which I've heard elsewhere called a molten cake or lava cake. It was good, but not great as well. The coffee with it was not good. I'd come back, but next time walk over to Haagen-Daz for some ice cream afterwards.

 

Husband and I had lunch there today and found everything kind of non-memorable. Bread was 3 half-slices of generic Italian - not artisan and not warm. Olive oil tasted a little "off" - not fruity. My crab cakes were good, but not better than what I make at home, and could have used some lemon and parsley garnish. Pureed cauliflower was OK. Husband had ahi tuna and it was more than he could eat. I would probably not go back for dinner. I think I prefer Bonefish, M&S or Legal Seafoods.

 

Speaking of Legal Seafoods, we were in Boston a couple of weekends ago and ate dinner at LTK. We knew they were associated with Legal due to the menu but we did not find out unti later that it was their Test Kitchen (LTK).

They had some very interesting items and hopefully they will be on the restaurant menu someday.

 

My wife and I ate there a few weeks back and had a very good experience. Admittedly, our experience was biased toward positive as it was our first kid-free outing since popping out our 2nd child. That said, the food was quite good - my wife had a filet and I had the soft shell crab special. All of these reviews miss the most important Dock-differentiator vs. Bonefish....it's not in a strip mall. We enjoy Bonefish, but there's no comparison on the environment. I think that's why Clyde's does so well - everyone around here is dying for some freestanding restaurants, or at least ones where you're not staring at grocery stores and smoothie parlors when you walk out the door.