The Best Restaurants in Seven Corners

Seven Corners may be famous for its tangled traffic and for the Eden Center, a prize hub of Vietnamese food and culture (and a dining destination unto itself), but the real story is on the plate. Around the busy nexus of Route 50, Route 7 and Wilson Boulevard, the dining options include some of Northern Virginia’s longest-running family-owned spots, two cart-service dim sum destinations, and a crop of newcomers that are shaking things up.

Bawadi Mediterranean Grill 

Khalid Mekki’s restaurant specializing in Levantine halal dishes relocated from Bailey’s Crossroads in 2018. Bring your appetite at lunchtime, and on Monday, Thursday and Friday evenings, for a hearty buffet of salads, dips and kabobs. (Kids 10 and younger eat free from the buffet on Monday nights.) The restaurant is built for groups, with shareable platters of grilled meats, dips, bread and rice, and has expanded its seating with a heated, covered tent. Try the maklouba, a Palestinian spiced rice dish with vegetables, chicken or lamb, or the frequent special mansaf, Jordan’s national dish of lamb and yogurt. Save room for dessert: the baklava is made inhouse, as is the delectable cheese-and-cream kunafa, a pastry soaked in rosewater syrup. // 6304 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church

Fairfax Inn

Solita Adler’s homey breakfast and lunch spot serves dishes from her native Philippines alongside pancakes, BLTs and club sandwiches. One recent addition is lumpiang sariwa (fresh spring rolls) alongside other Filipino specialties such as fried lumpia, pancit noodles and breakfast with sweet longganisa sausage. Most of the Pinoy desserts are made inhouse, including cassava cake and bibingka, a rice cake dessert made with coconut milk. Fun fact: Solita and her husband, Jim, bought the Fairfax Inn in 1997 when it was a Greek restaurant, and you can still order souvlaki for lunch.  2946 Sleepy Hollow Road, Falls Church

Hong Kong Pearl Seafood Restaurant

Tucked into a no-frills strip mall, this popular dim sum destination is celebrating 25 years of Cantonese small plates. The traditional cart service draws crowds on weekends and holidays—including Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day—but even when there’s a wait, the spacious dining room and large tables ensure that turnover is quick. Specialties like abalone with black mushrooms, prawns and scallops in black pepper sauce and sea cucumber with mustard greens reflect the seafood-forward menu. Once upon a time, Hong Hong Pearl was open past midnight, but its owners have recently scaled back the hours to close earlier in the evening, so check the schedule before heading out for a late-night dumpling run.  6286 Arlington Blvd., Falls Church

Little Saigon Restaurant

Chef-owner Minh Chau continues to refine the menu at this white-tablecloth Vietnamese restaurant just up the road from Eden Center. Many diners are loyal to the expansive pho options (most of which are made with beef or beef broth) but Chau has expanded the vegetarian offerings to more than a dozen dishes, including a satisfying lotus stem and tofu salad, stir-fired lemongrass tofu with vermicelli noodles, and sweet-and-sour tamarind soup rich with okra, pineapple, tomatoes and fried tofu. Parking is limited and the tight lot can be a challenge, but the food is a worthy payoff.  6218 Wilson Blvd., Falls Church

Live Crawfish & Seafood 

The flagship location of this Virginia chainlet has been cracking shells since 2013, and crawfish is the star of the show.  Order seafood by the pound, or go big with a low country boil piled high with your pick of crawfish, lobster, clams, shrimp, mussels and King, blue, Dungeness or snow crab. Prefer your catch crispy? Get it fried or stacked on a sandwich. The menu also leans into New Orleans flavor with options such as gumbo and po’boys on fresh French bread. Hosting a party? The drop-and-go catering is a crowd favorite. The restaurant is now testing a wine list, available by the bottle only. 6168 Arlington Blvd. (Willston Centre I), Falls Church

Mark’s Duck House

In addition to the Peking ducks you’ll see hanging as you walk in the door, this Falls Church institution is a go-to for Hong Kong-style dim sum, including dumplings, rice rolls, clay pots and pork belly galore. Tucked into Willston Centre I, the restaurant also offers two dozen noodle soups featuring proteins ranging from the namesake fowl to soy sauce chicken, beef brisket and pig tongue. The weekend cart service and expanded dim sum choices draw crowds. And if your favorite dish has grown cold sitting on the cart? Just ask the wait staff to warm it up for you.  6184 Arlington Blvd., Falls Church

Padaek

In 2017, chef-owner Seng Luangrath changed the name of this cozy eatery from Bangkok Golden to Padaek and leaned into what was once a secret menu of specialties from her native Laos. (Padaek is a fermented fish sauce that gives Lao cuisine its distinctive funk.)  You can still order traditional Thai dishes like tom yum soup, chicken satay and panang curry, but you’re missing out if you don’t also explore Lao specialties like crispy coconut rice salad, caramelized stir-fried noodles and anything made with jeow bong—a savory and spicy chili paste. Luangrath opened a second, larger location of Padaek in Arlington Ridge in 2023, and the Falls Church flagship is now open seven days a week, having recently added Sunday hours. 6395 Seven Corners Center, Falls Church

Pistone’s Italian Inn

For nearly 50 years, this beloved trattoria has held court in the heart of Seven Corners. Chef-owner Telemaco “Telly” Bonaduce continues to expand its massive menu with additions including a roasted branzino and halibut bathed in a saffron fish broth reduction with shiitake mushrooms and artichokes. But the soul of the place is still old-school Italian, with roomy booths, live music in the lounge, meat butchered in house and servers who remember the wine you ordered last time. The property is slated for redevelopment, but Bonaduce isn’t losing sleep. He doesn’t expect anything to break ground before 2030, and when it does, he says, the restaurant will be part of whatever rises there. For customers who prefer to dine al fresco, Pistone’s has a small, flower-filled patio off the bar that’s an oasis on a sunny day.  6320 Arlington Blvd., Falls Church

Ruta50 Bar & Grill

This lively cantina opened in 2022, serving up Mexican street foods like tortas, tacos on fresh-pressed tortillas and ceviches brimming with shrimp, squid and fish, as well as Central American dishes. Come hungry. Big-format plates are the specialty here, from shareable platters of beef, chicken wings, shrimp, pork and pupusas to molcajetes—hefty stone mortar-and-pestle bowls overflowing with grilled meats and seafood. Don’t skip the Mariscada RUTA50, a shareable seafood soup loaded with crab, red fish, shellfish, squid, shrimp, chilies and vegetables that can be prepared with or without dairy. Note: The dining room turns into a nightclub after dark, Wednesday through Sunday. If you’d prefer a quieter dinner, check the online schedule to find out when the party starts (or just come ready to dance). 6124 Arlington Blvd. (Willston Centre II), Falls Church