Lena's Wood-Fired Pizza & Tap - Italian Cuisine — Restaurant in Alexandria

Brought my friend and her husband and 8 year old on a Tuesday evening. We did have a reservation but at that time (before 6pm) there wasn't a wait. You can choose inside or outside. There may or may not be AC, they have large fans set up in the dining room which had they not been running during this hot July day we might have not ended up dining (why isn't there central air? The building isn't old...?). I did read some reviews about the large sliding windows being open but only one was so that did help keep the heat out a bit. They have a pretty decent beer menu featuring a good number of local breweries. I ordered one of their house cocktails (can't remember the name but it had vodka and grapefruit in it with other juices/liquors added in too), super tasty and easy to drink. I do like their cocktail/beer glasses, they look like glass cans basically. Our server started off with a bang and then we lost her when it came time to pay. We also had a coupon for a free app (meatball or spinach artichoke dip, we got the dip and would recommend, ask for extra bread) and the dip and the rest of the food came out so fast. I tried the side grilled Caesar Wedge after seeing another review about it, I'd highly recommend. At the table we ordered a 10-inch pepperoni (friend had that one she said it was delicious), a 10-inch Diavola pizza (that was super tasty), and they were also having happy hour until 9pm so my other friend ordered the mozzarella sticks (looked nice), and a chicken parm slider (its a single slider for $4.50 which overall if you ordered 4 to make a full sandwich that price is about normal). Yennifer was our server and other than trailing off towards the end she did a great job and was very friendly. My friends kid is addicted to tomatoes and she was so accommodating to him. The only negatives i really have are the servers hang around the service well drinking personal drinks which is a health code violation especially when they don't wash their hands afterwards, they do have a fruit fly issue (which happens during the summer I get it but annoying nonetheless when dining), a spoon should be served with the spin dip and wasn't, you cannot tell the difference between the red pepper flakes and parm (they're served in large metal shakers that are identical, unless I missed something) and there is a glass pump bottle of hand sanitizer not labeled (also a health code violation) in the middle of the table with the salt and pepper (I'm sure that was great during COVID but it's really unnecessary now and I wonder if anyone tries to use it on their food honestly.) Overall, I would recommend and would go back. I'm from the north and good pizza is hard to find down here and this may be the best I've found so far. Parking as easy, they share a lot with 711, just...

Lena’s Wood-Fired Pizza & Tap | Alexandria, VA Visit: Saturday, May 10 at 5:15 PM – Early Mother’s Day Dinner

We arrived at Lena’s with great expectations for our early Mother’s Day dinner—our last evening in beautiful Old Town Alexandria. The reviews were glowing, the promise of 900-degree wood-fired pizza enticing. What could go wrong? As it turns out: quite a bit.

Upon entering, I was gently elbowed into reality by our soon-to-be waitress—either she did not see me or she believed her serving tray came with right-of-way privileges. No apology, just momentum. Our party of three was seated promptly outside, but several groups seated after us were waited on before us. A strange foreshadowing of things to come.

Our order:

14” Prosciutto & Arugula Pizza ($24)

Wild Mushroom Pappardelle ($21)

Lemonade ($7)

One kid’s cheese pizza

One kid’s penne pasta

The food arrived in under 10 minutes—lightning speed that raised eyebrows. My pizza was topped with ham, not prosciutto, and it had all the flavor and texture of freeze-burned dough reheated in the fires of Mount Doom. The arugula and shaved Parmesan tried their best to save it, but even they looked tired.

The mushroom pasta? The sauce was decent, but some of the mushrooms had clearly done hard time in a dehydrator. A few bites in, it felt like chewing through a forest floor during a drought. Not the elegant Mother’s Day experience we had hoped for.

The kids’ cheese pizza was actually pretty good—crispy, flavorful, and satisfying. Sadly, the kid’s penne was floating in what could only be described as a small pond of melted butter or oil. Overcooked and limp, it was more of a cautionary tale than a meal.

Our waitress checked in once. When it came time to pay, she presented a mobile point-of-sale screen directly to my face—with no total shown, no receipt offered, just a looming gratuity prompt: 25%, 20%, or 18%. I paid, but felt like I had just been upsold by a magician—now you see your money, now you do not.

As we boxed up leftovers under the watchful eye of our server (who cleared the table mid-wrap), we realized: this was, hands down, the worst dining experience of our 8-day trip through D.C. and Alexandria.

Lena’s has potential—it is a beautiful location, and the concept is solid—but the execution? Cold. Rushed. Disconnected. In a city full of culinary gems, Lena’s felt like a burnt-out bulb in the...

Until yesterday, it had been about 5 years since I went to Lena’s (I had a great experience at that time, just haven’t been back in 5 years for no particular reason).

So yesterday, I went back in to get some pizza at the bar. However, I ended up walking out after about 10 mins due to the following:

1. When I sat at the bar, the bartender gave me a menu, but didn’t ask me if I wanted any water while I looked over the menu, she just walked away

In fairness she did wipe the crumbs from my bar area and the menu (not sure why it wasn’t already clean due to it being the slow part of the day with only 5 ppl (counting me) sitting at the bar.

2. She ended up walking to the back. I cannot be certain but it seemed as if she was either preparing for her shift or setting the next person up for their shift. However, she was gone for a few minutes.

This seems trivial but as someone who used to bartend and wait tables, 3-5 mins can feel like forever with pretty much no one in the restaurant.

She can take 30 secs to get me squared away, THEN go back to what she was doing.

So after a few mins, I just got up and left. She happened to be on her way back out as I was leaving, at that point I made up my mind.

I understand how hard it can be in the service industry, and while I do not want nor expect to be coddled while I dine out, I am DEFINITELY not on the bartender’s time.

Unfortunately, this an occurrence at many restaurants today in my experience. I used to never write reviews, but I am seeing it happen so much now, something needs to be said and restaurants need to be aware of this.

Seeing it happen so much tempts me to get back behind the stick and show em’ how it’s done.

I hope Lena’s and other places around here in a similar position figure it out.

In the meantime, I will be giving my money to places that prioritize a baseline and reasonable level of customer...