mezeh — Restaurant in Dale City

My husband and I stopped in for a quick dinner while out running errands on Friday night, 11/10. The food was average, the worker was friendly, but that's about the only decent things to say. Unfortunately, the establishment was not being maintained whatsoever. Other than us, there were no patrons (should have been my sign to leave) and the workers didn't appear to be doing anything too productive. The tables were all dirty and the trashcan was overflowing alongside the dish bin. I found a slightly clean table and wipes it down with my own wipes, so I could try and enjoy my food. The last 10-15 minutes we were there 2 women came in to eat along with their French bulldog. It was very obvious by all of their behaviors this was no service dog, simply their pet. While walking down the assembly line the young lady even picked up the dog and was holding it like a small child, making the dogs head almost over the glass barrier between them and the food. The worker said absolutely nothing. After getting their food it seemed they were going to the outdoor eating area, but quickly changed their minds. They went over to a corner, sticking the dog slightly under the table and started eating their meal. The whole situation was just unsanitary and the 2 workers continued doing nothing. Per the VA health dept.... Virginia Food Laws prohibit live animals at food establishments with a few exceptions. Service animals are always allowed inside an establishment. Dogs may also be allowed in outdoor dining areas if the establishment follows certain guidelines and gets approval from the health department.

This establishment has potential, but whoever is running it, is doing it absolutely no favors. We will be sticking with Cava...

We stopped at Potomac mills on our way home to avoid the traffic jam on I-95 and chose to have a quick bite at Mezeh. I had eaten at Mezeh in DC and was quite impressed with the fresh food ingredients. Love the way the food can be customized per your liking. Having said that, I guess today was my bad day, was stuck in traffic for hours, damaged my car tire & got cardboard box pieces in the food. Service was good, he offered to make another bowl but I denied. So the rating is just for the food experience, if there was no cardboard piece then the rating would have been a 4.

Response to the Mezeh owner/Manager as i don’t see any Reply option- The only thing that can be done is train your employees to admit the mistake and not tell the customer “we don’t use that colored boxes and I don’t know where it came from” It sounded like I put the cardboard box piece in my food on purpose to get more food for the price of 1. I could have accepted a fresh bowl when he offered to make another one but I denied. Seems the cardboard box strip picked the color from the eggplant-Baba Ganoush. Or it could be from the brown boxes that I see in one of the pics on the right side of...

Normally, my husband goes to pick up the food from this location and the bowls have always been full and delicious. This time, I stopped by this location to order some food and the young woman (she looked young) appeared to be annoyed or in a rush. As another reviewer mentioned, the bowls were “skimpy” or not as full as usual. They were definitely prepared in a rush. Additionally, she used a laminated ingredients list to determine which ingredients go in each bowl; I didn’t/don’t think it was hygienic for her to lay the list on top of a bowl of food that she was preparing for me. Who knows how many people handled that list or where it’s been? Thankfully, because the bowl was halfway full, the list barely touched my food. Normally, I’d complain about all of these things but I was hungry, tired after work, and simply didn’t feel like it. Until later when my husband saw the bowls and asked if “a new person” made them. I probably would give them another chance as this is the first time the meals have been disappointing. This is just honest feedback for the owner. 2 stars for the gentleman who greeted me...