Saba Restaurant — Restaurant in Fairfax

Hands down some of the best grub I have eaten in a long time! I have been wanting to try this place for a few months now, and finally I had the chance to take my family there today. From the moment we walked in to the moment we left, we felt like we were at a family's home.

We got there around 3:30PM to find all the tables totally booked, obviously a really good sign, but we were HUNGRY! The nice hostess, took us up a few stairs to an arabesque sitting area with low couches and the patrons on our right were sitting on the floor eating from a large platter. GAME ON! I love traditional style of eating -- real family style! Sit on the floor, either eat directly from the large platter or have the head of the family load other members plates up with goodies before digging in with their own! So we were fortunate enough to sit on the floor, have a large platter of the most wonderful lamb and rice brought to us and truly enjoy each others company.

We ordered the lamb haneeth for two, we decided to that would provide enough for the wife and I plus two younger kids. It did and MORE! We also ordered the meat sambosa's and two of the lamb broth soups.

The sambosa's were wonderful, perfectly crisp and packed with meat. I have a little bit of a love hate relationship with lamb, so I was a bit worried how the lamb broth would taste, but my God, this place made some of the richest broth out there - puts most other soup joints to shame. If you are on a paleo diet, go there and get a few gallons of this stuff, I mean flavors that take you through the old world marketplace -- in a good way --

The lamb haneeth came on a large platter, with a few chunks of lamb, on top of rice and covered with fried onions. The lamb was fall off the bone amazing -- it had ZERO gaminess to it, and was out of this world. The rice, which I am assuming was made with the same broth as the soup was possibly the most flavorful and perfectly cooked rice I've had -- Mind you I come from South Asia -- My people know their Rice (makes me a rice expert), this stuff was off the hook. The fried onions bring the whole dish together and make the the dish all that much more fragrant! Man, I am already ready for my second visit.

Few things I would like to note, the price is not cheap nor would I consider it super expensive. It is fair for what you get. Just the expertise of the chef's as seen in the dishes constitutes paying a bit more than all the other places out there. I do wish they provided more lamb on the two person platter, I think the amount was good and next time I will probably order a larger platter, but again for two people I expected a little more meat. You do, however get a ton of rice, salad, and having the soup and sambosa's made us leave with at least 4 extra pounds heavier than when we arrived.

The ambiance is wonderful, the location is in the heart of FFX, and the restaurant is absolutely accommodating to families with younger kids. A true gem that has been added to the...

What an amazing cozy place!

Saba restaurant met all my expectations and it exceeded them. From the customer service, to the ambiance, to the amazing delicious food.

Let's start of with the amazing customer service:

After sometime of looking for a restaurant, we decided to try Saba. We arrived for dinner and was greeted by friendly servers. Right away we were seated and water was brought to us. Greeted by the server and asked if we needed sometime to order, after asking for a few more minutes. She came back to check if we were ready, we ordered Soup and Entrees.

The Food!

Soup:

Lentil Soup

Entrees:

Haneeth Kabsah - Chicken Fahsa - Beef

Within few moments our soup arrived, hot and tasty. It had all the right flavors and tasted amazing. Also, they brought out fresh bowls of salad for each person - enough to get you started (this was on the house.) As we were close to finishing the soup and salad our main entrees arrived.

The sizzling fahsa arrived with fresh naan. Right after both Haneeth and Kabsah arrived. One piece of naan dipped in the fahsa hit the spot. The veggies and the meat in fahsa were enough and it was prepared to perfection. The servings for Haneeth and Kabsah were huge, each plate was enough for 2 people. Got lucky for some amazing left overs for the next day! The meat was cooked perfectly. Chicken was falling of the bone, had amazing flavor. So was the lamb in the Haneeth, it was soft and mouth watering. The rice was fresh and amazing delicious flavor to it. The rice was also cooked to perfection, not mushy like some other places. Everything on our plates were delicious and served hot and fresh.

I have not had amazing food like this in the DMV area. They know what they are doing, know how to be friendly and courteous to their customers.

Saba team you of WOWED me to the next level, you have set my expectations for other places very high. I look forward to bringing family and friends and visiting you guys more often.

Keep up the great work...

This was by far the greatest restaurant experience to me in the US. Once we entered the restaurant, I felt a sense of warmth. Great food scents filled the air. There was a variety of tables for different number of individuals. The decorations were also pretty and gave off late night vibes of Arab streets specifically in Ramadan. The food was all great. We ordered the two most popular dishes, Haneeth and Fahsa. They were both so good. The Fahsa was served in a clay bowl and it was so fresh as it was boiling. I admired the scent of the burned hot clay bowl and the just out of the oven Fahsa. The Haneeth was also pretty good. The portion was relatively large. As 6 people, we ordered 4 dishes only. The meat was so tasty and rich in flavor. I loved the rice, the flavors of the lamb was all over it. Lastly, the fries onions on top only added to the flavor. There was also a bowl of lamb soup served for each individual and traditional sauces, both spicy and not as well as traditional bread along with each order.Then, we ordered Maasoub and a tea pot for dessert. The Maasoub was okay but it may be improved through the addition of more banana and honey. The tea was the best I have tasted in a while. The blended flavor of the mint and the perfect color of the tea all led to the greatest end of this meal. They also had fresh mango juice which was pretty tasty as well. The service was great, the waiters were so welcoming and helpful. We were able to interact with individuals from different Arab backgrounds and engage in intriguing conversations which adds to the warmth of the atmosphere. The waiters were always checking on us to make sure we were all set and their words were also kind and welcoming. Overall, the experience was great, I totally enjoyed dining there and will definitely be coming back for my after graduation dinner later in June. Thank you to the staff, appreciate your efforts making this a...