Kanoon Smoked Meat & Steakhouse Restaurant — Restaurant in Herndon

As a person that is not easily impressed, I will be brutally honest. I had a magnificient experience from start to finish! They have a bewildering selection of succulent, prime smoked meats and steaks grilled-to-perfection. The manager Abe and his staff were very accomodating, kind, and professional throughout our experience and ensured we were satisfied every step of the way!

As a person with high standards when dining, I had high expectations from this place as we saw it on social media and wanted to see if they actually live up to the hype. Typically, restaurants with significant social media hype tend to disappoint due to paid advertisements from influencers and you having no idea whether its a genuine recommendation or a paid advertisement campaign. But they did not disappoint in the slightest bit!!! Upon being seated, we were met with a very kind and welcoming young woman as our server. She was very knowledgable about their menu and was quick to offer great recommendations! Despite not knowing what we wanted to order, she was very patient and her suggestions we're on point! As we were enjoying our wonderful meal, she repeatedly visited our table to ensure we enjoyed our meal and asked if she could accomodate us. I accidentally ordered the wrong drink and without hesitation, she kindly replaced my drink with the original drink I intended to order and apologized even though I was the one who made the mistake!

If you visit the Levant (Syria, Jordan, Palestine, or Lebanon), you'll come across some of the world's best mashawi (premium grilled smoked meats; a middle-eastern version of the prime American steakhouse except with an authentic tribal ethos), and after visiting this place, I can say with confidence and authenticity that they have achieved a rare milestone in replicating the excellence and high standards of middle-eastern mashawi/steakhouses, and differientiating themselves with their own flair and flavor palette. The cuts were seasoned to perfection, and also grilled to perfection. Very rare experience for me personally to achieve both. Perfect balance of juicy and tender goodness in every bite, not dry or rigid when you bite it, and perfect balance of protein to fat. Its like saving $4000 on a ticket to the Middle East to try the best mashawi, but you don't need to do that. Instead, just come here and see what I'm talking about. And if you do not like it, then trying another place won't solve your issue since it's almost the exact same as the best mashawi/steakhouses in the Middle East. Trust me, come here and you be the judge! And finally, there is a big difference between Arabic kabobs and Persian kubideh, both marvelous in their own regard and distinction, so don't compare this restaurant to the rest because its meant to be an Arabic steakhouse. Making that comparison is like saying American Pizza in NY is similar to Italian Pizza in Milan, totally false!

From chicken to steak to lamb to ribs, they had it all and they delivered a truly eclectic experience from start to finish. In terms of their prices, I found them to be quite cheap price-wise relative to my experience at other Arabian steakhouses/mashawi throughout America and for the quality delivered, they have done a splendid job. Lastly, their portion sizes are quite large relative to the prices, meaning they provide much larger portion sizes for lower prices than similar highly-rated, prestigious Arabian steakhouses throughout the U.S.

They do charge an 18% gratuity fee for parties of 4 or more, although it is justified as they do not demand tips like other restaurants (18%, 20%, 25% as default tipping options other restaurants demand for their waiters). Why? Because Middle Eastern people are typically stingy with their money and do not tip their waiters for exceptional service. The waiters deserve a livable wage like the rest of us!

Overall, I love this place and I intend to return with friends, family and colleagues. It's very rare I write reviews like these but they really delivered on all ends! I give them my highest...

So we discovered this new restaurant the other day on Google. It piqued our interests as we are always looking for good cuisines in our area. We were not disappointed. We ordered the baba Ghanoush, a Greek salad and the mixed grill. My wife and I could not finished the whole thing ourselves. They served it with a few variety sauces that wee typical of a western BBQ, but frankly were utterly not necessary, they meats are grilled/smoked with a Middle eastern flair that was very delicious and the meats were still very moist and extremely flavorful. and this was served on the most delicious rice which why we were so full because frankly we ate it like we were starving. I am concerned that they must put something illegal in it because i think woke up this morning wondering when is the next time i am going to get some more ! And the Host, a young man full of enthusiasm and helpfulness told us it was the best baba ghanoush in NOVA, I have not tasted all the BG's in NOVA, but it was one the best i have have had at a restaurant. They also gave us a full container of dipping veggies for it since my wife is gluten free. However there is a down side here because the menu has some pretty terrific appetizers on it, but not getting the the BG will be hard, now. Frankly ordering a table full of their apps and salads would be a feast in itself. If i do a big party i know where i am going to order my catering! The Greek salad was more Lebanese than Greek (it was chocked full of feta, black olives, tomatoes cucumber, etc.) , it have a very light and lemony vinaigrette, which we really loved . . We will definitely be back and have to invited more people so we can also order the hummus and other dishes to taste more of what they have,. but i also have to say when i was there waiting for my pickup, there was definitely a great vibe going on. I think it would be a great place for families and a date. I also noticed they have a lot fun drinks on the tables and who can refuse a real middle eastern chai? So great food , generous portions, great service, we felt we definitely got our values worth!

PS. After posting i read some of the the reviews that were low. most of them had to do with poor service, my impression is that they have rectified this since their initial opening because what i saw were very...

A few things to know about this place…

It’s halal, it’s hyped and it’s great for at least one visit!

So, I went here for my birthday and will have to say a large crowd on a Saturday may not have been the best idea but we called a week or so in advance to let them know.

Here’s the issue(s):

They had half of us standing around waiting for chairs because other people in the restaurant took the chairs from the reserved table and the staff just allowed it. And told half my family to wait 15 minutes or so until they could get the chairs back.

We were getting hungry and asked to place our orders. One server came by and told us they weren’t taking our orders because half the people were not seated…and made it seem like it was our fault. That’s why I deducted a star. Unfortunately, if you give away our seats, we can’t sit, so how is this our fault?! My family caught what the server said and began to correct him. Accountability is huge and the mark was especially missed when trying to pass the blame on your patrons.

They took orders in an odd way…2 tables and they were taking orders for 1 table then would come back 15-20 mins later for the next table to order. So we didn’t really eat together, we didn’t get our food at the same time so half of us are sitting there looking around and then some people did not even get their food. And the few that didn’t get their food at all, are not pleasant when hungry. All in all it took some an hour to get there order and some that long to realize there order was forgotten about.

Food was good - at least what I had was cooked properly I got the steak. Now, some people at the table mentioned the meat was not seasoned or it did not have any flavor. So half of us were divided on the quality of the food and there were 18 people.

Strawberry mojito was watered down, no flavor and didn’t even taste or look like what it should’ve been for a specialty drink?! Not worth it.

The place was clean, nice atmosphere and they put on quite the show! Loved that part of the experience.

All in all, maybe no large group because I felt absolutely horrible and embarrassed for picking this place for a birthday dinner since they are new and maybe unequipped to handle large parties but feel free try it out at least once to feed...