Joe's Cafe — Restaurant in Virginia

Although I've lived in Sterling for years I had never been to Joe's Cafe until recently. I've gone now on two occasions and left disappointed, contrary to the experience of the reviewers below.

Driving up you can clearly see a line at the door and a full restaurant, which I understand to be the norm. Once stepping inside it is utter chaos with people standing and sitting while blocking the entryway, and few restaurant staff visible to direct it all. After negotiating my way through the crowd, possibly cutting off others who were trying to be greeted, I looked for a host/hostess or clear directions about what to do. If you don't know who to talk to and not "a regular", you're left to fend for yourself because (in both experiences) NO server or staff person stopped to speak with me for several minutes although many walked by.

In my second experience going to Joe's, having learned my lesson from the first time, I attempted multiple times to make eye contact with the older male manager. He was standing in the back talking with a booth/table for several minutes, laughing and scrolling through a cell phone which apparently belonged to a woman at the table, and did not once look to the front door. Next to him was an empty booth, ready to be seated, although several parties were/had been waiting.

When he finally looked up in my direction, he indicated he'd be there shortly, continued his to finish his conversation and then approached me. When asked about the availability of the empty booth and possible wait time, he brushed off the question and seemed to be annoyed that I would inquire. From there the interaction continued to go poorly as it was mentioned that we had been waiting to be greeted for several minutes, and he argued that he saw and acknowledged us the minute we stepped in the door. Unfortunately this was not true and only fueled the feeling of being dismissed. Astonished by his reaction and response, we stated plans to leave and we're told "That's fine, we don't need your business anyway." followed by "Fine.", "Get out.", and "Leave."

While I know this is a family run establishment and not a corporate chain, for a restaurant that seems to pride themselves on their food AND their customer service, I would not have expected the manger to be the one who demonstrated poor service and disrespect, and in front of other customers waiting like us and others eating their meals. How does that fit with the "mom and pop" family atmosphere that you wish your restaurant to portray?

Having formerly worked in the restaurant industry myself, I understand a manager taking time to talk with guests to ensure they enjoy their visit, but then someone else should handle the role of host/hostess....or possibly just acknowledge that you did not notice us standing there and apologize for the delay....so simple.

Since I've only eaten there once, I will say that the food is good and once making it to a table the service is much better. It also seems that if you are "in the know" and "a regular" that your experience is night and day different than my own - both times - because in my first experience I saw other customers be seated before us who had arrived after me, and I was told there's no "call ahead seating".

Others have told me that years before my experience would not have occurred, and that management was much more gracious and customer oriented... what ever changes that have been made are clearly not for the better. It seems this restaurant is only still open due to...

Since Google only allows one review per business I'm updating my original one:

3/28/2025 When I do restaurant reviews I usually like to highlight the waiter or waitress but ALL of your front end staff are terrific. So thank you to Helen, Jazmine, Danny, Maria and Jenny for an amazing experience this morning! The food and service CONTINUES to be nothing short of amazing. Today was no exception. The new shirts that your staff is wearing was a GREAT idea and I bought one for myself. Keep up the amazing work!

I've been starting my mornings here for more than a decade. There are several breakfast options in the area, but Joe's Cafe is by far the best. This unassuming and hidden gem is definitely a local favorite, and it is easy to see why.

The first thing you experience at Joe's is a very warm welcome from the friendly staff. They get you seated quickly and make you feel very much at home. The owner, Joe, is frequently there to personally say hi to everyone and offer his thanks for being a customer.

The food is what you would expect to see on a typical American diner menu with personalized names for each dish. I typically order the "Nora's Combo" but have ordered other dishes, and I have never been disappointed.

When I mentioned above that this is a "hidden gem," I meant that literally. They draw in business not with flashy signage or obvious location but instead with consistent, "perfect" service.

A huge shout out to Helen, Maria, Jasmine, Jackie, and Daniella! This crew of ladies is a BIG part of the magic behind Joe's Cafe. The food is always on point, and the atmosphere is always welcoming, but this team of waitresses goes out of their way to make a connection with the customers in a way that makes you feel appreciated and really perfects the overall...

I don't have enough words or even the ability to really express how amazing this cafe is. I placed a really large order with Joe's Cafe for one of the data centers nearby. Rami, the owner, was telling me about how as much as he would love to take my order, it was just too large. And he was right, so I condensed it down as much as possible & Rami took my order.

Not only was he so amazing to work with, I got to visit the cafe when I was dropping off our payment. The cafe is constantly busy, to the point of people waiting for a seat even on a weekday! The servers were on another level; they were so friendly and personable. They smiled at everyone & took the time to greet them. Some people were regulars because you could just tell based on the way they interacted. Rami, himself, was delivering orders or even taking orders. This small cafe is such a well oiled machine, I honestly couldn't wait for them to deliver the 250 sandwiches, 250 burritos and 10 large trays of chorizo eggs with cheese. (which I'm sure has been mentioned several times, their chorizo is made in house)

When the food arrived & we started setting up, some of the guys were a little curious as to what we bought. I had one guy ask me where we purchased breakfast from today & when I told him Joe's Cafe, his eyes lit up.

Rami set us up with a plethora of sandwiches and burritos with different fillings & bread types. I had some guys try to grab several at once!! The chorizo eggs with cheese was such a huge hit, we went through trays and trays of the eggs.

My co-workers were all so impressed and satisfied by the food set forth by Joe's Cafe, they would like to continue using them for their future...