Review: O'Faolian's Irish Restaurant

O'Faolain's delivers great Irish comfort food. My wife and I drove out to the restaurant after a movie at Reston Towncenter. The drive to Sterling was a bit long, but worth it.

We started out with steamed mussels in a white wine sauce with garlic and chili flecks. The sauce had not been simply pour over boiled mussels. You know what I mean? Instead, you could taste that the mussels had really simmered in the sauce and were permeated with flavor. The dish was so good that we asked the waiter for the recipe. Unfortunately the chef said it was a secret.

I ordered the corn beef and cabbage with parsley boiled potatoes. I had had a "hankering" for good corn beef for a while now, and this dish had the perfect portions of protein, carbohydrates and even a serving of vegetables (because I am on a Body-for-LIFE challenge right now). What made the corn beef and cabbage particularly good was the selection of imported mustard from Ireland. I can't recall the names on the labels, but one was an extra sharp mustard and the other, which was seriously "to die for" good, contained whole mustard seeds in a whiskey sauce.

Other dishes I was tempted to order included the Guinness stewed beef , the beer battered fish and chips or Shepard's pie. My wife ordered the chicken pot pie and it was perfectly delicious.

The decor was Irish, but not my favorite. It had green walls, dark hard wood trim, and some hanging cut glass designs. The patrons eating next to us were drinking, laughing and speaking with Irish accents. However, from the black tiled ceiling to the mid-height walls, I felt like I was in a strip mall property dressed up as an Irish pub. Which is what it is, but it is fun to step into another world, even in an all-American strip mall.