Pacific Restaurant, Sterling, VA (restaurant)

Name:Pacific Restaurant
Type:restaurant
Street:46240 Potomac Run Plaza
City:Sterling
State:VA
Zip:20164
country:USA
Phone:703-404-5500
Status:operational

Description:
Modern, clean, nice atmosphere, nice people, good tiki atmosphere

Another guy and myself went here last night - the mai tais and zombies were high quality, the food was pretty good, and the people were very nice. We met Louis the proprietor, (very nice guy - showed us around), and Buttercup the Bartender. She took good care of us at the bar. Here's some pictures:

Pacific Restaurant, Sterling Virginia

Here are a few more cell phone camera snapshots (lousy quality, but better than nothing) from a recent visit we did!

and much closer in on the mural-

along with a small album I put together with all the pix and some small descriptions-

http://www.sevenpleasures.org/gallery/Pacific-Restaurant-VA

When in NoVA, it's a very Tiki place- well worth checking out! The food is EXCELLENT too! Decent drinks in proper mugs and bananas flambe for dessert! It's a great place to stop in for drinks and sharing a variety of puupuus too. We MD/DC/VA Tikiphiles had a recent get together and the overall opinion seemed highly favourable.

"You're getting more interesting by the drink!" -Pepe le Tiki

[ Edited by: Sabina 2006-02-08 22:18 ]

Thanks for the great information! I'm going to let my brother know, he just moved from MD to VA and enjoyed his visits to Honolulu.

Critiki says that there are private huts available on the second level, but these don't exist...

Is the Pacific casual - AKA kid friendly?

On 2006-09-27 09:22, skeeter wrote:
Is the Pacific casual - AKA kid friendly?

Yeah! No problem! Very kid friendly. When are you thinking about going?

On 2006-09-27 12:54, tikigap wrote:

On 2006-09-27 09:22, skeeter wrote:
Is the Pacific casual - AKA kid friendly?

Yeah! No problem! Very kid friendly. When are you thinking about going?

Not sure, possibly this weekend.

Not sure, possibly this weekend.

Have fun! It's a nice place - a little pricey, but the food and drinks are very good. Especially the zombies and mai tais.

I was there last Sunday night. The Vietnamese Beef Banh Hoi is to die for, and I second tikigap's Zombie and Mai Tai recommendation.

Thanks for the info!

The zombies and the food were indeed great!
The dining area was just a little too psuedo stuffy or something, can't put my finger on it? They just need to loosen-up a little bit. But I really dug the dark mysterious atmosphere in the bar. And the outdoor seating area seems like it would be cool too in nice weather.

Overall a pretty cool place though.

On 2006-10-05 08:04, skeeter wrote:
The dining area was just a little too psuedo stuffy or something, can't put my finger on it? They just need to loosen-up a little bit. But I really dug the dark mysterious atmosphere in the bar.

Agreed - but I think it just needs to age a lot. 10 - 20 years... then it might start having that comfy tiki feel (A la Honolulu Restaurant in Virginia or Mai Kai in Ft Laud).

CALL BEFORE YOU GO!!!

We drove over an hour last weekend one way just find out the Pacific was closed for a private party on a Saturday night no less. We were really pissed off, but I learned my lesson. CALL AHEAD, since IMO the food & drinks are really good BUT getting there takes time.

Thortiki

Visited Pacific again last night to do an analytic visit. It's always disturbed me that it gets a high rating but something is not right in the mood. MT's were excellent and they do serve a wide variety of drinks. Service was good but most of the time they servers were glued to the TV watching the superbowl.

It's a tilt/vibe that is missing. Anyone want to join me for a future visit to exactly put my finger on it? Share a scorpion bowl?

Hey ditsyquoin - I might be up for that - PM me. All my weekends are booked in Feb, but I might be able to get there on a weeknight.

One of their problems is that the place is still new and squeaky clean. Tiki bars should be darker and a little dingy inside, I think.

I took my wife there for her birthday in January. We had 24 people, or about 12 couples, sitting at 4 tables. So I wouldn't get stuck with the bill, I asked to have seperate checks, one for each table.

They say the have a policy - over a certain number of people - they only do one check. That pissed me off, but so be it. When the check came, I found the real reason they do that. So they can charge 18 percent tip to the whole bill!!! The total was $850, including about $120 for tip!

I was real pissed off then. I was going to give then a 5 percent tip because they only had ONE GUY for the whole 24 people - and we are demanding drinkers. He got many of the orders wrong, tried to make me pay for orders we didn't order, was slow on the drinks, and he had a bad attitude, fromm the get-go.

It IS good food and drink, and Louis Cheng, the owner is a nice guy, but when I complained to him he basically told me that he was sorry and he'd talk to the waiter. I told hime that I thought this was a management problem, but that fell on deaf ears.

All that said, I'll never go there again with more than 4 people. But I will go there again.

Let's face it ... Pacific is all we have in most respects (other than our own home bars) in the DC area -- but a little but of the "Corona" pennants hanging in the bar goes more than a long way when you're trying to enjoy your mai tai.

For what it's worth, the clientele around that area probably prefers the more "clean and new" atmosphere vs. what we all know to be a true tiki bar ... as TikiGap points out. C'est la vie ... until we get another Honolulu (??) this is what we got!

Good morning Orchid Wahine - it is true that we only have this place in the nearby DC area... I guess that's why I'll be back again and again :wink:

See you soon!

Sad news again in the D.C. area. The following message was sent to members of the Pacific Loyal Customer Club.

*It is my regret to inform you that Pacific Restaurant is now closed for business.

I will be back to manage Cheng's Oriental Restaurant at 20921 Davenport Dr., Sterling, VA 20165 (Regal Center), Tel 703-450-0439. Some of your favorite items from Pacific will be added to Cheng’s menu. It will be my great pleasure to continue my service to you at this location.

All Pacific gift cards will be honored at Cheng's Oriental Restaurant.

All staff at Pacific wanted to thank you for the pleasure and privilege of serving you during the past years. We wish you a very happy summer and the best in the future.*

Haven't been to their other location, but good news! The drinks menu does appear to apply:
http://chengsorientalva.com/menu_drink_tropical.html

Cheng's Oriental Restaurant
Route 7 - Regal Center
20921 Davenport Drive,
Sterling, VA 20165

Crap. I'm glad I made it out there a couple of times before they closed, and happy the drinks will wind up at Cheng's, but the Pacific's decor will be sadly missed.

it is indeed a sad day.

memories....

flame on!

[ Edited by: Johnny Dollar 2008-07-28 16:15 ]

On 2008-07-28 14:39, rupe33 wrote:
Haven't been to their other location, but good news! The drinks menu does appear to apply:
http://chengsorientalva.com/menu_drink_tropical.html

Cheng's Oriental Restaurant
Route 7 - Regal Center
20921 Davenport Drive,
Sterling, VA 20165

Nice find Kevin, LET'S GO!

Before it's too late there too!

This weekend - August 2? - Quick! Over to the local DC Ohana board!

[ Edited by: tikigap 2008-07-28 20:22 ]

[ Edited by: tikigap 2008-07-28 20:24 ]

Oh this is sad news!

It was well out of our way, but we made the trip a few times- once, last summer, in time to catch an hawai'ian dance troup performing!

Here are a few lousy cell phone pix I have up on sevenpleasures at the moment. I have more,including pix from the night with the dancers, but that's a large project still waiting in the wings.

http://www.sevenpleasures.org/gallery/Pacific-Restaurant-VA

"You're getting more interesting by the drink!" -Pepe le Tiki

[ Edited by: Sabina 2008-07-28 22:01 ]

Tikigap's got the right idea!

We think we can do this weekend, anyone else up for raising a glass (or mug?) to the Pacific with us?

Hey! Some of the local DC Ohana is headed over to Cheng's Chinese Restaurant in Sterling Va, this Saturday (August 2, 2008), at 1pm for a couple of hours. Everyone is welcome, so please try to stop by and commiserate the demise of the Pacific Restaurant, and enjoy a couple of delicious libations.

(Reservations have been made - in my name - "Greg")

Greg

Just thought I'd point out- folks will be gathering in VA in about an hour, pop on over if you can!

I just up loaded the pix out of my camera from yesterday's get together at Cheng's in Sterling. You can find a whole new album of pix here-

http://www.sevenpleasures.org/gallery/Chengs%2C-Virginia

While certainly not fantastic photography, it will at least give you a feel for what you're in for.

(Cheng's is owned by the same owners as the now gone Pacific.)

While the event was sort of a 'wake' for the Pacific, it was hardly a sad gathering. Instead it was a joyful gathering of the Ohana, (and yes, well fueled by Mai Tais, Suffering Bastards, Zombies, and Navy Grogs! Which yes, came in mugs and appropriate glassware.)

The mixology we enjoyed at the Pacific still lives on at Chengs as do many any other delights familiar to Pacific-goers, such as the bananas flambe tableside. (And yes the flames were still massive!)

Cheng's showed us incredible hospitality, and everyone was very friendly and glad to see Tikiphiles. As others have already said, they were really great!

Anyone headed out that way, Cheng's is the place to be.

Mahalo everyone, OakTiki and I had a really great afternoon and can't wait to see everyone again soon!

It was definitly a good time, even if the Virginia Ohana was only represented by me and my wahine. The Maryland Ohana had a very respectable showing. Thanks for posting your pictures, ES, and it was great to see you and OakTiki again, as well as ThorTiki and Lynn, and JWTiki.

Aloha!

Greg

The CHENG Gang

Sabina,

Thanks for posting the pix's

Mahalo Thortiki

No worries! It's quick-n-easy when they're still in the camera.

The CHENG Gang indeed! Careful, that might stick! Now you've given me something to smile about today.

Seeing (& meeting) everyone was great! I too, was really surprised by how many MDers made the trek. And Cheng's itself was great! While primarily 'oriental' in decor, it has a great feel and manages that 'layered' effect in its own way.

Thanks so much for pulling this together!