Skip to main content

Cheesetique



This small cheese shop has blossomed into a restaurant chain with real appeal.  From Del Ray to Shirlington, Ballston and now Mosaic, these restaurants have grown far past their cheese board beginning to honest-to-goodness restaurants.  The food leaves you feeling well-fed without feeling overfull or like you have blown your diet.  The salads are "okay" (my last experience involved a pear which wasn't particularly ripe and walnuts which tasted burnt) but the soup, grow-up mac and cheese and grilled cheese sandwiches are terrific and worth repeat trips to try them all.  The cheese boards, which they began with, are not to be dismissed, with multiple and interesting "sides" which deeply enrich the cheese selections.  From a veggie standpoint, there have been challenges when they have special menus -- for restaurant week, National Mac and Cheese Day, etc. where veggie alternatives are not always offered.  That being said I like this place a lot and visit often, if only for their fresh-cut cheeses.  I prefer the Shirlington location.  The last visit to Del Ray left me with concern as one of the cheese displays had clear mold growing, but Del Ray has the most offerings, so try them all.

Fast Casual restaurant focusing on cheese-based offerings, and winery
Multiple locations
https://www.cheesetique.com/

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Afghan Bistro

With family members moving to Springfield, it has been a struggle to find good places to eat so far afield.  After flirting with some chain restaurants near the mall, we tried a Pakistani restaurant (there are many, many Pakistani restaurants there), but it fell flat.  Finally, someone suggested this amazing place.  It's a little hole-in-the-wall in a strip mall.  With oilcloth table coverings, the vibe seems questionable.  For about a minute.  Then you are warmly greeted and given menus with a plethora of choices.  My party ordered a great number of items and every dish rose above expectations.  The staff are eager to please and checked in to make sure everything was okay, from food to drink needs.  When a member of my party dropped a piece of silverware on the floor one of the waiters swooped in with a replacement before we could even ask.   But onto the food.  We ordered the Potato and Leek turnovers, the Aushak (leek and sc...

First Watch

Meant to invite some family members here but a friend beat me to the punch.  We compromised and went together.  Unfortunately, this is a place where it looks better than it is.  Across the board.  The funky design scheme makes it an echo chamber and, with the pumping music, very loud.  Conversation was difficult.  The menu is covered in glossy photos and descriptions of the food but ... I started with the Morning Meditation Fresh Juice, a pretty blend of citrus and beet.  Or I tried to.  Took three reminders to the waiter and when it finally arrived, halfway into the meal, it was 90% ice and 10% juice.  My companions opted for coffee.  It was ice cold.  Another long wait (about 20 minutes) to get new coffee -- and included a reminder to staff that they wanted fresh cups as well.  I ordered the Vegetarian Quinoa Bowl, which was described as having up to 12 ingredients.  It had three.  The quinoa, an egg, maybe two teen...

Dera

Was looking for a good Pakistani restaurant in Springfield and this one had some of the best reviews, so I gave it a shot.  Arrived for an early dinner to find some regulars around a table in a cavernous room.  The restaurant staff looked at us like we had interrupted a private party.  We sat and were grudgingly given menus after asking.  Tepid water in questionably clean glasses were eventually brought.  One member of the party ordered a salad.  It arrived in a large mixing bowl and was mostly iceberg lettuce.  A plastic basket of cold bread was literally "dumped" on the table, then the waiter disappeared.  Eventually we were able to get someone to take our orders, which included a curry, a biryani and a kebab.  Portions were huge and the rice, again, came in what looked like a mixing bowl.  It was enough to feed ten.  The food wasn't bad.  Sometimes the seasonings were a bit heavy handed (particularly for the rice) but it was...