Vapiano

Kudos to Renaud, he really cares about the customer experience here and makes a fantastic fusilli. The food is nice and fresh, made to order and delicious. You place your order at the kitchen and wait for it to be prepared then bring your food back to your table, so it is self service place, no servers. Good location, not overly crowded at lunch either. Recommended!

Love the place! Food is simply awesome whether pizza, salad or pasta! I have been to this place several times and it never disappoints.
However, Cocktails and drinks could be a little less pricey or they can use some specials to a bit more easy on your wallet.

Vapiano is a unique spot where you get good food, great atmosphere, and a unique experience.
Pros: Various seating options (outdoor, lounge, booth, high top, etc), bar, no waiters, ordering is quick and easy with the card.
Cons: Sunday Happy Hour is a joke, customer service is hit or miss
I use to really like this place. But the last 2 times I’ve been I was let down by dirty tables and bouncing from one station to the other while the cooks argued who had to prepare our food!

Recently had an issue at this Vapiano location but the owner quickly fixed it. He apologized for the experience and generously offered both my friend and I lunch on the house. I really think they fixed the issue when we came back because this was my best experience here yet! I really recommend Vapiano to anyone in the Reston area looking for quality food and unmatched service.

My boyfriend and I love Vapianos! It was disappointing to see our usual location in Ballston close down so pretty happy we made the stop here in Reston to relive our foodie explorations.
I just enjoy the fresh, clean, and sleek atmosphere. Oak wood tables and chairs, olive trees sprouting in the middle of certain tables, and fresh herbs and infused olive oils sitting along each table top.
The way it works is they give you a card (which even if you’re sharing one check, they give to you as a headcount) and there are different stations such as pasta, pizza, salads and more which you can go to and place your order. They make their own pasta which is neat and you can watch them make it. The food is as customized as you’d like from adding garlic to none, spicy to mild, and from fusili to just spaghetti.
Also I really enjoy the after meal gummy bears which you’ll find by the door as you’re leaving out. A nice change from breath mints.

My boyfriend took me here for the first time. I LOVED the atmosphere here it’s very hipster like. Great for Instagram photos and tumblr. Fresh herbs on every table that are grown inside the restaurant. We ordered pizza and some pasta and both split it. The food was great but the menu was kinda confusing. I wish someone explained to us how this restaurant works. Very different, you have to go up to different stations and order your food. You are able to customize every dish. 4 stars for confusing menu

When Vapianos first opened in town center it was a delight. I enjoyed the individual card setup, which makes it easy to buy drinks or food and keep track of who has had what. When leaving or checking out though, it becomes a slight issue. The lines can back up quickly because there are tops two people able to checkout guests at any given time.
The patio section is nice and I’ve enjoyed sitting outside a bunch of different times. I’m glad they got rid of the ash trays as it was an invitation for people to smoke. Not that I have large issues with it, more so, if I’m eating, I’d rather not be inundated with smoke.
Sadly, Vapianos no longer makes the sandwiches they used to. There were a variety of different ones to choose from and adding a soup to the order made it all the more pleasurable. I guess they didn’t sell well, not sure, but they have been removed from the menu. The pasta dishes here, in my opinion, aren’t the best but you sure to get a lot of it. I usually have to take it to go. Also, it’s not advertised, but ask for a few slices of bread while waiting for your food. They provide fresh cut break and it’s usually pretty good.

Food was pretty good, but overpriced, and weird to tip when it’s pretty much cafeteria style, but I felt like you had to.
Not very gluten free friendly at all. I got the salad special with great shrimp, and delicious dressing. I explained to the person preparing my food my allergy three times and she still asked me if I wanted bread with it. With tip, salad was $ 17.

Vapiano was incredibly busy and bustlin’ on Friday around noon.
This time around, I ordered the Crema di Funghi on Fusili pasta. My friends ordered Bolognese (tasted like fancy Chef Boyardee… ground beef and pork… sweetened yannoe) and Arancio E Finocchio from the salad menu. My Crema di Funghi was served al dente, no meat. The sauce was pretty thinned out from the white wine but it was seasoned well.
I do think Vapiano is a little overpriced for fresh pasta, but I’m sure it competes with all of the other RTC establishments.

My high school friends and I were on vacation. It was Jopey’s birthday and found this place that serves pasta ! Wife Marie bought a tiramisu for dessert and asked Yasser, manager, for a candle for «bday cake». Yasser went out of his way to find one and Jopey got to blow his birthday candle! Yasser gave Jopey a signature mug as a present! Very nice man!
Ambiance is great! Food is great! Staff was great!

Can’t say I was very impressed by this place. I would call it a higher prices, and higher quality Italian food court.
Service was a little spotty. There wasn’t anyone manning the bar area for like 20min people standing around confused.
Food was decent but I really don’t like the ordering at various counters concept.
Probably good for takeout for those working in area and probably where the counter service is at its best. For a sit down and relax restaurant — well it’s not that.

I’ve always loved coming to vapiano because of their whole concept and their food is always so delicious. Well tonight I decided to have my birthday dinner here and we reserved the lounge area which is free for 25 people.
Tonight I ordered the crawfish pasta which I didn’t finish because I wasn’t feeling it so I packed it up. Everyone had a good time but some of the food gave us stomachache.
Then when we went to pay, the lady kept pointing and speaking in Spanish to another cashier trying to say my mom didn’t pay yet but my dad has paid for everything and he went to get the car and my mom was just waiting by the door for him. I yelled at her when I finished paying for mine and my husband’s meal. I told her to never point fingers and assume stuff. If they are so scared of people walking out without paying they need to fix their way of ordering and paying.
I won’t be back.

I love this place. It’s my go to place when a friend is in town and we want a casual dinner. It’s a really interesting business concept and you get fresh, tasty food.
When you walk in each person in your party gets a card. This is your charge card and you use it to buy whatever you want. Unfortunately there is a limit, and I think it’s 50 dollars before you have to pay the card off and get the amount cleared.
There is pizza, pasta, salad, soup, and appetizers. I had their special chorizo carbonara which was amazing. You can customize the items on the menu or completely make your own. The pizza is tasty as well. I have had the bruschetta which was actually pretty good. It was not amazing, but pretty good. The different pizza’s were good and a good bang for your buck. Portion size is appropriate if not large. Cooking time is usually around 6 – 8 minutes.
One thing I don’t like about this place, is that the water glasses (self serve water) are small. You have to keep getting up to get water. I recommend getting multiple glasses of water at the same time, so you don’t have to keep getting up. I believe they do this to encourage you to order soft drinks. They also have a full bar.
This is a very good place for a fun evening when you want to hang out with a few good friends. This is not a great date place because it is a little loud… unless you don’t want to talk to the other person. :)
I will be back!

Everything was fresh and delicious. My family which consists of indecisive me, vegan spouse and picky teenager (who loves the concept of the place) were all happy with our dinner (bell pepper soup, Caesar salad and different customised pastas). The place wasn’t busy (Monday night) but noisy as always. Cooking time was only 5 – 8 minutes. And we even got a free mini dolche for checking in :-)

Walked past a couple of weeks ago and loved the smell. Today, because I work at Reston Town Center, I decided it would be a good lunch.
I ordered the Margherita Pizza, and a strawberry and Mascarpone desert. I specified a time to pick it up, and was on time. The greeters were really busy checking people out, they told me to wait to the side. I did, several minutes later a guy came out with my «desert». The cup was hardly any bigger than what Papa Johns puts Parmesan in. There were 4 slices of strawberry around the side, and then some Mascarpone.
It was fully 10 more minutes before my pizza came out. I asked for a bag, the «hostess» said they didn’t have any for pizza, so I walked the couple of blocks back to my office with the pizza box, and a silly tiny thing of cheese and strawberry.
When I got to my office, I opened my «Margherita» Pizza, described as tomato, basil, and garlic. It was a cheese pizza (no garlic) with ONE CHERRY TOMATO, and ONE BASIL LEAF stuck on top!
For all of this, I paid a significant amount of money (considering it was worthless), and, because I ordered online was unable to use my «Workperks» 10% off coupon.
So glad I didn’t go through the stupid order and wait lines.

I love the ambience here! The pasta was not too oily or salty and I would come back to get the mushroom pasta again. The prosciutto pizza was very good and for the price and quality I wouldn’t see other large pizza corporations the same way again. The bruschetta was so-​so. Something you don’t need much culinary expertise for.
I would come here again! Great experience!

This is my second time visiting Vapiano, so I figure a review is in order! My coworker used to live in Luxembourg and enjoyed Vapiano while there. I really liked the environment the first time we went but wasn’t thrilled with the food. This time the food was amazing and I will definitely return again. The way Vapiano works is like a massive airy cafeteria with different stations featuring different entrees sides and a la carte items. When you enter, you’re handed a card and you take that to the station (s) you order food from. Pizza, pasta, salads, soups and other entrée selections are labeled accordingly. You hand your card to the cashier at that area and they add your purchase to the card. You’re then given a buzzer and wait for your meal. Then there is plenty of seating (we’ve sat near the fountain drinks near the pizza station both times). Voila! Easy to order and then you hand your same card back to the hostess/​cashier upon exiting and pay for your purchases. Now back to the food! This time I ordered a lunch combo. The turkey Italian panini and potato soup comes with a fountain drink. It was seriously delicious! Toasted perfectly, generous meat and the soup! This was European potato soup, lightly puréed potato with a delicious leek flavor-​ahh if you’re ever there you must try it! It warmed me right up!

Tasty but over-​priced, probably would only come here, if I was near the area, and there were no other pasta places that were close by. It’s good, but the price is what threw me off.
It’s kind of got that Chipotle vibe to it, pick what you want, or whatever which is nice. The water cups look like double shot glasses. I like that they have gummy bears instead of dinner mints at the end of your meal. The dessert is okay, all and all, good enough.

I dislike this place for a few reasons. I understand the concept and what they are trying to accomplish here but I don’t think its working nearly as well. I like the idea of checking in to get a card, then go up to the designated area to place an order, get whatever you want, swipe swipe swipe then when you exit, you pay for what you swiped. Well, it’s sounds like a simple, cute and efficient way and I am sure this is what they were trying to aim for but if you’ve been there we all know that’s not the case.
There’s a high volume of customers during lunch and dinner, especially during summer and great there’s a podium/​hostess stand with two people standing but if both are checking people in to provide cards, and brining up people’s orders to pay at the time same, and there no sign indicating what is going on, what am I just supposed to stand in a corner until someone becomes somewhat available then go up again to get a card so I can enter the restaurant? Oh my gosh the wait doesn’t end here, you look at the menu because you don’t want to hold up a line unlike some assholes and then you wait in the line again to place an order, I’ve been here many times for lunch and dinner and average time until you get to place an order is about 10 – 15 minutes, still sounds reasonable? Well, good for you. After you place an order, you wait again for another 15 – 20 mins until your food is made because for whatever reasons I have the worst luck and always end up with a slowest cook or happen to be line the line where people in front of me are being ridiculous with their orders or just drunk.
Just to give an example; my chicken carbonara was $ 16, I am not saying this is some upscale place but this is no fast food place either. I’ll gladly pay the 15 – 20 percent tips without having to go through the hoops just so I can eat some mediocre food and I still have do all the work. I hate the service, everyone at the hostess stand, upset me with their idiotic questions which makes no sense and ugh I don’t even want to get into it. I never liked this place and still can’t be a fan.

Seems like there are a lot of mixed reviews for this place and I too, feel a little mixed about it. This place is especially good for big groups and for people that like to take charge of their dining experience since the staff leaves you alone for the most part. So for my group, it was kind of nice to just be able to sit and talk while we waited for everyone to arrive without feeling guilty about keeping a waitress/​waiter waiting. I like that you can pick where you sit too.
You order at the kitchen and pay with a card that they give you to track what you eat. This is also really nice if you’re in a big group so you can avoid the headache of splitting checks. I shared a prosciutto pizza and pesto pasta and while I enjoyed the pizza, I found the pesto pasta quite bland.