Restaurants in Centreville

A charcoal clay oven roars to life every morning in Angeethi’s kitchen in preparation for a day full of roasting meats and vegetables and baking fresh breads including roti and naan. The authentic tandoor prepares a menu rich in traditional flavors derived from spices imported from all over India. A dash of pure saffron, wild black cardamom, and cinnamon enhances platters of long-grain basmati rice, a standard side dish that enhances lamb, seafood, chicken, and vegetarian dishes alike. Waiters shuttle chosen plates out to a regal dining room full of carved, throne-like dining chairs, gilded statues of deities, and napkins fancifully folded into fork-size saris.

The Wahla brothers have spent the past 25 years perfecting their spin on authentic Punjabi cuisine, opening restaurants throughout Scotland and the United States. Inside the kitchen of their latest venture, Tandoori Village, clay tandoors bake skewers of chicken, beef, and shrimp while chefs marinate jumbo prawns in yogurt and knead soft balls of dough for baking buttery disks of naan. An ornate carved door with golden embellishments looms at the entryway of the restaurant, giving way to the vibrant reds, yellows, and oranges that accent the walls and drape across ceiling timbers, and elegant archways that house traditional lanterns and clay pots. Outside, the patio's additional seating encourages outdoor dining and easier hitchhiking on passing tractor beams.

When flames leap out of the tabletops at Matsutake Sushi & Grill, diners applaud rather than dash to the exits. Skilled chefs carefully orchestrate each pyrotechnic display as they man tableside hibachi grills, flipping and searing buttery scallops or thick cuts of filet mignon in front of diners. As they douse platefuls of flame-kissed vegetables and meat with garlic butter, lemon, or their signature sauce, they dazzle guests with adroit knife skills and their ability to keep hoards of roving balloon animals at bay. For more delicate eats, the restaurant's sushi chefs roll tightly wrapped maki and slice orders of fresh sashimi behind the open-view sushi bar.

Framed artwork and Japanese-style silk screens lend a traditional feel to the red-walled dining room, although dangling pendant lights, a flat-screen television, and a holographic waitstaff imbue it with modern accents. Outside, guests chopstick into entrees al fresco on the open-air patio.

The cooks at Virginia BBQ opt to use only high-quality meats, slinging bone-in boston pork seasoned with the eatery’s signature dry drub, a tradition that helped the establishment elicit plaudits from Richmond magazine as one of the region's best barbecue destinations. A rotisserie hickory-wood smoker permeates meat with flavor over the course of 12 hours, the same time it takes to cook meat by sending it to the sun and back. Barbecue gourmands then hand-pull the meat and fill plates or stack catering trays with the lean, flavorful bites. After the cuisine emerges from the wood smoker, it takes on an appetizing quality that the Free Lance-Star called "meltingly tender, astonishingly lean." Down-home side dishes such as baked beans, mac 'n' cheese, or red-potato salad round out entrees of pork ribs, brisket, and chicken. Virginia BBQ outstrips its name by having expanded to Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Mars, the planet whose color most indicated its proclivity for barbecue.

Drawing on more than 25 years of deli experience, the family of owners of Epic Market & Grill expertly hand-pick items to fill their menu of sandwiches and burgers. Cooks whip up house-made tzatziki sauce for gyros and make each day’s special from scratch. Take-home domestic brews complement Epic burgers piled with mushrooms, onions, bacon, and fried eggs. In addition, breakfast, lunch, and dinner fare fills the catering menu, which in turn fills office workers and their filing cabinets’ refrigerator drawers.

Incorporating Spanish, Italian, and North African influences in their French-inspired Mediterranean fare, the eclectic Old-World cuisine of Mediterranee Restaurant earned a spot on Gayot's list of the Top 10 French Restaurants in Virginia Suburbs in 2012. In addition to classics such as house-prepared pâté and rack of lamb encrusted with herbs de provence, chef Imperato and his staff occasionally move beyond the French borders by incorporating flavors like house-made curry into their dishes. For an extra twist, they'll also add Asian flavors with ingredients such as sichuan peppercorns and baby bok choy.