As we were greeted by the host at the restaurant Joon, my wife Jun and I were puzzled that we were led to a small table in a very awkward configuration (sandwiched diagonally between two other tables next to the window) near the entrance where the chilly wind was blowing. On my way to the restroom, I saw that there were plenty of empty tables in a more spacious dining space on the inside of the restaurant. Eventually, we were allowed to move to one of the two tables next the window, but we both wondered who was making these weird decisions. With that out of the way, it is time to talk about the food at Joon (its pronunciation is identical to my beloved wife’s name). Led by Najmieh Batmanglij, an acclaimed cookbook author, and Chris Morgan (ex-Maydan), Joon was recently listed on New York Times’ coveted 50 Best Restaurants of America list representing Virginia. While Jun and I had some good dishes (with one clear winner), our dining experience was somewhat mixed.

While Middle Eastern cuisine has become more widespread in America’s dining scene, it’s not always easy to find a place that focuses more or less exclusively on the culinary tradition of Iran like Joon does. Whenever we check out Middle Eastern restaurants, we get at least one spread dish to dip a bread with; we have often found that these spreads give a fairly reliable idea of how good the restaurant is with the rest of the menu. We tried beet borani with yogurt and roasted beets alongside hummus with braised lamb shoulder and harissa. Both were solid spreads, with a slight nod to hummus (which never goes wrong with lamb shoulder), but nothing out of the ordinary based on our prior dining experiences elsewhere. Between the two large dishes we ordered, one dish that didn’t quite live up to our expectations was duck fesenjoon. Fesenjoon is a type of Iranian stew with sweet and sour flavor, based on pomegranate and various spices. The duck leg itself was mostly fine (and the texture of crunchy rice of tahdig was rather addictive), but we weren’t quite won over by the flavor of the stew which felt sweeter than we had anticipated. Is it because of our lack of familiarity with the flavor of Persian cuisine? It was hard to tell. On the other hand, my clear winner of the night was the braised lamb shoulder with butternut squash and carrots; I found myself going after the lamb shoulder more often than the duck, savoring the flavor and texture of the former that would be a worthy model for how to properly cook a lamb dish. For dessert, we split the brûléed vanilla cardamom custard tart; whether you like this dish or not would likely depend on how you feel about the uniquely savory flavor of cardamom.

Getting a reservation at Joon is not overly challenging, especially with the spacious dining space (it did get busier over time during our meal). There is full bar with some creative cocktails using ingredients from the Middle East region and a large number of relatively affordable wine bottles to complement your meal. Aside from the snafu on our table seating, the service was mostly fine although there were some longer-than-expected gaps in between dishes. Joon is a solid addition to Northern Virginia’s dining scene and you can have a successful meal here if you order the right dishes. Perhaps we will be back, especially with a larger group that would give us opportunities to try as many dishes as possible.  

Address: 8045 Leesburg Pike Suite 120, Vienna, VA 22182

KenScale: 7.75/10 (Jun’s Score: 7.5/10)

Website: https://www.eatjoon.com/

Reservation via Resy