Four Sisters Vietnamese

Welcome back everyone! It's been a long hiatus, but we're back and about the same quality as before! We've gone through some roommate changes, differences in scheduling, and general apathy, but we're getting back on track and looking forward to reviewing more restaurants in the Falls Church/Arlington area. That said, we are very rusty, as evidenced by this first pick, which was far from the usual Thurber Party venue:



Full Picture Set Coming Soon!

Curb Appeal/Location: Bumpy (apparently it had been so long for Bumpy that he had forgotten the difference between Curb Appeal and Ambience...don't worry people, we'll get better)
The Vietnamese sisters restaurant was likely one of the nicer establishments that I have visited for blog dinner during my short tenure with the gang. The restaurant was a bit nicer than the other restaurants that we normally associate with. Actually, the decor led us to believe that we had made a mistake in selecting a restaurant that seemed a bit out of our league. The restaurant was filled with nice tables donning a rich wooden stain dimly lit by elegant ceiling lights. However, the largest contributor to the classy ambiance of the restaurant was the bathrooms. Any restaurant reviewer knows that the bathrooms are a fail safe method of determining how nice the restaurant is. These bathrooms were impeccably clean and spacious with plenty of privacy. The Vietnamese sisters menu was quite large, but just in case it didn't suit your palette, there was a Chipotle and Noodles and Co. nearby.
Rating: 4 Thurbs



Food and Beverage: Tommy
We knew that we were pretty far off the reservation when we saw the size of the menu at 4 Sisters. I commented that it was roughly the equivalent of a Vietnamese Cheesecake Factory. The menu listed everything from spring rolls to dishes of chicken, pork, beef, and fish, and in all different preparations. To be fair, none of us could accurately describe the difference between fares of the major Southeastern Asian countries, but many of the items that you could find in Thai, Malaysian, Indonesian, and some Chinese restaurants could be found here as well, sometimes in slightly modified versions.

I got spring rolls with spiced pork and shrimp with peanut sauce, which Andrea and I both agreed were very good. Andrea had a curry chicken with coconut milk and spicy sauce, Bumpy and I had a carmelized pork with black pepper cooked in a clay pot, Brian got a grilled black pepper beef served over watercress, tomatoes (the only slightly off part of the whole meal, these were very, very pale green, almost white), onions, and lime dip , and Paul selected the chicken sauteed with mixed vegetables. If you just drooled on your keyboard, that is the correct response. The food was fantastic, so much so that we really felt bad that we had gone there.

Usually this blog is about going to locations that are off the beaten path and finding a diamond in the rough. This time, however, we felt like we went to a place that was used to cooking everything just right. Just the right amount of seasoning, served at the correct temperature, and quickly. As soon as I saw my plate, I knew it was going to be awesome, and it was. Paul got a whole pot of jasmine tea for $0.50. I know tea is very simple, but $0.50? BP got a Vietnamese beer ("33") and declared it to be a good competitor for MGD (and will probably purchase this shirt later). If you want mystery, don't go here. If you want some outstanding food and to get exactly what you order, prepared how you want it (which, let's be honest, is kind of the ideal goal for almost all restaurants that don't involve a small blog's participants), you need to go here.
Rating: 4 Thurbs



Ambience/Entertainment: Brian

As Tommy first described the location of 4 Sisters Vietnamese, I thought, “yeah, located behind some office buildings, kind of obscure…this could be good.” However, I would soon find this establishment to be much classier than many of our previous ventures. First indicator this place was legit: tons of people sitting at nicely organized booths and tables. Additionally, matching places settings and furniture was strange to us.

You might call 4 Sisters a “normal, well-run restaurant.” Music played while we ate that was neither too loud nor soft. This allowed for casual conversation, but we were subject to being drowned out by the women’s book club/all girls’ dinner party next to us. Native artwork adorned the walls and even a picture of the 4 sisters themselves! We did have a birthday the next table over, so we halfheartedly sang to our unknown friends as a cupcake with a single candle made its way to their table. Sorry readers, no impromptu karaoke hours, club scene, or wedding receptions as you have come to expect. Never fear, we have a highly selective list of future restaurants that are sure to make up for the lack of crazy this go ‘round.
Rating: 3 Thurbs

Guest of Honor: Andrea Docos
Go Big or Go Home. That should be the motto for the Gentlemen of James Thurber Court. The new season of “Thurber: Party of Four” kicked it up a notch last week when the restaurant of choice turned out to be better than all of their former dining experiences combined – and also proved to have made its way onto the “Top 100 Restaurants in the Washington DC Metro area” list…. Imagine my delight at being the lucky lady that got to partake! (I’m still speechless people.) Upon selecting Four Sisters in Falls Church, we were excited at the thought of this place being the quintessential Thurb spot when we heard it was located on the backside of a commercial district quite close to the theater formally known as “Murder-plex”. But whatever preconceived notions we had were quickly shattered. Let me paint a picture for you: As you round the corner from the parking garage, you are greeted by the yellow glow of an illuminated corner locale. A revolving door beckons you into the eatery where the warm aroma of fresh seafood teases your senses…

We were seated and served faster than you can say “classy joint”, and proceeded to put aside our chopsticks and shovel like any decent American would do to demonstrate their approval of a particularly fabulous dish.

Now don’t let the cloth napkins and fancy table cloth fool you, this fancy-shmantzi establishment still proved to have the potential for a rip-roaring good time: Where Happy Birthday could (and would) be sung out loud by a group of patrons, as well as be the choice gathering spot for a group of middle aged women/book clubbers/maybe a wedding party? (The jury is still out.) And as if it wasn’t family oriented enough, a large framed school photo of four little girls left you wondering, “Could those be the Four Sisters?”…

Overall, the flavors were intense and the sauces were light which meant that the “I’m sickeningly full” food coma never came. We all just left smiling and snickering over the fact that Four Sisters turned out to be quite a delight. I give it 3.75 Thurbs.

Four Sisters Vietnamese Restaurant
Overall Rating: 3.6875 Thurbs