Northern Virginia Restaurant Blog: September 2018

7049 Leesburg Pike
Falls Church, VA 22046
Telephone: (703) 532-5299

On a hot, sunny, lazy August Sunday, we headed to Lazy Mike's for a lazy brunch. After Long John Silver's closed its doors in this small stand-alone bungalow on the busy corner of Leesburg Pike (Rte 7) and Shreve Road, owners of a well-known Falls Church City establishment, Clare and Don's Beach Shack (where we have yet to visit!), quickly swept up this high traffic location and Lazy Mike's made a move up the street.

We never visited Lazy Mike's at their old location on N. West Street, Falls Church, where they were since 1996, according to their website. They moved their current digs in late 2017 and caught our attention. The bright natural light from windows and the vintage New Jersey and New York license plates decor on their walls, coupled with a low-overhead one-room seating area, including even some counter seating with 50s style stools, gives it an-almost Jersey-Diner-kind-of feel.

Great homemade fare, breakfast served all day, busy lively family atmosphere and great service make Lazy Mike's an all-around neighborhood restaurant where you'll really feel like home.

It's hard to imagine someone who won't find something to their liking on the extensive menu. Even vegans have a diverse menu here from which to choose. One of the new items on the burger menu is the vegan version of a burger - the "Impossible burger," that just saw the very ingredient that makes it taste like more like a real beef approved by the FDA in July of this year.

We ordered a delicious Reuben with a side of fries, which are only $1.50 if ordered with a sandwich. The Reuben was juicy, flavorful and delicious. Though a far cry from a Reuben you'd get in a New York Deli, for the Northern Virginia area, this was quite good. The fries reminded us of McDonald's fries, which were a little thicker and very good.

The burger menu at Lazy Mike's is quite extensive, and all burgers can be ordered "Impossible," so we went ahead and ordered a Mushroom Swiss Impossible Burger. The waitress suggested that if we're trying a vegan burger, why not top it off with a vegan cheese, which was a great suggestion - if you're going to do vegan, do it all the way, so that's exactly what we tried. In fact, Lazy Mike's must be highly commended for being one of only a handful of restaurants in our area that offers the Impossible Burger. You can find all the locations that serve it up on the website of Impossible Foods.

The Impossible Burger was somewhat of a disappointment, as it tasted little like meat. Perhaps it was something about how it was prepared (flimsy and soft, not charbroiled in flavor or texture) or maybe it had something to do with its ingredients, but it was not as exciting as it had been built-up to be by its advertising (does anything really live up to its advertisements?). Nonetheless, it was a good meal.

It goes without saying that the homemade Brownie Sundae was absolutely the best possible ending to our Lazy Sunday brunch at Lazy Mike's. Both the Brownie AND the Ice Cream are homemade here, in fact 80% of their desserts are homemade, the rest come from an Arlington bakery. The ice cream at Lazy Mike's was so good, that we soon returned to buy 3 of their pints that are available in a freezer to take home. Though one of our friends noted that their ice cream is a little too sweet for his taste, it is still pretty amazing.

Lazy Mike's is a one-room low-overhead operation with a small outside seating area, offering a total capacity of just under 100 people. They do not sell alcohol, except for special occasions, but they do offer a warm, welcoming, lively family atmosphere with a true-blue neighborhood vibe.

We can't wait to return to try all the other options on their menu.