Plans to open a new restaurant and beer garden at the site of a closed Falls Church motel are nearing completion.
After months of demolition and construction, Stratford Garden is beginning to materialize at 300 W. Broad Street, where the Stratford Motor Lounge closed in 2021. Aiming for a November opening, owner Arash Tafakor is wrapping up renovations and developing a menu with new head chef Cameron Cousin.
All-day offerings are in the works
- Cousin, of Rosslyn’s former Assembly food hall, plans to offer brunch, lunch and dinner, with a variety of sandwiches, salads and pastas, plus a potential raw bar.
- A new cafe with pastries, grab-and-go items and Potomac Coffee is slated to open in the motel’s refurbished La Caraqueña restaurant space facing Harris Teeter.
- “We’re gonna have something for everybody,” Tafakor said. “There’s a lot of different cultures around here, a lot of diversity, and I think our menu will show that. We’re not going to pigeonhole ourselves to, like, one type of food.”
‘High-value’ drinks planned
- Tafakor, who owns a set of D.C.-area wine and beer shops including Dominion Wine & Beer, intends to offer “high-value” local libations, with 16 beers on tap.
- “In retail, you have to be value-driven; you find a bottle of wine that costs $10, but it tastes like $30,” Tafakor said. “It might cost low, but the performance of the wine is going to be really high, and same with our beers.”
It’ll have space for 300 guests
- Tafakor has constructed a new dining room and full-service bar on the grounds of the motel’s former rooms, which were parallel to Little Falls Street.
- Outside, a dog-friendly beer garden will be complete with artificial turf, lawn games and enough outdoor furniture to seat about 92 people. Tafakor hopes to keep it open year-round, with seasonal additions like umbrellas and fire pits.
- “We’re taking an abandoned space that was being unused, and really an eyesore, and really putting it to use for the community,” he said.
