Anonymous wrote:The City of Alexandria has too many problems. An incompetent and corrupt mayor is among the least of them. The traffic problems and the sewage being pumped into the river (look it up!) make it a no go for us. Look at the Alexandria portion of Fairfax County. Zipcodes 22306, 22307, 22308, 22309, 22060, 22315, 22310, 22303. I've included a lot more than just the Fort Hunt area because you can find some gem neighborhoods in some of the zips. Good luck.

These are all good zipcodes for looking in the Alexandria area. Belle Haven and Fort Hunt are the most well-known but each of the other zipcodes have great features also. The downside of living south of Alexandria is that you still have to get through the city and it is a hot mess of traffic.

Reston Town Center is fine but nothing exciting. It has changed a fair amount since the owners added paid parking. Most of the local businesses were forced out due to the hit that came from people not shopping at RTC. Why pay to park and shop when there are plenty of free places to shop that don't require paying? We do go there, we like some of the restaurants and the like but we only go there after 5 PM and on the weekends.

I've lived in Reston since before "paid parking" and before most of the high rises they built around RTC. There weren't many "local businesses" in RTC to begin with. There were a couple of cupcake/bakery stores that I think have gone away. I hardly ever shopped or ate there, so paid parking hasn't affected me at all.

The restaurants aren't, and never were, all that exciting. Clyde's, McCormick and Schmick's. Yay. The "local" restaurants are not in RTC.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Barcelona Wine Bar, bartaco, Jackson’s, Mon Ami Gabi, North Italia, PassionFish are good at the Reston town center.

Nearby there is also Cooper's Hawk and, by the Wiehle metro, Founding Farmers (my favorite).

Most of these are chains

Not PP, but restaurants are chains for a reason! They are good! When something is good, it tends to get replicated.

When I think of chains I think of Applebe's, TGIFridays, Chiles, Starbucks and the like. While Mon Ami Gabi has multiple stores and is part of a larger group, it is still reasonably unique. Same for Jackson's and Passion Fish. I know there are a few bartacos and Bareclona's but they are not exactly mass but they are not something that you come close to finding on every street corner or in every city.

No matter what, they are all pretty good and we enjoy eating at them.

Agree. (And I live by old town). These are not chain restaurants that are prevalent. I had to look a couple up to see if they were independent or chains. I particularly like mon abi gabi. Reston probably has to rent to chains as they are the only restaurants with enough capital behind them to be able stay open/afford rent a few years. Seems like any new independent restaurant only last a year in old town now since rent is so expensive.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Beyond commute & schools, it also matters how much you want to spend. Your money will go a lot farther in Reston, especially in light of HQ2. But Alexandria is more immune to downturns, and will probably hold or increase its value far more consistently than Reston. If I had to choose, I'd go with Alexandria. There's just no far Fairfax County equivalent to Old Town and the river.

As for the complaint that Reston Town Center is mostly boring chain stores... well, so is Old Town.

Old town keeps out the chain stores. Though that may be changing now since commercial rents are sky high and the independent stores and restaurants can’t keep up.

Old Town has chain stores and has for years. But its more helter skelter, less of a mall mix of stores feel than RTC.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Barcelona Wine Bar, bartaco, Jackson’s, Mon Ami Gabi, North Italia, PassionFish are good at the Reston town center.

Nearby there is also Cooper's Hawk and, by the Wiehle metro, Founding Farmers (my favorite).

Most of these are chains

Not PP, but restaurants are chains for a reason! They are good! When something is good, it tends to get replicated.

When I think of chains I think of Applebe's, TGIFridays, Chiles, Starbucks and the like. While Mon Ami Gabi has multiple stores and is part of a larger group, it is still reasonably unique. Same for Jackson's and Passion Fish. I know there are a few bartacos and Bareclona's but they are not exactly mass but they are not something that you come close to finding on every street corner or in every city.

No matter what, they are all pretty good and we enjoy eating at them.

These places are the Applebee’s of the 2010s. A bunch of chains!

Lol jk I do enjoy Ted Bulletins. Their toaster pastries are amazing

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Barcelona Wine Bar, bartaco, Jackson’s, Mon Ami Gabi, North Italia, PassionFish are good at the Reston town center.

Nearby there is also Cooper's Hawk and, by the Wiehle metro, Founding Farmers (my favorite).

Most of these are chains

Not PP, but restaurants are chains for a reason! They are good! When something is good, it tends to get replicated.

When I think of chains I think of Applebe's, TGIFridays, Chiles, Starbucks and the like. While Mon Ami Gabi has multiple stores and is part of a larger group, it is still reasonably unique. Same for Jackson's and Passion Fish. I know there are a few bartacos and Bareclona's but they are not exactly mass but they are not something that you come close to finding on every street corner or in every city.

No matter what, they are all pretty good and we enjoy eating at them.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Barcelona Wine Bar, bartaco, Jackson’s, Mon Ami Gabi, North Italia, PassionFish are good at the Reston town center.

Nearby there is also Cooper's Hawk and, by the Wiehle metro, Founding Farmers (my favorite).

Most of these are chains

Not PP, but restaurants are chains for a reason! They are good! When something is good, it tends to get replicated.

Anonymous wrote:We used to live in town of vienna and loved it, but looking for a different vibe this time around and more diversity as well but I do agree that vienna was quaint and beautiful! Im not completely writing it off...

I could see wanting more diversity than in the Town of Vienna. We are actually outside of the TOV in 22181, and it is more diverse. You could consider 22181 or other areas outside of the TOV?

One thing to keep in mind is that there's diversity to diversity. I'm multiracial myself, and this discussion reminded me of an experience I had at the Lake Anne farmer's market (in Reston) several years ago. I was trying to make a purchase from one of the vendors, but I didn't have cash with me, and the vendor didn't accept credit cards. I asked if she would take a check, and she seemed to hesitate and study my facial features, and then she said that she wouldn't take a check. Luckily my spouse was nearby and stepped up with cash, but a lightbulb kind of went off for me that in this area with many surrounding apartments feeding into the Spanish immersion program, anyone nonwhite may be assumed to have a lower income and perhaps not be honest and reliable. I had never experienced anything like this in TOV or 22181, so it was startling for me.

I don't have actual statistics on hand, but something to look into would be whether minority groups in Reston and Alexandria have proportionately lower incomes for the area than in Vienna and some other areas. If so, that could lead to some stereotyping. In Vienna I feel it's generally assumed that people are hardworking, honest, and successful in whatever type of endeavor they may have chosen for themselves, regardless of race. In schools you see high performers of all races. Of course that's just my personal experience and impression, so statistics on race and income, and also on test scores, would give the most accurate picture.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Reston Cons:
Some schools have higher than desired FARMs rates.
10-15 miles from DC
Liberal (might be a pro for some)
Multiple socioeconomic levels (again might be a pro for some)

Those "cons" are also true of Alexandria though.

If you look at generic Fairfax County Alexandria v Reston two major things are notable. Reston now has 2 special tax districts on top of the standard property tax rate of 1.15 per $100 of assessed value. One is a transit district and the other is for the Reston clusters and both have also have the HOA fees.

FX started the tax district to pay for bonds to build the community center. Those bonds were paid off in 1999. 20 years ago. Residential real estate in the Mount Vernon District never gets charged for local amenities like Laurel Hill or the community center portion that will be located at the old mount Vernon HS. This crap needs to stop under One Fairfax.

https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/taxes/real-estate/tax-rates

Anonymous wrote:Barcelona Wine Bar, bartaco, Jackson’s, Mon Ami Gabi, North Italia, PassionFish are good at the Reston town center.

Nearby there is also Cooper's Hawk and, by the Wiehle metro, Founding Farmers (my favorite).

Most of these are chains

Barcelona Wine Bar, bartaco, Jackson’s, Mon Ami Gabi, North Italia, PassionFish are good at the Reston town center.

Nearby there is also Cooper's Hawk and, by the Wiehle metro, Founding Farmers (my favorite).

^^car serviced

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Beyond commute & schools, it also matters how much you want to spend. Your money will go a lot farther in Reston, especially in light of HQ2. But Alexandria is more immune to downturns, and will probably hold or increase its value far more consistently than Reston. If I had to choose, I'd go with Alexandria. There's just no far Fairfax County equivalent to Old Town and the river.

As for the complaint that Reston Town Center is mostly boring chain stores... well, so is Old Town.

Old town keeps out the chain stores. Though that may be changing now since commercial rents are sky high and the independent stores and restaurants can’t keep up.

Yeah there are still some restaurants in Old Town that I’ll travel to specifically for those spots. Like Porto and Hanks Oyster Bar.

Reston, I can’t think of any particular place that makes me say “I gotta go to Reston Town Center just for xxxxx eatery”. They did add a Not Your Average Joes and a Ted Bulletin’s, I guess.

I live by old town and always eat there or in DC. Get my serviced at Pohanka near Reston (twice a year) and eat at Reston town center. The restaurant prices are so much less! Can’t believe the difference. So that’s a plus for Reston.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Beyond commute & schools, it also matters how much you want to spend. Your money will go a lot farther in Reston, especially in light of HQ2. But Alexandria is more immune to downturns, and will probably hold or increase its value far more consistently than Reston. If I had to choose, I'd go with Alexandria. There's just no far Fairfax County equivalent to Old Town and the river.

As for the complaint that Reston Town Center is mostly boring chain stores... well, so is Old Town.

Old town keeps out the chain stores. Though that may be changing now since commercial rents are sky high and the independent stores and restaurants can’t keep up.

Yeah there are still some restaurants in Old Town that I’ll travel to specifically for those spots. Like Porto and Hanks Oyster Bar.

Reston, I can’t think of any particular place that makes me say “I gotta go to Reston Town Center just for xxxxx eatery”. They did add a Not Your Average Joes and a Ted Bulletin’s, I guess.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does Reston offer a city vibe for 30something young adults or is it suburbia?

It’s suburbia to a tee. Don’t let the tall buildings in the town center fool you, it’s mainly families and kids. There are a few bars but it’s mainly divorced soccer moms who frequent the bars.

If you want more of a city vibe, you’d have to go with Alexandria.

Agree. Alexandria has something for everybody. Definitely more urban feel. A lot of diversity, grit & a lot of fun. Good location to DC if that matters.

Reston is just very scrubbed, boring and far away. It is safe.

The urban feel part is just for Old Town Alexandria. Most of Alexandria in Ffx County is as suburban as anything, without another center of activity. At least Reston has some stuff downtown.

Old town Alexandria is is part of the “City of Alexandria” not Fairfax County. The other “Alexandria” is Fairfax County. These are two different areas.
The entire “city of Alexandria” is packed and is urban, thus “city.” The Fairfax County Alexandria is also more packed as it is older than Reston and the route 1 corridor is being revitalized over the next 10 yrs up to Fort Belvoir adding another 18k housing and 1m + in commercial space. This area will become even more dense. Just in time amazon and the ever expanding employment at Fort Belvoir.

Reston has the opposite feel from these areas as it is very different. Very safe & calm if you lead the childed lifestyle. If not, go for Alexandria.

This. Reston is kiddie land. Reminds me of Loudon county. Which is great if that is your lifestyle. I choose old town.