Brother’s Encore

We’re frequent customers because the food is consistent, it tastes great, and the portions are generous. Their pizza is outstanding, and the chicken cacciatore is one of my favorites. Yes, the service is sometimes inconsistent, but the servers are alway friendly, and they serve good draft beer from the adjoining pub.

Ate lunch at brothers today. Server was good. So I was looking for a steak and cheese and some fries like a small lunch. But they only do that during the week. So I got a 6″ sub and a side of fries for 11 bucks. Little pricey but huge amount of fries. Nevertheless the sub was good however the Lettuce tasted like it was stored with other food or something kinda like freezer burnt taste. Not sure. It was just ok. Nothing great. Nice place inside.

A Little disappointed in the marinara sauce… lacks real Italian flavor. I know this place is owned by an Italian family but it seems like they just throw a pungent amount of garlic and butter on everything.

Highly disappointed. We were a party of 4. It was fairly busy when we arrived, but were seated quick. Our server was asking for our drink order before we could all sit down. Our order was taken fairly quickly– 2 appetizers, and for dinner, 3 orders of pasta and one pizza.
The order came out in dribs and drabs. About 10 – 15 min after we ordered, the first appetizer comes. About 5 – 7 min later, the 2^nd appetizer. About 15 min later, 2 plates of pasta come out, steaming hot. About 5 min later the pizza comes– cold. About 3 – 5 min later, the final steaming hot plate of pasta arrived.
The service was very, very slow. The manager comes to check on us after the first 2 pastas come, and asks how our dinner tastes. I tell her «from what we have, it’s okay». Her response, «great” — she walks away. No offer to check on the rest of the order, no question of why we all don’t have food.
There was no offer to discount the pizza that arrived cold for no apparent reason. They did remake the pizza, but by that time I asked for a to go box. But that pizza was piping hot.
Our bill was $ 80 for 4 people — a bit expensive if you consider the service we received. I highly doubt I will be back to eat in the restaurant, but I might consider take out.

Ian the bartender was incredibly attentive and friendly the calamari and garlic knots appetizers were delicious. However the entrées were disappointing the calzone only had a small piece of ham with watery/​runny ricotta and the veal saltimboca had too much over sweetened sauce on top of mushy pasta.
Would return again to have drinks in the bar area, but wouldn’t order food outside of the appetizers.

Have been a fan for years. Nice, family setting. Large servings. Good service. It is a go-​to for subs and other dishes.

We’ve visited Brothers Encore many times over the years. Our kids would ask for the fountain restaurant and everyone knew where we were eating. Our youngest are adults now and we still say we are gong to the fountain restaurant. The food is hot, plentiful, and while not gourmet, is great family comfort food.
The food is good but the service had not improved over the last 2 – 3 visits to the restaurant side. Tonight it was a series of issues that had both my husband and myself shaking our heads and saying no more.
When we arrived at our table the waiter was asking for our drink order before I had even pulled out my chair to sit down. A little over eager but better than being ignored. He came back three times in the space of ten minutes and we finally placed our order. The food came fairly quickly and was very hot. The waiter stopped by to ask if he could take dishes and offered boxes, but we were all still eating and only had our meal a short time.
We were never offered drink refills, either soda or mixed drinks, never received any bread with our pasta dishes (the owner came by as we were finishing and offered bread). Our daughter went to the dessert case and had picked out her dessert. We were never offered dessert but another waitress came to the table and told us «your waiter told me to drop this off» left our check and walked away. We joked our waiter must have quit as he didn’t seem like he wanted to be there.
All in all, we felt rushed (even though there were only 2 tables and 3 booths filled) and we were a bother to the staff. Our bill was almost $ 100 for 4 adults and could have been more with mixed drink refills, desserts, coffee. I was even going to order a meal to take to work with me. After our visit tonight we have decided we will treat this as a fast food restaurant and only go for take out. I’ll miss the fountain.

Let me start by saying that Brother’s Encore is more like a 3.5 but I decided to round up to 4 stars. We’ve lived in the area for nearly 10 years and have never tried Brother’s Encore, but decided to give it a go on a weeknight when the household had a hankering for pasta. Here’s our take on the restaurant.
Food: We ordered the garlic knots to start per everyone’s suggestions on Unilocal and found them to be really tasty. Followed up with a side salad and I have to say, I take issue with salads being served with packs of dressing in a sit down restaurant which is what happened with our Caesar salads. For dinner we opted for the baked ziti, penne alla vodka and a child’s serving of spaghetti and meatballs. Everything was hot and flavorful, not too salty like many local restaurants seem to be. We were all happy with our choices but think next time we’ll give the pizza a try. I will say I don’t care for restaurants that suffer from an «identity crisis», meaning they label themselves one thing (Italian) and then have things like Shepherd’s Pie and cabbage rolls on the menu. Maybe it’s to justify the «Pub» on the sign out front? Not sure, but that’s something that I find annoying.
Service: This where Brother’s Encore failed us. Our server, while he seemed like a nice guy, is– how do you say it? In the wrong line of work. He was clearly flustered and running here and there and everywhere. Not to mention when asked what was good (it was our first time remember) the server said, «I don’t know. I haven’t had any of it.» Really? Novice mistake, my friend. We did without refillls, extra napkins, bread, etc for much of our visit. Tables around us sat dirty which made it hard to tell if it was a lack of staff or up to the servers to clear their own.
Bottom line: For two adults and one child the meal ran about $ 50 with tip. A little pricey but we did have leftovers, so that made it sting a little less. Would we give it another try? Yes. However if the service still lacks next time we may just opt for take out instead.

Our waiter first day Side salads are huge. Good portions. The food Is serve piping HOT
NO COMPLAINT. Just need to let the food rest before eating — good time visit family and friends — a few things. Cesar Salad per Google and Wikipedia–
Main ingredients Romaine lettuce, croutons, Parmesan cheese, anchovies, lemon juice, olive oil, Worcestershire sauce, black pepper
We were charge extra for anchovies — just wish we knew ahead time
I still
Recommend this restaurant– but if we were closer to DC I would have selected a different place to eat

The food is great here and the staff is friendly. Buttttt…
The first and last time that I was there, I left with a migraine from the décor. Seriously though, are the mirrors necessary?

Real NYC Italian food with exceptional service in the wilderness of Northern Virginia.

The corned beef and cabbage are served in large portions and cut as they ought to be. The bartenders do an excellent job of taking care of the patrons! The beer selection is minimal, but the bartenders do the best they can to keep clientele happy. It is nice that there is a separate dining area from the bar which makes the experience child friendly. As a company they are involved in the community and offer special events for attendees including karaōke, live bands, and themed events (especially on St. Patrick’s Day). The best way to be aware of such on goings is to utilize their Facebook page which posts the schedule of events and bands weekly (approximately). Coming to Brother’s on St. Patrick’s Day has become a tradition amongst my friends due to reasonable prices on food, drinks, and the addition of entertainment!

I’m not a fan of all the sauce they put on their pasta, though I could just ask for less That said, I finally broke down and tried one of their subs (the Philly Sausage sub), and it was very good.
Karaōke Night on Fridays is always a blast and if you’re into performance art, then Wednesday is a night for you. The bar can get a little cramped very early, so if you have a big group make sure not to get there early enough or you might not have a seat, let a lone a table.
Overall, decent atmosphere and good food.

Good place for a family dinner when not in a rush and don’t need anything over the top. The kids will gobble up the food and you’ll pay a price that will make you happy. Pizza seemed to be the best on the menu and if we return, I’ll indulge in more of the same.

The food here is actually really good! We enjoyed their Eggplant Parm & Manacotti. The eggplant was cooked perfect. If you’re an eggplant parm kind of person then they have a real good one here. My husband said his manacotti was real good too. We got to try their garlic knots & they were also yum!

We’ve been back to Brother’s many times. The pizza and pasta are still outstanding. Now we’re stuck on the all meat pizza. We substitute bacon (that makes for double bacon) over the ground beef and add extra cheese. The pie is incredible. Highly recommend Brothers!

Great pizza and American fare… nice owner’s who have done a nice job on the menu. very nice selection, and decent wines.

This is a great little cheers bar on one side and a very nice family eatery on the other. The family side does events for kids and has even had a kids karaōke. The bar side is great, the bartender Ian is great and introduces everyone to you if you sit at the bar. They have bands and karaōke nights. HH is 1.99 draft beer and they have free chips and salsa from 4−7pm.

This review is for Brother’s Encore as an alternative to Subway. Lemme explain.
From high school to my post-​college years, I ate Subway regularly. «One six inch Steak and Cheese on wheat and one Deli-​Style Seafood and Crab sandwich, please.» Yup. That was my go-​to order. Some may convulse at the thought of a Seafood and Crab Sandwich from Subway (the last time I ate one, I had bad gas for at least two days…), but truth be told, I would probably still eat one. I digress. Eventually, I branched out and started my «I’m gonna try everything on every menu» phase. And eventually, I grew tired of Subway. Now, I look for local joints at every opportunity, and I pretty much avoid Subway unless it is the only option. Although, that Seafood and Crab does sound good… No, David. Do not do it. Where was I? Ah yes.
So today, as I headed for a quick hike, I needed to grab a couple of sandwiches on my way to the woods. «Hmmm. There’s a Subway nearby… Local joint… I heard this Brother’s place has good subs.» I called ahead and ordered an Italian Hoagie Supreme and Encore’s Club Sub. Picked up the order. Drove for 30 minutes. Hiked for an hour. Drove back home. I gave the Italian Hoagie Supreme to my friend. And I don’t know if it was because I was hungry from the hike or what, but holy smoke, did I ever demolish that Club. It was fantastic. Even after sitting in my car for two hours. Now tell me, who can boast that their subs are good after sweating in a car for a couple of hours? Not many places. But Brother’s can. I propose they make that their motto. «Subs better than Subway, even after sweating in cars.»
It just occurred to me that I’m lucky I didn’t get food poisoning. Heck, even if I did though, it would’ve been my own dang fault, and the sub was still great. I can’t wait to go back and try the food they’re actually known for. Italian being the obvious first choice. Until that happens, though, they will be my Montclair alternative to Subway.

Tried the white pizza — decent, but the ricotta adds too much water to the crust and it tasted doughy. It would be way better with an alfredo sauce, or even their regular pizza sauce (although that would kind of trump the concept of a «white» pizza). That being said, the garlic knots = delish! The antipasto salad = holy crap huge and definitely worth the $ 13 they charge for it; it could easily feed 2 – 3 people. Got our kiddo the mac & meatballs & cheese. Let me say, for $ 5, he got his fill and then some! The meatballs (which he normally loves but wouldn’t eat for some reason) were fantastic and we even brought them home with us! All in all, for $ 40 we brought home half a salad, the kid’s meatballs, and most of the pizza!
The service was fantastic and the prices are on par with the size and quality. I only dock 1 star because of the white pizza not being quite what I was expecting. We are looking forward to returning to try other items from the menu.