Burger 7 is out, Japanese restaurant will be in at Dunn Loring’s Avenir Place

One restaurant has closed, but another will soon open in the Shops at Avenir Place near the Dunn Loring Metro station.

Burger 7 is no longer serving up patties and gyro wraps at 2670-A Avenir Place. The doors of the fast-casual eatery were fastened shut with a padlocked chain, and the interior looked partially deserted when FFXnow recently stopped by, though there was no sign announcing or explaining the closure.

A Burger 7 employee in Pimmit Hills (7505 Leesburg Pike) confirmed that the Dunn Loring location is permanently closed, but they didn’t know precisely when or why it shuttered, noting that the franchise has a different owner. Emails to the company weren’t answered by press time.

Burger 7 opened at Avenir Place in 2017, replacing a Smashburger, according to its first Yelp review. In addition to Pimmit Hills, where the business originally started in 2011, Burger 7 can still be found in Alexandria and Arlington.

The 2,094-square-foot space is now listed as available on the Shops at Avenir Place’s retail site plan.

New Japanese restaurant on the way

The transit-oriented development won’t be down a restaurant for too long, though. On the other end of the strip, near Salon Lofts and The Casual Pint, signs advertise the impending arrival of Japomen.

This will be the first standalone location for the sushi and ramen restaurant, which can currently be found in the Pike Kitchen Food Hall in Rockville, EpiQ Food Hall in Woodbridge and Lotte Supermarket’s food court in Sterling, co-owner James Park says.

“Fairfax County has demographics to fit [the] Japomen concept,” Park told FFXnow.

Park joined Japomen, which was started by sushi chef Peter Yoo at Pike Kitchen in 2018, during the COVID-19 pandemic. The partners expanded to Woodbridge in summer 2022 and to Sterling when Lotte opened there last year.

Park and Yoo are also behind Tilly Kitchen, a small food hall in Chantilly that complements Japomen’s menu with Korean and Vietnamese dishes.

Expected to open at 2767-J Avenir Place in May, Japomen will serve food similar to what can be found at the EpiQ Food Hall, including sushi rolls, ramen and udon noodle soups and rice bowls. Park says the team will also “continue to innovate new menu items in catering to Dunn Loring customers.”

“We are very excited and look forward to serving the Dunn Loring community,” he said.