Updated at 7:05 p.m. on 7/29/2024 — Kook Dogg Cafe officially opened to customers in Reston today (Monday) after an earlier soft opening for friends and family.
Earlier: After a months-long delay, Kook Dogg Cafe in Reston is finally ready for its soft opening, starting next weekend.
But the restaurant won’t be fully open to the public for another few weeks.
“We are having a private soft opening for friends and family only and hope to open to the public with the next week or 2,” co-owner Noel Kuchler told FFXnow.
Noel’s husband Paul, who co-owns the restaurant at 12100 Sunset Hills Road in RTC West with their business partners Walter and Karen Hodges, confirmed to FFXnow that the space passed its final inspection last Friday (July 12). The team is now in the process of getting everything ready.
“We finally passed our last step last Friday,” Paul said. “The fire [marshal] was here, so we cleared that hurdle. Right now, we are shooting for a soft opening for next Friday and Saturday, the 26th and 27th of July.”
Kook Dogg, which plans to offer a selection of deli sandwiches, toasted hot subs, salads, fresh pizzas and craft beers, had initially planned to open in April but faced delays due to permitting issues.
Despite some bumps along the way, Paul and his kitchen team are nearing the final stages of “perfecting” their menu and the restaurant’s ambiance.
“Hopefully, we’ll give people in this area a reason to come by and give us a shot,” he said.
Before Kook Dogg, Paul, who also oversees the kitchen, managed several restaurants in Vienna, including the now-closed French fine-dining establishments Le Canard and Maplewood Grill.
After years in the demanding restaurant industry, Paul and Noel took a break to focus on family, but they never lost their love for the industry. Paul says he, Noel and their partners had been casually looking for new spaces around the area when they discovered Little Beast Cafe and Bistro had closed.
“We were looking for over five years, actually, for the perfect spot,” he said. “And when this place came available, it kind of checked off a lot of the boxes for us as far as accessibility and exposure. I mean, we’re close to the Metro for employees to get here and you can see our sign from the [Dulles] toll road.”
Though Paul’s experience is primarily in more upscale dining, he wanted a change and decided to start a restaurant where people wouldn’t have to break the bank to enjoy a meal.
“I kind of wanted to just develop something that was a little bit more approachable, not just a special occasion or birthday-type spot, but more of like an everyday, come and grab a $13 sandwich and a pint of beer,” Paul said.
Last month, Kook Dogg’s would-be neighbor, Burgers Grilled Right, closed after six years, apparently due to it being a challenging area to run a small business.
However, Paul says he’s not worried and argues he’s seen lots of foot traffic in and out of surrounding restaurants, including Cooper’s Hawk and Nando’s across the street.
“A lot of people I see, they don’t even need to drive over here because there are so many large office buildings within a five-minute walk from here,” he said. “I see a lot of foot traffic in the mornings, which is great, and at nighttime. I also feel like there’s enough parking that everybody is taken care of.”
According to Paul, Kook Dogg will open at 11 a.m. daily and close at 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and at 10 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.
