Pines Pizza, Subs & Pasta

This is very good pizza, made with the best ingredients at very reasonable prices. But if you ask owner Mohamad J. Khan what he recommends most on his surprisingly extensive menu for take-out and delivery, he'll tell you it's his steak and cheese sub. "It's really very good," he told the News-Press with a smile this week.

The fully-loaded pizza Khan made for the News-Press staff to share was phenomenal, and came with a slight hint of spice that is the only manifestation from his home country on his menu.

Khan has made Falls Church his home since he, his wife and first son came to the U.S. 14 years ago from the Kashmir section of Pakistan. He's owned and operated Pines Pizza on Lee Highway for the last two years, although it was there another eight years earlier under a previous owner, known then as Pines of Florence.

Having worked as a chef, manager and a variety of other capacities in the restaurant and catering business throughout Northern Virginia since coming to the U.S., Khan knows what it takes for success. The first and foremost element is good food.

It also takes a lot of work and perseverance, which is what operating one's own business requires. Pines Pizza is open daily, seven days a week, from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., and Khan is there to open and close each day, though sometimes able to take some time away in the slow period of the afternoons.

But there is a family to support, and the Khans now have four children. The oldest, who came to the U.S. at age 2, is now a junior at JEB Stuart High School. Two are in middle school and one in elementary school.

Khan believes in community service. He offers a special rate for large groups, including schools and civic organizations. For them and other groups ordering 10 or more, his pizza is only $6.

You've probably seen one of Pines Pizza's colorful circulars, often distributed to neighborhoods around the area. On it, 10 special coupons offer special deals on single pizzas and combination orders.

But the menu is not limited to pizza. It advertises home made pasta in an array of spaghetti, canneloni, lasagna, ravioli, tortellini, gnocchi, fettuccini, ziti and manicotti offerings, along with chicken cacciatore and chicken and eggplant parmigiana. There's pasta and minestone soup, a variety of salads, gyros and subs, stromboli, desserts, and buffalo wings. Sides of fries, fried zucchini or calamari, mozzarella sticks, garlic bread, onion rings and bread sticks are also available. All good stuff.