Jenin Pastry

Knafe is smooth and fragrant. Not too sweet. Eat it there, if you dare try to take it home and reheat it, you run the risk of turning it into a rubbery piece of cheese. Update: This place now has music!

Jenin Pastry is a Middle-​Eastern pastry shop in Falls Church.
They have so many options and make their desserts on the premises, so the entire store is filled with the scent of freshly baked sweets. Honey and nuts are the staples to their pastries. When I was there, I got the free pastry with my Unilocal Check-​in, and one of the bakers gave us four free cookies during our time there. It was a nice experience, and I would come back for my pastry fix!

I’ve recently discovered this gem and have been purchasing baklava and basbousa form here very week. The pastry are baked fresh daily and the flavor is incredible!

We came here to have Knafeh at the store. The Knafeh tasted stale. The Knafeh had to be hot and the cheese stretchy to be perfect, similar to a hot pizza from an oven. If you eat the pizza later on, slightly warm, the cheese won’t stretch, and that’s how it felt with the Knafeh.
The tables were not cleaned after each client or service. Not sure how often do they clean it honestly !

Service is terrible. Called an order 2 hrs. ahead and when arrived I was told I have to wait for one more hr. Ordered 4 lbs Kenaffa. Will never come back to this establishment.

Best middle eastern pastry shop in the US, hands-​down!!! :) try it and you will not regret it! I promise !

The best middle eastern sweet in us
The customer service was excellent
I love the kinafh fingers and honey queen

The pastries were good with a VERY wide selection the staff is nice, the have good chill space and open late! I’ve had some of these same pastries in the east and this place does a pretty good job.

I tried their Kanafeh and it is not mad. I loved it more when they used the old cheese and happily when i send them that remark they worked by it and made my order of their old cheese.
I would recommend you to try its sweets. Especially their Kanafeh

The pastries seemed fresh and were tasty. Middle Eastern pastries are not my favorite, so I’m probably not the best judge of flavor, but they were definitely enjoyable.
The purchasing experience was uncomfortable. I’m not a big fan of a group of men going silent and staring at me for awhile when my teenage daughter and I walk in. These were customers, not employees, so not the shop’s fault. I know a tiny bit about the cultural differences, but don’t enjoy the silent staring as it feels like hostility and lack of welcome to me, so be aware and perhaps shop elsewhere if you feel the same. The employees were fine, but did seem confused (or disapproving?) of my desire to buy a tray with a sampling of many of the pastries. A man I assume was the owner came out eventually and gave us several pastries to sample, which was very nice. Not a lot of warmth or welcome on the part of the employees, but otherwise they were fine. Not sure if I would go back or not.

Stopped in to satisfy my sweet tooth and left with a smile! The Warbat was by far my favorite, which didn’t even make it home! This was my first visit and Ahmed was very patient and attentive with all of my questions. Great desserts and customer service, definitely coming back!

If you have a true sweet tooth you’ll enjoy the middle eastern Deserts this pastry shop has to offer!
Get the kanafa, it’s my favorite!

Even though it’s a little hidden, this place is simply AMAZINGGGGGGGG!!! Used to come here all the time for the pastries alone (Kanafe and Warbat mainly, these are to die for!!!). Little that I knew, they opened their café annex (right next to) the pastry shop. My boyfriend and decided to try it and went for the safe route. So we ordered chicken shawarma, hot black tea with mint and Melon dew hookah. I can go as far to say that it’s much better than Zaaki (another hookah/​café joint further down Route 7). It’s that GOOD! And just to finish up we decided to get some warbat and Kanafe.
This place should get more traffic once the word is out. Food is great, price is relatively great and ambiance is simple and good– not overwhelming like other places. Overall, this is my new hangout spot. Ohhhh and did I mention, free Wi-​fi???
Who needs Starbucks?

I just had one of the best shawarma sandwiches I ever tried! Plus the great fries and the garlic paste that comes with it; all that with a drink, only for 8 bucks! They also got those delicious Arabic sweets! I’ve tried Warbat and Kanafeh, and both tasted delicious! I’m pretty sure this is gonna become my favorite place for Arabic food and dessert!
They have free wifi, great tea, and great hookah! Plus the great service!

I come here regularly for their tea (and coffee too). It’s cheaper than Starbucks and free refills!
The desserts are really sweet. I like eating them FIRST before a meal.
Always fresh and they taste good, I like the ones with dates.
Also, they have a new café that just opened up too. looks pretty cool. big screen TV, hookahs, and food is quality at the right prices.
if you live or work around here, I recommend you stop in to check it out.

This is a lovely place. It deserve the 5 starts because of their hospitality and the great service they offer. Those people are so nice. So far, I tried the knafa which is always freshly made and super delicious. I also loved the chwarma beef rolls (house made bread and meet) which has a lot of spices. I can feel the authenticity of the food there. I tried a lot of other pastries that I forgot their names but all so delicious and lovely.
The place is pretty and well designed. I like those kinda places which are kinda quite and you can feel home over there. I will always go to that place for my favorite sweet stuff.

Delicious pastries, very helpful service explaining what nuts are in all the different pastries. Great for gifts or parties.
They make all their baklava so products rotate, but if you love pistachios or dates or nuts in general, you’ll be very happy to try sweets from this place. Also, the pastries are just sweet enough, not the kind that are overly sweet.

When I went there, that’s just opened and I tried falafel and shawarma! Those were perfect and I’ll go there again !!!
Good food, nice server and funny place
I payed $ 6 for falafel and $ 6 for shawarma

Something very interesting happened the day after I wrote my review for this establishment back on 12÷4÷14 which proves some owners really do monitor and take seriously the reviews people post on Unilocal!
What happened you ask? The owner sent me a message apologizing for my underwhelming experience and asked that I call his direct number to arrange a free «tasting session». How awesome is that! He further explained that they are in fact expanding into the space next door.
So, I bet your asking yourself, «did I call and arrange a free tasting session?» The answer is, No! The reason is simple, Mohammed (the owner) not only took to time to write me a very nice message apologizing for my experience but also offered to make things right. If I had accepted his offer I would have felt like I was taking advantage of him. If that makes any sense.
Yesterday, 12÷20÷14 I returned to give it another try. I’m happy to report my experience was much better! This time the display case was just packed full of sweets. I like to add there was a nice selection of baklava. The only issue I faced was what to get! The man behind the counter was very friendly and suggested I get an assortment which could be purchased by the box in either ½, 1, 2 or 3 lb increments. I decided to go with a 1 lb assortment of cookies and ½ lb assortment of baklava. Please forgive my ignorance as I do not know the names of all the different types of pastries. I will say they were all very good and the 6 or so types of baklava were exceptional. Not too sweet and very flaky, some of the best I’ve had. FYI the pistachio baklava is excellent!
As you’ve noticed I increased my rating from 1 to 5 stars. Why? Because Mohammed took to time to write me (very rare for an owner to do that in my experience) and the pastries are really good.
In case your wondering if I’d return, the answer is «yes». As I stated earlier, they are expanding this location, currently it’s quite small, and I can’t wait to see what it looks like after completion.

I am so happy that Jenin Pastry opened up another location in Falls Church (near Bailey’s Crossroads; their other location is out in Springfield)! Some of my friends would order lovely desserts from here for potluck, luncheons/​dinners, and holiday celebrations. This bakery makes everything from scratch and offers lovely & authentic Middle Eastern sweets such as: knafeh, baklava (triangular-​shaped as well as the cylindrical-​shaped), katayef, mamoul, namora, harissa, betefur, etc. I really like the knafeh, as the pastry is filled with cheese — it’s not too melty, but warm; topped with crispy ‘noodles’ of the pastry itself, dyed in orange food coloring, and then topped again with crushed pistachios. There is a a side of warm syrup made with rose water/​orange blossom, where you pour it all over. It’s a great, not-​too-​sweet dessert you can have after a nice meal; definitely different, as it’s with cheese (not stringy, but a warm gooey consistency that still holds its shape), and it’s not savory at the least. I also like the ‘bird’s nest,’ as that’s thin strands of the phyllo in a cyndrical shape, filled with glazed pistachio nuts; the pişmaniye, a Turkish version of the cotton candy (also known as a ‘girl’s hair’ as it resembles it so!), is also delicious! :D Definitely check them out for a great alternative from ‘typical’ desserts!
+knafeh
+pişmaniye
+‘bird’s nest’