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A restaurant space near the Dunn Loring Metro station that has sat vacant for more than three years appears set for a new tenant.

The Vienna Lodge Bar & Grill plans to open on the ground floor of the Avalon Dunn Loring apartments at 2750 Gallows Road in Merrifield. Storefront signs now announce the restaurant’s arrival in the former Blackfinn Ameripub space.

A sister restaurant, the Great Falls Lodge, is also taking shape at 9835 Georgetown Pike in the Great Falls Center. It will replace El Tio Tex-Mex Grill in a space previously occupied by Triny’s Tex-Mex Grill and the Tavern at Great Falls.

Chef and owner Neel Kamal said the two restaurants will join the same small group as The Urbana Lodge and The Clarks Lodge in Maryland. The company focuses on family-oriented neighborhoods.

Both Virginia locations are expected to feature interiors modeled after mountain log cabins, with real stone walls, leather couches, a fireplace and taxidermy.

Kamal has worked in hospitality for more than 30 years. He also operates Brews & Barrels in Gaithersburg and Maharani Palace, an Indian restaurant that opened in Herndon in 2024.

The Merrifield project remains in an early stage. Fairfax County records show that no renovation permits have been filed, although a Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority application allowing beer and wine sales has been pending since early January.

The Great Falls restaurant appears closer to opening. Kamal’s team announced in December that it was seeking front-of-house employees, and a renovation permit was under Fairfax County Health Department review as of Feb. 12.

Hours posted at the Great Falls storefront list lunch from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and dinner from 3 to 10 p.m. Weekday happy hours are planned from 3 to 6:30 p.m.

Menus at the group’s Maryland restaurants offer a preview of what could be served in Virginia. The Urbana Lodge carries sports-bar favorites alongside soups, flatbreads, salads, sandwiches and wraps. Its entrees include herb-crusted salmon, chicken pot pie, butter chicken, and Scottish fish and chips.

Kamal said the new restaurants will also have seasonal menus, Sunday brunch and live music. Their beverage selection could be extensive: the existing lodge concept offers nearly 100 spirits, 21 wines and 11 signature cocktails.

That combination resembles the broad game-day menu once served by Blackfinn, which offered burgers, chicken wings and similar dishes before closing its Merrifield location in fall 2022.

Kamal said the group is excited to open the future locations.