Mountain Mike’s Pizza, a California chain known for its crispy, curly pepperoni, filed for electrical, mechanical and sign permits on November 2 for its first Northern Virginia restaurant, at South Lakes Village Center in Reston. The restaurant has also begun the county health department process.
The restaurant is taking about 3,000 square feet in the former Pet Valu storefront next to Chipotle, The Burn reported in March. The address is 11160-D South Lakes Drive. Mountain Mike’s has not announced an opening date. A spokesperson told FFXnow in March that the company intended to open by the end of 2026.
Electrical and mechanical permits cover a build-out’s wiring, heating, cooling and ventilation, including the kitchen exhaust. Before a restaurant can serve food, the Fairfax County Health Department reviews the kitchen plans and inspects the finished space.
Reston appears to be the first of three Northern Virginia locations planned with a Chantilly franchisee
Mountain Mike’s started in Palo Alto, California, in 1978, FFXnow reported, and lists more than 300 restaurants on its locations page. Most are in California. The rest sit in Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Washington, Wisconsin and Tennessee, and none of them is in Virginia or anywhere else on the East Coast.
Mountain Mike’s signed an agreement in 2025 to open three restaurants in Fairfax and Loudoun counties and is working with Niraj Hemrajani, a franchisee from Chantilly, FFXnow reported. Reston appears to be the first of the three to get underway. The company has not named the other two sites.
Mountain Mike’s builds its menu around pepperoni, mountain-named pizzas and wings
Mountain Mike’s calls its topping “crispy, curly pepperoni” and tops its pepperoni pizza and the Crispy, Curly Hot N’ Swicy, a stuffed-crust pizza finished with hot honey. The specialty pizzas on the current menu carry mountain names: The Everest, Pikes Peak, Mt. Veggiemore, Snowy Alps, The McKinley, Spicy Himalayan and Robbers Roost, among others. The Burn described the Snowy Alps as pepperoni, mushrooms, olives, Italian sausage, green onions and diced tomatoes on a creamy garlic sauce.
The rest of the menu covers bone-in and boneless wings in flavors such as Nashville hot and Buffalo, garlic knots the chain calls Garlic Not-Knots, Mountain Fries, salads, calzones, sandwiches and desserts.
The Reston restaurant will have an all-you-can-eat lunch buffet on weekdays, a kids’ area with arcade games and plenty of TVs, the chain told FFXnow, and its menu includes beer and wine. The chain pitched it as “an ideal place for sports teams, family gatherings, group fundraising events and private parties alike.” South Lakes High School and Langston Hughes Middle School are less than a mile away, and the chain’s website has a page for its fundraising program. Our South Lakes High School athletics guide covers the school’s teams and seasons.
South Lakes Village has a Safeway, a Chipotle and a custard stand, and no pizza place
The center sits at South Lakes Drive and Twin Branches Road, with Safeway as its anchor. Its directory lists Safeway, CVS, Starbucks, Chipotle, Subway, Cafesano, Red’s Table, Lakeside Asia Cafe, Red Bird, Meadows Original Frozen Custard, a Virginia ABC store, Great Clips, Hair & Nails Care, Hand & Stone, Fusion 360 Fitness, US Tae Kwon Do, Crest Cleaners, Reston Floral Designs and The UPS Store. None of them is a pizzeria.
The Chevy Chase Land Company bought the center in 2016 for $62 million, Reston Now reported, and still owns and manages it.
For families in the South Lakes and Hunters Woods neighborhoods, including the homes along Glade Drive, Mountain Mike’s adds a sit-down pizza place within a few minutes of home. Glade Drive may also get bike lanes in 2027; our post on the county’s proposal covers the routes. Reston’s other pizza newcomer is Andy’s Pizza, which has applied for a beer and wine license at Plaza America.
We will update this post when Mountain Mike’s sets an opening date.
Featured image: Mountain Mike’s Pizza
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