Star Nut Gourmet

This is a gem find! I went to drop off my car for service and wanted a place I can try and saw crepes on reviews. I got the veggie omelette… substituted with mozzarella cheese… Yummalicious!!! The owners are super friendly warm and welcoming… like coming home to a home cooking. Cute corner café. The bathroom has a cool mural… (I know no one mentions the loo but it’s worth mentioning!)Never seen such fun details of being out in Italy or some place in old Europe. Fun positive feeling here.

The gelato is great! I have no idea what else they serve, I’ve only ever been there for gelato. A friend took me once and I loved it so I go back every now and then when I have a gelato craving. There is once flavor I love, but they change the flavored every day so it’s sometimes not there. It’s kind of pricey for my liking, which is why I don’t go very often. They have pastries in a display case when you first walk in, but I’ve never gotten one. The service is okay. The people are friendly enough to smile, but they don’t seem happy to be serving you. I mainly gave them 3 stars because of the hours. Their Unilocal page says 7am-​8pm on weekdays, and so does their answering machine. But when I had a craving and went over the summer, they were closed even though it was around 6:15pm, and last night I went at 6:50 with my boyfriend to treat him to some dessert, and they were closed! I called and the answering machine said they closed at 8pm, so I got annoyed. We left, and I called today and asked why they were closed. A man answered, and I began telling my story about showing up and calling, and he interrupted me and said they changed their hours to 7am-​6pm. I was quite annoyed with his rudeness and the fact that they haven’t updated their Unilocal page or their answering machine to let gelato lovers like myself know when they’re actually open. I am rarely in the mood to spend $ 7 on one small cup of gelato, so when I am I prefer they be open.

Very hard to find.
Muffins were a day old.
These folks need to figure out a way to distinguish themselves from the Starbucks across the street.

The owner is very friendly. Delicious coffee! Love this place!

The gelato is DELICIOUS!!! I mean SINFULLY GOOD!!! We normally get the salmon on a bagel with capers and it’s the best!!! The smoked salmon is tasty and the bagel is chewy in a great way. Plus the staff is very friendly and helpful. Plus, there’s outdoor seating which is perfect on a pleasant day.

Very nice place. Feels European. Very friendly owner and staff. Tends to have disorganized order/​pay process. Just too slow. Prices need to moderate by 20%.

So want to love them. But prices are high. Servings are small. Service is slow. Still, I love the gelato and location.

As many other people have said, be prepared to spend a good amount of money at this place. A small slice of apple tart is $ 5 as is a small cup of gelato. You can get specialty lattes and coffees, and those can also be around $ 5. The pies and tarts aren’t worth it because they are so small. The gelato is pretty good for a hot day — the rose flavor is delicious. The small size cups for hot drinks are very small, probably tinier than the tall size at Starbucks. This café also offers breakfast items, lunch sandwiches, and wine.
There are several tables inside and a few tables outside, but what this place really has going for it is the location. There aren’t any other coffee shops around or small cafes for pastries, so I would think Star Nut gets a ton of business. There is a nice courtyard in the front too with a fountain. On Saturday evenings, there is often a live band playing music.
Bottom line: this place is alright if you’re need a quick pick-​me-​up. It’s pricey, but it’s also the only non-​Starbucks coffee shop in the area.

I like this coffee shop because they are very friendly and have great customer service. It can be a great place to get work done as well. I do think some items on their menu is overpriced. They have great patio seating during the spring/​summer.

I have been coming here for almost 8 years now. Every time I’m in the McLean area I make it a point to stop in! Their espresso drinks are the best, as well as their gelato and selection of little candies. Outdoor seating area is also lovely, and the staff is super friendly! Definitely worth multiple visits.

Great casual vibe to sit and have a beverage. It’s in a great location and has exquisite gelato!

Came up on this place randomly with my family. Its slightly hidden and not necessarily in a great location, but it was surprisingly adorable. We were looking for a place that had patio seating since we had our dog with us. It had a great big patio which was very nice.
The menu is a bit hard to read since it was hand written, but there were several different options to choose from. I enjoyed the fact that we could have our drinks in nice ceramic mugs. I had the Chai Latte, which wasn’t anything special per say, standard. My sister had the white mocha, which i normally get from Starbucks so i was interested to have a sip for comparison. I though it was pretty good, not as sweet so that was different. My father and boyfriend had the cappuccino which they both said was pretty good.
We did have one of their great big cookies which was soft and tasty. The croissant was wonderful, buttery and very fluffy.

This place is trying really hard to do upscale gourmet, but they just don’t pull it off. It merely «apes» upscale gourmet. I’ve tried a number of things, from sandwiches to coffee to dessert. Most things were just okay, and the crème brulee was old. The fruit on top had clearly been sitting, maybe even for more than a day. The burnt sugar top was soggy. And it cost more than $ 6.00. I’ve had outstanding crème brulee at Alon’s in Atlanta that was ten times as good for half the price.
The staff is nice enough, but it’s pretty clear the owner (at least the guy) is uptight about folks buying what he considers an insufficient amount and lingering. It’s too bad, to, because every time I’ve been there it’s been slow. It seems like they could use the consistent $ 10 – 15 I spend. The only reason I’ve gone back is that the location is convenient and it’s not crazy busy. There’s good reason it’s not. I’ll keep looking.

I would give this place 3.5 stars if I could. It is a cute little shop located in ‘Downtown Mclean’ with some outdoor tables which overlook a water fountain. If you can get an outside table on a nice day, then it is worth the price you pay for coffee and gelato. The tables and chairs inside are very uncomfortable. Call me prissy but I like seats with some sort of cushion for my bum.
The strawberries and cream gelato were excellent. They have good standard gelato flavors here.

great latte and good food– it is just overpriced! friendly staff so will try it again

Why is this place called Gourmet? Why Nut? I ordered a breakfast omelet that was not cheap. The goat cheese tasted like plastic and the only bread they had was like a wonder bread… awful. I had coffee, bland, then pie. The pie looked great but was bland. I live in the district and take subway and cabs. I work on the computer all day so do not carry a smart phone. I like to notice people and the world. When I asked the gentleman with the grey hair and ponytail for a cab phone number he looked at me with disdain and said he was too busy at that moment. I waited. He never helped. He was not that busy. The staff at the very busy bank next door did help me. Yes, I would say that (one) star is an appropriate part of the name.
Star Nut Gourmet?
Why Not
Squirrel Nut Zipper?
Whatever???

Great coffee and nice alternative to the other coffee choices in McLean
Owner is a bit Disco (3 buttons down on a shirt is a tad ’70’s) but always nice and attentive
Pricey but when in McLean…
Food 3.5
Service 4.5
Cleanliness 5

I first visited Starnut a few years back when I went there on a steamy summer day in July for their Italian gelato. The experience back then was nice. A small, local, non-​chain café with food, chocolate, gelato, and of course coffee. The atmosphere was quiet and relaxed. You could go in there, have a coffee, a sandwich, or gelato and waste away an afternoon. How things have changed. I recently went there only to be greeted in the most hostile manner. I approached the counter, asked for a large coffee, and if wifi was available. Immediately the lady behind the counter (the owner I assume) switched into a defensive mode and said, please read the signs. First off, my credit card required a $ 5.00 credit card minimum, next, this overly complicated internet policy was posted. Certain hours required certain amounts of food purchases. So on this Sunday afternoon, during, get this — PEAK HOUR, wifi required, $ 12 of purchases. On different days, different price minimums were in effect. To top it off, the wifi password, should you meet the minimums, is put into your computer by the owner. He physically walks you through each and every character. Additionally, to make matters worst, since I was there during peak time, I was asked to move from my 4 person table to a 2 person table, in the off chance the place filled and my table was needed for larger parties. Just so you know, at this PEAK HOUR there were at least 3 – 4 open tables. And still, I was asked to move to the smaller tables away from the main table area and off to the side next to the register. The owner explained that too many people were coming to the café, ordering $ 2 coffees and staying all day to use wifi. I was appalled at their direct insinuation to my face that this was the case with me.
I felt like explaining that I had 1 hour to kill before attending my sister’s birthday luncheon, that no, I did not want food because I was waiting for a big lunch, and that, because I had my laptop, I wanted to browse the net in peace for the 30 minutes or so I had to myself. I wanted a relaxing, calm experience. I wanted to not be bothered or assaulted. I mean, I could have gone ANYWHERE to have this little time to myself but I thought of them, a memorably cute establishment with the hopes of a nice 30 minutes to myself and good old Google news. Instead I get this overly rude reception.
Starnut should know that what makes independent, small, non-​chain café’s remotely appealing is the fact that they don’t operate 100% of the time to make money. Usually they do it for the soul of their business. When you immediately write off your $ 1.99 coffee as nothing worth coming to you establishment exclusively for, then you betray your business. When you insult your customers for their limited purchases or their particular reason for liking your business, then you lose customers. When this happens you become worst then a chain. You become a gila monster. A desperate small business interested in only sucking the money out of their customers and not caring about the way people perceive or appreciate your business.
As for me, I will not return, there’s far to many cafes in the area that appreciate me for my random 30 minute coffee breaks, where I am welcomed and appreciated for even stopping in. I advise you find those for yourself and avoid this place.

This place offers a nice assortment of desserts, coffee, gelato, snacks, etc.
I had some gelato today, and it was great. Be prepared to pay though, as expected. Two small scoops is about $ 4.95.

2.5 Sorry, but I gotta take it down a notch. On one hand, I think the croissants have gotten slightly larger. On the down side, people seem to call to set them aside, so they don’t have many left past 10 or 11. I also don’t really feel welcome to study here and so I’ve stopped going altogether.
The last couple of times I’ve been there, I’ve gotten comments that basically mean that I’m not spending enough on an hourly basis. I used to take grad school practice tests here because there was wi-​fi and coffee, but after a few weeks, I think they got tired of me coming. I would usually get a coffee and a croissant or two — that would come to around $ 10 – a decent amount for bread and coffee in my opinion. But even that $ 7 sandwich would get comments like, THAT’S IT? so I guess that doesn’t justify sitting around a fairly empty café on the weekend. So the search for a decent study locale with food continues…