When my girlfriend moved to Brambleton of Ashburn, I was shocked at how few options there were for good food in the area. One of those options has become my goto spot when in the Stone Ridge / Ashburn / Route 50 area. It is a pizza place called Coal Fire Pizza and here’s why it is where I love to go when out that direction.
Coal Fire is a local pizza chain from Maryland with several locations including a new one in Rolling Valley (Springfield) and the one I frequent in Ashburn/Stone Ridge (technically Sterling based on the Address). It is located in the Walmart Shopping Center off of the Loudoun County Parkway (Dulles Landing Shopping Center).
The secret to the pizza at Coal Fire is the sauce. You have 3 choices. The Classic tomato based sauce, the Signature sweet sauce, and my favorite, the Sweet & Spicy sauce. There is something about pizza sauce that is sweet (like barbecue sauce pizza) that is a great switch up from classic pizza and the spicy kick at the end finishes off my tastebuds with a little bit of excitement.
A small 12” cheese pizza runs for $11 and the large 16” is $16. Once you start adding the toppings the price starts to go up a bit. They do have some signature pies, but I enjoy customizing on my own. Mushroom and Meatball is my fave, although anchovies aren’t bad. (They also have a 9” lunch pizza, 3 toppings for $8 Mon-Fri 11:30am-3pm).
The pizza is cooked in a big coal fire oven, so it has that kind of a feel instead of a classic New York style slice, but it is a nice switch up from the normal pizzas I eat all the time.
The restaurant is a family spot, but they also have a bar with happy hour. There is a dining room, bar seating and a pretty nice outdoor patio (although it just looks to the parking lot. I like to go there to do work, choosing to sit in the quiet (around the corner) area and get refills of root beer while I consume an entire medium pizza.
If you live in the area I highly recommend checking out Coal Fire. As I mentioned in the beginning there are not a lot of options out in that area and this is one of the top spots. If you go, you may see me in my special seat working on the laptop, with a smile on my spicy face.
Address: 24560 Dulles Landing Dr #140, Sterling, VA 20166