Seafood restaurant Chasin’ Tails is swimming out of Arlington and about a mile down the road to Falls Church, co-owner Au Dang confirms to ARLnow.
The decade-old restaurant that’s inspired by backyard crawfish boils is heading to Founders Row, a new development just over a mile from its current location at 2200 N. Westmoreland Street in Arlington’s East Falls Church neighborhood. The move is expected to happen possibly in June, depending on permits, with the closing and opening of the restaurants happening simultaneously.
The move was first reported by the Falls Church News-Press.
While it’s not a big move distance-wise, Dang says setting up in the new development is a good opportunity for the restaurant.
“We saw an opportunity at up and coming Founders Row,” he says. “It wasn’t anything about the current situation. It’s just an amazing spot in Falls Church.”
The development will actually be home to three restaurants from the same ownership group, Happy Endings Hospitality. Chasin’ Tails will be joined by Roll Play, which currently has a location in Tysons, and Vietnamese restaurant Nue.
All three are different concepts and will have “separate experiences,” Dang notes.
Dang and his co-owners, which includes his brother, aren’t completely leaving Arlington, though. They still own the Happy Eatery food hall in Rosslyn, which opened in late 2019 under the slightly longer and more risque name “Happy Endings Eatery.”
The last decade hasn’t come without its challenges for Louisiana-inspired Chasin’ Tails, but it’s all led to this point of expansion, Dang says.
“We had hard lessons to learn,” he says. “We’ve taken all the knowledge we’ve acclimated to make improvements in interior design and overall branding. This is the best we have to offer.”
Initial funding for Chasin’ Tails came from the $8 million Au and his brother Di won playing poker.
For longtime customers, Dang knows this may be an adjustment but anticipates they make the trip across the border and join them in Falls Church.
“We thank you so much for the support,” he says about the restaurant’s customers. “But we hope they visit us in Falls Church.”