Business & Tech

Airfare Café Lands in Old Town Manassas

The cafe also provides in-flight catering for corporate jets using the Manassas Airport.

Name: Airfare Cafe

Location: 9255 Center St. in Manassas, in Morais Plaza, located near the intersection of Center Street and Grant Avenue

Hours: 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Interested in local real estate?Subscribe to Patch's new newsletter to be the first to know about open houses, new listings and more.

A restaurant aiming to bring the luxury dining offered on private jets down to Earth has landed in Manassas.

Airfare Café opened about four weeks ago in the Morais Plaza in Old Town and touts a menu stocked with fresh, world-class cuisine.

Interested in local real estate?Subscribe to Patch's new newsletter to be the first to know about open houses, new listings and more.

Heading up the small restaurant's team is established Executive Chef Kyle Bianco, formerly of the prestigious Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Gainesville.

He is also a former protégé of famed Executive Chef Andy McFadden.

Bianco began working for café owner Alan R. Cook, CEO and founder of Manassas Airport-based Metropolitan Aviation in 2012.

Originally, Bianco was hired to provide in-flight catering for Metropolitan Aviation's private jets.

Airfare Café’ was born when the owner decided to take the jet catering to the next level with a Manassas storefront.

But patrons of the Airfare Café won’t have to worry about dishing out private jet or private golf club prices for their fare.

Café prices are low, if you consider the labor, experience and the top-notch, all natural ingredients used, Bianco said.

 “That Salmon dish I did last week? I used to charge $32 to $36 a plate at the (Robert Trent Jones) Golf Club and I did it for $14.95 here,” Bianco said on Thursday. 

He lowered the prices so new customers wouldn’t be intimated, he added.

 “I left the pricing kind of low for the first few months; I knew it would hurt us for the first month or two, but if I put prices where they needed to be, people would come in, maybe look at the menu and then walk out,” Bianco said.

Some people are still turned off because they don't realize they are getting a 5-star meal for less.

“But when they do eat it, people are realizing this is a steal right now,” he said.

Airfare is only open from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., but dinner dining options are in the works.

Staff is developing a dinner, meals-to-go service for the dinner crowd too busy to sit down and eat at the cafe or prepare their own food. The staff will prepare a fully cooked, family meal that customers would only have to heat up in the microwave when they arrive home.

The thought of a chef-prepared home cook meal is far more appealing than swinging through a drive-thru, staff said.

A recent meals-to-go creation—pan-seared penne pasta with portabello mushrooms in red wine cream sauce with chicken—sold nicely, Bianco said.

His goal is to post Airfare cafe’s meals-to-go options online each day, but the concept is still in the works, he said.  Right now, if a customer comes in and asks him to prepare a custom order meal-to-go, he will, if he has the time and supplies, Blanco said. 

“I think it’s really going to be a hit,” Bianco said.

When asked what is his favorite dish on the Airfare menu, Bianco smiled and said he honestly hates it when people ask him that question.

“I love everything on the menu; I love food,” he said.

He’s always been known to make a good burger and so he recommends an item with his namesake, the Bianco Burger.

As his name—or the burger's name, rather—implies, it does contain a white cheese, mozzarella.

It also contains all natural Meyers ground beef with soppressata, arugula, sliced tomato, basil pesto aloli on a brioche bun.

Airfare joins a plethora of other local Manassas restaurants and Bianco said he has visited many and introduced himself to the owners.

After seeing what the Old Town cuisine has to offer, Airfare owners and staff were able to determine what Old Town is missing.

“I just want to separate myself and our establishment from that. I think something different would guarantee business and I think quality will guarantee business,” Bianco said.

Old Town Manassas recently welcomed another new restaurant:

  • Read all about Malones of Manassas here. 


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here