Santini's, a New Sandwich Shop, Opens in McLean

McLean residents are welcoming Santini’s, a new family-owned sandwich shop that just opened, with open arms this week. A bustling crowd was coming and going on Tuesday afternoon, dining in and taking lunches back to offices during the lunch hour.

Santini’s is a New York-style deli with restaurants in Oakton, Chantilly, Reston and Sterling. The McLean location, at 1443 Chain Bridge Road, is the newest location.

But beneath the cheery opening hubbub is a not-so-welcome situation: The owner of the adjacent McLean Shopping Center, McLean Properties, one of the largest commercial land owners in town, appears to be going out of its way to be rather un-neighborly to the new business.

“No parking” signs have been planted every few feet in a spacious mostly unused parking lot just behind the restaurant. (The corner space of the shopping center is sitting vacant at the moment.)

Restaurant parking is confined to a small lot as well as street parking. Residents who are enjoying a new sandwich shop in town aren’t happy about the situation and alerted Patch this week.

“The new Santini’s restaurant is fantastic! The food is fresh, delicious, and the staff is so friendly. The parking lot situation...is unacceptable,” writes Sarah Tursi, a McLean resident and business owner.

Tursi goes on to point out that the parking lot adjacent to the restaurant has ”blocked all Santini’s customers from parking anywhere.”

Sure enough, a quick look at the adjacent parking lot shows signs that not only say “no parking,” but:

“Parking Only for McLean Shopping Center/No Santini’s Parking/If towed call (703) 525-0550.”

The number is to a business called Advanced Towing in Arlington. A woman at the business said Tuesday she is aware of the recent stepped-up business, towing cars from McLean, but said it was best to speak to a man who was not at the business Tuesday afternoon.

In fact, after the new sandwich shop was open less than a week, about 30 cars have been towed from the McLean Shopping Center parking lot and some of the drivers weren’t even customers of the sandwich shop — they were employees who work at the businesses at McLean Shopping Center, according to a Patch reader who asked that his name not be used.

Tursi said customers of the hardware store apparently aren’t even being allowed to shop at the hardware store and then pop into Santini’s for lunch.

“You cannot shop at [McLean Shopping Center tenant] McLean Hardware and then grab Santini’s because they are aggressively towing,” she said. “Even on Sunday when McLean Hardware closes at 4! We got towed this afternoon. $160 tow for parking at the back” of the parking lot.

“This is bad business in McLean,” Tursi said. “It isn’t necessary, neighborly, or decent. We were one of four patrons towed so there are others affected by this parking lot dispute.”

Supervisor John Foust said Tuesday that he was surprised to hear that customers can’t park in the lot, noting that it was no problem when a Chicken Out was located there. He said the issue appears to be a private matter and he has yet to hear from either the owners of the properties or the owner of the new sandwich shop.

In addition to McLean Shopping Center, McLean Properties owns several other shopping centers in McLean. It does not own the land where Santini’s was built, according to property records.

A call to McLean Properties was not returned on Tuesday.

PHOTO: The photo shows the parking lot behind Santini’s; the lot is largely unused. The owner of the lot, McLean Properties, has erected signs telling Santini’s customers not to park there. So far about 30 cars have been towed within the past week, according to a Patch reader. Santini’s is a new sandwich shop that just opened in McLean.